The Awareness Center is The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)

Case of the New York Society for the Deaf - Group Home

New York City, NY

Accused of treating disabled patients ``like animals,'' beaten, drugged and robbed of their government checks..

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Table of Contents:

1. $12 million lawsuit against a home for the deaf (08/1997)

2. NYSD Sued by Former Home Director (09/10/1997)

Also see:  

1. The Awareness Center's Brochure  

2. Rabbis, Cantors and Other Trusted Officials

3. Offenders: Problems Our Parents Wouldn't Speak Of

4. Recidivism of Sex Offenders  (U.S. Department of Justice: Center for Sex Offender Management)

The Associated Press - August, 1997

http://members.tripod.com/~deafwatch/aug97.txt

NEW YORK (AP) - An attorney in a $12 million lawsuit against a home for the deaf says mentally disabled patients were treated ``like animals,'' beaten, drugged and robbed of their government checks.

Caroline Torge, 28, a former director of the home on Manhattan's Lower East Side, on Tuesday sued the New York Society for the Deaf, which runs the home.

Residents were roughed up, even bruised, as workers tried to intimidate them, Torge said. Many were drugged to make them easier to supervise, she said.

The residents also were allowed to sexually abuse each other, she said, and one even molested a 2-year-old child in a public laundromat. The allegations outlined by Torge and her attorney, Allen Rich, involve six deaf patients with mental disabilities.

Pearl Johnson, the society's executive director, said she was aware of the lawsuit but would have no comment until she read it.

The patients, some with a vocabulary of only a few words, also were robbed of their Social Security benefits, Rich said. The society ``was treating these deaf and developmentally disabled people like animals,'' he said.

Torge was hired in March 1995 and became director a few months later. She said she reported the alleged abuses to her boss, but was told to keep quiet and not tell authorities.

She said she later told state authorities about the alleged abuses and of fraudulent billing practices. Torge said she left her job in January 1996 after being demoted and asked to take a pay cut.

Torge is seeking the money because she believes she was forced out of a job for trying to help the patients, Rich said.

The not-for-profit home is a beneficiary of funds from the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies as well as other private and government money. The home serves at least 60 other deaf residents who are not mentally disabled.

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Jewish Deaf Tidbits - September 10, 1997

http://www.jdcc.org/sepoct97/tidbits.htm

Caroline Torge, 28, former director of New York Society for the Deaf's home serving deaf residents, is accusing the home that mentally disabled patients were treated "like animals", beaten, drugged and robbed of their Social Security benefits. In a $12 million lawsuit filed in July, Torge also claims of sexual abuse and molestation and that she had reported the alleged abuses to her boss but was told to keep quiet and not tell authorities. She subsequently told state authorities about the alleged abuses and of fraudulent billing practices and was demoted. Allen Rich, her attorney, outlined the allegations in the lawsuit which involves six deaf patients with mental disabilities. NYSD executive director Pearl Johnson reportedly said she was aware of, but would not comment on, the lawsuit. The home, located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, receives funds from United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and other private and government money.

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Last Updated:  01/08/2002

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