Hillcrest School: The Hawley Horror

The Hillcrest School as it appeared in the 1960s.

 

Noted for its close proximity to luxury resorts, golf courses and natural attractions, the historic borough of Hawley in Wayne County is considered a paradise to many. However, for the mentally handicapped residents of Pennsylvania, Hawley was a place synonymous with horror during the 1960s and 1970s. It was here where a husband and wife operated a state-licensed home for mentally handicapped youth, and their inhumane treatment was responsible for the deaths of at least 20 persons under their care, as well as two unsolved disappearances. But it wasn't until the drowning death of 15-year-old Louis Novak in 1972 that state officials began to take a closer look at the Hillcrest School. And what they uncovered sent shockwaves across Pennsylvania.

John and Letitia Reilly established the Edward Reilly Center for Retarded Youths (later known as the Hillcrest School) near Hawley in 1962. Allegations of brutality and neglect emerged almost immediately, when five employees claimed that several children had been beaten. The Department of Public Welfare took action and ordered the Reillys to remove themselves from management of the facility. As a result, a new corporation was formed to take over administrative duties. This new corporation, "Hillcrest School, Inc." was incorporated by John and Lititia Reilly and Letitia's father, Edward Gallagher. The Reillys, however, were permitted to retain ownership of the facility. As part of this agreement, the Reillys were required to submit to the Department of Public Welfare a list of nominees for the center's board of trustees. The appointment of Harold J. Lench, a former superintendent of the Ransom Convalescent Home, was ultimately approved as head of administration by the DPW.

A Violent Man With a Violent Temper

Despite this new arrangement, conditions rapidly deteriorated at Hillcrest. In 1963, John Reilly was arrested and charged with 21 counts of aggravated assault and battery against mentally handicapped residents; the previous year, he had been accused of beating a seven-year-old girl named Lois London with the handle of a hammer. Though Reilly had been ordered not to play an active role at Hillcrest, he was acquitted by a Wayne County jury. The assault charges were also mysteriously dropped "after a conference in a back room of the courthouse", according to one county official.

"He's a violent man with a violent temper," testified former employee Harold Opinsky during a special legislative committee hearing in 1972. Opinsky was one of the employees who reported the hammer handle attack to local authorities a decade earlier. "He sometimes kicked the children," said Opinsky, adding that Reilly would often punish the residents by putting them in diapers and forcing them to stand in an unfurnished room for three days at a time, night and day. If Reilly caught them sloughing or sitting down, they would be beaten.

Not every Hillcrest death was caused by violence. Other deaths were attributed to suicide and the negligence of staff. On November 6, 1969, Theodore Carey, a 15-year-old resident, was permitted to wander away from the facility in broad daylight. He drowned in the Lackawaxen River and his death was ruled a suicide.

Six years earlier, twelve-year-old resident Dale Curtis went missing from the facility. Around the same time another boy, known only as "David Young", disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Although their bodies were never found, Harold Opinsky insisted that his former employee was at fault. Another tragedy occurred on December 20, 1963, when 15-year-old Sabino Martinez died from head injuries he received at Hillcrest. Strangely, Hillcrest officials never reported the death to county coroner Robert Jennings.

Opinsky wrote an ominous letter to Mrs. Curtis on December 23, 1963, a few weeks after the Dale's disappearance. "I left the center two days before Dale did," he wrote. "On my own I have looked for Dale, but in vain. I was very fond of Dale. There are some things I believe you should know... Reilly has been telling you one side of the story, but his slick tongue will not be able to hide the other side of the story." Opinsky did not go into specifics, however. Astonishingly, Coroner Jennings would go on record stating his belief that Dale Curtis had been murdered by staff because the boy "knew too much" about the goings-on at Hillcrest.

The Death of Frank Dickerson

On March 24, 1970, a 23-year-old black resident at Hillcrest from Delaware County named Frank Dickerson died at the Wayne Memorial Hospital in Honesdale. His death would've garnered little attention if not for Coroner Jennings, who asked the Delaware County court to have the body exhumed for an autopsy. Jennings, who was never notified about the death, had become suspicious after Hillcrest's superintendent, Dr. Hobart Owens, signed Dickerson's death certificate without signifying a cause of death. The coroner subpoenaed the hospital records, only to learn that Dr. Owens had personally removed them. Owens disputed this accusation. "I didn't do anything illegal in any shape or form," he declared to the Scranton Tribune. Nonetheless, Coroner Jennings brought the case to the attention of Wayne County District Attorney David M. Boyd and the Department of Health and Welfare.

