A healthcare worker who previously pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Tyler Smith, 34, was an employee at McGuire Memorial Hospital in New Brighton, Pa., where he and another employee, Zachary Dinell, confessed to physically abusing disabled residents, punching and kicking them and putting hand sanitizer into their eyes.
Both were charged in 2022 for the assaults and extending Hate Crimes Prevention Act charges.
According to prosecutors, the two men would text each other about their abuse and mock disabled patients, expressing hatred for them. They admitted to sharing photos and encouraging each other to continue their attacks. The crimes took place between June 2016 and September 2017.
In a statement, the U.S. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said the disabled victims “required assistance with all activities of daily life, including bathing, using the bathroom, oral hygiene, feeding and dressing” and that the co-defendants were responsible for their care.
“Today's sentencing holds Tyler Smith accountable for the abhorrent and degrading assaults he and Zachary Dinell carried out against more than a dozen victims—simply because they were disabled," U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said in the statement, adding that he hopes the judgment will give the victims and their families a sense of closure.
Smith admitted that he and Dinell weren't caught because many of their targets were non-verbal and had no ability to defend themselves, the DoJ said.
Dinnel previously pleaded guilty on charges of conspiracy, concealing facts in a healthcare matter and ten counts of violating federal hate crimes law. He was sentenced to up to 17 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.