Care home couple 'enslaved mentally ill'

A couple charged with forcing mentally ill residents of the home they ran to work naked on their Kansas farm have been accused of 35 more offences, including slave labour, sex abuse and health care fraud.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury, replaces one issued in November that charged Arlan Kaufman, 68, and his wife, Linda, 61, with a single count of involuntary servitude.

They now face three counts of holding group home residents in involuntary servitude and two counts of forcing them to perform manual labour, as well as 16 counts of health care fraud, among other charges.

Authorities say the couple received more than €155,000 by submitting fraudulent bills to Medicare.

The Kaufmans have operated the home for adults with mental disabilities in Newton, central Kansas, since 1995. The original servitude charge stemmed from an allegation that residents of the home were forced to work in the nude at the couple’s farm in Potwin, about 50 miles from the group home, in 1999.

The new indictment accuses the Kaufmans of forcing group home residents to perform sexually explicit acts and manual labour. The indictment also says the Kaufmans videoed some of the sexual contacts during purported therapy sessions.

James Wyrsch, a lawyer representing the couple, said he had not seen the indictment but that the Kaufmans “intend to plead not guilty and vigorously defend themselves”.