Ann Klein guard says he’s a ‘fall guy’ for patient gang rape
TRENTON >> Tony Williams believes he is being made into the “fall guy” for last month’s gang rape at Ann Klein Forensic Center, where a female patient was taken advantage of by as many as six male patients.
It happened the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, while Williams was away from his post helping understaffed colleagues in another part of the building.
“I don’t feel like this happened because of me,” Williams, who has worked on and off as a security guard at the 200-bed psychiatric facility in Trenton for the last eight years, told The Trentonian in an exclusive interview. “I feel like it happened because there was a breach in security because we wasn’t strong enough that day.”
Williams said he was “doing three jobs that day” because the facility was short at least 15 staff members.
He was initially put on a no-patient contact order following the gang rape while officials investigated why he left his post.
About a week later, he was indefinitely suspended without pay, he said, after officials at the psychiatric facility rang him up on administrative neglect-of-duty charges.
Williams met with chief executive officer David Kensler and was told he cannot return to work until the investigation is over, which could take months.
“I think this is it,” said Williams, who just returned Oct. 26 from a 50-day suspension after he was sidelined over allegations he did not intervene fast enough in a patient-on-patient fight that happened months ago on one of the units. “I have no income right now. It’s horrible. I got kids I got to look after, a fiancé I gotta look after. I’m the man of the house. We got grownup bills.”
A spokeswoman from the Department of Health claimed Williams is “off duty” but hadn’t been fired.
Williams’ colleagues said he is being made into a “scapegoat” by the Ann Klein administration, which refuses to address the underlying problems at the psychiatric facility that contributed to the brutal sexual assault.
It was the latest in a string of violent attacks at the facility that have guards on edge fearing they may lose their jobs, or worse, their lives if working conditions don’t improve.
Just this year, Ann Klein has experienced a homicide, another sexual assault involving one of the patients who guards identified as possibly being involved in the gang rape and two known brutal patienton-staff attacks that left a guard and a doctor with brain bleeds.
Those don’t take into account what guards have described as the near-daily dose of violence that doesn’t rise to the state-mandated threshold for reporting.
Powerless Punching Bags
Guards blame changes implemented by Kensler that have turned them into defenseless “punching bags” and have jeopardizing security at the psychiatric hospital, which did away with a longstanding administrative lock-in policy on certain shifts for fear of losing its accreditation.
Guards said as part of an emphasis on treatment, the administration also did away with patient restraints, even for those who would otherwise require them because they pose a danger to the staff.
On top of that, guards said they are no longer allowed to use reasonable force with patients when it is warranted.
Police officers are allowed to use reasonable force when making arrests, but security guards said they’re not even allowed to strike back in self-defense when they’re attacked by patients as part of a socalled “hands-off” policy.
It has made guards feel powerless to protect themselves when patients become physical and has made them hesitant to intervene when patients are fighting with each.
“Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t,” Williams said about the guards’ apparent Hobson’s choice.
“I’m not Bruce Lee. I’m not about to catch somebody’s hands,” Williams said. “They don’t care nothing about us. We’re totally expendable. I get it it’s supposed to be a hospital. It’s supposed to be patient care, but not when the patients are fighting.”
The Department of Health says guards are taught to employ a number of “temporary physical holds” and de-escalation techniques the guards say aren’t helpful when they’re being pummeled.
At the same time, state officials have attempted to downplay any increase in violence, pointing to overall statistics showing attacks have remained largely consistent year-to-year.
Security guards believe those numbers are being fudged or intentionally misrepresented, pointing to a flawed system that documents only moderate and serious attacks following a lengthy substantiation process.
Despite the highly public issues and complaints, the Joint Commission this month re-accredited Ann Klein for another three years following a Dec. 3 visit that occurred 10 days after the gang rape.
The nonprofit determined Ann Klein sufficiently rectified issues outlined in a correction plan required for it to remain certified.
His Side
On the day of the gang rape, Williams and other guards said they were down as many as 15 staff members due to the holiday weekend.
Still, they were instructed by supervisors to go forward with “rehabilitation” sessions, during which patients roam freely with access to a range of activities and educational classes.
Williams believed the gang rape occurred sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 10:40 a.m., while he was away from his post.
He was stationed to keep watch over the area outside the bathroom of the rehabilitation wing.
He and other guards in that post routinely leave that area temporarily unguarded while attending to other tasks and have never been cited or disciplined for doing so, Williams said.
Williams estimated he was gone for between six and seven minutes assisting colleagues who called for help over the radio.
Ann Klein officials told Williams during a meeting before he was suspended that he was gone from his post anywhere between nine to 15 minutes, Williams said.
Before leaving the area, Williams remembered seeing a few patients he recognized coming and going from the area where he was stationed, including patients who other guards have identified to The Trentonian as possibly being involved in the gang rape.
Williams said the activity died down by the time he left his post to open a locker for a fellow guard and then help locate a couple of pa-
tients.
He didn’t lock the bathroom door as he left, saying it was common for guards to leave it open so patients could use it while they were away from their post.
Williams said he was never trained or instructed by the Ann Klein administration to lock the bathroom when he left his post.
