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New Brunswick resident and former Broadway Respite and Home Care employee Asia Lunn, 24, was convicted of abandonment and neglect of a disabled person on July 23, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said in a release Friday.
Lunn was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, five years probation and a $1,000 fine, Ciccone said.
Lunn’s conviction and sentencing follows a nearly two-year investigation by East Brunswick Police Detective Crispin Farrace and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Detective Olivia Ankudowicz, who determined that she — along with former coworkers Kenitra Hicks, 36, Hugo Lorenzo, 27, and Janella Allen, 32 — had physically abused two severely disabled adults who attended the facility in May 2019.
Authorities in 2019 said that the two disabled adults were physically abused by staff and that the facility failed to protect the adults from abuse.
Hicks and Lorenzo were sentenced July 21 to a 90-day suspended county jail term and three years probation after pleading guilty to third-degree endangering another person, authorities said.
Lorenzo was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Meanwhile, Allen was convicted of endangering another person, a disorderly persons offense, and faces a two-year probation term and a $500 fine.
Kieasha Morgan, 25, pleaded guilty to failure to report abuse, a Stephen Konminos’ Law violation, and was sentenced to a year of probation, the prosecutor’s office said.
Broadway Respite and Home Care agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and “make major improvements to the training of its employees,” though it will still be subject to court-ordered monitoring after entering a non-prosecution agreement, authorities said.
“I applaud the efforts by those who successfully investigated and prosecuted this case,” Prosecutor Ciccone said.
“Their efforts gave a voice to those who fight to express themselves. The successful conclusion of this case demonstrates the abuse and neglect of our disabled community will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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