Agape Boarding School, a Christian reform school in Cedar County, is under investigation by local authorities and the Missouri Attorney Generals office. Stockton is located 130 miles south of Kansas City, a lazy drive down sunbaked roads lined with oak forests and rolling fields. We want to hear it. 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 And he said, No, theyre not. He cuffed me up and dropped me back off at Agap. Many of the kids my parents took in would be back six months later in worse shape, Bryan says. The state Public Health and Human Services Department and the local sheriff did not fulfill NBC News records requests for information about any more recent complaints. They were marched downstairs, where things escalated, until, Breshears alleges, he was lying facedown with a staffer sitting on his legs and two others digging their kneecaps into his pressure points. Advocates are watching the Agap case, and suggest it illustrates why federal legislation is needed. Staff called it the intake room. 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. Thats where someone went too far. The state attorney generals office claims that Agap staff threw students into walls, pushed them to the ground, ordered them to perform 1,000 pushups, intentionally starved them, and forced them to sleep in handcuffs and wear them for as long as eight days. They claim Clemensen was on a power trip and seemed to enjoy brutalizing the kids in his charge. Hilton tweeted to Missouri's attorney general and governor on June 21. It also taught creationism and that women should be subservient to their husbands, while weaving biblical references into the materials. And they would never tell you how long your stay in Brown Town will be, Breshears says. I was just like, Screw it, he says. (KY3) - Missouris attorney general is investigating a second Cedar County boarding school. Sick with a heart condition, Jim left the force in 1979 and moved Kathy, Bryan, and his siblings to Stockton, a sweltering agricultural city on the once-mighty San Joaquin River. Editors Note: This story, which appears in the January 2023 issue of Rolling Stone, has been updated to include additional details on court cases that had not been decided until after the print deadline. The BBC was given access to their UK boot camp, where they learn how to teach Mormon beliefs and use social media to reach potential converts. New court filings reveal some of the most brutal allegations of abuse at Agape Boarding School so far, including former students' account that two staffers sexually assaulted him. The Agape Boarding School was in Othello from 1992-96. Recently, individuals associated with Agap have been accused of a growing list of crimes. (The recommendations are not public, so the implicated staff members are unknown.) Paris Hilton's fellow PCS alums said they were stunned to see the heiress, who has amassed 12.6 million followers on Instagram alone, used the hashtag #BreakingCodeSilence in a social media post. It appeared to be a vast improvement over his previous digs. 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. SPRINGFIELD DRIVERS: Construction at Campbell and Republic starts soon. Bindley remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful. Church was on Wednesday and three times on Sunday. Earlier this year, Smock, the schools longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. He is pleased to hear the Missouri attorney generals office is now investigating Agape Boarding School. Agaps handbook states it has a strict hands-off policy regarding the students, and does not use corporal punishment. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. They called the school Agap, meaning Gods love for man. Boyd opened the ranch in 2006 as a "school that he claimed could reform rebellious teenage girls," according to NBC News. In March 2020, a former Agap student named Joseph Askins stopped in to visit, and witnessed abuse that shocked him. 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. Interested in learning more about the 2023 Legacy Gala? The AG was on board. (Photo by Tim Bommel/House Communications) Then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office contended that 22 workers should have been charged, and with more serious crimes. Agap did not respond to repeated requests for comment and interviews via phone, email and a letter left at the schools reception desk. A 2007 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found thousands of abuse allegations between 1990 and 2007 in 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved in incidents of abuse. 90% of young adults aging-out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. Agape Ranch is a thriving faith-based non-profit offering a forward-thinking and compassionate community-based solution to the foster care crisis facing America today. Its good to be back with family, he says. There were horses, a swimming pool, and a football team. Operators advertise it as a national boarding school for at-risk or unmotivated boys. Address . One night, he got into an argument with his mom and stepdad that turned physical, and they accused him of being possessed. but has gone public in the past year with his . She thought heavy metal was like witchcraft, he says. Child welfare officials in Washington cited Agap for overcrowding and poor sanitation, according to a 1995 newspaper article. Trump White House Pressured Disney to Censor Jimmy Kimmel Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at jorden@agaperanch.org or click the button below. Alumni from Agap and Circle of Hope feel the momentum is swinging in their direction. Officials . 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. 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 . in solitary confinement, handcuffed them to beds, Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act. Selena Gomez Taking a Break From Social Media After Hailey Bieber Drama: I'm 'Too Old for This 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. Lawmakers proposed legislation to provide oversight for faith-based boarding schools in Missouri. (Agap denies this.) To keep order, Agap instituted a military-like hierarchy, indicated by colored shirts that denoted ranks. J.M. The report, which also examined 10 cases where teenagers had died, noted that there are currently no federal laws that define and regulate residential treatment programs.. It was then he discovered an effort far more worthwhile than smashing windows: At least 18 other former students were filing lawsuits accusing the school and its staff of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. Agape Treatment Center offers Drug and Alcohol Rehab as well as Primary Mental Health Treatment. Full Gala Taping. Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither asked the governors office for help in his investigation of the Agape Ranch and Boarding School west of Stockton. (Both have pleaded not guilty.) 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 school closed in 2020 amid investigations. