They are accused of encouraging brawls
By Mary Ann Cavazos (Contact)
Originally published 05:37 p.m., May 7, 2009
Updated 10:54 p.m., May 7, 2009
CORPUS CHRISTI — A grand jury indicted six former state school employees on felony charges, accusing them of staging fight club-style brawls between residents.
D’Angelo Riley, 22; Jesse Salazar, 25; Guadalupe Delarosa Jr., 22; Vincent Johnson, 22; and Timothy Dixon, 30; all were indicted Thursday on injury to a disabled person, a third-degree felony. Stephanie Garza, 21, faces the same charge but as a state jail felony.
“These indictments are a step in the right direction for the residents and their families...” state Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, said in a news release.
“I hope this can begin the healing process for the victims, their families and our state school community so that we can fulfill our responsibility to provide the utmost quality care and living environment for the most vulnerable population in Texas.”
Arrest warrants were issued March 12 for the six after a cell phone was turned over to authorities showing employees at the school encouraging and videotaping residents with mental disabilities punching, wrestling and choking one another.
Riley, Salazar and DelaRosa were indicted on three counts. They are accused of causing one resident to hit and injure another resident during a Jan. 12, 2008, fight. In an April 17, 2008, fight they are accused of causing a resident to injure another by striking the resident and pushing him against a wall, the indictment reads.
Dixon was indicted on four counts in connection with three fights on Jan. 12, Jan. 24 and April 17 in which residents were injured.
Johnson was indicted on one count in a Jan. 24, 2008, fight in which a resident was injured by another resident.
Garza is accused of watching an April 17, 2008, fight and failing to intervene.
All six defendants already have been arrested. As of late Thursday, only Riley remained jailed on $30,000 bond.
Also on Thursday, District Judge Jose Longoria ordered the city to turn over four videos of the fights to lawyers for the mother of a former state school resident who has sued the Department of Aging and Disability Services.
Those videos were shown in open court during a bond hearing for one of the defendants.
The suit says the adult son was among those residents made to fight and alleges negligence and includes claims that the department failed to protect the residents and properly screen and supervise the employees.
Contact Mary Ann Cavazos
at 886-3623 or cavazosm@caller.com
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