NEWS

Couple face less serious charge in death of disabled girl

Greg Shillinglaw, and Lee Higgins
Westchester
Alayah-Rose Savarese

A New York City special education teacher and her husband now face only a misdemeanor charge each in the 2012 death of her severely disabled 8-year-old daughter, who prosecutors say was neglected for years.

Nicole Diggs, 32, and Oscar Thomas, 28, appeared briefly in state Supreme Court in White Plains, where a new indictment was unsealed Tuesday afternoon. It charges them with endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the June 25, 2012, death of Alayah-Rose Savarese in her Yonkers apartment despite a $2.1 million trust established for her care.

Nicole Diggs, 31, of Yonkers, left, walks into the Westchester County Courthouse accompanied by her aunt, in White Plains June 11, 2014. Diggs, along with her husband Oscar Thomas, are charged in the death of Diggs' daughter, 8-year-old Alayah-Rose Savarese. The severely disabled Yonkers girl was found dead in her apartment two years ago.

The indictment comes just two months after Judge Barbara Zambelli dismissed earlier charges of criminally negligent homicide — a more serious crime. Zambelli based her dismissal on prosecutors' failure to show the grand jury recordings of interrogations of the couple, as jurors had requested.

The pair face up to a year each at the county jail. Both pleaded not guilty through their lawyers.

Officials say Thomas, who was responsible for taking care of Alayah, went to a probation appointment, shopped at a video game store and dined at IHOP, leaving the girl and the couple's 16-month-old twin sons with a friend who didn't know how to tube feed her and wouldn't recognize whether she was having medical issues. Prosecutors say Alayah, who had cerebral palsy and couldn't speak, walk or eat by herself, required round-the-clock care, but was underfed and otherwise neglected for years.

Prosecutor Audrey Stone said before bringing the case to a new grand jury, "while reviewing the evidence and with input from defense counsel, we determined that certain facts had changed. The process led us to the conclusion that the charge of criminally negligent homicide was not an appropriate one going forward."

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Westchester District Attorney's Office, would not comment on what had changed in the case, saying it was part of the grand jury proceedings.

Alayah, wearing a dirty T-shirt and diaper and weighing only 33 pounds, was dead in the couple's squalid apartment an estimated four to six hours before EMS workers arrived that afternoon, according to court records and a state child fatality report. Thomas called 911 after checking on Alayah at the prompting of a friend.

The report says a blunt — a cigar rolled with marijuana — was found in the apartment, and Thomas and two friends who were there tested positive for marijuana later that day.

Oscar Thomas

Diggs, a Cornell University graduate and special education teacher at P.S. 152 Evergreen, an elementary school in the Bronx, had won a $2.1 million medical malpractice settlement to fund her daughter's care. She and Thomas married three weeks after the girl's death.

Prior to Alayah's death, six other complaints had been made to the state regarding her care, the fatality report says.

Diggs has been reassigned to administrative duties and remains barred from having contact with students, according to the New York City Department of Education. An update on her status was not immediately available on Tuesday.

Diggs remains free on bail. Thomas has been in custody since June on a probation violation. The judge set $1,500 cash bail in his case.