The court's decision on the exhumation petition was granted on August 12, 1970, and stipulated that the autopsy had to be performed in either Philadelphia or Chester. However, before the autopsy was performed, John and Letitia Reilly countered by filing a $1 million libel suit in Wayne County against Coroner Jennings, for "injury to their reputation and in their professional livelihood by reason of publication of false and defamatory matters." The complaint, filed by attorneys A. Emerson Howell and Alfred J. Howell, alleged that the coroner had "maliciously caused to be published articles meant to convey that the plaintiffs... were not competent, nor were they professionally reliable, to operate a school" and that these newspaper articles exposed the plaintiffs to "contempt, hatred and ridicule." Hillcrest's legal counsel also issued a statement of their own to the press, denying responsibility and claiming that Dickerson had been subject to epileptic seizures stemming from an automobile accident in 1966.

In a strange twist of fate, Wayne County President Judge James Rutherford recused himself on November 6 from hearing the libel case, since Coroner Jennings had held an inquest involving the judge's son, whom the coroner's jury had found guilty of criminal negligence stemming from a car accident which killed two motorists two months earlier.

Dr. Hudock (left) and Coroner Robert Jennings review exhumation petition

 

Charged With Murder

The autopsy on Frank Dickerson was performed by Dr. Joseph Spellman of Philadelphia and Dr. George Hudock of Luzerne County, who concluded that Dickerson's death had been caused by acute pneumonia-- not an epileptic seizure, as Hillcrest officials had claimed. Coroner Jennings held an inquest over the young man's death, and witness testimony revealed that Dickerson had died one week after John Reilly and a nurse named John Butasek punished the resident by forcing him to stand outside in the snow for six to seven hours while nude. 

During the inquest, witnesses also stated that Dickinson had been subjected to several other brutal forms of punishment, ranging from being forced to eat his meals naked while on his knees to tranquilizer injections. But perhaps the most damning indictment of Hillcrest came from a man of the cloth. Reverend C. Herbert Carey, a chaplain with the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children, testified that multiple instances of "sodomy, rape and corporal punishment" had occurred  at the institution. Though Rev. Carey refused to divulge names, details of such events would surface during a later investigation.

After an hour of deliberation, the six-member coroner's jury reached a verdict, concluding that Dickerson's death had resulted from "acute pneumonia caused by criminal acts of Dr. H.N. Owens, John F. Butasek and other employees of Hillcrest School."

Meanwhile, the Reillys bowed to pressure from the state welfare department and sold out. In April, Hillcrest was taken over by Commonwealth Concern, a religious non-profit headed by a Baptist minister named Albert Grady. Many employees hired under the old regime were dismissed and the name of the facility was changed to Ridge View. But Reilly wasn't off the hook quite yet.

On December 3, 1971, John Reilly and John Butasek were arrested at their homes and charged with murder, homicide, and conspiracy to commit murder. After his arraignment, Reilly posted bail and returned to his Paupack Point home, while Butasek was remanded to the county jail. To ensure a fair and impartial trial, Coroner Jennings hand delivered a letter to Judge Rutherford asking him to recuse himself from the case, since Reilly's attorneys had campaigned for Rutherford in the recent general election. As a reult, the Dickerson murder case was heard by Judge Donald O'Malley.

John J. Reilly pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in March of 1974, thereby sparing himself the ordeal of a trial. He was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $1,000. John Butasek was acquitted after his trial in 1975.

Ridge View Shut Down

Despite its new name and new management, mysterious deaths continued to plague the facility. In June, 16-year-old Richard Hissim was crushed to death after he fell into the compacting unit of a garbage truck. On August 20, 1972, a 15-year-old resident from Sharpsburg, Louis Novak, was forcibly drowned in a bathtub by other residents who were attempting to give him a bath. Staff member Charles Berberish had left the room for about ten seconds to gather supplies when he heard a splashing noise. He raced back and tried to revive Novak, but to no avail. Novak's death forced the state to shut down Ridge View and resulted in a legislative investigation after state public welfare secretary Helene Wohlgemuth refused to order a departmental investigation. The 58 residents of Ridge View were transferred to the White Haven State School and Hospital.

The lawmakers responsible for the probe were two state senators from western Pennsylvania, Donald Osterling of Butler and N. Louis Coppersmith of Johnstown. They vowed to look into Novak's death, and to investigate the new operators of the facility, Commonwealth Concern. "The facility received ninety percent in state money through reimbursements for the care of the mentally retarded," said Senator Osterling, "and we want to know what is being done with state money."

