Bittersweet Justice

With their son’s killer now behind bars, Michael and Lisa Carey find new ways to cope with Jonathan’s death.

By Caitlin Nitz

Three years ago, Michael and Lisa Carey rescued their 9-year-old, autistic son from a private school in New York after weeks of alleged unreported neglect and abuse. Three months ago, they celebrated the public signing of Jonathan’s Law in New York State.

Three weeks ago, as the Carey family sat at the trial of the man who killed Jonathan, the abuse at the Anderson School felt like a distant bad dream. The victory of Jonathan’s Law felt bittersweet, since their son was no longer with them.

Last February, on an outing from the state-run O.D. Heck Development Center, Jonathan, who was only 13 years old and weighed under 100 pounds, suffocated to death when his aid sat on him in the back of a van in an attempt to restrain him. The aid, Edwin Tirado, and the driver of the van, Nadeem Mall, continued to run errands for 90 minutes with the dead body in the back of the car before seeking help. Both men were charged with manslaughter in Jonathan’s death this past summer. Nadeem Mall accepted a plea deal last July and is currently serving a six-month term for criminally negligent homicide. Tirado did not accept the deal and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Tirado shouldn’t have gone to trial. He should have taken the plea deal but instead has put us through more pain and sorrow. There was so much evidence against them at the trial, they were almost confessions,” said Michael Carey in an interview a week after Tirado’s conviction.

Mall testified at the trial, alleging Tirado wanted to cover up his actions by suggesting the two men return to the school and pretend that they were not aware the boy had stopped breathing. Mall claimed that Tirado was indeed aware that he might have killed the boy but wanted to continue running errands anyway.

In a statement to police the day after Jonathan’s death, Tirado said, “we were afraid of losing our jobs and going to jail over the incident. That is why we didn’t call anyone for help. We should have called someone for help.”

Tirado’s attorney, Brian Donohue, told jurors that his client was exhausted from working double shifts and questioned the accuracy of Tirado’s original police statements. The defense claimed that Tirado had to intervene when Jonathan Carey attacked the van’s other passenger, a 16-year-old boy. Donohue called the whole thing a “tragic, tragic accident.”

On the stand, Tirado testified, “I did not kill Jonathan Carey.” The jury, however, did not agree. On October 10, after four hours of jury deliberation, Edwin Tirado was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Jonathan Carey. He now faces 5 to 15 years in jail when he is sentenced on December 14.

“It was very emotional. We are tremendously relieved. We wish we didn’t have to go through it,” said Michael Carey about the trial.

Michael and Lisa Carey received the horrible news of their son’s death last February while on vacation hundreds of miles away from home. Using a payphone to check in at work, the Careys fell to the sidewalk in grief when they heard the tragic news. They quickly transformed that grief into hope and positive change. Through all the hardships the Carey family has endured, they haven’t stopped for a moment to feel sorry for themselves. A family of faith and activism, they continue to look forward and continue to fight for the rights of the disadvantaged.

“I could hardly even think about buying and selling cars anymore after Jonathan’s death,” Michael Carey says. “Lisa and I both felt strongly that we were to devote full time to advocating for vulnerable children.” Their former family business, Solo Auto Sales, a car dealership in Delmar, N.Y., now has only one car left on the lot. The Careys are in the process of turning the garage bays into offices and converting the property into the headquarters of the Jonathan Carey Foundation. “We’re going to hire a secretary soon,” Michael Carey says.

With the mission to raise awareness and advocate for the most vulnerable of children, the Jonathan Carey Foundation will raise funds, give support and enact change. “Both Lisa and I believe that the knowledge and insight that we have is meant to help bring about necessary changes to the extremely dangerous mental health care system,” says Michael Carey.

The Jonathan Carey Foundation is only a few months old but has already taken numerous calls and emails from families asking for help with what Lisa Carey calls “disturbing situations.” Already the foundation sees patterns and problem areas developing in the system. The Careys have heard several complaints from families who had relinquished their guardianship of relatives in state care and now find themselves denied visitation rights. “Parents are continually being blocked from seeing loved ones,” explains an exasperated Lisa Carey.

