Straight Survivor Rich Moroski wrote and was kind enough to contribute his copout story to this website in what is called Rich Moroski Part 1. In this affidavit (right here and below) he has included a lot more additional information and material to his original story to what shall be called Rich Moroki Part 2. We greatly encourage the readers of this website to read both Part 1 and 2. We greatly appreciate Rich for letting us post both on this copout website.
Rich Moroski
Saint Petersburg Florida Straight
August 9, 1982 to sometime in late 1983 or sometime in 1984.
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This is my affidavit for the Absolon case. The Lawyer did a fantastic editing this!AFFIDAVIT OF RICHARD S. MOROSKI
1. My name is Richard S. Moroski and I am over the age of 21 years.
2. The events recollected below occurred when I was in the Straight, Inc. program in Springfield Virginia, from August 9, 1982 through late 1983.
3. On a bright sunny brisk morning the newcomer, whom I will call Tom, got up on time, ate and took showers. I had been there longer and had been trying to get Tom to adapt to the harsh realities of the Straight program. For the first few days things had seemed okay. But then the newcomer started to become increasingly agitated.
4. I was sitting in my favorite reclining chair reading a book for school. My newcomer asked if he could use the mirror to comb his hair. I said sure as he walked to the wall next to me he picked up his jacket and fished for his comb. I thought this odd considering I could see it sticking out of his pocket. I mentioned this to him and he walked closer asking where when all of a sudden he quickly took his jacket and drove it into my face. I couldn’t see and could barely breathe the only thing I remember was the awful smell of stale sweat as he choked and bludgeoned me into unconsciousness. When I came to I looked around the room and everything was torn apart. Tom must have gone completely crazy trying to get out the locked front door.
5. As I stood up we both looked at the window across the room. I saw that he was thinking of escaping through the window and it was my job to stop him. If he escaped I would be held accountable and would have to stay in the program much longer. I tried to respond but was really hard-pressed to coordinate my legs and arms. It was then that realized that my eye was bleeding and I couldn’t shut my eyelid.
6. Tom dove across the room and kicked out the window. By the time I got there he was half way in and half way out. I completely panicked all I could think of was getting set back to first phase because I let him escape. I stumbled over the debris in the room because I could not see due to the blood running into my damaged eye. When I got to the window he had ducked the top half of his body through the jagged opening. In my panic I drove my hand right into razor sharp shards of glass left in the window frame. It was all in vain because by that time his outward inertia impaled my hand on the glass. I felt and saw it enter just above my middle finger knuckle and travel completely through my left hand to protrude just below my wrist.
7. By this time the guest parent, whom I will call Ms. E., came down stairs. She was very sickly because of a stomach operation where they removed 3/4 of it. She was going to call 911 for me, but I told her to call Straight headquarters first to get their direction. I gave this priority over my serious injury because I was paranoid that I would be set back. The next thing I remember was being in the emergency room of the Bethesda Naval Hospital. We were not allowed to use any drugs in Straight, so before they gave me anything for the pain I asked to call the Straight staff.
8. The staff told me I could not have anything for the pain, not even aspirin. I was directed to decline all medications. The doctor tried to reason with me but because I was so terrified that accepting anesthesia would be regarded by Straight as relapsing and as defiance, I refused.
9. The doctor had no choice to comply with my refusal of medications. Two male orderlies held me down as the medical staff took a pair of pliers and began to remove the broken shards of glass from my butchered hand. I remember them using a tool that held my wound open after the large piece was removed. They then used hemostats to fish around in there to get the little bits of wood and glass slivers out. I remember that when they sewed the tendons in my left hand back together , my fingers moved autonomously like I was playing a phantom piano. The pain was excruciating.
10. Even worse were their ministrations to the contusions around my right eye. They took a little brush the one you would use to scrub your hands with after you got car grease on them and cleaned the area around my swollen socket.
11. After my discharge and return to Straight, I was immediately surrounded by Senior staff and interrogated about what I did during Tom’s assault and escape. I was still frightened that I would get set back into first phase. They kept asking me the same questions using different words for hours. I had just had major surgery with no anesthetic and was writhing in pain. That made absolutely no difference to them at all. No one ever asked how I was feeling or showed the slightest sympathy.
