The court came down hard on one of the defendants found guilty in connection to the starvation death of Danieal Kelly.
A judge has sentenced a social-services contractor to 17-1/2 years in prison following the starvation death of a disabled Philadelphia teen under her watch.
The judge said 61-year-old Michal Kamuvaka's company, the defunct MultiEthnic Behavioral Health Inc., skipped home visits and forged records before none-too secret city audits.
Political patronage contributed to the death since Kamuvaka had friends at City Hall, U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell said. Her company received millions to keep tabs on Philadelphia's neediest families.
Dalzell conceded there's blame to go around for the 2006 death of the 14-year-old Kelly. The list starts with her mother, now in prison for third-degree murder, said the judge.
Kamuvaka was sentenced for fraud and obstruction. She still faces an involuntary manslaughter trial this fall along with caseworker Julius Murray.
"It was patronage -- plain and simple," Dalzell said. "It was a deal, and nobody was taking this seriously" within the city's Department of Human Services.
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Murray made just 10 visits, not the 46 noted in records dummied up on orders from Kamuvaka after Danieal died, Dalzell found.
"Here was a woman with a doctorate in social work who ran the operations of an agency so lackadaisically that, in the words of one of her colleagues, 'It was just a matter of time' that one of her charges died," Dalzell said in giving Kamuvaka the maximum term and revoking her bail.
Company workers assigned to the chaotic home where 14-year-old Kelly was wasting away in a wheelchair were supposed to ensure she and her siblings had proper housing, schooling and medical care.
But after 10 months of supposed twice-weekly visits, Danieal, who had cerebral palsy, was still not enrolled in school and had not been seen by a doctor. By the time she died in the sweltering home in August 2006, she weighed 42 pounds and had maggot-infested bedsores.
Later Thursday, Dalzell sentenced another company co-founder, Solomon Manamela, to 14 years for his role in the fraud. Manamela, a 52-year-old political refugee from South Africa, faces deportation when he gets out.
"Part of me died (after Danieal did)," Manamela, who oversaw training, told the judge.
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