FULTON, Mo. - New allegations released in a civil lawsuit reveal Carl
DeBrodie was forced to physically fight another resident for the
"benefit and amusement of Paulo and her family," those events eventually
causing his death. Sherry Paulo was the manager of Second Chance Homes,
where Carl was living before he died.
As a result of these forced
fighting engagements, Carl suffered serious injuries, including at
least six broken ribs. Carl also regularly suffered black eyes and other
bruising.
Sometime after October 25, 2016, but before November
24, 2016, Carl and a resident stayed overnight at Paulo's residence to
sleep in the basement on the concrete floor. During the middle of the
night, Anthony Flores, Paulo's husband and employee of Second Chance
homes, was awakened by Carl's scream. Carl was found unresponsive and
convulsing on the floor of the basement, appearing to have a seizure.
Documents
say instead of calling 911 or other emergency assistance, Flores and
the resident carried Carl upstairs and placed him in a bathtub with the
shower running. Carl was bleeding from his nose and mouth and continued
to convulse in the bathtub. Documents say "no life-saving measures were
attempted that night with respect to Carl, Carl died as a result of the
episode. Carl remained in the bathtub for two or three days until he was
ultimately placed into the City of Fulton trash can, encased in
concrete, and placed into a storage unit."
Court documents say
for several months leading up to October 2016, Sherry Paulo, group home
manager would regularly and frequently take Carl and another facility
resident to overnight at her own personal residence in Fulton. Paulo
allegedly forced Carl to stay at her own personal residence, require him
to perform manual, unpaid labor around her home.
Carl and another resident were forced to stay and sleep in Paulo's basement, where no beds or mattresses were provided.
On April 17, 2017, the Fulton Police Department received a missing report for Carl, who had gone missing from the Facility.
Due
to the decomposition of Carl's body, it was determined he had been
missing and/or deceased for several months before the missing person
report was filed.
The names below are the defendants in the case:
- Second Chance Homes of Fulton, LLC
- Rachael Rowden, Owner
- Sherry Paulo, Manager
- Anthony Flores, Sr., Employee and husband of Paulo
- Callaway County Public Administrator's Office
- Karen Digh Allen, Callaway County Public Administrator
- Robin Rees Love, Employee
- Missouri Department of Mental Health
- Missouri Department of Mental Health - Division of Developmental Disabilities
- Valerie Huhn, Director
- Wendy Witcig, Deputy Director, Community Operations
- Marcy Volner, Assistant Director of Central Region
- Wendy Davis, Director of Central Missouri Regional Office
- Callaway County Special Services (CCSS)
- Julia Kaufmann, Executive Director
- Melissa Delap, Employee and Carl's community RN
- Tiffany Keipp, Employee and Carl's case manager
Keipp and Delap were required to report to appropriate authorities,
including the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Mental
Health Division of Disabilities, any suspicions or allegations of
physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, or neglect of Carl, and also
any misuse of Carl’s funds or property.
For several months
leading up to Carl’s reported disappearance, Allen, Love,
Keipp,Rowden and Paulo prevented the plaintiffs in the case, Carolyn
Summers and Carol Samson, from seeing or visiting with Carl.
Instead
of conducting the required face-to-face contact, Keipp and Delap made
false reports saying that face-to-face contact was made with Carl.
In
her false reports, Keipp said she had made face-to-face contact with
Carl in October 2016, November 2016, December 2016, January 2017,
February 2017 and March 2017. None of these meetings took place.
Delap
said in her false report she had made face-to-face contact with Carl in
October 2016, November 2016, December 2016, January 2017, February 2017
and March 2017. These meetings also never took place.
In 2016,
Second Chance, Rowden, Paulo and Delap did not submit consistent
monthly reports about Carl to Keipp, CCSS, Allen, Love and the Public
Administrator.
Keipp
and Love did not make contact with Carl to check on his health and
well-being, even though Paulo reported Carl was not in good health.
Keipp
and Love were aware of verbal abuse towards Carl, but didn't report it.
They were also aware of physical abuse occurring between Carl and
another resident that they didn't report.
Rowden, Paulo, Keipp,
Delap and Love waited several months to report Carl’s disappearance so
they could continue to receive and collect state and federal monies for
the provision of residential services for Carl, according to the court
document.
To read the entire document, click below:
Full Article & Source:
Carl DeBrodie was killed by injuries from forced fighting, court documents reveal graphic details
See Also:
Carl DeBrodie case: Family attorney says the charges didn't surprise him
