The Jonathan Carey Foundation has accused New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of covering up sexual abuse in the state’s mental health care system. It issued the statement in Albany on November 14, 2017. According to the group, huge numbers of vulnerable people are abused and raped there. Yet almost every reported criminal case simply vanishes.
The foundation compares the situation to the Catholic Church sex scandal. In the Church, predators were moved from parish to parish. In New York, the group argues, predators posing as caregivers stay inside a system widely known to be unsafe.
Bypassing police and prosecutors
According to the statement, Cuomo acted after the New York Times published its award-winning Abused & Used investigative series. However, the foundation says those steps kept abuse cases away from 911, local police and county prosecutors. In its view, the only reason to bypass local authorities and courts is to hide crimes.
The group says the system is driven by power, control and money rather than safe care. Basic safety measures, it claims, are still missing in group homes and residential facilities for disabled people. It also accuses the governor of keeping information and documents from authorities and the public.
The foundation aims much of its criticism at the state Justice Center, which it calls fraudulent. It alleges that the center hides evidence of sex crimes and other crimes, including homicides, from local police. With no 911 call, no recording and no police report, there is no case. And since there is no independent medical report either, the group says, no criminal investigation follows.
The scale of the problem
The foundation obtained state documents through FOIL, some dating back to 2005. It says they show a culture of sexual abuse, rape and cover-ups in the OMRDD/OPWDD system. Thousands of reported sex crimes against disabled people never reached police or district attorneys. Cuomo protected that system, the group claims, first as attorney general and then as governor.
The foundation also cites state data and a study on the State of Massachusetts website called Prevalence of Violence. Taken together, it says, they suggest that about one third of residents in the OPWDD system may be sexually assaulted each year. The system serves 126,000 children and adults, and many of them cannot speak. That would mean up to 43,000 victims a year.
The group says Cuomo knows about these abuses yet has protected most of those involved. It wants him investigated and criminally charged. It also demands that mandated reporters call 911 at once. That rule should cover all sexual abuse, all other crimes and all medical emergencies.
Michael Carey leads the foundation, which is named after his son Jonathan. Jonathan was disabled, had autism and could not speak. He was 13 when his caregivers killed him, in a death the foundation calls preventable. The group asks for donations to support what it calls a civil rights movement for disabled people and their families. In its view, their mistreatment is a problem around the world.