KANSAS CITY (AP) — The woman who federal prosecutors said was “most culpable” in the death of a developmentally disabled Missouri man was sentenced Tuesday to 17 1/2 years in prison on federal charges.
Prosecutors said Sherry Paulo led a scheme that caused the death of Carl DeBrodie in Fulton and then persuaded others to help cover up his death.
DeBrodie was a developmentally disabled resident of Second Chance Homes of Fulton when he was reported missing in April 2017. His remains were found a week later in a storage shed in Fulton but investigators determined he had died months earlier.
During the sentencing hearing Tuesday, federal attorney Julia Gegenheimer said Paulo was “the most culpable person” in the events leading to DeBrodie’s death, The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported.
U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes said Paulo’s case is “one of the most deplorable, depraved and disturbing” he has heard.
He told Paulo that DeBrodie “had the misfortune of being placed with you” and said her sentence was “specific deterrence” to ensure she can never do something like it again.
Paulo’s husband and their two children also have pleaded guilty to federal charges in DeBrodie’s death. Paulo and her husband, Anthony Flores, still face state charges in the case.
They all worked at Second Chance Homes in Fulton when DeBrodie was a resident there. Federal prosecutors said DeBrodie died after months of abuse and being confined to a dark room in Paulo’s house with no running water or fresh air.
He also was not given medication or treatment for his illnesses for months before he died. Paulo told police she watched DeBrodie stop breathing but did not attempt to help him or call for medical help.
She pleaded guilty in November to willfully failing to provide necessary medical care and health care fraud for continuing to submit Medicaid claims after DeBrodie died. Paulo also was ordered to pay the government $106,795 for the Medicaid claims.
-------
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman should receive the maximum sentence possible for directing a plan to hide the death of a developmentally disabled man whose body was found encased in concrete, a federal prosecutor said in court filings.
Sherry Paulo, of Fulton, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on federal charges of health care fraud and failing to provide medical care to Carl DeBrodie, 31, whose body was found in a storage unit in Fulton in April 2017. Investigators believe he died months earlier.
The maximum sentence on those charges is 17.5 years in prison.
Paulo’s husband, Anthony Flores; their daughter, Mary Paulo; and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, have also pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case.
Sherry Paulo and Anthony Flores still face state charges, including first-degree involuntary manslaughter and abandonment of a corpse.
All four family members worked at Second Chance Homes in Fulton, a home for developmentally disabled residents where DeBrodie lived.
Federal prosecutor Lucinda Woolery wrote in a court memo filed Aug. 21 that Sherry Paulo was a “controlling matriarch” and the family followed her orders in the family and at work.
Paulo withheld medications from DeBrodie beginning in 2015 and did not take him to a doctor from December 2015 until his death, Woolery wrote. She moved him to her home in September 2016 because his condition was so bad “he would lie in bed howling,” according to the memo.
DeBrodie spent his last days in a small basement room with no access to running water, sunlight, or fresh air, according to the memo.
Paulo and her husband each told police that they eventually asked DeBrodie’s housemate to carry him to an upstairs bathroom and place him under running water. Paulo said she watched DeBrodie stop breathing but neither she nor her husband provided medical aid or called for help, according to memo.
Instead, DeBrodie was left in the bathtub until the smell grew too strong.
In her plea agreement, Mary Paulo admitted to helping Sherry Paulo place DeBrodie into a trash can, which was loaded into a wooden crate and filled with concrete. Sherry Paulo, her husband and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, took the crate to a storage unit, Anthony R.K. Flores admitted in his plea agreement.
The Callaway County medical examiner’s office was unable to determine an exact cause of death but ruled his death a homicide.
Between September 2016 and April 2017, Sherry Paulo lied about DeBrodie’s whereabouts and filed daily reports on his activities. She also submitted false Medicaid claims worth $106,795, Woolery wrote.
Paulo reported DeBrodie missing in April 2017 when Second Chance Homes was about to be taken over by another company. She also told family members to lie to police by saying they saw DeBrodie at a family Easter celebration on April 16, 2017.
Ultimately, an interview with DeBrodie’s housemate led police to his body, the sentencing memo states.
DeBrodie’s aunt, Carol Samson, said in a victim impact statement that his mother and stepfather both died this year. She asked that all the defendants be given maximum sentences and not ever be given access to vulnerable people again.
Paulo’s attorney, Christopher Slusher, filed a sentencing memorandum Tuesday, but it is sealed.