Agape Boarding School Abuse Lawsuit - Pennsylvania Schools Details: WebFormer students of Agape from Alabama, Texas, and Michigan have filed two civil lawsuits against the Boarding School for multiple charges that include physical, agape ranch abuse Verified 5 days ago Many children in foster care feel unlovable because of the abuse they've suffered all their lives. 180 Ministries, a ministry of Teen Challenge, located in Denver Colorado, is a residential substance abuse . Its just a very scary place to be, Bradney said. He says one told local police that he had escaped from a Nazi camp.. Bindley, who Clemensen calls one of Agaps top success stories, says the experience left him with lasting trauma, and left a stain on my childhood growing up., Colton Schrag says he decided to speak after PTSD drove him into counseling. Thank you for your generous support [] McCrary said his office has received complaints about Agap, and that theyve all been investigated as far as it could go. He called Graves a very good deputy. McCrary said that he ensures there is no conflict of interest when investigating Agap complaints by involving other agencies, like the social services department. At a hearing in the Missouri Legislature on Wednesday, a department official said it has been difficult to substantiate abuse allegations at religious boarding schools due to "a culture of restricted access.". Yet the delays have frustrated state lawmakers. The five employees of the Agape Boarding School near Stockton were charged with a total of 13 third-degree felony assault counts, Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither said. Moments later, Bindley says, Bryan yanked him backward, slamming his chair and his head into the concrete floor. Pour Salt Down Your Drain At Night, Here's Why, Tyler Kingkade and Liz Brown and Keith Morrison and Rachel White and Andrew Williams and Javier Rodriguez. People had reported Circle of Hope at least 19 times since it opened to three sheriffs departments, state child welfare and education officials, the highway patrol, and the state attorney generals office, according to interviews and records obtained by NBC News. 2 min read. (NBC News presented a copy of Clidences nondisparagement agreement to Agap to confirm or dispute its authenticity, but the school did not respond.). In 1992, the Clemensens announced to their troubled wards that they were moving to a promised land of sorts: an old Air Force base six miles outside of tiny Othello, Washington. Child welfare experts say that makes it more difficult for a state to look into maltreatment, because police will only investigate what counts as a crime, rather than what places a child in danger. Some who attended and worked at the school said otherwise. January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM Pinehaven did not respond to a request for comment. Among other things, the new state law allows state or local authorities to petition the court for closure of a facility if children's safety or health are believed to be in immediate danger. That is blasphemous.. There, according to Bindley, he was put to work painting, roofing, and helping to dismantle a web of lead pipes covered in asbestos, which he was told to carry to the top of a hill and throw into a pit used to burn garbage. An investigation by NBC News and Dateline found that multiple states have similar gaps in the oversight of religious boarding schools, leaving children vulnerable to abuse. We want to hear it. So they were all, in my book, guilty of association, said Schrag. The 57-year-old is currently facing charges of second-degree statutory sodomy . Missouri previously had virtually no . Today, its home to at least 28 such institutions, though some estimates place the number at upward of 100, many of which are still operating under the radar. His outrage became open defiance. That meant calling out and even disciplining classmates for infractions like cursing, talking in line, refusing to pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, or talking about their pasts. Students called it the Padded Palace. One deposed student describes attempting to jump off a staircase at Agap in a gesture of suicidal desperation which prompted a staffer to grab him, throw him six feet across the floor, sit on his back, and bash his head into the floor multiple times, leaving him in a pile of snot and blood, while screaming, Is this what you want? (Agap confirms restraining the student, but says it was not a form of abuse but an attempt to prevent harm to the boy.) Another former student said under oath that he was yanked out of bed and slammed to the floor for waking up late, kicked and punched in the balls by former dean of students Julio Sandoval, and kicked in the ribs and face in front of the rest of the school by Bryan Clemensen. He is pleased to hear the Missouri attorney generals office is now investigating Agape Boarding School. Related: More than a dozen people reported abuse at a religious boarding school in rural Missouri before the owners' daughter launched a campaign that got action. There was a small room down a dark staircase with blue padded floors and holes punched in the wall. (Photo by Tim Bommel/House Communications) The way Bryan tells it, in the 1970s, Kathy was a single mom whod found Jesus but still had a mischievous streak. NBC News reported on the allegations earlier this . It was time to go. In May 2021, the law requiring religious schools to register with the state passed. but has gone public in the past year with his . Our rehabilitation center in Fort Lauderdale for substance abuse embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends, that serves regardless of circumstances. STOCKTON, Mo. Tripadvisor names the world's top 25 beaches, three in the U.S. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". The school has been operating in Missouri where until 2021, privately owned schools were not required to report to the state. Former students say Clemensen, a paunchy middle-aged man with a buzz cut, a soft chin, and a stern manner, had a technique that he called Jurassic Elbow which entailed slamming his elbow into the back of a students skull, face, ribs, or down between the shoulder blades. The reasoning for the exemptions varies, but states generally take a hands-off approach to oversight of privately funded schools, and officials fear stoking the anger of conservative voters. They say theyre still haunted by nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. First published on January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. Francis said that Robert Graves, a Cedar County sheriffs deputy who had worked at Agap, sat in on a meeting Francis had with a social worker who was looking into abuse allegations at the school. Boarding schools fleeing abuse claims in other states find 'Promised Land' in Missouri . When more severe penalties were required, according to students, civil suits, and a search