Governor Milton Shapp also instructed the the attorney general and the state police to conduct their own investigations into Ridge View/Hillcrest, while Auditor General Robert P. Casey announced that his office would be investigating suspicious financial transactions which took place between 1962 and 1970, when the Reillys owned the facility.

 The state police investigation focused on the deaths of Louis Novak, Sabino Martinez, Richard Hissim and Theodore Carey, as well as the disappearance of Dale Curtis. They also looked into John and Letitia Reilly's past, and were horrified to learn that, prior to 1962, they had owned and operated a facility in Scranton where thirteen mentally handicapped residents died under mysterious circumstances. This facility, known as the John Reilly School for Retarded Children, was located at 1607 Sanderson Avenue and appears to have been in operation only a short time.

According to state police, most of the Scranton deaths had been attributed to respiratory illnesses. "The information that thirteen deaths had occurred in such a short period of time appears highly unusual," stated State Police Commissioner Rocco Urella. "The cause of death, as listed on the death certificates, also seems unusual." The ages of the deceased ranged from 15 months to 26 years. Unfortunately, since the welfare department didn't start issuing licenses to interim care facilities until the mid-1960s, there were virtually no records kept by the Reillys.

Coroner's Life Threatened

Meanwhile, Coroner Jennings was being targeted for his role in sounding the alarm about conditions at Hillcrest/Ridge View. He had been the recipient of death threats ever since he urged Commissioner Urella to investigate. The coroner's office had also received a bomb threat and there had been break-in attempts, perhaps by someone desperate to destroy the evidence Jennings had compiled, which he had publicly promised to hand over to the special legislative committee investigating the facility. As a precaution, Jennings sent his records to Harrisburg for safekeeping. Jennings also told the press he had evidence that a high-ranking state official used political influence to keep Hillcrest open despite calls for its license to be revoked. This official was later identified as Lester F. Burlein, a powerful Republican who, at the time, was a member of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Letitia Reilly Snubs Subpoena

The Senate-House panel investigating the Hawley deaths began its hearings at the Hilton Inn in Scranton on November 15, 1972. Testimony was heard from several former employees, including Harold Opinsky and Barry Gombert, funeral directors Robert Hessling and Gene Worell, and a variety of Department of Welfare officials, including Deputy Secretary Elliot Knauer and Charles Baille. Coroner Jennings was not called to testify, however. The committee was forced to subpoena Letitia Reilly, who refused to testify voluntarily. A state trooper attempted to serve her with a subpoena on November 16, the day she was scheduled to testify, but was unable to find her.

During two hours of intense questioning, Elliot Knauer admitted that the Reillys benefited from their political connections, and that he had been strongly "encouraged" by powerful politicians to look the other way when it came to complaints against Hillcrest. Opinsky testified that inspections were rare, and when they happened, they were less than thorough. He claimed that the inspections were always carried out by Edward Bruton, a friend of the Reillys who always made sure to call ahead to let them know he was coming. 

"Normally, the younger children would wear only T-shirts and shorts, but when the inspector was coming we would dress them up," said Opinsky. "We would sit them at desks to make it look as though we had an education program going. The inspector would go where Reilly took him and then he would spend the rest of the day at the Reilly's home."

Margaret Curtis, whose son had disappeared from Hillcrest, testified that she believed the Reillys were being protected by powerful politicians. "I heard it from other people that John Reilly was a big contributor to the Republican Party," she said. When she began to demand answers following Dale's disappearance, her own attorney warned her: "I would leave this thing alone if I were you."

 

Letitia Reilly

 

Letitia Reilly did attend the hearings on Nov. 29, but refused to testify. She merely read a prepared statement indicating that she had hired new legal representation, in the form of famed criminal attorney F. Lee Bailey, and insisted that a wife was not required to give testimony against a husband who was facing criminal charges (John Reilly's trial had not yet begun). That same day, Coroner Jennings dropped a bombshell, turning over 15 confidential files showing evidence of political influence, and a statement from a former Hillcrest employee who claimed that children at facility had their heads forced underwater in an attempt to drown them. 

After the hearings were over, the joint Senate-House committee was disbanded, though the decision was made to extend the investigation for two years, as some of the committee members (such as Sen. Oesterling) had failed to win re-election during the November 1972 elections.

