Five Lackawanna County child protection workers charged with endangering eight children, investigators charge
Jun. 27—Five current and retired Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services staffers endangered eight children by ignoring their bug-infested, feces-filled homes, lack of food, medical care and schooling, reports of physical and sexual abuse, injuries, missed medical appointments and school attendance and pleas for help, authorities charged Tuesday.
Charged are:
Amy Helcoski, 50, of Scranton, a county employee since Nov. 6, 2013, who earns $47,432 annually as a caseworker.
Erik Krauser, 45, of Dickson City, a county employee since May 30, 2007, who earns $51,631 annually as a caseworker.
Sadie Coyne (O'Day), 34, of Scranton, a county employee since Nov. 3, 2011, who earns $64,590 annually as a casework supervisor.
Randy Ramik, 57, of Clarks Green, a retired caseworker who started Aug. 30, 2021.
Bryan Walker, 51, , of Archbald, a county employee since Sept. 21, 2005, who earns $63,451 annually as a casework supervisor.
Each is charged with three felony counts of endangering the welfare of children and three felony counts of failure to report or refer except Coyne, who faces five counts on each charge. Helcoski, Krauser, Coyne and Walker are on paid administrative leave.
In each of the three cases Scranton police and county detectives investigated, hoarded dogs, cats or both, had the run of homes, spreading feces and urine everywhere, even where children slept and on their clothing.
Neighbors, landlords, building managers, police officers, firefighters, animal control officers, housing inspectors, family members and social workers complained to the Office of Youth and Family Services, whose caseworkers regularly allowed the children to keep living with their mothers, despite conditions they witnessed, investigators found.
Investigators say the office's failures led to:
A 9-year-old boy attending a Scranton school in pull-up diapers because no one ever toilet trained him. Finally placed with a foster family, the boy was toilet trained in three days.
Children forced to clean the Scranton home where their mother died a day earlier in October.
The recommendation to turn custody of a 13-year-old girl over to her father, whom she accused of sexually abusing her, a fact readily available in an office file.
Children playing barefoot or in shorts in snow.
A home with electrical outlets that didn't work because animals urinated on them so often.
One mother and her children were driven out of four homes because of the deplorable conditions she allowed, causing Scranton housing inspectors to condemn each.
"Supervisors and caseworkers at the Office of Youth and Family Services have a duty and obligation under the law to protect vulnerable children and remove them from dangerous situations," District Attorney Mark Powell said in a statement. "What happened to the children in these cases ... is heartbreaking and unacceptable."
County Commissioner Chris Chermak said the arrests surprised him, but declined to comment further. He said county solicitor Frank Ruggiero is reviewing the matter and will advise the commissioners.
"What is most important right now is that we make sure all involved children are kept safe and that we implement a plan to move forward at OYFS to provide appropriate services to those in need," Chermak said in a text.
Commissioner Debi Domenick declined to comment. Attempts to obtain comments from Commissioner Jerry Notarianni and county Director of Health and Human Services William Browning were unsuccessful.
Magisterial District Judge Laura Turlip released the five defendants on $20,000 unsecured bail. She scheduled their preliminary hearings for July 25.
During arraignments, several defendants raised concerns over police treatment after their arrests. Turlip expressed puzzlement over why they were first taken to Scranton Police Headquarters rather than the county booking center.
"(It is) Five after two (in the afternoon), they've been in custody since 10:30 a.m.," Ruggiero said in Turlip's courtroom. "Think about it."
Ruggiero stood next to Walker and Coyne as they were arraigned. Both said police tried to question them without reading them their Miranda rights.
Walker said he did not know the charges against him.
"They said they'd go over it with me if I speak with them," Walker said.
Ramik said he asked investigators three times for a chance to call his lawyer, but was told he had to wait. Turlip briefly delayed his arraignment until his attorney Jack Price arrived.
Attorney David Solfanelli, Helcoski's lawyer, said he sat for two hours at the Police Department without a chance to see his client.
Assistant District Attorney Kim Moraski shot back that Helcoski needed to invoke her right to counsel.
"No rights were violated," Moraski said.
"I tend to disagree," Solfanelli replied.
The tense proceeding prompted a conference call among defense lawyers, Ruggiero, Powell and Turlip.
Powell said the defendants can raise their issues "at the appropriate time" as the case proceeds.
"Tell me how this impacts an arraignment," Powell said.
Attorney Chris Caputo, representing the Office of Youth and Family Services, wanted to raise the issues to establish a record.
Of the five, only Krauser's arraignment proceeded without contention. Rather than be arrested at work, Krauser surrendered himself to his attorney, Terry McDonald. Together, they went to the county Criminal Justice Center to face the charges. McDonald argued his client has a "stellar reputation" and is "ready to defend himself."
The longstanding nature of the cases undermined recent statements by Browning. After the state Department of Human Services downgraded the office's license Friday from full to provisional for six months, Browning blamed a staffing shortage of about 40 people. In his response to the state's inspection, he said the shortage was exacerbated by an "ethically challenged and legally questionable" police investigation.
Powell brought that up in his statement Tuesday.
"The children in these cases didn't fall through the cracks because OYFS was understaffed," he said. "These cases were on the agency's radar for a long time, and caseworkers did respond, many times. The defendants in these cases heard the cries for help over and over and over ... and instead of coming to the rescue, they chose to walk away. Then, in some cases, they falsified reports to make it seem like everything was okay when they knew it wasn't."
He said the investigation into the office continues. Anyone with information should call Scranton police at 570-348-4130 or his office at 570- 963-6717.
The investigation began last year. In November, police seized a hard drive from the office after finding a woman dead in a Pine Brook apartment and her three juvenile children living in filth. A month later, police obtained search warrants to investigate two more instances of children living in homes strewn with animal feces and trash.
In one of the cases, nonprofit organizations, including United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, raised concerns about the welfare of children. In 2015, UNC requested a meeting with the Office of Youth and Family services after a mother returned food from the pantry.
"In general, I just think no one is winning right now," UNC President and CEO Lisa Durkin said Tuesday. "Families weren't getting the best services. The administration is struggling to staff the programs. ... Everybody is hurting."
Sarah Hofius Hall, staff writer, contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.
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