ELYRIA — Scoring a few smokes at a smoke-free mental institution endangered a Sheffield Lake man institutionalized for the stabbing death of his surgeon father.

So on Wednesday, county Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Rothgery OK’d a request from his doctors to move Ricardo Punsalan for his own safety.

BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE

Ricardo Punsalan appears at a hearing before Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery.

Punsalan will be moved to the Toledo campus of Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare from its Northfield location. The move will not alter his treatment plan or security level, but it will allow him to continue his hospitalization without fear of harm.

Punsalan, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has been at the maximum-security facility since he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for fatally stabbing his father, surgeon Ernesto Punsalan in 1994.

He told authorities voices told him his father was Satan. Just hours before the stabbing, Ricardo Punsalan had been released from a psychiatric facility.

On Wednesday, he sat quietly as his treating psychiatrist, Dr. Emmanuel E. Nwajei, explained the situation necessitating Punsalan’s reassignment.

Although Northcoast is a smoke-free campus, cigarettes make it into the facility and inmates are trading and purchasing the contraband, the doctor said. And, for at least some time during his stay at Northcoast, Punsalan was involved.

His involvement came to a head in late December when Punsalan told Nwajei that he owed several residents money after he got cigarettes from them on credit, the doctor said. Punsalan even went so far as to identify to staff members several inmates who also were involved.

“And, despite our best efforts to address this by talking to those involved and doing our own investigation, Mr. Punsalan came to us expressing concern for his own safety,” Nwajei said.

To stave off any potential attack on Punsalan, Northcoast has tried to keep him separate from other residents, but because of the nature of the facility’s population, there is no way to completely ensure his safety, Nwajei said. In addition, such restrictions are interfering with his ongoing treatment, he said.
Northcoast asked for the transfer, and neither Assistant County Prosecutor Steven List nor Punsalan’s attorney, Bill Willis, objected.

Willis said Punsalan finally is getting to a place where he was comfortable with his treatment and making progress.

Under his current treatment plan, Punsalan is kept on a variety of anti-psychotic drugs, but he has freedom to move from building to building on the institution’s campus without supervision.

“We just think he could continue to do well in a place where he does not owe people money or has been identified as the person who told about the cigarette operation,’’ Nwajei said. “He is actually doing well in regards to his treatment, but still needs to be hospitalized.”

Punsalan’s mental health will be re-evaluated at a hearing to be held in November.

The killing of Dr. Ernesto Punsalan came days before his daughter, Elizabeth Punsalan, and her husband-partner Jerod Swallow were to leave for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games to compete in the ice dance competition as the only American qualifying team. The couple finished 15th.
Contact Lisa Roberson  at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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