Former New Brighton care home worker sentenced to 14 to 17 years on hate crime charges

NEW BRIGHTON, Pa. (KDKA) - A former Beaver County health care worker who prosecutors said abused the disabled patients he was supposed to be taking care of will spend 14 to 17 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes.    

Zachary Dinell and Tyler Smith, who worked at McGuire Memorial in New Brighton, were indicted on hate crime charges earlier this year. The two were members of the facility's direct care staff and were responsible for providing day-to-day care to individuals with severe physical and intellectual disabilities.

Dinell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, ten counts of violating the federal hate crimes law and one count of concealing material facts in a health care matter, prosecutors announced Thursday. 

As part of Dinell's plea agreement, the judge agreed to a prison sentence between 168 and 204 months. 

KDKA talked with the mother of one of the victims who said no amount of time behind bars will ever be enough for the abuse her son suffered from Dinell. She believes her son died at Dinell's hands.

"He was never able to touch the best part of my son nor will he be able to touch the best part of me," Catherine Wickline said. 

Prosecutors said during Dinell's plea hearing, he admitted that he and Smith punched, kicked and jumped on residents, including Wickline's son Nicholas, and sprayed liquid irritants in their eyes and mouths. Several of the assaults, which took place between 2016 and 2017, were recorded on Dinell's phone.

According to prosecutors, Dinell said he and Smith texted about how much they disliked the disabled residents, shared photos and videos of them and encouraged each other to continue the abuse.

Dinell also said that he and Smith weren't caught because they could exploit their one-on-one access to residents and the victims, who were non-verbal and physically disabled, couldn't report the abuse or defend themselves, prosecutors said.

"It's been a long road and I'm so grateful for the FBI that they doggedly pursued this case from the very beginning," Wickline said.

She said she has mixed emotions after she heard her son's abuser say the word guilty.

"Good and bad feelings when you get to see the person who tortured your child and had absolutely no remorse," she said.

Wickline wouldn't go as far as to call Thursday's hearing a victory, rather a small step toward healing.

"Once he goes to federal prison I am going to divorce his name from my son's name, never to be spoken about again in the same sentence. He doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence with my son's name," she said.

The case against Smith is still pending.