Sunday, June 12, 2005
BY JOHN BEAUGE
For The Patriot-News
LAMAR – State Trooper Richard Davy is not 100 percent, but he says he wants to go back to work because he’s running out of money.
The 39-year-old Clinton County resident says his life hasn’t been the same since he ate at a Chi-Chi’s in western Pennsylvania in October 2003. He is among the 650 people who contracted hepatitis at the restaurant. Four died.
His financial condition isn’t likely to improve soon.

On Friday, a court ruled the trooper and another who was with him at the restaurant may not collect benefits under a state program that covers officers disabled in the line of duty.
“I have no energy,” said Davy, who will mark his 15th year on the force in July. “If I sleep 24 hours, I feel like I haven’t slept at all.”
He used to play golf but said that interest is gone. He would be tuckered out by the seventh tee, he said.
Davy still feels the effects of the hepatitis A that he and Trooper Nicholas Loffredo contracted while on assignment in Beaver.
They were sent there to do surveillance on a suspect in the disappearance of a Lock Haven woman.
On Oct. 6, 2003, Davy and Loffredo conducted four hours of surveillance in the Beaver area, returned to their hotel, worked out, ate at the Chi Chi’s in the Beaver Valley Mall and did another hour of surveillance.
They became ill later that month and were diagnosed with hepatitis A.
Loffredo was off work from Nov. 7, 2003, to Nov. 23, 2003, but Davy didn’t return until February 2004, when he was placed on limited duty. The illness forced him to stop working in July.
“They’ve done every test they can think of,” but his condition has changed little, Davy said. He has been told he is one of 10 people who have had lingering effects from eating at that restaurant, part of a chain that went bankrupt after the outbreak.
Davy has been living on savings because he hasn’t been paid since February. He has exhausted his sick leave and vacation benefits, he said. Davy, who is raising a 17-year-old daughter, said friends have helped him but he doesn’t want to rely on them.
Davy and Loffredo got workers’ compensation, but an arbitrator ruled they were ineligible for special state police benefits under what commonly is known as the Heart and Lung Act.
Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller upheld the arbitrator’s ruling, and on Friday, a Commonwealth Court panel, in a 2-1 decision, did the same.
The judges denied the special benefits because they said the troopers made a choice to eat at that restaurant.
Davy and Loffredo contend they became ill in the performance of their duties because they were required to stay in a hotel and eat their meals in restaurants to complete their mission.