Washington, D.C. ? Seung-Hui Cho never received the treatment ordered by a judge who declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years before his rampage at Virginia Tech, law enforcement officials said, exposing flaws in Virginia’s labyrinthine mental health system, including confusion about the law, spotty enforcement and inadequate funding.

Neither the court, the university nor community services officials followed up on the judge’s order, according to dozens of interviews. Cho never got the treatment, according to authorities who have seen his medical files. And although state law says the community services board should have made sure Cho got help, a board official said that was “news to us.”

Interviews with state and university officials, lawmakers, special justices, attorneys, advocates and mental health agencies across the state made clear that what happened with Cho is not unusual in cases of “involuntary outpatient commitment” – Virginia’s name for the kind of order issued by Cho’s judge.

Cho, they said, slipped through a porous mental health system that suffers from muddled, seldom-enforced laws and inconsistent practices.