Nolan Clay
09/16/2000
A former administrator of the Choctaw Living Center is claiming her boss wanted her to hire out-of-work renters from his trailer park for jobs caring for mentally retarded patients.
"I did hire some," former administrator Treva Millarr testified in a lawsuit a former patient has filed against the troubled center and its receiver, Randy Goodman.
The center was closed a week ago by the Oklahoma Health Department after a resident was choked to death by a belt. A longtime resident, Jerome Vaught, was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder.
Health inspectors criticized the center Sept. 7 for having untrained staff. The issue of poor care also is at the heart of the 1999 lawsuit.
"He had a trailer park, and if he had someone that wasn't paying... for their stay, he would send them for us to interview for direct care staff," Millarr testified in a July deposition.
She recalled she personally was asked three or four times to hire out-of-work tenants from the trailer park. She said they also could have applied to do housekeeping, laundry or kitchen work.
She said she didn't always hire the tenants, and those who were hired never worked long. "They didn't stay for whatever reason," she said.
She recalled Goodman questioned her about one rejection. "He asked me why I wouldn't hire them and informed me that he had personally sent them and he wanted to know why they didn't get a job," she testified.
"I told him that I didn't care if the president's name was on there. If they didn't have references for me to check, I wasn't going to hire them."
Goodman, a Midwest City attorney, was out of state Friday. His attorneys declined comment.
He has had oversight of Choctaw Living Center since June 30, 1998, as a court-appointed receiver for Bank One Trust Co.
Suing is Pam Arinwine, 35, a former resident who is severely retarded and has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old. She had lived at the center since 1987 until her removal after Christmas.
Her legal guardian, Helen James, alleges Arinwine was physically and sexually abused at the center on more than one occasion. She blames the center and Goodwin for failing to provide "a reasonable degree of care and supervision."
The focus of the lawsuit is on why Arinwine was found beaten and alone in the center's gym at 10:40 p.m. June 2, 1999. She was saying, "Scared" - one of the few words she knows.
A trial is set for Sept. 25 in Oklahoma County District Court.
Representing the former patient is attorney Jeff Marr. He said Millarr's claims will "be a pretty big deal" in the trial.
"He's recruiting people from his trailer park to come work there. Why? So he can put money in his pocket," Marr said.
Millarr has had her administrator's license suspended for a year because of problems at Choctaw Living Center. She left April 14 at Goodman's insistence.
She said Goodman once threatened to keep her from ever working in the industry again if she harmed him in any way. Millarr testified, "He told me that he had connections with the Health Department, that there were people there that liked him a lot.
"He mentioned Brent VanMeter - that Brent liked him a lot. They had a good relationship."
VanMeter, a deputy health commissioner, was fired May 4, two days after FBI agents arrested him during an investigation of favoritism in the regulation of nursing homes.
VanMeter is accused of soliciting a bribe from Wewoka nursing home owner Jim Smart. Their federal bribery trial is set for Oct. 10.
© The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and its subsidiary, Connect Oklahoma Inc.
Article may be downloaded for personal use or research but not for distribution.
PHOTOS may not be downloaded without written permission from The Oklahoma Publishing Co.