warrant filed later by state investigators, Agap staffers would hold the boys facedown on the floor while pressing their elbows, knees, and fingers into students pressure points, a pain compliance method known as a restraint. Or worse. Five months later, authorities raided Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from the ranch. ET): After publication of this article, Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary disputed an account by former Agap student Lucas Francis. In August, Sandoval was charged with arranging the kidnapping of an emancipated teen in Fresno, California, on behalf of the boys estranged mother, and then having him driven, handcuffed, 27 hours to Agap. Advocates are watching the Agap case, and suggest it illustrates why federal legislation is needed. Indeed, the version of the school students describe, community members say, is starkly different from the Agap the town has come to know. In civil suits, Agap students describe being choked with rebar and electrical cords, pushed through drywall, having their noses broken, and hit in the testicles hard enough to cause traumatic groin injury. They say several boys attempted to hang themselves, in what they call a pandemic among students. Agap, through its attorney, denies the allegations, and says that no student there has ever killed himself. In the aftermath of the criminal case, the state enacted the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act in 2017. The former director of Agape Boarding School pleaded with a Cole County judge on Monday to keep himself off the state's central registry of child abuse and . 25, 2021 at 2:05 PM PDT. Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. Munton allowed the school to remain open, with state supervision.Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Agape and nearby Christian boarding school Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch prompted a . Children said pastors and staff members at both facilities choked and punched them, kept them in solitary confinement, handcuffed them to beds and forced them to box each other. The school still faces a wave of lawsuits accusing administrators of abuse. Schrag says the verbal abuse was constant. The Kansas City Star reported that the Householders deny all allegations . It was renewed on Dec. 7. They also look at records from any incidents in which a child is injured or restrained. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. After abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, a religious boarding school near Agap, began spreading on TikTok last spring, the Cedar County Sheriffs Department opened an investigation, which the state attorney general joined and is ongoing. Hymns blared in the classrooms. After abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a religious boarding school near Agap, began spreading on TikTok last spring, the Cedar County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation, which the state attorney general joined and is ongoing. Hunt was one of a number of SBC leaders named in a 2022 report from the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions hired by the denomination in 2021 to resolve long-running conflicts over sexual abuse. Those details were outlined in motions filed in 19 civil lawsuits requesting that the Cedar County judge overseeing those cases allow . The curriculum included traditional math and English. It was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally moved state authorities to get involved. I tried to find a record of it, but there was none. (The Cedar County Sheriffs Department did not return calls seeking comment.). The glass flew everywhere, he says. But he struggled at home. Another describes a staffer holding a pocket knife to his throat. hen Andrew Breshears arrived at the Agap Boarding School in 2018, he was a sandy-haired 12-year-old who weighed less than 100 pounds. Thats where someone went too far. After each event, the team assesses what went well, what could be done better, and how many children/foster families were positively impacted. Where they stop looking to drugs, or their friends, and say to God, I need your help to feel better. If you dont save their souls, it aint going to stick.. A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. After the state removed students from the school in August, Circle of Hope voluntarily shut down. 2023 The Associated Press. Staffers grabbed Breshears and, he claims, threw him onto the glass. Josh Bradney, 19, who attended Agap from 2014 to 2016, said staff members slammed him to the ground when he told his parents on a phone call that Agap employees hit another boy with a football helmet. Former students said their communication with parents and local authorities was censored. To him, it seemed arbitrary and needlessly brutal. Jim and Kathy appeared at the hospital a few weeks later. In 1995, county officials shut them down after health inspectors found the school which by then had 140 students and 25 staffers had rotting food, holes in the walls large enough to allow rodents to enter, and exposed wiring. The schools are unrelated and are not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. 1.0 Stephen H. Winter Haven, FL. Facebook Page. Riley Olson and His crew-help the students start and progress colts raised on the ranch, and each year they have a public auction and the young men that are a part of the program show the horse and ride him through the sale. Many other states, such as New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas, do not require religious boarding schools to be licensed by education or child welfare authorities because they are privately owned or privately funded. Colton Shrag, age 16 on a home visit from Agap in 2008. The result, experts said, is that in much of the country, no one from the government checks to ensure that these facilities, often in remote regions, meet basic standards before children are enrolled. That . But the bills essentially became a referendum on one unregulated facility, the Pinehaven Christian Children's Ranch in St. Ignatius, Montana, whose founder showed up to hearings with supporters to argue against the change. For the first time, religious schools would be required to register with the state and undergo inspections; the attorney general would now have authority to close down facilities that posed a threat to students. Full Gala Taping. They were very detailed and professional. Attendance at Agape plummeted after abuse allegations surfaced. The Clemensens sent 100 boys home, and moved the rest to base housing. Schmitt last year asked a Cedar County judge to close Agape, but the judge had not yet issued a decision. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. ), Other students describe staffers encouraging classmates to fight one another, and cutting off communication with loved ones when they complained. 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