12. I was told that I could not be in group and was locked in isolation in an intake room for about six weeks. Staff was determined that no parents who came twice a week would ever see how badly I had been assaulted. I was not fed regularly, and I was not taken to the bathroom for as long as 16 hours at a time. I was 18 years old and couldn’t sign myself out. I was held prisoner with no medical follow up or physical therapy as the Doctor who treated me said was necessary. I am now 52 years old and have permanent scarring and nerve damage.
13. After about 5 weeks in the isolated intake room (5′ x 12′) the door opened and the light came on. I was terribly blinded by the glare. Standing there was a Fifth Phaser. Fifth Phasers were the in the last phase before being “graduated.” He said “follow me.” I got up and walked into the very large group room. The daily afternoon rap session was going on. I looked and saw 6 kids being fully restrained all over the floor. I can still hear the muffled screams of children as I write this. I followed the Fifth Phaser into the staff office. There sat all the Senior Staff, including Executive Staff director Mel Riddle, and Rick Toy, who was the Straight Public Relations director.
14. As a scanned the room I could not believe my Mother was there as well. My Mother was living in New Jersey. I became incredibly terrified. They began to interrogate me again about exactly what happened the night Tom attacked me over and over. It got very intense. My Mother knew better than to say anything or she too would get confronted. She was like a deer in headlights with fear. Dean Mistreada was a violent self-seeking child abuser who was on Senior Staff. He got really angry, and jumped up and slammed me into the desk behind me. I tried to not fall down but without the use of my dominant left hand, I fell . Due to the damage to my hand I was not able to form a fist or be able to use it to hold to anything. I could use not my hand much at all for about nine months, and it never healed right due to denied medical treatment and physical therapy.
15. When I pulled myself up onto my feet after Mistreada’s attack, Jim Sailor (another Senior Staffer) grabbed me by my shirt collar and threw me out of the door of the office. I crashed again, this time coming down on the meat of my left hand. I screamed in pain. For a moment my vision went absolutely white with pain like I had not felt since my surgery. Jim Sailor grabbed me by the seat of my pants picked me up again. He shoved me into another office and inside was Tom, the boy who assaulted me, along with Tom’s parents and a Springfield, Virginia law enforcement officer.
16. A moment later in walked Rick Toy, the PR officer for Straight. He held a document in his hands and said “Sign the paper. Don’t read it just sign it.” I said not without reading it. My Mother came in about that time with a female staff member named Courtney Bright ( Junior Staff). I said to Mr. Toy that I want to read this first. He became very agitated. I could feel intense panic coming on. At Straight you were not allowed to refuse to do anything staff said. If you did consequences were inhumanly cruel. Rick Toy walked over and punched them into my chest. “Fine, have it your way, BOY! I will see you in group later.”
17. I meekly held the document up to read. I can’t remember all of what it said as much of it was legalese. What I understood was that I was to admit that this entire ordeal was 100% my fault, and that Straight, Inc. was in no way responsible for what happened to me. By signing this Tom’s aggravated assault charge would be dropped. My Mother said that all the staff said this is the right thing to do. “So just sign the damned thing,” she said.
18. I did not want to sign. It meant I could not sue Straight Inc. for being negligent for admitting Tom, who was a very violent and mentally ill child , into Straight, Inc. I again refused to sign. At that point Jim Sailor grabbed me again by the seat of my pants and moved me into another intake room and the confrontation began. It lasted six hours. During that time I was repeatedly physically assaulted . I was in so much pain I could not raise my hands to ward off the blows any longer. In the end I was forced to sign against my will. What made me give in was one threat: “If you don’t sign those fucking papers we will freeze you on Day Zero till you do.”
19. At Straight Inc. you moved through the phases. There were a minimum of days that each phase would last. I saw this consequence before. Your sat facing the wall from 9 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. or so. No one could speak to you. You could not speak to anyone, even the higher Phasers. This consequence included a major diet change. You were fed a peanut butter sandwich at every meal with a six ounce cup of warm water.
20. The pressure kept building up as I was confronted even longer. Finally I was shoved into an office chair with the document in front of me. Dean Mistreada just smiled as they put a pen in my right hand. I could not sign it. My left hand could not even hold a pen at this time. So he grabbed my right hand and tried to force me to sign it. I resisted a little while until he grabbed my damaged hand and slowly squeezed. I remember tears rolling down my face it hurt so very badly. I shouted STOP!!! PLEASE STOP.” To no avail. Finally I made my mark. This was 100% coercion. I did not want to sign but was beaten and humiliated into doing this against my will. This was common during that time. The only way out of Straight was in.
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT.
