Sequel Youth & Family Services: Three Former Employees of Now-Closed Psych Facility to Stand Trial in Homicide of Teenage Patient

November 2, 2020

KALAMAZOO, MI— All three former Lakeside Academy employees facing homicide and child abuse charges in the death of 16-year-old Cornelius Fredricks are now headed toward trial.

Fredricks, who was a resident of the now-closed residential youth treatment facility, died May 1 in a Kalamazoo hospital two days after being restrained for about 12 minutes by upward of seven staff members at the facility after he threw food in the cafeteria.

Michael Mosley, who video evidence presented at an Oct. 21 preliminary hearing showed was the first to restrain the child, is one of three facing charges in the incident.

As a result of the hearing, Kalamazoo County District Judge Christopher Haenicke bound the 47-year-old Battle Creek resident over to circuit court on one count of involuntary manslaughter, as well as two counts of second-degree child abuse.

The other two suspects in the case, 48-year-old former Lakeside nursing director Heather McLogan and 28-year-old former youth counselor Zachary Solis, were both bound over to circuit court on Sept. 17 by Kalamazoo County District Judge Anne Blatchford.

McLogan faces one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree child abuse for her alleged role in the incident. Solis, like Mosley, faces one count of involuntary manslaughter, as well as two counts of second-degree child abuse for his alleged role in Fredricks' death.

Haenicke made clear at the preliminary hearing that the decision was made, as it is at all preliminary hearings, based on the belief that there was probable cause to believe the defendant had committed the crimes. Whether it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Mosley is guilty of the crimes he is accused of, is something that will be determined at trial — if the case proceeds that far, he said.

Four witnesses testified at the nearly three-hour-long hearing Wednesday.

Among them was Christopher Behnke, director of student services with Lakeside’s parent company, Sequel Youth and Family Services; Dr. Theodore Brown, who performed Fredrick’s autopsy; JaShon Cheeks, a former employee of Lakeside who assisted on the restraint; and Kari Muntean, a child welfare licensing consultant with MDHHS, who headed the incident investigation for the state.

Mosley’s defense attorney Kiana Garrity questioned all but the doctor on policies pertaining to restraint procedures at the academy, as well as other academy regulations that, based on testimony, she pointed out Lakeside routinely did not adhere to.

Muntean stated during questioning from Kalamazoo Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Williams, that restraints of more than two or three people were not allowed per Lakeside policy.

With up to seven people involved in the restraint at most, the prosecution has argued in all three preliminary hearings that violation of policy played a major role in the teen’s death, and that each of the defendants was responsible for not adhering to the policy.

Garrity used Muntean and other witnesses to point out violation of policy was the norm at Lakeside and that her client was doing what he understood to be right. Witnesses made clear, she said Fredricks was not housed in the proper dorm with other children who were victims of abuse or neglect, that Behnke could not confirm the campus coordinator and program director were in the cafeteria when the incident occurred and that the staff to student ratio was not in accordance with policy.

“Why is this important,” she asked of Haenicke. “Because you have to understand from a reasonable person in that situation, a common technique was a multi-person restraint. If that’s how you are trained, that there’s no evidence to show otherwise except that you’re a place that has had multiple calls for issues and has been shut down for being in violation of its own policies.”

Garrity pointed to video evidence stating that at no point does her client lay on the chest or abdomen of Fredricks.

“This is nothing but a cover up for Sequel Lakeside and trying to find the boogeyman for the lowest person there, a youth counselor,” she said.

Williams argued that restraint is only to be used, as Muntean, Behnke and Cheeks testified, when there is imminent risk to the child’s safety or the safety of others, something he said was not the case in this situation.

Garrity argued that with no audio footage there is no way for the prosecution to assert beyond a reasonable doubt that there wasn’t imminent risk to Fredricks or others as they can’t hear what is being said.

Mosley could be seen pushing the teen in his chest and off his chair after the youth threw food across the table, Williams said. He was then the first to restrain the teen.

The cause of Fredricks' death, Brown said, was “sequelae of restraint asphyxia,” meaning the teen was receiving a lack of oxygen and blood flow. After being rendered unconscious during the April 29 incident at the academy, the child never again regained consciousness, Brown said.

Fredricks was COVID-19 positive, Brown testified, yet the doctor said that it had no impact on the teen’s death as there was “no evidence of lung disease under the microscope that is consistent with an active COVID-19 infection.”

“When being restrained he was in a position where his ability to breathe was compromised, specifically the ability for his chest to go up and down was compromised and I saw that on the video as well as in my autopsy findings,” Brown said.

Cheeks, who was seen sitting with Fredricks in the video, testified the teen had gotten into an altercation with another student in his dorm about 20-25 minutes prior to the incident. The teen Fredricks had gotten into the altercation with was the teen he was throwing food at, Cheeks said.

Cheeks, who was fired from his job with Sequel as a result of being part of the restraint, stated he and others were attempting to deescalate the situation and that Mosley used a “bumping technique” and did not push Fredricks to the floor when the restraint began.

Cheeks described Fredricks as “very rough around the edges, a loner, and kind of pretty much just a bully” and claimed the teen, who weighed more than 300 pounds, was incredibly strong and could bench press as much as 375 pounds.

He said at no point had he been taught restraints had to be limited to two or three staff members and did not find it unusual for five or six people to be restraining Fredricks.

Williams questioned on him on whether it was unusual for troubled kids to end up at Lakeside, to which he replied no.

The assistant prosecutor said that Mosley acted in a way that was reprehensible.

“It was out of frustration, it was out of discipline and it was out of retaliation and that’s a violation of the duty that Mr. Mosley has to protect,” he said. “The child died as a result of that.”

The family of Fredricks is also suing Lakeside Academy and its parent company, Sequel Youth and Family Service, for $100 million, claiming negligence leading to wrongful death. The civil lawsuit was filed Monday, June 22, in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.

Source: Ryan Boldrey “Third former Lakeside employee to stand trial in teen’s death,” MLive.com, Oct. 21, 2020, URL:  https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2020/10/third-former-lakeside-employee-to-stand-trial-in-teens-death.html