Aspies For Freedom

Caretaker sentenced for scalding autistic man

By MATT DUNN
Bridgeton News
Saturday, December 17, 2005

BRIDGETON -- A 22-year-old former caretaker at the Devereaux New Jersey Center for Autism was sentenced to 6 years in state prison Friday after admitting she poured boiling water on an 18-year-old autistic man in 2004.

Charlene McClain, of Birch Street, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree bias intimidation and second-degree aggravated assault in connection with the incident, was caring for the handicapped man when "she popped a cork," according to Prosecutor Jon Reilly.

"According to her, the man hadn't been compliant and had been combative with her on prior occasions," Reilly said. So on Nov. 11, 2004, "she went into the kitchen and put some water in the microwave."

Then, McClain scalded the autistic man with the liquid.

"She lost it," Reilly remarked.

The victim suffered second-degree burns to his abdomen and genital area.

"To see him like that, the more hurt I feel," said the victim's mother in Superior Court here Friday.

McClain, who was hired by the Devereaux Center in 2002, claimed she was sorry for what had happened.

But Superior Court Judge Farrell reprimanded her anyway.

"I don't know how anyone can not be alarmed when someone who is charged with the responsibility of caring for a disabled child, no matter how hard their life is, does what Ms. McClain did to this young man," he remarked.

McClain, who was given a 6-year sentence for bias intimidation and a concurrent 4-year sentence for aggravated assault, was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years of her combined sentence before being eligible for parole.

Source: Bridgeton News
http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/i...ml&coll=10

Woman gets six years for scalding autistic  patient
By MILES JACKSON
The Daily Journal
17th December 2005


BRIDGETON -- A 22-year-old city woman and caregiver at a local facility for autistic people was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for throwing boiling water on a patient at the Devereaux Center.

Charlene McClain must serve 2 1/2 years of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole under the terms imposed by Superior Court Judge Timothy Farrell.

McClain was employed as a caregiver at the Devereaux Center in Hopewell when the incident occurred on Oct. 9, 2004, according to court records.

The victim was identified as an 18-year-old man who suffers from a mental disorder.

The Devereaux Center and the Devereaux Foundation primarily serve autistic patients.

The foundation fired McClain the day the incident occurred, according to Assistant Prosecutor Jon Reilly.

Reilly said McClain was having trouble dealing with the victim when she went into the facility's kitchen, boiled a container of water in a microwave oven and poured it on his stomach and groin.

The victim suffered second-degree burns over 6 percent of his body. He was treated at Cooper University Hospital in Camden and released.

In addition to aggravated assault, McClain was charged with committing a crime because of bias or to intimidate a person with a handicap. Farrell imposed a four-year sentence on that charge that will run concurrently, or at the same time, as the assault sentence.

"It's a fairly unusual charge," Reilly said. "But it fits in this crime."

McClain claimed she had a hard life and was unable to handle her own problems, much less the problems of the victim, according to court testimony.

"No matter how hard your own life has been, there's no excuse for scalding him with hot water," Farrell said.

Source: The Daily Journal
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs...70339/1002

It beggars belief :mad:

Someone please start flooding the Mirror with this story.

The judge's verdict is a right one, and not because the man had a "disability", but because of another simple reason: Rather than signal her employer that she had personal issues, and take a hiatus, she took to injuring a patient to let off steam, this is how i interpret it, and i doubt there is any other way to put it. I hope she will never work in that line of business again, simply because she should at least have some knowlege regarding the issues you will find in an institute as such, and should have at least talked to her employer about her personal problems, though i know it seems easy to say afterwards, with jobs in the care sector, you can NOT afford to let personal problems cloud your judgement.

Sorry for the rant, but after reading both articles, i had no other choice but to adopt this opinion. This is neither a hate-post against the institute or the convicted person, but this should not have been able to happen unless there where gross mistakes made with hiring staff and making sure they can work properly.

Yes, Reyima, this was an appalling crime in which the institution must bear a portion of the guilt for having employed such an unsuitable person.

For every case like this that we hear of it, there are thousands more hidden in the shadows.

Stella

Yes, and it could be quite possible the man wasn't compliant because the worker was acting b*tchy towards him and not asking him nicely to do things. She probably didn't use a good tone with him when she made requests and he must have taken exception to that.

The fact that she took the time to heat up the water in the microwave suggests an element of premeditation that goes against her claim that she suddenly "lost it" with him. I hope she is never allowed to work with defenceless patients again.

MOst of us are more likely to co-operate when asked nicely but can easily become stubborn and resistive if we can tell the other person is being impatient and snarky with us.