Pair indicted in abuse of 3 disabled women

Two women have been indicted on charges of mistreating and abusing three residents at a state-licensed home for disabled adults. One 28-year-old victim died after she was removed from the facility, emaciated and unable to speak or walk.

Debra Sloan, 55, of Bloomsbury, and Bridget Grimes, 52, of Phillipsburg, were named in a 17-count indictment handed up Thursday in Flemington. Sloan was a licensed community care provider and the women lived in her home, an arrangement similar to foster care. Grimes was a habilitation plan coordinator with the state Division of Developmental Disabilities.

The incidents occurred between April 25, 2002, and Sept. 11, 2008, according to the document. The indictment gives a glimpse of the life endured by Tara O'Leary, Erin Germaine and Lydia Joy Perry: O'Leary and Germaine were malnourished, confined to their rooms and beds, and were denied proper medical treatment. The women allegedly exploited Perry by forcing her to be O'Leary's caregiver.

O'Leary dropped to 48 pounds, relatives said last year when they took her case public. She died at Hunterdon Medical Center on Nov. 10, 2008, two months after the state Division of Developmental Disabilities removed the women from the home.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office and the state Department of Health and Human Services launched investigations. The agency probe started Sept. 12, 2008, immediately after hearing two of the residents had lost about half of their body weight, Commissioner Jennifer Velez said in a statement yesterday.

"These indictments reaffirm our internal investigation findings, which substantiated neglect and abuse in the care provided to the three individuals that were living in the provider's home," Velez said. The agency revealed its findings to the families and the prosecution.

Sloan was licensed to provide community care in June 1980 until she was suspended Sept. 16, 2008, said Ellen Lovejoy, a spokeswoman with human services.

She received $4,299.75 a month, or $51,597 annually from the division, Lovejoy said.

Grimes is a caseworker first hired on Sept. 10, 2001. Her salary was $64,854.95, but she was suspended with pay from Nov. 21, 2008, until Dec. 7, 2008. She was suspended without pay Dec. 8, 2008.

Disciplinary action is also pending against a principal community program specialist, who in started in 1985, Lovejoy said.

After the incidents, the state reviewed similar homes around New Jersey.

"To ensure that each of the 1,255 individuals living in more than 600 community care residences statewide are living in safe environments, each person was visited by case-managers and then revisited by an alternate case-manager with supervisory support to confirm their safety and well being," Velez said. "We've done this twice in 12 months."

Jennifer Golson may be reached at jgolson@starledger.com.