When Terri Cancilla suspected staff members in the group home she runs were abusing an autistic woman who had recently begun sporting bruises, she called a meeting to ask if anyone was hurting her.

"I said, 'We are not going to tolerate abuse,'" Cancilla, executive director of PLUS Group Home Inc., in Uniondale, said yesterday.

Cancilla had noticed suspicious bruises on the woman, who is unable to communicate her needs, and was giving those responsible a chance to come forward. No one did.

Two weeks later, Cancilla installed a camera in an air conditioning vent in the 50-year-old victim's room to catch the perpetrators in the act.

Two of the employees police say were caught on the tape -- Nelly Gedeon, 20, of Uniondale, and Johny Djhon-Felix, 33, of St. Albans, Queens -- were arrested and charged with endangering an incompetent person and second-degree harassment. Djhon-Felix also was charged with fourth-degree larceny for allegedly stealing the camera after he noticed it. The images were stored on other equipment.

Police said yesterday they are trying to find two other employees identified in the images.

The workers were caught over the course of a week. As Cancilla reviewed the recordings each day and saw the abuse, she called the worker responsible and told that person not to come back.

"As soon as it was seen on the film, they were suspended before their next shift," Cancilla said. All four were later fired.

Yesterday, Cancilla defended her decision to wait a week from the first taped assault to contact police.

"We were trying to conduct our investigation to the fullest," she said. "We wanted to make sure we were able to identify everyone involved."

There were four incidents of mistreatment caught on tape from Aug. 9 to Thursday. The images show the victim being kicked, hit in the head with a wooden clothes hanger and struck with a shoe. The tape was handed over to police Friday.

Nassau police Det. Sgt. Michael Williams said yesterday that police involvement would have been difficult without the video.

"The camera was set up to confirm their suspicions," Williams said. "We would have had no way of knowing about this unless someone from within that home or family or a friend visiting notified us, which is not the case."

Cancilla said the victim's family is happy with the measures taken.

"The mother is satisfied that the workers were arrested," Cancilla said.

The home, which houses 10 residents, has been open since 1986, Cancilla said.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) 

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liauti0820,0,4270373.story?coll=ny_home_rail_headlines