2nd teen death at facility probed

Lancaster New Era (PA)

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

CINDY STAUFFER  

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State and local officials are investigating the Saturday death of a 16-year-old boy who was a resident of a behavioral treatment facility in Ephrata.

The boy's death was the second in two months at the residential facility, SummitQuest Academy, which cares for mentally ill and sexual offender teens and pre-teens.

The Ephrata Borough Police Department is investigating the matter, and plans to turn its findings over to the Lancaster County District Attorney's office.

Also, state Department of Public Welfare officials visited the facility Monday, a routine occurrence after such a death, a department spokeswoman said today.

Giovanni Aletriz, 16, of Allentown, died Saturday at Ephrata Community Hospital.

He may have gone into cardiac arrest after being restrained by the staff at SummitQuest for disruptive behavior, according to a press release from the Ephrata Borough Police Department.

The boy's parents have hired an independent pathologist, who planned to attend the boy's autopsy today at the county morgue, his mother said today.

"My son had a strong heart and shouldn't be dead," said Cynthia Allen of Allentown.

"There's no reason a 16-year-old should die of a heart attack."

The boy coincidentally had undergone an electrocardiogram of his heart just last week, which turned up no underlying problems, his mother said.

"In my opinion, he was restrained wrong," she said.

Aletriz's death follows the death of James White, 17, of Philadelphia, a SummitQuest resident who died from heart problems Dec. 12.

Aletriz's mother said she heard that White died after exercising in the gym at SummitQuest.

An autopsy done here showed that White had an enlarged heart and died from natural causes, Lancaster County Coroner Dr.

Gary Kirchner said today.

An enlarged heart sometimes causes heart-rhythm problems.

Public welfare department officials also looked into White's death, said spokeswoman Stacey Ward.

She did not know the outcome of that inquiry at presstime.

SummitQuest Academy has operated the facility, just off Route 272 in Ephrata, since 2001.

The company operates behavioral and mental health facilities for teens and adults in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Its Ephrata facility can treat up to 129 teens and pre-teens who have problems with mental health, sexual offenses and sexually inappropriate behavior.

Officials at the facility did not return calls for comment by presstime today.

Allen said her son went to SummitQuest about three months ago for treatment of mental health problems.

He was diagnosed as bipolar when he was 14 and had struggled with his anger, she said.

She said her son was a large teen, standing 6 feet and weighing 260 pounds.

He did not have a history of cardiac problems, she said.

However, he recently had complained of chest discomfort during exercise, which is why he had the EKG that turned up no abnormalities, she said.

SummitQuest officials told Allen that two people restrained Aletriz on the day he died, before he became ill, she said.

They did not call her until 45 minutes after he was taken to the hospital, she said.

"They could have let him go, put him in a room, anything," she says.

"'Get off me, I can't breathe' — that's what I keep hearing my son say in my head."