Inspectors who monitored James and Stephanie Dickinsons' care of two mentally retarded women in their home for 15 years found nothing amiss.

But they never toured the basement.

Police did, and they charged the Dickinsons this week with abusing two women and five children there.

Representatives of the county's Mental Health/Mental Retardation Department had visited the home at least once a year.

Representatives of Friendship Community, the agency chosen by the county to contract with the Dickinsons to care for the women, had visited more often than that.

On each occasion, by all accounts, the women appeared to be well adjusted, and the Dickinsons showed visitors separate bedrooms where the two slept in tidy city homes on Walter Avenue and, later, on St. Joseph Street.

Inspectors from the state Department of Welfare also found nothing out of place when they toured the house in the 400 block of St. Joseph Street last September.

But the next month, police raided the home and found the two women and five boys whom the Dickinsons had adopted entrapped in squalid conditions in the basement.

After a year-long investigation, police early this week charged Mrs. Dickinson, 57, and her husband, 62, with false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment.

As adoptees, the boys, three of whom have disabilities, were not monitored.

Chris Gingrich, director of the county's Children & Youth Agency, said the agency "became aware of these children at the time the police were alerted" and helped find them new homes.

How could this couple have allegedly imprisoned two women and five boys under such conditions for so long and not be discovered?

"On the surface, it looks like a level of deception that I can hardly connect with," George Stoltzfus, chief executive officer of Friendship Community, said today.

"There were a lot of people that, frankly, the Dickinsons fooled," said Jim Laughman, director of MH/MR.

"From everything that I can recall from reviewing the records last year, the Dickinsons were doing a good job for the ladies," he added.

Stoltzfus said, "The part of the home that my staff and the state inspectors viewed was an ideal setting. But we didn't go into the basement."

Stoltzfus pointed out that the charges against the Dickinsons are fresh, but all agencies involved have known about the situation for a year.

"Steps to rectify the situation were taken months ago," Stoltzfus said. "We have spent a great deal of time in the past year trying to recover from the consternation of the moment."

He said the agency has re-evaluated the entire program. Representatives are making more frequent home visits and record-keeping has been tightened.

"We do our best to make sure protections are in place," he said. "At many points along the way we trust our families to be doing what they say they are doing and what they appear to be doing."

Laughman said the revelations about the conditions of the home on St. Joseph Street point to the need for finding ways to be more diligent.

"I think it would be irresponsible not to take a look at the situation and see what we can learn," he said.

The state licenses homes such as the Dickinsons' to care for the mentally retarded. This license was issued through Friendship Community, which is affiliated with the Lancaster Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

Friendship receives state and federal money for care of the retarded through the county and, after paying its staff, pays the Dickinsons and others who operate what the agency calls "life-sharing" homes.

Stoltzfus would not reveal how much Friendship paid the Dickinsons, but their arrest warrant affidavit noted that the couple had been receiving about $9,000 a month for the care of the two women and disabled children.

According to court records, in January 2001, James Dickinson was arrested for drunken driving and disorderly conduct for engaging in fighting. He performed community service and was placed in a specific probation program for drunken driving.

Laughman said generally a drunken driving arrest wouldn't preclude someone from caring for someone in the MH/MR program, but it would raise concerns that the agency would look into. He added that he was unsure how this specific case was handled.

In 1997 he was disciplined by the state Insurance Department for allegedly preparing false policy applications and was placed under department supervision for five years, according to newspaper reports.

Dickinson, who was a Prudential Insurance agent between 1990 and 1993, was found to be issuing new policies that were funded in part by existing policies — a practice known as "churning."

In the case, Dickinson did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to a $63,000 fine and the loss of his insurance license, according to newspaper accounts.

CONTACT US: jbrubaker@LNPnews.com or 291-8781