If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.
When Danielle Longsworth learned earlier this month about the extent of the abuse against her son and another man at a Hampden care facility, she felt the punishment was too light for the one worker who has pleaded guilty so far.
She was devastated and shocked to learn just how horrific the abuse was for her developmentally disabled 26-year-old son and another 27-year-old man. Both men are autistic and nonverbal.
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. Charges are pending against three other men who worked at Lee Residential Care, which runs adult care homes in Hampden.
The abuse included waterboarding and sodomizing the 27-year-old man. Longsworth’s son and the other man were also encouraged to engage in sexual acts with each other in exchange for pizza, which they did not receive.
Longsworth said she was unprepared when she learned the extent of the abuse from a Bangor Daily News article she was reading at work on Sept. 6.
“I was devastated,” she said. “I was really upset. I couldn’t believe that wasn’t shared. That’s a lot not to share with somebody.”
Conners was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 2 ½ years suspended. He must report to jail Sept. 30. 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.
“I wouldn’t have agreed with the plea bargain if I knew what I know now,” Longsworth said. “I was devastated to hear that 2.5 years — 2.5 years for what they did.”
The majority of the abuse was directed at the other resident, but one of the accused workers was a primary caregiver for Longsworth’s son. Authorities have still not released many details about what happened with her son.
Court records don’t say where her son was when the other resident was abused — a question Longsworth said she needs answered.
Longsworth isn’t angry at Lee and its upper management: she said top supervisors didn’t know about the abuse and that Karen Lee, the CEO, has done a lot to help and care for her son. Lee had flown to Florida to bring him back to Maine after he spent a year in a residential facility there.
“She made sure his house was perfect,” Longsworth said. “She picked the nicest everything.”
The Bangor Daily News previously learned that Lee Residential Care voluntarily surrendered its licenses to care for disabled adults in February 2023, but it’s not required to be licensed because of the size of its homes.
The abuse started not long after Longsworth’s son returned to Maine. His relatives thought he was finally home, and they were crushed to realize what had been happening behind closed doors, Longsworth said.
Longsworth and others had met the four men accused of the abuse and would never have suspected them, she said. Her son loved them, and Lee thought at least two of them were some of her best employees, Longsworth said.
“I just felt like people were [speaking more badly] of the agency than they were the guys themselves,” she said.
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.
