Pa. rules LI teen had no sexual contact at facility

Pennsylvania authorities have ruled that a developmentally disabled Freeport teen did not have sexual contact in the bathroom of a residential facility for people with special needs.

An investigation and the finding by the state Department of Public Welfare came after the mother of the 17-year-old reported her daughter had sexual contact with a male in a bathroom at Woods Services in Langhorne, Pa.

Pennsylvania officials said Friday the teen's account didn't add up. "There was not substantial evidence and consistency in the facts that we were told," said Michael Race, spokesman for the public welfare department in Harrisburg. "We investigated it and found it to be unfounded."

Still, Melville attorney Kenneth Mollins, who represents the teen's mother, Friday criticized the investigation as not thorough enough.

"Their investigation was incomplete because they never interviewed my client, never spoke to my client's mother and they never spoke to me," he said. "So, apparently, they relied solely on what the school told them." Mollins said the 17-year-old girl has the mentality of an 11-year-old.

Woods Services officials declined to comment.

The allegation of sexual contact was made in May, and the facility has also come under scrutiny after the deaths of two autistic Long Island young men. One ran away from Woods and was killed when struck by cars. The other died after he was left locked in a very hot van for several hours.

Their deaths prompted Nassau and Suffolk officials to transfer Long Island residents who were being treated at Woods to other facilities.

The Pennsylvania DPW found Woods Services was not at fault in the Oct. 31, 2009, death of Robert Percaro, 17, of Coram, killed after he ran out of the facility and was struck by several vehicles on a highway after climbing onto an overpass and falling into traffic.

The July 24 death of Bryan Nevins, 20, of Oceanside, though, prompted the department to revoke Woods' license and bar it from accepting new clients. A Woods Services staff member faces involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Nevins, who had lived at the home for six years.

Nassau Department of Social Services spokesman Karen Garber said one of the two people who her agency placed at Woods has since been transferred to a New York facility and the other will be placed in a New York facility on Tuesday.

Dennis Nowak, spokesman for Suffolk's Department of Social Services, said two of the eight Suffolk residents at Woods have been moved to New York facilities. Two others are scheduled to be moved by the middle of this month, and the remaining four have not yet been matched with new homes.