Published: January 23, 2009 11:32 pm      

Date set for group home death trial

GRAYSON — The trial of two former Carter County group home employees accused in the death of a resident will take place in March.

The manslaughter trial of Matthew Bortles and Brandon Starotska is scheduled to begin March 10 in Carter Circuit Court, said Shelley Johnson, a spokeswoman for the office of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, which is prosecuting the case.

Bortles, 22, of Soldier, and Starotska, 22, of Olive Hill, both are charged with second-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 14, 2007, death of 25-year-old Michael Price, a resident of the Community Presence Inc. group home in Grayson.

Authorities allege that Bortles and Starotska wantonly caused the death of Price, who had cerebral palsy, by restraining him in a manner that caused him to stop breathing. The two also are charged with evidence-tampering for allegedly moving Price’s body, and with abuse or neglect of an adult by a caretaker.

Second-degree manslaughter and abuse or neglect by a caretaker both are Class C felonies that carry prison sentences of five to 10 years. Evidence-tampering is a Class D felony that carries a one- to five-year sentence.

Bortles and Starotska were arrested following a joint investigation by the Grayson Police Department and the state. Grayson Police Sgt. Travis Steele, the lead investigator in the case, told state officials that statements made by two CPI direct care staff members indicated Price, who had lived in Community Presence homes for seven years, died while in a prone restraint, which state law prohibits.

In December 2007, the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services revoked CPI’s Medicaid certification because of allegations that staff members used illegal restraint techniques. State officials also accused the group home of diminishing those incidents in written reports and falsifying medical administration reports and records.

In addition to Price and Starotska, nine other former CPI defendants have been charged in what the attorney general’s office termed “a dangerous pattern of abuse” at the facility.

Johnson, the attorney general’s spokeswoman, said trial dates for the other nine defendants — Earl Pelfrey, Glada Miller, Regina Stevens, Todd Gribbin, Ira Griffith, Karl King, Matthew Wilburn, Michael Yates and Robert Thompson — had not yet been set.

Griffith is the son of former Community Presence owner Ted Griffith,

All nine of the other defendants were charged as a result of the investigation that followed Price’s death. However, the charges against the nine all stemmed from different incidents, state officials said.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.