Ex-workers at state institution charged with mistreating residents

Six former workers at a state institution for intellectually disabled Iowans have been charged with crimes for allegedly mistreating residents, police said Thursday.

The charges come six weeks after the Iowa Department of Human Services disclosed that 12 workers at the Glenwood Resource Center had quit or were fired over the “shameful” allegations. A 13th worker has been dismissed since then, the department has said.

The Glenwood Police Department identified those being charged as Darrel Case, Dana Case and Ryan Belt, all of Tabor, and Kayla Stevenson, Ayla Yates and Tyler Palmer, all of Glenwood. Police Sgt. Pat Martin said Thursday afternoon that all but Belt and Yates had been arrested.

Martin said Belt faces one count of dependent adult abuse and five counts of wanton neglect of a health care facility resident. He said Darrel Case faces five counts of wanton neglect of a health care facility resident, and the other four each face one count of wanton neglect of a health care facility resident. The neglect charges are aggravated misdemeanors, and the adult abuse charge is a serious misdemeanor, the sergeant said.  All of the defendants could face prison if convicted. None could immediately be reached for comment.

The institution is home to about 230 Iowans with deep intellectual disabilities, such as autism or Down syndrome. Inspectors determined some workers called residents “retards,” struck or grabbed them, and asked them graphic questions about sex.

The Department of Human Services, which runs the institution, has said seven residents were physically abused and 13 residents were subjected to verbal abuse or neglect.

The mother of a longtime resident of the institution expressed relief Thursday that criminal charges had been filed against the former staff members accused of mistreating disabled people. If they are convicted of it, “I think they definitely should pay the price for having done that,” said Sybil Finken, whose 37-year-old son has lived at the facility for decades.

Finken’s son was not among the residents who were abused, and she remains confident that he gets good care at the institution. But she’s pleased that the mistreatment came to light, and that authorities are taking serious action. “It’s important they’re not sweeping this under the rug,” she said.

Richard Crouch, whose son, Gary, is a longtime resident of the facility, agreed with Finken that the charges were important. The former staffers should face serious punishment if the allegations are proven, said Crouch, who leads a parents' council at the institution. "It'll make the resource center a better place, because people will see you can't do those things and work here," he said. Gary Crouch was not one of the victims of the abuse. 

The arrests also were praised by Jane Hudson, executive director of the watchdog group Disability Rights Iowa. Hudson said the charges show that the Mills County attorney’s office is treating people with disabilities “with respect and dignity. … They are being treated as any other victim of abuse and neglect would be treated, and are not being discounted because they may be more limited in explaining what happened to them,” Hudson said.

Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy McCoy noted that police became involved because leaders of the facility notified them of the allegations. “The mistreatment of clients was committed by a small number of the more than 770 staff at Glenwood,” McCoy said Thursday. “The vast majority of our staff are dedicated workers that treat the individuals who live at Glenwood with dignity and respect, and campus leadership remains vigilant in identifying any concerns and taking action.”

McCoy said Yates was among the workers who were fired, and the other five were among those who resigned.

Department leaders have said many of the incidents happened on night shifts or weekends, and they say they have beefed up oversight during those times and increased staff training about preventing and reporting mistreatment of residents. 

The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals suggested in a Jan. 13 report that the problems at the state institution were partly due to flaws in the way it was managed.

“The facility failed to ensure the development and implementation of adequate systems to identify and prevent abuse and/or mistreatment of clients,” inspectors wrote in their report. “The facility failed to proactively assure clients were free from threats to their physical and psychological health.” The inspections department proposed $40,000 in fines against the state facility.

Here are some of the findings released last month by inspectors who investigated the allegations:

• A staff member struck two residents on the head with a spoon or butter knife when the residents tried to stand up from a couch. Another worker told inspectors the impact was hard enough to be heard, and left one of the residents tearful. “Both clients held their heads, rocked and cowered,” the report says.
• A staff member repeatedly asked a resident if he believed another staff member enjoyed having anal or oral sex with other men. The resident shook his head no, refused to answer and began to cry, the report says.
• A worker told inspectors about seeing another staff member punch a resident three times in the back of the head because the resident wouldn’t stop rocking hard in a recliner. The same staff member had previously pulled the resident out of the chair by the legs, then told the person to stay on the floor.
• A staff member taunted a resident who had schizophrenia by asking the person, “How are those voices?” The taunting happened in front of other residents.
• Another staff member pretended he was going to put a spoon full of whipped cream in a resident’s mouth, but smeared it across the person’s face instead.

No supervisors were punished in the wake of the allegations. The Department of Human Services said none of them were responsible for the problems. The facility's superintendent, Gary Anders, retired last week, but a Department of Human Services spokeswoman said his departure was unrelated to the allegations of residents' mistreatment.