MISSOURI
A federal judge sentenced three former caregivers in Fulton to prison for their roles in the death of a disabled resident at Second Chance Homes.
Second Chance Homes, an organization that provided housing and care for developmentally disabled persons through a Missouri Department of Mental Health initiative.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Brian C. Wimes sentenced Sherry Paulo to 17 years and six months in prison, according to officials.
Thursday, Judge Wimes sentenced Anthony Flores to 15 years and eight months of imprisonment and Anthony R. K. Flores to three years of probation.
On Nov. 22, 2019, Sherry Paulo, 55, and Anthony Flores, 60, each plead guilty in federal court to one count of willfully failing to provide necessary medical care to victim Carl DeBrodie. resulting in injury to and the death of DeBrodie.
Paulo also pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud arising from her efforts to hide Debrodie’s death.
On Feb. 12, 2020, R.K. Flores pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly falsifying a document with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence a federal investigation related to the death of Debrodie.
“These defendants violated their legal and moral obligation to provide medical care to a person with developmentally disabilities, who was dependent upon them, then attempted to cover up their crime beneath layers of deceit and literal concrete,” said U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison of the Western District of Missouri. “Besides substandard care and dismal living conditions, they refused to seek medical treatment for their victim as his health deteriorated. Today the justice system is holding them accountable for their roles in his tragic death.”
“These former caregivers committed horrendous crimes against a patient with a developmental disability, while raiding vital Medicaid funds to prop up their alibis,” said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
According to court documents filed in connection with the sentencings, Paulo, Flores, and R.K. Flores worked as caregivers at Second Chance Homes. Victim DeBrodie, who was significantly developmentally handicapped.
Paulo was assigned to care for DeBrodie in the months leading up to his death.
In their guilty pleas, Flores and Paulo admitted that, beginning in 2014, they observed DeBrodie’s weight decline and his health deteriorate.
However, Paulo stopped following DeBrodie.’s prescribed health regimen and stopped taking DeBrodie to his doctors’ appointments.
Paulo and Flores observed DeBrodie become underweight and pale, struggle to eat, and appear to have less energy.
As DeBrodie’s health deteriorated, Paulo occasionally took DeBrodie out of his designated Second Chance residence and put him in the basement of the home she shared with Flores.
The basement was small and dark without access to sunlight or running water.
Although Paulo and Flores witnessed DeBrodie’s health continue to decline while in her basement, they did not take DeBrodie to get necessary medical treatment because they did not want Paulo to be blamed for Debrodie’s malnutrition and ill health.
In approximately September 2016, the victim suffered an acute medical emergency while in the basement room of Paulo and Flores’s home.
Despite observing DeBrodie.’s physical distress and obvious medical need, Paulo and Flores chose not to seek medical care for DeBrodie.
DeBrodie died in their home while Paulo and Flores watched.
Before his death in or about September 2016, DeBrodie last saw a doctor in December 2015.
In their plea agreements, Paulo and Flores admitted that, after DeBrodie’s death, Paulo placed DeBrodie’s body in a trashcan. Paulo and Flores put the trashcan in a wooden crate that they filled with cement.
Paulo, Flores, and R.K. Flores then placed the crate in Paulo’s storage unit.
In the months that followed, Paulo took extensive measures to cover up the victim’s death, according to authorities.
- She instructed another Second Chance resident to lie in DeBrodie’s bed to convince officials that DeBrodie was still there.
- Repeatedly used DeBrodie’s Electronic Benefits Card
- Asked a Second Chance employee to falsely present another resident as DeBrodie at a doctor’s appointment and get a prescription in the victim’s name
- Falsified numerous official records related to DeBrodie.
In particular, Paulo admitted that after DeBrodie died, she submitted false Medicaid claims for services purportedly rendered to DeBrodie when, as Paulo knew, DeBrodie was deceased.
The amount wrongfully paid by Medicaid, between approximately September 2016 and April 2017, was $106,795.
It was not until April 2017 that the defendants admitted DeBrodie was no longer at Second Chance. Paulo reported DeBrodie missing to the Fulton, Missouri Police Department on April 17, 2017.
When interviewed by the police, Paulo, Flores, and R.K. Flores falsely stated that they had seen DeBrodie on April 16, 2017.
In truth, none of the defendants had seen DeBrodie in months.
Paulo and Flores further knew that the victim died.
Defendants Paulo, Flores, and R.K. Flores did not admit their wrongdoing until the Fulton Police Department discovered DeBrodie’s body.