Two defendants in the Carl DeBrodie case pleaded guilty Monday.
Shaina Osborne, 29, and Anthony R.K. Flores, 32, were charged with making a false report or false statement of a missing person, a misdemeanor. Flores faced two counts of the charge.
Flores pleaded guilty to the first count and was sentenced to eight months in the county jail, minus time served. The second count was dismissed as part of a plea deal.
"I hope he realizes what he has done, he and his family, to an innocent person," Carol Samson, DeBrodie's aunt, said. "Shame on him."
Osborne was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but her sentence was suspended. She is ordered to complete two years of unsupervised probation and to stay off social media during her probation.
Mary Martin, who was DeBrodie's guardian for several years, described herself as "pissed" the defendants didn't receive more jail time.
"(But) it's the law," she said. "What can you do?"
Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson said, DeBrodie lived at Second Chance Homes of Fulton, a supported living facility. Sherry Paulo, another defendant in the case, worked at the facility. Her son, Flores, and Flores' girlfriend, Osborne, also worked for the same agency but not necessarily at the same facility.
On April 17, 2017, ownership of the facility was set to be transferred to another company. Osborne was at the facility aiding the hand-off, Wilson said.
"By her account, she found DeBrodie missing from his room and reported it to Paulo," he said.
Paulo, in turn, reported DeBrodie missing to police. DeBrodie had in fact been missing - and dead - for months, investigators later determined.
Osborne and Flores spoke to investigators later that day. Both told police they'd seen DeBrodie at an Easter party at Paulo's house the day before, Wilson said. Flores repeated that claim April 19, 2017.
"(Later), he said his mother told him to say those things," Wilson told the court.
According to a news release Wilson sent Monday, Flores also told investigators Paulo had given similar instructions to Osborne and his sister and fellow defendant Mary Paulo.
DeBrodie was found in a concrete block in a Fulton storage unit on April 24, 2017. He was 31.
Flores has been imprisoned in the Callaway County Jail for about eight months, and Osborne has been out on bail. Wilson told the court that over the weekend, Osborne posted inflammatory comments publicly on Facebook using the pseudonym Shaina Daniels.
"Can't wait to see y'alls faces," one comment on a post about Monday's court date read, in part. "Gonna be one hell of a party. Hope I make your pitiful day worth it."
Wilson said the comments caused members of DeBrodie's family considerable emotional distress.
"In all my years of practice, I've never had a defendant post something that offensive on social media," he said.
Osborne said she "meant no disrespect."
In response to the posts, Wilson requested Osborne be barred from Facebook and other social media sites during her probation period.
"You need to be plumb ashamed of yourself," Samson said to Osborne in court, describing her comments as "disgusting."
"I hope God helps you in some way or another, because you need it," she added.
Future trials
There are three Callaway County trials related to the DeBrodie case scheduled for the coming months.
Sherry Paulo was indicted for client neglect, a class D felony; first-degree involuntary manslaughter, a class C felony; and abandonment of a corpse, a class D felony; and two counts of making a false report of a missing person, a misdemeanor. She pleaded not guilty to all charges in June. Her trial has been set for March 21 at 9 a.m.
Anthony R. Flores was indicted on identical charges and has also pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 27.
Mary Paulo is charged with making a false report of a missing person, a misdemeanor. She has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is set for 9 a.m. March 21, to be preceded by a pre-trial conference March 18.
Earlier coverage:
Two plead guilty in Carl DeBrodie case