Disabled Men Treated Like Slaves State Report Says Couple Held Men Against Will

Four developmentally disabled men found living in squalor on a Spokane County farm were held against their will and used as slaves, state officials said.

Investigators with the Department of Social and Health Services on Friday released the findings of their investigation into the men’s living conditions.

Among their findings, DSHS officials said the four “performed ‘slave labor’ for which they were never paid” and were “on the property against their will and not allowed to leave.”

Investigators discovered the men living in a ramshackle home on the South Marshall Road property of Budd and Laura Otto last week.

Officials said the disabled men - who are in their 30s, 40s and 50s - shared the converted outbuilding for at least eight years before a caller tipped authorities.

The four are currently in protective custody in state facilities while officials search for a home where they can live together.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department has launched a criminal investigation in the case. The Ottos and their son, Wayne McKearnan, may face fraud and abuse charges.

Detectives said the Ottos may have cashed the disabled men’s Social Security checks and pocketed the money. The men apparently were forced to perform farm labor against their will.

It’s not the first time the state has shut down an unlicensed boarding house run by the Ottos.

In 1986, DSHS officials revoked the couple’s license to operate a group home for the elderly on Spokane’s South Hill after inspectors found a myriad of violations.

In the report released Friday, DSHS investigators described the squalid conditions in the “pump house” - the Ottos’ name for the building where the men lived.

Officials said the 20-by-20-foot structure was constructed of mismatched steel roofing and warped plywood. “Daylight was seen between the ceilings and walls,” they said.

Feces were smeared on one wall, according to the report. The roof also leaked, there were exposed electrical wires and the floors were stained and in need of repair.

“The refrigerator was extremely soiled and contained hundreds of mice droppings intermixed with two packages of rolls, margarine, opened canned goods, mustard, donuts,” the report stated.

Investigators said there were multiple cats - which the disabled men called “mice catchers” - in and around the building.

The only heat source was a portable electric space heater, officials said. One of the disabled men told inspectors he “put on another coat” if he got too cold.

The most severely retarded of the men had lesions on his lip, nose and hip and a possible case of lice, according to the report.

County building officials said Friday the structure was erected illegally. There is no building or occupancy permit on file.

In an interview Thursday, Laura Otto blamed much of the mess on the disabled men, whom she called “the boys.” The 84-year-old woman said she and her husband, also in his 80s, did the best they could to take care of the men.

She said she didn’t know she needed a state license to run a boarding house.

In 1986, the state declared the couple’s boarding house at 1321 W. Ninth a firetrap and took away their license.

Social and Health Services sued the Ottos two years later when officials discovered the couple still was operating the home.

DSHS investigator Fred Rountry inspected the South Hill boarding house in September 1988. He called it “a hazard to its residents” in a report.

Water leaked through ceilings and into light fixtures, creating a fire and shock hazard, Rountry said.

There were leaky faucets throughout the home and what appeared to be spoiled food in refrigerators and freezers in the kitchen and basement, he said.

One of the eight residents was “suffering from neglectful care, multiple skin lesions, dehydration” and other maladies, Rountry said in his report.

The Ottos disputed the inspector’s claims in an affidavit. They said their license was revoked without good cause and that Rountry was overzealous in his inspection.

Former Judge Marcus Kelly sided with DSHS and ruled the Ottos were “prohibited from operating any facility as a boarding home without a license.”

, DataTimes