Missouri caregiver gets 17.5 years for death of disabled, abused man found in concrete
09/01/2020 2:13 pm PDT
via KTVI:
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KTVI/AP) -- Sherry Paulo, the Missouri woman who prosecutors say was the “most culpable” in the death of a developmentally disabled man, has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison on federal charges.
Carl DeBrodie's body was found encased in concrete at a Fulton storage facility in April 2017 but investigators determined he died months earlier. He was a resident of a home for developmentally disabled people that Paulo helped operate. Paulo's husband and two children also were charged in his death.
Paulo was sentenced Tuesday in the U.S. District Court's Western District of Missouri in Jefferson City, receiving the maximum sentence provided in her plea agreement, the Fulton Sun reports.
The Columbia Missourian reported in 2018 DeBrodie was found dead after he had a seizure and was left to die in a bathtub, according to court documents.
Employees at Second Chance Homes, where DeBrodie lived, had forced him to fight other residents, according to court documents, the Missourian reported.
DeBrodie was reported missing April 17, 2017, and his remains were found six days later encased in concrete in a Fulton storage unit, though an investigation determined he had actually died in 2016.
The Fulton Sun reports DeBrodie died after months of abuse and neglect, including having his medication withheld and being confined to an unfinished basement room in Paulo's personal home that had no running water, sunlight or fresh air.
Paulo told police she watched DeBrodie stop breathing but, despite knowing CPR and first aid, she did not attempt to resuscitate him, nor did she seek medical help.
Paulo pleaded guilty in November to one count of depriving DeBrodie of his civil rights and one count of health care fraud.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Paulo also was ordered to pay the government $106,795 for Medicaid claims.
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