Danieal Kelly: Two More Social Workers Sentenced in Fraud-Related Charges

Ignoring the five to seven year guidelines, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell sentenced two more social workers in the Multiethnic Behavioral Health Services fraud case. Judge Dalzell sentenced Julius Juma Murray, 52, to 11 years for fraud and obstruction in connection with the death of Danieal Kelly. Murray had little social work experience, but was hired by Multiethnic Behavioral Health Services to follow Danieal Kelly, who had cerebral palsy. He skipped visits and fabricated reports, and took part in cover up efforts by Multiethnic's managers after the death of Danieal Kelly.

Also found guilty and sentenced was caseworker Mariam Coulibaly, 41, who Judge Dalzell sentenced to 11-¼ years for forging documents, lying to the FBI and hiding $50,000 to shield it after being ordered by the court to pay restitution.

Coulibaly and Murray were tried in March of this year, along with Michal Kamuvaka and Solomon Manamela, who were also found guilty and sentenced this week to maximum terms of 17-½ and 14 years, respectively. Kamuvaka and Manamela were found guilty of conspiracy, multiple counts of health care fraud, lying to federal agents and wire fraud stemming from Danieal Kelly's death.

Earlier in the week, in response to character witnesses for Kamuvaka, Judge Dalzel said, "'Dr. 'K' had a dozen people who just think she's a saint. But we know just the contrary. We heard it over five weeks." He sentenced her to a maximum term, despite pleas from friends and protégés.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, character witnesses at the sentencing hearings called Murray and Coulibaly, along with their seven co-defendants, including a former missionary nun and Ph.D. social worker, "good people for whom the charges are anomalies." Judge Dalzell said those comments reminded him of Nazi Party members who were kind to neighbors and dogs. "'The banality of evil.' Isn't that what's going on here?" Dalzell asked, citing Hannah Arendt. Arendt, German Jew and political theorist, argued that the great evils in human history are committed by ordinary people who accept the status quo, not by psychopaths.

Multiethnic was the agency contracted by the City of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services (DHS) to follow 14-year-old Danieal Kelly, who had cerebral palsy, and make regular visits to her home. The city paid them $1 million a year to follow its neediest social-work cases. Instead, the firm skipped home visits, assigned student interns to complex cases and forged and shredded documents to cover their tracks after Danieal died.

Danieal Kelly was one of eight children living with her single mother and siblings in a squalid two-bedroom home. When she died in August, 2006, she weighed 42 pounds and had not seen a doctor or been to school for 10 months, despite being followed by the DHS.

Others charged in connection to Danieal's death include her mother, charged with murder and serving a 20 to 40-year term after pleading guilty to third-degree murder; her father, charged with endangering the welfare of children when he left Danieal in the care of her mother; and three of Andrea Kelly's friends, charged with perjury for lying to the grand jury about the girl's condition before her death.

For the entire history of this case, visit Patricia Sicilia's Profile Page and search "Danieal Kelly."

AC Article on Previous Sentencings; Initial Article: Danieal Kelly, Philadelphia's Shame
Sources: Two more social workers sentenced; Philadelphia Social Workers Get Prison Terms