ALBANY, N.Y. -- What should have been standard procedure -- transporting eight people to a day care facility on March 4 -- ended in anything but that.

"A van left 30 North Russell, which is Capital Day Services, to go pick up a group of developmentally disabled individuals to bring them back to Capital Day Services," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple explained. "Everybody exited the vehicle, or so they believed, and went in 30 North Russell."

After about an hour, the vehicle, belonging to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, was driven to the DePaula Chevrolet on Central Avenue for repairs.

"A service employee comes out of the dealership, gets in the van and [says], 'Oh my god, there's somebody sitting in this,' " Apple said.

A 42-year-old non-verbal male went unobserved by four state employees. Joseph Santabarbara, Jr., Benjamin Tsahey, Latoya McQueen and Timothy Kennedy have all been charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or psychically disabled person in the second degree.

"How is it that a supervisor checked this van and signed off and said 'nobody was in it,' and didn't see this man sitting upright in the back seat of the van, which is depicted by video?" Apple asked.

As a result the OPWDD issued a statement, saying in part:"All OPWDD staff in contact with individuals receiving services are being retrained on transportation safety protocols that require a sweep of each vehicle before the driver exits to ensure all individuals have exited and verification that individuals have arrived at their intended location."

DePaula Chevrolet also issued a statement: "Although it was a terrible event that the gentleman was left in the back seat of the van that was brought to our dealership for service, I am very happy that our service staff was able to correct the situation immediately. It’s our normal procedure to inspect every vehicle left for service by customers before moving the vehicle from the service lane. And in this case, our inspection made it possible to correct this very unfortunate incident."

"Everybody is in a hurry, everybody wants to rush and do things, and everybody is not paying attention," Apple said, "and if your job is to care for these individuals, then darnn it, for your tour, you better care for them."

The four employees have been placed on administrative leave without pay and are due to appear in Albany City Court on March 21.