Carlton Palms Florida - Complaints detail abuse at Lake facil...

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Complaints detail abuse at Lake facility for disabled

Records show residents were kicked, bruised, battered and choked

October 26, 2012 By a , Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-carlton-palms-abuse-20121026,0,5554602.story

Florida - A Lake County halfway house and school for severely disabled people is in trouble after a series of complaints that residents were being beaten, choked and dragged across the floor.

The incidents were detailed in a complaint state officials filed in court this month along with a petition that Carlton Palms Education Center stop accepting new patients.

Complaints that the center's staff abused disabled residents are nothing new to the home, which is tucked away in a remote orange grove just outside Mount Dora. Other complaints, dating back to 2010, detail incidents of a staffer knocking out a resident's tooth, a resident being tripped and another beaten over the head with a plastic bin until bloody.

Records with the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities, charged with monitoring the home, show that since 2010, the center has had at least eight cases of confirmed abuse. At least three of those cases this year led to felony arrests.

Law-enforcement reports, as well as complaints filed by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, tell of disabled people who were bruised and battered by employees.

•In January, 42-year-old staffer Alonzo Timmons was accused of punching, kicking and choking a disabled victim until he gagged, according to an arrest affidavit. A nearby employee left the room for several minutes rather than report the incident, according to a complaint filed by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

•In April, a disabled man at the center told Lake deputies he heard staffer Andre Mays striking a developmentally disabled man with a belt. During the incident, the disabled man being beaten was heard screaming, "Don't hit me," according to a separate state report. The man who witnessed the incident also told authorities that another staffer did not get out of her chair to help and acted as if she were "daydreaming."

•In July, staffer Reginald Walters, a facility supervisor, was accused of kicking a 16-year-old disabled boy in the head and twice choking him so he would stop screaming. Employees knew about the event for weeks but did not report it until nearly a month later, records state.

Despite the abuse, state officials say the home, which last year received $24 million in Medicaid payments, is still safe for the residents there. Removing the 89 children and adults supported by taxpayer dollars, they say, would "unnecessarily disrupt" their lives.

"We don't want to accidentally cause more danger to them or any adverse situations because we tried to do such a large action all at once," said Grabb, senior attorney for the agency. Grabb said the agency has boosted monitoring of the home this year since it reached a settlement agreement in February for a previous abuse complaint.

The home agreed to provide extra training about abuse, neglect and exploitation as well as fire employees involved with that abuse, according to the settlement.

In statement issued by Advoserv, the company that owns the facility, Chief Operating Officer Bob Bacon wrote that the employees involved in the cases have since been fired and staff members are trained in approved intervention techniques.

"These four incidents occurred despite the screening, training and oversight provided by Carlton Palms, are the acts of specific individuals and are not representative of the care and compassion demonstrated every day by our staff," he wrote. Further, he said, the Department of Children and Families concluded the center's safety policies are sufficient.

Sylvia , legislative affairs director for at the advocacy group Disability Rights Florida, called the complaint detailing this year's abuse "devastating."

"This is one of the most horrendous situations imaginable," she said. "We are devastated to imagine what these residents have been going through and what the families of these residents have had to learn about the treatment of their loved ones."

Carlton Palms serves about 120 adults and school-aged children with severe behavior problems, including autism, mental retardation, hearing problems or epilepsy. Many are prone to hurting themselves or others during violent outbursts. Advoserv Inc. also operates homes in Delaware and New Jersey, according to its website.

The home was established in 1987 by Ken Mazik, who sits on the board of the facility's parent company in Delaware, GI Advo Holdco Inc. Mazik is also listed as the president or director of several Mount Dora-based companies, according to state records.

Mazik could not be reached for comment about his relationship with Carlton Palms.

Carlton Palms is what's known as a comprehensive transitional education center, the only one of its kind in the state. It is supposed to provide training, education and treatment to people with severe behavior problems. Some also have medical conditions that require round-the-clock care. The niche designation means the facility can charge a significantly higher rate for certain Medicaid-funded services.

Parents contacted for this story had mixed reactions about the facility.

, 51, of Tampa, was upset that his 29-year-old stepson, Raynier , has been the target of two abuse incidents. In April, found bruised on the left side of his face after an employee was accused of striking him with a belt. In 2010, an employee punched in the face, according to a complaint filed with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. thinks the school has helped improve his behavior but some staff members don't know what they're doing.

"You have to be trained to know how to handle it, not beat them up," he said, adding that the family has a retained an attorney to file a civil suit.

Barbara Muratore, whose autistic stepdaughter lives at the facility, was shocked to learn about the abuse. Her daughter, who is prone to hitting her head and biting herself, has improved at the facility. "I know how bad it can be," Muratore said. "That's why there has to be a place for these people to have a meaningful part of life."

says her group had previously warned the Agency for Persons with Disabilities about Carlton Palms' use of harmful restraints similar to one mentioned in the complaint.

In the July case, for instance, a worker was trying to wrap a child in a restraining mat when a supervisor intervened, cursed, got down on the mat and choked the child until he nearly lost consciousness, according to a Lake Sheriff's Office report.

said the facility reported restraining residents more than 500 times during some months, according to 2008-10 data her group studied.

"It's very difficult to feel confident that the staff in this facility know how to prevent crisis from escalating to the point where restraint is necessary," said.

Carlton Palms has until the end of the month to reach a deal with state officials or face losing future residents.