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Part 2: Criminal neglect, overlooked cruelty
Rotten food, violence and suspicious deaths - and state regulators failed to see it.
Clifford Fake moved Bruzda to the shower, where he collapsed and died.
Later that day, the home sent a mandatory "unusual incident report" to the welfare department, saying Bruzda had died of a heart attack - but leaving out the fall.
According to Dipalo, Fake also told Remlinger, if asked, to say Bruzda had a heart attack and fell down the stairs.
Three months later, another resident, Kathryn Fritz, died - again, in unnecessary agony.
When authorities exhumed her body under court order, they determined that she had died of diverticulitis, a painful bowel condition that develops over time.
Tina Fake had told paramedics that Fritz, 79, suffered a sudden stomach pain.
Lucinda Dietz told authorities - and The Inquirer - that Fritz had been complaining for months about digestive problems. She had requested prune juice, bran cereal and laxatives. Tina Fake had refused.
"She would say, 'If I give you special cereal, I'll have to give everybody else special cereal,' " Dietz recalled.
A week before her death, Fritz complained to Fake of constipation and stomach pain, another witness told the detective. "It's all in her mind," Fake was quoted as saying.
On Feb. 8, 2004, Fake finally sent Fritz to the hospital after two employees said Fritz "was very pale and her pulse was low." She died the next day.
The home faxed an incident report to the welfare department saying Fritz had resisted going to the hospital.
More warnings
In April 2004, the welfare department got another warning about Reaching Out - this time an anonymous call describing in detail the Bruzda and Fritz deaths.
The caller also said Tina Fake had for four days denied medical attention for Dietz, who broke an ankle in February.
Wilson-Rulli visited the home April 9 to investigate. She reviewed the home's records and interviewed Tina Fake, her staff and residents.
Residents say they were afraid to tell the truth.
Whenever an outsider would speak to them, "Tina would sit right there in the room with us," said John Bauer, 52.
Wilson-Rulli's report indicates no attempt to find Dietz, who had left the home, or contact the hospitals where Bruzda and Fritz had died.
She and supervisor Alan Owens accepted Tina Fake's assertions, finding no violations.
"All the residents said that they have always been treated with dignity and respect," her report says.
