The state of New York believes anyone with children probably wouldn't want Vincent Tricomi as a neighbor.
It's not because the 37-year-old man from Watervliet is mentally retarded. According to the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, it's because Tricomi is an admitted pedophile consumed by sexual thoughts of little children. They want to keep him locked up.
For nearly 10 years, the state has held Tricomi in a secure facility for mentally retarded people deep in the Adirondacks where his rehabilitation has been anything but a success. Indeed, his psychiatric evaluations indicate his progress has been "inconsistent" and violent encounters with staff members at the Sunmount Developmental Center in Franklin County have left Tricomi with bruises and broken bones.
Initially, Tricomi's family thought he might be released after a few years. But now there's no indication the state will ever let him go, and lawyers for the attorney general's office have convinced a judge three times in the past six years to keep him locked up. In May, they filed another request to keep him for at least two more years.
"They told me last week that Vinny's never going to get out," said his mother, Pat Tricomi. "I wasn't a bad mother. But they're punishing me, not my son. We want Vinny to have a chance at a life outside an institution. ... When he first went there, they said: 'You're going to have a new son when he comes home.' "
Sunmount, which houses about 36 people in its intensive treatment unit, opened in late 1994. Last year, the state spent $17.5 million to open Valley Ridge, a second facility for 60 mentally retarded criminals in Norwich, Chenango County.
Like Sunmount, Valley Ridge opened to great fanfare and state officials touted the programs as having "nationally recognized treatment programs."
But critics contend many people who are confined at the highly secure facilities end up spending more time behind fences than they would if their crimes had landed them in prison. They contend the money would be better spent developing local programs that would keep the mentally retarded individuals close to their homes and families.
In cases like Tricomi's, they say, even the best rehabilitation programs may not work.
"They spend more time institutionalized than they would if they were convicted and went to prison," said Joseph Glazer, president of the Mental Health Association in New York State.
With his documented history of bullying children and struggles with pedophilia, Tricomi's confinement at Sunmount could be a life sentence.
"I really do think that what we're looking at is an individual who is trapped in the system," Glazer said. "He and others like him certainly need to be protected because the sexual behavior aspect of this is certainly untreatable. But I certainly do not think that a person has to be institutionalized for the rest of their life to have to deal with that."
Tricomi was one of Sunmount's first "consumers," and nine years ago the facility seemed like the best deal for him, his parents say. At the time, he was facing felony sexual abuse charges for grabbing the buttocks of a young boy at a bowling alley in Colonie while his parents were nearby. The arrest came after more than 10 years of similar encounters between Tricomi and young children, many of which took place in his own neighborhood.
Prosecutors and police had had enough, they said, and told Tricomi's parents the options were either prison for as long as seven years or a "voluntary" commitment at Sunmount as a term of probation.
"If you're mentally retarded, forget it, there's no mercy for them," said Pat Tricomi. "Vinny never raped anyone. He would touch children and run away scared. His punishment has been too severe. ... He cries all the time and says 'Mommy, I want to come home.' "
Despite its pastoral setting just outside Tupper Lake, Sunmount at times is anything but a safe place to live or work.
"They're compelled to report all allegations of possible criminal acts on the campus ... and I'll bet you every week we probably receive three or four referrals," said John Delehanty, Franklin County's chief assistant district attorney. "There have been several cases in which felony indictments have resulted, including some violent assaults of consumers against staff."
Franklin County officials say they have seen the crime rate at Sunmount grow steadily along with its population over the past nine years.
And county prosecutors contend the crime levels at Sunmount have become so disproportionate that they are seeking financial relief from state lawmakers because the cases are sapping resources at the expense of local taxpayers. In nearly each case, mental health experts must be hired to determine whether the Sunmount resident -- either as a defendant or accuser -- is competent.
"It takes great effort to see that they're cared for and not discriminated against when crimes are committed," Delehanty said.
Occasionally, there are cases in which staff members have been convicted of beating or mistreating residents.
Last month, State Police visited Sunmount after Tricomi allegedly was severely beaten by at least two staff members. He suffered bruises to his torso and genitals, according to his family, who say they were told the workers had been suspended while the investigation is pending.
It wasn't the first time Tricomi has been injured at Sunmount. Eighteen months ago, he became highly agitated while suffering from a misdiagnosed medical problem.
"He begged his father to help. He was shaking," his mother said.
During the time he was ill, Tricomi had a confrontation with a female staff member, who snapped his arm. Two pins had to be inserted into his elbow to heal the break, his parents said.
A spokeswoman for the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities last week declined a request by the Times Union to visit Sunmount or interview staff members. State officials said they also are prohibited from discussing individual cases.
A lawyer from the state attorney general's office is expected to argue in Franklin County Court in coming weeks that Tricomi should stay behind the fences at Sunmount for at least two more years -- the fourth time the state has sought such a ruling.
The state's case will be based primarily on a mental evaluation by Dr. John Niederbuhl, a psychologist who recently wrote that "Tricomi would present a danger to others if released to the community."
Tricomi is being represented in the court proceeding by a state-appointed attorney for the Office of Mental Hygiene, who declined comment.
Experts who study criminal cases involving the mentally challenged said cases like Tricomi's underscore the need for reform and show that being committed to a state psychiatric facility like Sunmount can be an open-ended sentence.
"Of course nobody believes that anybody who's a danger to children should be able to roam freely around a community," said Steven Taylor, director of the Center on Human Policy at Syracuse University. "But when you have somebody with mental retardation who has problematic behavior, probably the worst thing you can do is put that person with people who have the same problems. It exaggerates the problem and they feed off each other."
Taylor, who is a specialist in the rights of people with disabilities and disseminates information on community living arrangements for people with severe disabilities, said he believes cases like Tricomi's are too risky for state officials to consider placing him in a community program.
"In the mind of state officials and elected officials and appointed officials, if you have X number of people locked away in a unit like this, who gets upset about it? Well, maybe their family members," Taylor said. "If one person is released and commits a crime it's a terrible political embarrassment."
Still, Taylor said numerous studies have shown that keeping people like Tricomi close to home and intimately connected with family members gives them the best chance at living a normal life and not committing more crimes.
That's also what Pat and Vincent Tricomi Jr. believe would be best for their son. They said Vinny wasn't consumed by pedophilia and that he was happy doing household chores. Each summer, they took him on a vacation to Wildwood, N.J., and stayed at the same motel, where the owner liked Vinny so much he let him stay for free and clean the pool.
The Tricomis concede that bringing their son home would probably upset some residents in their neighborhood, where many families with young children live. But they believe it could work. They point out that people convicted of rape and other crimes more serious than their son's are allowed to resume their lives at some point, even with restrictions that might include electronic monitoring bracelets and surprise visits from probation officers.
"Life is a chance. When you let a killer out, is he going to kill again?" Pat Tricomi said. "I can't leave him up there and I'd love to have him come home to his room." | 
