Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of abuse.
A former employee of a Hampden adult residential care facility was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 2 ½ years suspended last week after pleading guilty to abusing a resident, including waterboarding and sodomizing the victim, while three more men face similar charges.
Zachary Conners, 26, pleaded guilty to one felony count of intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person on Aug. 30 in Penobscot County Superior Court. He began working at Lee Residential Care in 2017, and the abuse took place between January 2019 and January 2022. It is unclear when Conners’ employment ended.
Rene Dubois III, 47, of Prospect and Michael Slater, 49, of Palmyra are charged with three and four counts, respectively, of intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person. Joshua Martin 43, of Winterport is charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a dependent person and assault.
The cases of Dubois, Slater and Martin are still pending in Penobscot County Superior Court. All three men were granted bail, which they each posted.
One non-verbal man with severe intellectual disabilities was the primary victim of the “horrific treatment” at Lee Residential Care, while a second man with similar disabilities was also abused, the Maine attorneys general’s office said in a court filing.
Court records provide shocking insight into “grotesque and pervasive” physical, sexual and verbal abuse spanning the course of three years at a facility that promises “the highest quality, caring, professional environment,” according to its website.
The man relied on the four employees for everything from food and medicine to family visits. They “controlled everything in his life, and they used that power to amuse themselves by physically and emotionally torturing [the man] instead of caring for him as they were paid to do,” the filing said.
Dubois and Conners would cover the man’s face with a cloth and then spray water on him, leaving him unable to breathe, detectives with the Hampden Police Department and the Healthcare Crimes Unit at the Maine AG’s office found. The resident became afraid of the sprayer, another employee told investigators.
Another form of abuse included choking the resident until he passed out and one time appeared to have a seizure. Conners and Dubois did not call for medical assistance, according to court records. This abuse was referred to as the “reset button.”
Conners and the three other employees would encourage residents to engage in sexual acts with each other with the promise of pizza after, which they did not get, court records said. Conners and Dubois also allegedly sodomized the resident.
Conners and Dubois would repeatedly hit the resident with a large serving spoon on the back of his head and neck, eventually getting to the point where he would cry and say “no, no, no” when he saw the spoon, other employees told investigators.
Conners and Dubois would also repeatedly punch the resident in his genitals, referred to as “speed bagging,” court records said.
The abuse included verbal taunts, one of which was captured on video by a co-worker, when Conners would taunt the victim with the phrase “yummy boogers” to make him agitated, court records said.
Multiple employees saw the abuse or heard about it, they told investigators. However, if they reported it, their jobs were allegedly threatened by the men charged, court records said.
When an administrator learned about the abuse in March 2022, he conducted an investigation and reported his findings to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, court records said.
Lee Residential Care did not respond to a request for comment. DHHS did not provide comment by the time of publication.
Conners showed “cavalier disregard for [the victim’s] life and mental well being,” the AG’s filing said. He claimed he was taught to be abusive by Slater, Dubois and Martin.
Conners’ defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Three counts of intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person were dismissed when Conners pleaded guilty. He is on bail and must report to prison Sept. 30, according to court records.
Part of his three years of supervised release includes having no contact with the two victims or their families. He also is not allowed to work in any health care setting.