Guards said the gang rape initially started as a consensual sexual encounter between the victim and a patient identified as Salaam Leeks.
Williams recalled having a conversation with Leeks at some point during the rehabilitation session. He recognized Leeks because of a protective headgear Leeks wears due to his medical issues.
The two made “small talk” about football, Williams said.
Williams was unable to say whether the conversation with Leeks happened before or after a staff member reportedly caught Leeks and the victim in the unity room, where Leeks was receiving a handjob, guards said.
Williams and other guards said the staffer should have alerted security that the two were involved in a sex act, but that didn’t happen.
“The lady said she gave another officer a head nod,” Williams explained of the lapse. “How you gonna give a head nod. I don’t know what that means. [The guard] was supposed to know what that meant? I guess she was trying to tell what was happening by not telling. I don’t know where you from, but where I’m from, a head nod is like ‘what’s up.’”
Leeks and the victim reportedly left the unity room and went inside the bathroom together where they re-engaged in sex while Williams was away from his post.
Several male patients walked in on the two and proceeded to gang rape the victim, guards said, while a patient identified as Matthew Freeman allegedly acted as a lookout.
Williams said when he returned to his post, he didn’t see anyone in the hallway or coming out of the bathroom.
“It was like a ghost town,” he said.
By that time, rehabilitation was winding down, so guards were preparing to take the patients back to their rooms, Williams said.
Williams said he was back on the unit when he got the call over the radio about 20 minutes later that something happened.
“My heart dropped, and I felt real bad for the girl,” he said. “I have a daughter. I wouldn’t wish that on nobody.”
He said he was told by patient Michael Weathers Jr that somebody was in the bathroom having sex.
Weathers alerted a supervisor before telling Williams, he said.
Williams recalled Weathers telling him he might have gotten the guard “in trouble” by going to his supervisor first.
“I’m like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’” Williams said. “The guy [Weathers] literally walked right past me.”
Williams said Weathers was vague about the details when he asked who was involved.
Weathers identified the victim but no one else, Williams said.
“I asked him who a few times and he wouldn’t tell me,” he said. “I guess she was scared it was going to get out.”
State and Human Services police were called in, Williams said, and briefly talked to him but didn’t take a formal statement.
“I told them I don’t know what happened because I literally wasn’t standing there,” said Williams, who has since been asked by officials to write a report.
He said he would cooperate if approached by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, which hopes to wrap up its investigation in the coming weeks.
Williams said he was supposed to get sent home for the rest of the day but was instead put on a no-patient contact order.
When he came in for his shift the next week, he was “put out of the building,” despite Williams claiming officials admitted they hadn’t reviewed the surveillance tapes.
Williams, who has had previous disciplinary issues, believes he is being treated “unfairly.”
He said no one else has been disciplined in connection with the gang rape, a claim the DOH wouldn’t confirm or deny citing it as a personnel matter.
Williams admitted he was fired once before from Ann Klein and had just come back to work in October from serving a lengthy suspension.
That suspension related to Williams allegedly not doing enough to stop two patients from fighting with each other in July, he said.
He said he tried to intervene but a senior officer called him off, reminding guards of the “handsoff” policy.
Williams said he received the longest suspension of the guards who were involved in that incident.
Williams acknowledged receiving his first disciplinary infraction around 2016, for bringing his phone into the building, which precipitated him losing his job.
He said he was fired when he repeatedly nocalled-no-showed out of protest of the phone writeup feeling the Ann Klein administration hadn’t taken into consideration track record of commitment and hard work.
He said colleagues would agree he is a “good” security guard, sometimes working 16-hour days, and that’s part of the reason upper management re-hired him a few months after he was fired.
Co-workers agree Williams is being targeted by the Ann Klein administration.
“Tony is the scapegoat in this situation,” an employee told The Trentonian. “There were other decisions that also played a part in this, like running a rehab program while you barely had enough officers to cover the shift.”
Scapegoats
Inadequate training and an inconsistent disciplinary process have played a role in further complicating guards’ jobs, making it almost impossible to deal with difficult, aggressive patients at the psychiatric center, Williams said.
Another officer said guards at Ann Klein are commonly sidelined whenever something bad happens inside the facility as the administration refuses to shoulder any blame.
“Everything that happens in that building is always the officers’ fault no matter what,” the disgruntled employee said.
The DOH says it has taken steps to address employees’ dissatisfaction with the conditions at the state-run psychiatric facility, including hiring additional staff and allocating $4.8 million to reduce suicide risks at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and upgrade facilities at Ann Klein and elsewhere.
A spokesperson said the administration had a “productive meeting” recently during which security officers voiced their concerns.
The DOH hasn’t committed to making any changes based on the guards’ feedback saying everything will be considered “accordingly.”
Despite assurances from one of his supervisors that they would fight for his job, Williams has no confidence in the investigative process.
While security guards are normally afforded due process through the Civil Service Commission, Williams said he has little union protection because he is on “temporary employment status” due to his past disciplinary issues.
He said he is considering all his options at this point, including retaining an attorney to fight what he believes is his impending dismissal.
“I’m not gonna take this sitting down at all,” he said.