They also cite the over-medication of patients in state institutions as an alarming problem. When asked what kind of people have been contacting the foundation, they mention a state psychologist who was alarmed by the continued over-medication of patients who often fall and injure themselves because they are not lucid enough to stand.
The Careys and many other autism awareness advocates alike seem to have many horror stories of abuse and neglect, both personal and from the people they assist in the community. Too often there are no names involved with these stories—many families are afraid to go public or often just don’t have the energy and resources to fight through the complicated oversight systems.

Mike Smith, the northeast regional director of the Foundation for Autism Information and Research (FAIR) says that he tries to tell parents, “that we are not trying to use your child for journalistic sensationalism but that when abuse happens, we need to let everyone know.” He explains that parents are often “complacent and sometimes have too much on their plates but they need to step up and not let their children be abused or killed.”
Just a few months after Jonathan’s death, the Careys heard of a boy in Florida who died just as Jonathan had—he stopped breathing after being restrained in a van. A resident of the Rainbow Ranch group home, Denis Maltez, was just 12 years old when his life ended on May 23, 2007 during a trip to a flea market.

According to the Miami Herald, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities investigated a claim in January 2007 that Maltez was over-medicated and hospitalized. The complaint was dismissed and no action was taken against the ranch despite evidence that the boy was neglected. From a very young age, Denis was diagnosed with autism, schizophrenia, mild mental retardation, psychosis and depression, and was taking numerous medications including the tranquilizers Seroquel and Zyprexa and the anti-seizure drug Depakote.

David J. Glatt, the owner of the Rainbow Ranch chain, was arrested for impersonating a doctor in 2000. He carried fake business cards, offered diagnoses and dispensed medication. Two years after an 18-month probation during which he was ordered not to take a job in the medical field where prescription drugs were available, he founded Rainbow Ranch.

This past summer, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities accused the operators of the ranches of overmedication, malnutrition and poor supervision of its patients. The three group homes lost their licenses, and the police call the death of Denis a mystery. Six months after his death, autopsy results are still not available. No charges have been filed.

The Jonathan Carey Foundation has offered to go down to Florida and help the family of Denis Maltez “go public,” but so far they have not been willing.

For now, the foundation is mainly focusing on the dissemination of information. “We definitely don’t want to be called lobbyists but want to be seen as concerned parents” explains Lisa Carey. “We are fighting as advocates as the parents of Jonathan but that is very separate from the foundation which will focus on education and awareness,” she adds.

While the family may personally be fighting for Jonathan’s Law to go national, the foundation is simply working to educate parents about their rights under the law in New York State. The Jonathan Carey Foundation will have its first television commercial airing throughout New York in November. It will tell parents how to access their children’s records, including investigative records of alleged abuse. An amendment to Jonathan's Law requires that people submit written requests for investigative records and incident reports retroactive to January 2003, by no later than December 31, 2007.
Under Jonathan’s Law, the Careys obtained Jonathan’s files from the Anderson School where they allege he was abused in 2004. The evidence the state previously denied the family could not be more clear. A letter from the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) to the Anderson School reads: “take immediate action to ensure that no other student is subjected to comparable abuse, neglect and or mistreatment.” The state told the Careys years ago that Jonathan’s mistreatment did not fit their definition of “abuse,” yet they used it in their own communication with the school regarding Jonathan’s case.

“We don’t have all the answers but we want to point people in the right direction,” says Michael Carey. “Lisa and I had no clue how dangerous the current mental health system was until we and Jonathan experienced it.”

The Careys are available for speaking engagements and are hoping to publish a book about Jonathan’s life and death by next year. “Hopefully the book will really raise awareness,” explains Lisa Carey. They plan to hold seminars, conferences and raise money from events such as the first ever Jonathan Carey Foundation walk, which drew over 300 people in upstate New York this fall.

With the men who are responsible for their son’s death behind bars, legislation that carries Jonathan’s name on the books, and the start-up of a non-profit organization, the Carey family has put the nightmare of the past few years behind them.

“We are trying to get more people involved by being a voice, by speaking out,” says Michael Carey. The family is determined to bring life to thousands of children through their son’s tragic death.

The Jonathan Carey Foundation offices will be located at 90 Delaware Avenue in Delmar, N.Y. The phone number is (518) 475-9100. For more information log onoto: jonathancareyfoundation.org.