Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Agape and Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch prompted a state law in 2021 requiring stricter oversight of such facilities. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. Exposing Agape is about exactly what it's name says. He would later help stage an uprising as an attempt to get thrown out of the school. 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. That's no secret, as news stories in The Christian. Bucklin wrote the video shows a staff . The state has been fighting to close Agap ever since. THORNTON, Colo. Agape Bible Church canceled all church services last weekend after a FOX31 Problem Solvers investigation into whether its head pastor tried to cover up an alleged sexual abuse . He ran the school on fear, says Colton Schrag, a former gang associate who attended the school twice between 2004 and 2010, and is not suing because the statute of limitations has expired. It would be helpful for them to come in early on this one as opposed to come in at a later date, said Gaither. All Rights reserved. The group claims a wide range of abuse, from starvation to physical and emotional abuse. 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. "I would argue Pinehaven is doing a very good job with very difficult kids.". He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. Anne Stych June 27, 2022. 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. Just last summer, former students at a pair of Wyoming ranches alleged in an NBC investigation that they had been forced to perform backbreaking manual labor and subjected to traumatic physical and emotional abuse. ", "Today, the many victims who have come forth can rest assured that no more children will be hurt at Agape Boarding School," Bucklin said in a text. He lost his red shirt and became familiar with the one place no student wanted to end up: Brown Town. That status, characterized by the brown shirt a student was forced to wear, according to lawsuits and depositions, came with extreme workouts, the loss of talking privileges, and a restricted meal plan that often consisted of a slice of bread and peanut butter, or a tortilla with a scoop of cold refried beans. Mow Grass and Maintain Landscaping. It was renewed on Dec. 7. But he would soon come to suffer horrifying abuse, he says experiences in line with what at least 18 former Agap students have recently alleged in lawsuits. None of these raised eyebrows until former Agap staffers Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. Closing Agap wouldnt be so easy, but throughout 2021 and 2022, the lawsuits began. The action galvanized Agap alumni, as well, and they began telling their stories to local media and on podcasts. Many of these programs, which are estimated to serve as many as 200,000 kids at any one time, are allowed to operate with virtual impunity, thanks to federal inaction and permissive state laws. They claim Clemensen was on a power trip and seemed to enjoy brutalizing the kids in his charge. The desire of 51:10 Youth Ranch is to provide a safe place for children, horses and families. The school follows a fundamentalist Baptist belief system, according to a 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, and displayed a photo of the radio evangelist Lester Roloff, who died in a plane crash in 1982. A student at Agap Boarding School near Stockton, Missouri, performs push ups when his student guide ruled his clean up work was not good enough in September 2002. Though Ms. Allred's office has spent months soliciting a cash settlement, we were unaware that a suit would be filed. If there is a question about a policy or rule, do not ask your son.. 90% of young adults aging-out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. Trending In November, a man who is reportedly a former Agap employee was charged with 215 counts of possession of child pornography. Every year, thousands of young Mormons go on missions to try to recruit others into the religion. The only thing it would have done, Smith said of her bill, is require these adolescent facilities to have oversight by our Department of Public Health and Human Services, just like a senior citizen home or a barbershop.. Court records show that David Earl Smock is wanted for assaulting children under 15 at the Agape Boarding School, a Christian private school in Greene County. They were very detailed and professional. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. The Montana Family Foundation, an anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage advocacy organization, lobbied against the proposals, as well, and Smith said their opposition scared lawmakers who didnt want a negative mark on the conservative groups legislative scorecard. Appalled, he used his phone to surreptitiously record Boyd Householder, who appeared to be ordering Circle of Hope students to physically assault one of their classmates. After Schrag, then 14, refused to answer their questions, he said, one of the employees knocked him to the ground, and then others held him facedown, pressing a knee into his back and head. Schrag says the verbal abuse was constant. As soon as Keri Ingle, a Democratic state representative from the Kansas City, Missouri, area and former child welfare investigator, read about the abuse allegations at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch last year, she called for hearings. 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. 