 

 
Judge Prevents Report Release

The hearings resumed in January of 1973 but were suspended in July, pending the outcome of the murder case against John Reilly. After being slapped on the wrist with a small fine and probation, Reilly moved to Texas. Unlike those who aren't politically well connected, John Reilly was somehow permitted to move out of state while under probation. But, then again, Letitia Reilly was never charged with contempt for blowing off a subpoena, so it seems pretty clear that it's good to have friends in high places.

In the meantime, Auditor General Robert P. Casey had already finished his audit of Hillcrest, but Judge Donald O'Malley issued an impoundment order prohibiting Casey from releasing his findings. This meant that the audit could not be used as evidence against nurse John Butasek at his trial, which probably went a long way in securing Butasek's acquittal. The 25-page audit report was withheld from the public until September 12, 1976, when a copy was leaked to the Scranton Times-Tribune. Sure enough, the auditor general's office found $688,979 in payments it deemed as "questionable", including over $51,000 in direct payments from Hillcrest School, Inc. to members of the Reilly family, and several checks issued by Hillcrest which went toward paying off the Reilly's mortgage on their lavish Paupack Point residence.

At the end of the state legislative session of 1974, the joint Senate-House committee, now helmed by Sen. Robert Mellow of Lackawanna County, permanently dissolved into oblivion-- without filing a report on its findings. Mellow blamed Judge O'Malley for the fate of his committee, stating that he had no choice but to comply with O'Malley's wish to suspend the hearings. "He would have issued a gag order," said Mellow, alluding to the impounded audit which allowed Butasek to skate free.

 

 

Digging For Bodies

Despite these setbacks, Coroner Jennings vowed to continue his investigation into the horrors of Hillcrest, even if he had to do it on his own. "There are more deaths under investigation," the coroner told reporters. "I intend to move soon on one death, but I can't comment on that."

In November of 1975, a backhoe dug up the blacktop of a basketball court at the defunct Hillcrest School. The excavation was conducted by state police at the urging of Wayne County District Attorney Robert Conway, who had received a report that the bodies of the two Hillcrest "runaways", Dale Curtis and David Young, had been buried behind the dorms, beneath the basketball court. "We dug for five or six days and found nothing," said Conway.

Whether this report was based on fact, an erroneous tip provided by Jennings, or merely a hoax, has never been revealed. But the coroner was eventually able to secure some small measure of justice for Hillcrest victims and their families.

On Monday, December 22, 1975, a former Hillcrest supervisor named Robert Bradley was sentenced to between 6 months to 10 years in prison for the rape of an 11-year-old male resident. That same week, William Daniels was sentenced to 12 years of probation and fined $1,000 in the death of 21-year-old resident Jonathan "J.D." Smith, who, just like Frank Dickerson, died after being forced to stand naked in the snow as punishment. In both cases, Judge O'Malley again presided.

"I feel Judge O'Malley was very lenient in sentencing the officials," Jennings stated. "They certainly got off very light if you knew the torture and the treatment those children went through. Even when I started, people said they are retarded-- dumb-- you can't believe them. Still they have feelings. They're still human beings."

The true depth of the unspeakable horrors suffered by Hillcrest's mentally handicapped residents, and the true depth of political corruption which allowed their abusers to operate for years without consequences will probably never be known. John and Letitia Reilly have both passed away without any serious earthly repercussions for their actions, and one can only wonder if the hell to which their souls have been consigned consists of fiery torments and burning brimstone. Or, perhaps, they have been condemned to a version of hell designed solely for them, a unique hell in which they are eternally forced to stand naked in snow and ice like Frank Dickerson and J.D. Smith.

Sources:

Scrantonian Tribune, Aug. 23, 1964.
Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Oct. 25, 1965.
Scranton Tribune, Aug. 5, 1970.
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Aug. 21, 1970.
Scranton Tribune, Aug. 21, 1970.
Scranton Tribune, Nov. 13, 1970.
Scranton Tribune, May 6, 1971.
Scranton Tribune, Dec. 4, 1971.
Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 3, 1972.
Allentown Morning Call, Oct. 16, 1972.
Allentown Morning Call, Nov. 16, 1972
Scranton Tribune, Nov. 16, 1972.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 17, 1972.
Scranton Tribune, March 30, 1974.
Scranton Tribune, Nov. 12, 1975.
Pottsville Republican, Dec. 24,1975.
Scranton Times-Tribune, Sept. 12, 1976.
Scranton times-Tribune, Sept. 13, 1976.