Woods Services worker held for trial in client's death in van

"I didn't leave any [expletive] kid in the car!"

According to a former colleague, those were among the words Stacey Strauss uttered the night of July 24.

They came shortly after Strauss, a residential counselor at Woods Services in Bucks County, was told by phone at home that the severely autistic man in her care that day had been found dead in the locked and superheated van that Strauss had last driven.

In the same conversation, Strauss insisted that she left 20-year-old Bryan Nevins in the care of another worker after they returned from an aborted outing to nearby Sesame Place, Woods Services worker Larry Holliday testified Thursday.

Nevins' body was found late that afternoon in the rear of the van, five hours after the Philadelphia woman allegedly left him. He died of hyperthermia on a day when the temperature reached 97 degrees in Philadelphia.

After the two-hour preliminary hearing in Penndel, District Justice Daniel Baranoski ordered Strauss, 40, held for trial on a felony charge of neglecting a care-dependent person, and misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person.

Strauss' statements, prosecutors say, show her efforts to avoid blame for Nevins' death. His body was discovered more than two hours after Strauss' shift ended.

Nevins, who, police said, functioned at the level of a toddler, was unable to unlock the van or get out by himself.

Strauss' attorney, Robert Lynch, said the death was "horrific" and "tragic," but not a criminal matter because it was accidental and Strauss had no intent to harm Nevins.

Prosecutor Robert James said the death "was avoidable if she was doing her job. She was getting paid to make sure Bryan Nevins got back to his residence. He didn't, and she was solely responsible."

Strauss and another counselor had been assigned to take Nevins and three other residents to Sesame Place. Lynch has questioned whether Strauss was specifically put in charge of Nevins.

Three Woods Services workers - Holliday, program supervisor Michelle Bova, and Gerald Douglas, who went on the trip - testified that they had been present when Bova assigned Strauss to Nevins.

Strauss drove the van to the park, witnesses said, but the group had been there only for minutes when Nevins started biting himself and trying to bite others. Douglas said his hand had been scratched by Nevins, drawing blood.

Bova said that Strauss had phoned her for advice, and that Bova had told them to return to the Woods Services campus. After a stop to eat at McDonald's, the van pulled in about 12:30 p.m.

Douglas said he had gotten out and escorted his two clients to their building. He said Strauss had driven the van toward the residences of Nevins and the fourth client, who was returned safely.

What happened after that is not clear.

Bova - who lost her composure and cried when shown a photo of Nevins - said he was never supposed to be more than an arm's length from a caretaker when out of his residence.

Bova said she had seen Douglas at 1:30 p.m. when he submitted his report on the incident at Sesame Place, but had not seen Strauss until about 3 p.m., when her shift ended. Bova said she had not checked on Nevins immediately because "I was dealing with another issue at that time."

Bova said she had been en route to Nevins' building on her normal rounds around 2 p.m. when another incident diverted her.

Vladimir Dubuc, a counselor working in Nevins' building, testified that he had grown concerned when Nevins had not returned by 3 p.m.

Lynch labeled the lack of accounting for Nevins "a systemwide failure" shared by all Woods workers that day.

After Nevins' death, the state Department of Public Welfare, citing "gross incompetence and misconduct," closed the unit where Nevins lived, and banned the facility from accepting new residents.

DPW spokesman Michael Race said that the unit remained closed but that the admissions ban had been lifted this month, subject to DPW screening of all admissions.