Carl DeBrodie case: Family attorney says the charges didn’t surprise him

“I assured my clients that the prosecutor was working on it and something probably would happen,” Ruday Veit,, the DeBrodie family’s attorney said. “And it has.”

Fulton Police arrested five people associated with the Carl DeBrodie case.

“I knew a long time ago that charges would be filed because I saw the documents,” Veit said. “I had been anticipating that for a long time they were going to make an arrest, it’s just a matter of when the prosecutor could coordinate with the other parties involved in the case.”

Veit said this process has taken a long time.

“Its been a while and each step shows that somebody is doing something and someone cares,” he said.

Veit said these charges set a precedent for care facilities across the state.

“One of the things we want to do is make sure this action doesn’t happen again, and by him prosecuting them all it sets a good message to other facilities not to do this kind of conduct,” Veit said.

Veit thinks the charges for this case will be staying, “In this case the evidence is pretty clear that these charges will be met In every one of these cases.”

Veit said these criminal charges do not affect the civil case with the DeBrodie family.

“It should not affect the outcome, but it will help us reach the goals we want to reach,” Veit said. “Except now I know where to find them.”

Former Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett said that civil and criminal cases are “different animals” and agrees that the new charges wouldn’t affect really affect the civil case. Fulton police already said they didn’t find evidence DeBrodie was forced to fight other residents of the group home, even though the civil suit accuses that.

“When you file a civil suit, you’re making allegations. If you make a fact, you make exaggerate that fact and it’s accepted within the bounds of a civil lawsuit,” he said. “With criminal law, you have to be very specific. You’re talking about putting someone in prison, taking away their liberties. In civil law, you’re talking about taking away their money. Nobody goes to jail with civil law.”