Advertisement. Advertise with us

2 Focus Execs Fined

$1K Each, 250 Hours

Of Community Service

Zupnik, Herman Split $1M State Fine

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Herman
Zupnik

FLY CREEK – The president and another top executive of Focus Otsego were fined $1,000 each and sentenced to 250 hours of community service each at 12:55 p.m. today in Otsego Town Court here.

Joseph Zupnik, the president, and financial officer Daniel Herman appeared before Town Justice Gary Kuch in a hearing that lasted about an hour.

Attorney Kathleen Boland from the state Attorney General’s Office said the two men will also split a $1 million fine imposed by her office.

The men’s attorneys had asked for 40 hours of community service; also, that the service occur near their clients’ homes.   Zupnik lives in Rockland County; Herman in New Jersey.

However, Kuch levied six times that amount, and recommended the service be done in Otsego County, although probably not at Centers Healthcare, as the former Focus is known under its latest ownership.

The lawyers argued that the four Focus employees who falsified records regarding treatment of M.P., the woman left in a chair for 41 hours over Memorial Day Weekend 2016, made it impossible for the executives to know the truth of what was happening in Cooperstown.

However, Kuch, drawing on his 17 years as Cooperstown High School principal and Worcester Central School superintendent, reminded them that in top supervisory positions, “The buck stops here.”

While the men had sought community service in organizations they were familiar with near their homes, the judge observed, “doing community service at something you love doing – it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

As to the 40 hours, he said he would send someone guilty of a standard DWI to that kind of service at the landfill.  He noted, however, that the individual in the county responsible for allocating community service, Amin Aswad, would be able to assign the men to whatever service he sees fit.

In his remarks before sentencing, Zupnik – as his lawyer had also mentioned – said, “I risked my life on Sept. 11, and for a year afterwards,” adding, “I’ve dedicated my life to helping others, a passion of mine since I was 14 years old.”

As to the charge brought against him, “It weighs on me every day and night.”

Herman said, “We’re sorry this happened on our watch.”

For her part, prosecutor Boland noted that Focus Otsego, under county ownership as Otsego Manor, had a “caring, nurturing” reputation.  The new owners “changed it from a neighborhood to a warehouse.”

But Herman’s attorney, Jerry Solomon, said that, under county management, Otsego Manor was “a one-star-out-of-five facility.”

He also noted that The Manor, according to County Treasurer Dan Crowell, had lost $4.2 million under county management its last year, and the Focus executives, who paid $18 million for the facility, had to make cuts to keep the operation running.

Posted

1 Comment

  1. Congratulations to Gary Kuch for his actions against these two. Yes, it’s the climate of a facility which radiates from the top down. They made the cuts that caused the problems for these residents. The Manor was once an excellent facility, yet due to Stuligross and Lindberg and others, it was in decline financially and sold. Shame on the lot of them putting our most vulnerable at risk! Shame.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Piper Seamon Scores 1,000th point

1,000 THANKS! Piper Seamon 5th CCS Girl To Hit High Mark The Cooperstown Central student section erupts as Piper Seamon scores her 1,000th career point in the Hawkeyes’ 57-39 win over Waterville at home last evening. Seamon becomes the fifth girl and only the 14th player in school history overall to score 1,000 points.  Inset at right, Pipershares a hug with teammate Meagan Schuermann after the game was stopped to acknowledge her achievement. Seamon will play basketball next year at Hamilton College. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com)  …

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…