HAMILTON — Besides facing criminal charges, two Butler County men will become candidates for a new statewide registry of agency workers found to have harmed people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

        Timothy Lee Ivers, 38, of Fairfield, and Jamie Ray Puckett, 27, of Hamilton, were indicted Thursday on charges of assault and patient abuse involving clients of the Butler County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Held in the county jail, the men did not respond to requests for interviews.

        Placing Mr. Ivers and Mr. Puckett on the soon-to-be-created list “is something we would certainly be looking at,” Robert Jennings, spokesman for the Ohio Department of MRDD, said Friday.

        Protecting clients from abuse “really is one of the biggest challenges in caring for people with mental retardation,” said Tom Eamoe, executive director of The Arc Hamilton County, a nonprofit advocacy group for people with developmental disabilities.

        He thinks the registry will help protect some of Ohio's most vulnerable citizens from neglect, abuse and exploitation, yet will preserve the due-process rights of employees who serve them.

        In September, Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill sponsored by Ohio Sen. Robert F. Spada of Parma Heights. The bill made Ohio one of the first states to enact legislation establishing a so-called “abuser registry” specifically for employees of agencies who care for those who are mentally or physically disabled, authorities say.

        No one is on the registry yet because officials are still working on rules for its use.

        The registry is intended to help officials stop abusive workers from moving from agency to agency without consequence, as they have in the past.

        In 1999, the state agency received nearly 2,000 reports of abuse, neglect and other offenses against its clients.

        However, in the major categories of offenses, fewer than one-third of the cases were substantiated.

        Maybe that's because the wrongdoing didn't happen. But it also could be that the wrongdoing is difficult to prove because some clients are incapable or fearful of describing what happened, said Kenneth W. Ritchey, director of the Ohio Department of MRDD, in his testimony supporting Mr. Spada's bill.

        “It is often difficult for the victim to get through the justice system,” he said. “In many cases, police officers do not have the special training required for these cases and the investigation. Furthermore, individuals with disabilities are often viewed as bad witnesses and do not hold up well under aggressive cross-examination.”

        Convicting a person of a crime requires evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Listing a person on the registry requires a lower legal standard, “clear and convincing evidence.”

        “In (some) cases, we are able to substantiate the allegations, but are unable to attract interest from the criminal justice system or are unable to prove the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt,” the state MRDD says. “This registry will allow us to take administrative action when we can substantiate the allegation by clear and convincing evidence.”

        The state MRDD director will decide whether that standard is met, and employers will screen job applicants through the registry. Anyone who is listed will be ineligible for MRDD jobs.

        The registry is modeled after the state's Nurse Aide Registry operated by the Ohio Department of Health, officials said.

        The registry will include names of people found to have neglected a client, misappropriated a client's property or verbally, sexually or physically abused a client. However, a person will not be listed in the case of “extenuating circumstances,” such as acting in self-defense, the state says.

        A listed person may appeal to have his name removed or, in some instances, may have his name expunged by undergoing rehabilitation programs. The law also requires removal of a person's name if he is acquitted in criminal court.

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