A history of violence
TRENTON >> Ann Klein Forensic Center has been a hotbed of violence for years.
The Trenton-based facility has documented over 350 substantiated assaults in 2014, and employees say the workplace has become more hostile this year under New Jersey Department of Health administrative changes that give Ann Klein patients more freedom to jaunt through the premises.
Ann Klein houses approximately 200 patients, most of whom come from county jails or state prisons, and each patient receives structured treatment for severe mental illnesses. Data show patients are responsible for the vast majority of violence at Ann Klein.
New Jersey State Police and Mercer County prosecutors are investigating an alleged patient-on-patient gang rape that occurred at the state-run forensic center last Friday. The incident brings renewed attention to the recent string of highprofile crimes that occurred at the facility in recent years. Consider the following acts of violence:
• Ann Klein patient Dwayne Hester, 51, has been indicted on aggravated manslaughter charges on allegations he killed patient Daniel Rodriguez, 55, in a vicious attack earlier this year. Hester launched the unprovoked attack Feb. 13 and the victim died several weeks later from his injuries, authorities said.
• Former Ann Klein employee Kenneth Glover, 39, of Hamilton, is serving a fiveyear prison sentence for sexual misconduct on the job. He worked as a security officer at Ann Klein Forensic Center and was arrested last year on allegations he sexually assaulted a female patient on two separate occasions. He pleaded guilty to official misconduct and was terminated as a state worker. He is scheduled to be released from state prison on March 6, 2022, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. After Glover pleaded guilty, the victim in the sexual misconduct case filed a lawsuit against the state and Ann Klein Forensic Center in December 2017, but a judge later dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice in August, records show.
• Ann Klein patient Alex R. Loscalzo, 38, seriously assaulted an Ann Klein staff member on Oct. 14, 2015. He pleaded guilty last year to third-degree aggravated assault that caused a significant bodily injury and received five years of mental health supervised probation, records show. Typical violent assaults like Loscalzo’s have occurred at least 79 times at the forensic center during calendar year 2015, according to state data. Of those 79 substantiated attacks, 78 involved a patient who had launched an attack that resulted in a moderate injury to a staff member, records show.
• Ann Klein patient Javier Arroyo, 33, an alleged participant in last week’s gang rape, has been charged in another case with second-degree sexual assault by force or coercion on allegations he digitally penetrated the anus of a male Ann Klein patient while the victim was sleeping on Dec. 27, 2017.
In addition to Arroyo, sources say the following Ann Klein patients played an alleged role in last week’s sexual assault: Jaquin K. Works, 29; Marquese D. Battle, 28; and Matthew Freeman, 36.
Authorities are investigating the sexual assault but released few details and would not identify any of the suspects as of Thursday.
“The incident was referred immediately to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the State Police,” Donna Leusner, a New Jersey Department of Health spokesperson, said Thursday via email. “You would need to direct any questions to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police.”
New Jersey State Police and a Mercer County assistant prosecutor on Thursday confirmed the existence of an investigation but did not provide any substantive details on the gang rape case.
Despite being an accredited institution, Ann Klein Forensic Center has been sued multiple times in recent years in connection with assaults or patient abuse. Here is a rundown on some of the active litigation against the state-run facility:
• Medical technician Jojuana Tolbert of Philadelphia brought suit against AKFC, New Jersey Department of Human Services and the New Jersey Department of Corrections in August alleging she was attacked and assaulted while trying to draw a patient’s blood. The patient was “improperly restrained” and improperly monitored, according to the allegations in her complaint. Her attorney did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
• Dr. William Ruda filed suit against Ann Klein Forensic Center and the state in late 2017 following allegations that a patient, Moises Polanco, attacked him in January 2016. Ruda was attempting to give Polanco anesthesia for an electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, and the patient “viciously” lashed out at him, leaving him seriously and permanently injured, according to the allegations in
in Trenton. his lawsuit, which remains ongoing.
• An assistant social work supervisor, Penelope Mauer, claimed in a lawsuit that she was retaliated against for reporting patient abuse at AKFC in 2016. She claims she notified the compliance unit after a patient was left in his room for more than two hours without a doctor’s order or a notification to the clinical team. She said she was moved to another unit after she refused to follow an order from a superior who instructed her to keep any alleged violations “in house.” Her transfer was intended to communicate to other state workers who reported abuse that they were not “team players,” according to the allegations in her ongoing lawsuit.
Most of the 351 substantiated assaults that occurred at Ann Klein Forensic Center in 2014 resulted in no injuries or minor injuries, according to state data. New Jersey state law requires Ann Klein to report any and all incidents of assaults that result in moderate or major injuries.
A moderate injury includes any laceration requiring stitches, a human bite breaking through the skin and any injury around the eye. A major injury refers to an injury that requires treatment that can only be performed at a hospital facility, such as a skull fracture or broken bones. Ann Klein Forensic Center in recent years stopped reporting minor assaults after The Trentonian began writing news articles exposing the facility’s culture of violence.