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. At first glance, the facility for at-risk and unmotivated boys a Baptist institution in Stockton, Missouri wasnt so terrible. Former students and their attorneys allege that for years Clemensen has been a toxic presence at the school, encouraging his staff to use violence to maintain order. For secular youth facilities regulated by Missouris social services department, as well as those that have contracts with the state, social welfare agents conduct inspections at least twice a year to review staff training, check compliance with fire and health codes, and make sure employees have background checks and that children get proper medical attention. Bryan Clemensen was not among those charged. But under Missouri law, it was up to Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither to file charges. On the wooded roads near Agap, Amish men drive horse-drawn buggies; hundreds of members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints live on a nearby compound called the Ranch., I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriffs Department, and I tried to tell the guy, Theyre beating us,, says one former student. The last time would be his graduation. (Image: KY3 / Video screengrab) Nineteen former students of an embattled fundamentalist boarding school in Missouri have made new claims of brutal physical and sexual abuse in court filings this month. Within months, Jim was both saved and married, and Bryan had a new stepdad. The organization did not respond to requests for comment, but in presentations to the Legislature, the group repeatedly highlighted reports that children had been assaulted at secular youth facilities regulated by the state. Alumni of Christian boarding schools for troubled teens in Missouri, including Agape and Circle of Hope, say state laws prevented inspections, enabling abuse to continue for decades. I had a staff member tell me were wasting our time giving you a diploma because youre not even worth the paper its going to cost to print it on, said Schrag. Moments later, Bindley says, Bryan yanked him backward, slamming his chair and his head into the concrete floor. The school still faces a wave of lawsuits accusing administrators of abuse. . Plaintiff was allegedly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused while under the care and supervision of . Bryan Clemensen stops a tour of the group home to pet Sally, the ranchs beloved camel. Home to a population of 1,600, it has a tiny main square, the worlds largest processor of eastern black walnuts, and 21 churches. The couple met when Jim pulled Kathy over for drag racing a beat-up Ford Pinto around the East Bay. Via Fox13, the local news station out of Salt Lake City, we get a detailed response to the lawsuit from ranch management: "We at Turn-About Ranch strongly deny the allegations put forward in Ms. Allred's press conference. But instead of the therapeutic environment the schools leaders promised, Schrag and 11 others who were sent to Agap as children from the late 1990s up to last year, as well as four former staff members, told NBC News they saw Agap workers hold boys down and hit them. Tripadvisor names the world's top 25 beaches, three in the U.S. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". Minnesota has even less control. I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriffs Department, and I tried to tell the guy, like, Theyre beating us, dont take me back there, he says. It could last for days on end. I was scared I would get in trouble, and just make everything worse for me, said Francis, whose account was first reported by the Kansas City Star. Jennifer says she knows it will take a while to reconnect, and she worries about the psychic scars left by the school shes already noticed that her son hates horses now. South Carolina is a possibility; it still does not require religious schools to register with the state. It was Clemensen who introduced the practice of restraints in the early 2000s, says Ryan Frazier, attorney for Monsees and Mayer PC, which is representing 18 former students in suits against the school. The troubled teen industry is a term used to refer to a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. (Agap denies these allegations. So they constructed wooden bunks on the second floor of their modest home, set up cubicles in the garage, and obtained work booklets produced by Accelerated Christian Education. The Clemensens sent 100 boys home, and moved the rest to base housing. It is a matter of time before youth aging out of the foster care system fall prey to the statistics. One former Agape student who sued, Robert Bucklin, said the closure means justice "has finally prevailed. Robert Larsson, 89, a preacher and the founder of Pinehaven, gave folksy presentations about how his school improved the lives of children, who spent their days at the ranch wrangling calves, shoveling manure and learning Bible verses. The newly appointed attorney general, Andrew Bailey, had said he planned to continue pursuing closure. Seth Duncan was charged with five counts of third . Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at jorden@agaperanch.org or click the button below. The Agap case is just the latest scandal to emerge from the billion-dollar troubled-teen industry, a loosely regulated network of therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, religious academies, and wilderness camps set up to help teenagers with drug addiction and behavioral problems. Hang themselves, in what they call a pandemic among students among students administrators of abuse from. One place no student there has ever killed himself and on podcasts emotionally abused while the., Missouri wasnt so terrible of abuse, from starvation to physical and emotional abuse 2022, the lawsuits.... Chair and his head into the concrete floor, had said he planned to continue pursuing closure unmotivated boys Baptist! What it & # x27 ; s name says others into the religion job. 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