A Department of Mental Health investigation into allegations of sexual abuse towards developmentally disabled consumers in the care of Enrichment Services, Inc., has been closed, according to a statement from the department.
In an email to The Salem News dated June 10, Debra Walker, with the DMH office of public and legislative affairs, wrote, "The investigation was unsubstantiated; therefore, the findings remain a closed record.”
According to Missouri Revised Statute 630.167 if a DMH investigation is found to be substantiated, those findings are available to be released. If the investigation is found to be unsubstantiated, it can be a closed record.
During a phone conversation with Walker, she said she did not know what the subject of the investigation was, but that it had to do with a charge of abuse and neglect. Walker stated she did not know whether the focus of the investigation was to determine if consumers at ESI had been present at adult venues such as strip clubs and erotic stores, or if there had been alleged abuse due to their presence at those places.
Walker stated that the investigation was handled by either the Department of Mental Health’s Southwest or East Region investigation unit. Requests for information from those investigation units were forwarded to Walker’s office. Walker stated in an email dated Monday to The Salem News that the investigation unit would not comment or provide information.
When asked specifically if ESI staff taking consumers to adult venues would be classified as abuse according to CSR 9 10-5.200, Walker said repeatedly the investigation was unsubstantiated and the information a matter of closed record.
Requests to speak with other staff members of the Department of Mental Health were all referred back to Walker.
On at least nine occasions in 2012 paid staff at Enrichment Services, Inc., took developmentally disabled consumers to Big Louie’s in St. Robert, the Pleasure Zone in Rolla, and Harrah’s Casino in St. Louis, according to monthly logs completed by ESI staff and obtained from a public records request to the Dent County Developmental Disabilities Board, also known as the SB40 board.
ESI, through its lawyer, turned down a public records request from The Salem News for similar documents, ESI financial records and a current list of ESI board members.
The documents obtained from the SB40 board through the public records request show that while being paid, ESI staff played slot machines, observed exotic dancers, purchased sex toys for consumers and instructed them on how to use them. In one instance staff purchased a lap dance at Big Louie’s for a consumer. Names of consumers were not included in the documents.
ESI, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is administered by Benita Watson, and is primarily funded through tax dollars. ESI also has a board of directors. Vicki Wood, ESI board president, confirmed in a news story April 16 that consumers were taken on the trips to adult venues.
These incidents were reported to DMH via an anonymous hotline call, according to the records.
Missouri Code of State Regulation 9 10-5.200 states that sexual abuse includes “promoting for sexual purpose any activity or performance involving consumers, including any play, motion picture, photography, dance, or other visual or written representation.”
The parents of a consumer who was taken to one of the venues came to The Salem News office after the April 16 article about the trips to Big Louie’s, The Pleasure Zone and Harrah’s Casino. The parents said they were mad about their developmentally disabled adult child being exposed to adult venues and material. They said Dent County Public Administrator Jim Kotschedoff has guardianship of their child, and they had already seen him to discuss what they called “anger” over the incident. They also said that they would seek guardianship.
When contacted by The Salem News Monday, one of the parents said that when their child called and told them of the adult outings and purchases, the child was verbally disciplined.
“They (ESI staff) yell at (the consumer) when (the consumer) has complaints, or if (the consumer) tells us what is going on,” the parent said.
The parent said they also contacted the Department of Mental Health to voice their concerns.
The names of the parents and adult child have been withheld from this story because The Salem News does not report the identities of possible abuse victims.
Philip Giacomelli, chairman of the SB40 board, said SB40 would not comment on the results of the DMH investigation due to the reception they got after the publication of The Salem News article April 16, when SB40 produced documentation through a public records request that detailed the trips some ESI consumers took to adult venues.
“My reluctance to comment is because of heat endured over something (SB40) did not do. We were just trying to be the good guys,” Giacomelli said.
Kotschedoff is the guardian for five of the six consumers that were taken to the adult venues. In a written statement issued April 29, Kotschedoff stated that he does not believe these trips were appropriate. He took office in January, after the visits took place.
“The people that I hold guardianship for do not need to be participating in these activities,” he wrote.
Walker was asked by The Salem News if there was any external oversight for the department of mental health or its investigations. Initially, she said she did not know, but in a follow up email dated June 17, she wrote “there is no other agency that oversees DMH investigations.”
There was also an investigation launched at the beginning of February by Jennifer O’Day, director of the Rolla Regional Office of the Department of Mental Health.
“After thoroughly reviewing the inquiry report, I have found insufficient evidence to substantiate any abuse or neglect,” O’Day wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to Watson, one of the documents obtained through the public records request and reported in The April 16 edition of The Salem News.
