PHILADELPHIA — Political patronage contributed to the starvation death of a disabled Philadelphia girl under the city’s watch, a federal judge said yesterday in sentencing a social services contractor to 17 1/2 years in prison.
The city paid the politically connected firm of Michal Kamuvaka, 61, $1 million a year.
Company workers assigned to the chaotic home where 14-year-old Danieal Kelly was wasting away in a wheelchair were supposed to ensure she and her siblings had proper care.
But after 10 months of supposed twice-weekly visits, Danieal, who had cerebral palsy, was still not enrolled in school and had not been to a doctor. When she died in August 2006, she weighed 42 pounds and had maggot-infested bedsores.
Later yesterday, Dalzell sentenced another company cofounder, Solomon Manamela, 52, to 14 years for his role in the fraud.
