Tyler Smith (left) in a mug shot, (right) Zachary Dinell pictured after a court appearance (KDKA/screengrab)
A former patient care technician who admitted to conspiring with a co-worker to commit hate crimes against 13 'severely disabled' and non-verbal residents of a Pennsylvania facility has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison following a guilty plea.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania said that Tyler Smith, now 34, admitted to the conspiracy and to a violation of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act by committing crimes against the 'most vulnerable' and doing nothing to report co-worker Zachary Dinell’s recordings of numerous attacks at McGuire Memorial in New Brighton from 2016 and 2017.
The victims, many of whom needed wheelchairs, were attacked in a 'variety of ways,' prosecutors said, 'including by punching and kicking residents, rubbing Purell hand sanitizer in their eyes, spraying mouthwash in their eyes and mouths, and, in one instance, removing a resident’s compression stocking in a manner intended to inflict pain.'
According to the government’s sentencing memo, Smith’s job was 'providing […] critical daily assistance to residents, as well as identifying and reporting signs and symptoms of injury and illness.' Instead, he did the opposite.
'Several of these assaults were recorded on Dinell’s cell phone. In one instance, Smith admitted jumping on top of a 13-year-old minor while the child was lying prone on his bed with the lights off, and while Dinell filmed the incident on his cellular phone. Smith further acknowledged that immediately after recording the video, Dinell texted the video to him,' prosecutors said in a press release, also noting the co-defendants were aware that victims were non-verbal.
The 'secretly' committed attacks, of which there were as many as 18, involved anything from kicking, punching, and choking patients — even rubbing Purell in the victims’ eyes. In many instances, Dinell recorded the abuse. Smith and Dinell also texted about the attacks.
In one, Smith said about one patient, 'Kill him dude, he’s better off.'
'It is clear from a reading of the text exchanges between Smith and Dinell that they are equals; equals in their animosity towards the disabled residents in their care, in their agreement to perpetrate physical assaults upon those residents because of their disabilities, and in their encouragement of one another’s actions in furtherance of their agreement to do unthinkable physical and emotional harm to individuals wholly incapable of defending themselves against the assaults,' the government’s sentencing memo said, 'And while the government only has the evidentiary benefit of the contents of Dinell’s cell phone and the photos and videos saved memorializing many of the assaults committed upon the residents in their care, the text exchanges between Smith and Dinell make abundantly clear their wholly joint desire to kill and beat residents, to ‘smash’ the residents’ faces in, and to 'sanitize' the residents’ eyes.'
In a document for the defense, Smith’s lawyer stressed that her client was actively addicted to drugs and alcohol, used substances every day, and struggled with deep-seated feelings of hopelessness at the time of the crimes. The defense argued that Smith’s behavior was much less severe than his co-defendant’s.
The defense memo stated, “As this Court knows, Dinell physically carried out almost every substantive charge except for one. And, for those actions, Dinell recorded them. In contrast, Mr. Smith admitted to engaging in hateful communications and encouraging some of Dinell’s actions.”
Smith’s submission also contained supportive letters from his parents and two brothers, who were optimistic that U.S. District Judge Nicholas Ranjan would be compassionate.
“My heart aches for the families. I know they will be in court at Tyler’s sentencing on behalf of their family member who was disrespected and hurt while in the care of McGuire. They also want to see justice served and want Tyler to be punished. I get that. I know Tyler said many horrible things and he did not report Mr. Dinell and just punishment should be served. And please understand that what I am about to say in no way, shape, or form diminishes the hideous events that transpired over 7 years ago at McGuire Memorial,” wrote Janet Smith, the defendant’s mother.
The judge imposed Smith’s 10-year sentence on Friday.
Dinell, on his part, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in January 2023. He, too, pleaded guilty.
Read the prosecution and defense memoranda here and here.