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and therapeutic boarding schools.. We are gathered here, former students,. MANY OF THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST Agap staffers are easily found on podcasts and interviews on YouTube. One day after the FBI announced the arrest of a former Agape Boarding School dean, a civil right's . Circle of Hope was opened in 2006 by Boyd Householder, a former Agap employee, as a school for rebellious teenage girls. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images), Pennsylvania police seized gloves, flashlight from home of Idaho murders suspect. However, the Cedar County prosecutor says no students have been removed from the school. These rules and policies are for their son's success and protection. The plaintiffs in the newest cases, filed June 15 in Vernon County . NWS confirms EF-1 tornado near Goodman, Mo. Cedar County Prosecutor Gaither says, with the large number of people investigators have been interviewing in the case, hes pleased to have the assistance of the attorney generals office. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The picture flashed on the big screen, and Brenda Gordon immediately . Meanwhile, tales of abuse continue to emerge. STOCKTON, Mo. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. Clemensen has said the move was necessary because negative publicity has caused enrollment to plummet, and it was not financially feasible to stay open. It took a disturbing criminal case to make it happen. Once in the car, Bindley says, they took him to their home. A decent life.. Trending On Jan. 11, 2023, Agap Boarding School announced it will close its doors, a decision former director Bryan Clemensen says is due to a lack of financial resources. The criminal division of the EPA investigated and charged Jim Clemensen for improperly disposing of hazardous material. 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.". The action galvanized Agap alumni, as well, and they began telling their stories to local media and on podcasts. State regulates church boarding schools after abuse allegations. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Whatever the case, Clemensen has many allies where it perhaps counts the most: in the community. Jacob smelled foul and the . By 5+ Local Business Owners! After a months-long investigation, the AGs office recommended 65 charges against 22 staff members, accusing them of abusing 36 children. A scandal-plagued fundamentalist boarding school in Missouri is facing renewed criticism after video surfaced allegedly showing "clear abuse" by a leader at the school. The video follows numerous allegations of abuse against Agape, a Christian reform school for boys, which until a new law in 2021, had virtually no state oversight due to its faith-based status. The highway patrol says it began its investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at the facility in late February. 3/11/2021. As a 501(c)3 charitable organization dedicated to providing high quality foster care in South Texas by supporting foster and adoptive families, we have been working diligently in the areas of prevention, foster care, adoption, and aging-out to provide support and mentorship for vulnerable children in our community. 60% of the children in our county are being placed outside of our county due to the lack of foster homes in our community. 3 KCPD officers shot; standoff continues into Wednesday morning. Thanks to the generous support of The Frazier Family Foundation, Gala sponsors, Gala attendees, and the community, $369,402 was raised in support of the next two homes at The Ranch during the 2021 Legacy Gala: A Matter of Time! Interested in learning more about the 2023 Legacy Gala? That is blasphemous.. Schrags adoptive parents placed him in Agap which takes its name from the ancient Greek word Christians use to describe the love of God for humankind hoping the program would help him deal with anger issues and disobedience. Agap, which according to its parent handbook costs $39,000 a year, is also influenced by Lester Roloff, a radio evangelist and pastor who founded schools for teenage girls in the late 1960s that relied on physical abuse and immersion in biblical teachings to reform them. In Missouri, parents are allowed to discipline their children, he said. Right away, staff shaved his head, handed him an orange shirt and a pair of Wranglers, moved him into a dorm that looked like Marine barracks, and introduced him to a dizzying litany of rules. Ellie Hill Smith, a state lawmaker from Missoula, was concerned that this meant the state had no way of ensuring children were safe in these programs. He would later help stage an uprising as an attempt to get thrown out of the school. It won't be long here in Missouri, he said. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. In 1996, Agap moved to a 200-acre ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. He says one told local police that he had escaped from a Nazi camp.. First published on January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM. Facebook Page. Once they were done, staff members took away Schrags clothes and bedding, he said, and made him wear only a bathrobe and his boxers for two months. Cedar . The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. 2022 maintained by Gibler Shaw Enterprises. 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.. And I did get saved.. 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. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. (They do so much good for this town and you cannot believe the difference they have made in these young men, says Jackie Cargell, who has lived in the town for 57 years.) 5151 Flynn Parkway Suite 106 Corpus Christi, TX 78411. The industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that claims to help or fix troubled teenagers . He likes to get in peoples heads.. The law many former students of schools like Agap see as a model comes from an unlikely state to scrap religious exemptions: Alabama. Former students wonder if its because of this that authorities failed to act sooner. 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. 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. ), Such alleged retribution was not necessarily confined to Brown Town. And in at least 14 other states, education and child welfare agencies exempt boarding schools from licensing requirements if they are privately owned or privately funded. Seven boys tested positive for tuberculosis. Some former students have made the allegations against Agape Boarding School and Legacy Boys Academy in Stockton, Masters Ranch in far southern Missouri, and Circle of Hope Girls Ranch near . The posts went viral even receiving a thumbs-up from Paris Hilton. They literally took the practices of Agape and opened up Circle of Hope, so we know for a fact that there is one other school that is ran just like Circle of Hope, and that place is what Circle of Hope modeled their school after, said Amanda Householder, daughter of Circle of Hope operators. That's no secret, as news stories in The Christian. Five months later, authorities raided Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from the ranch. Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the school, alleging physical and emotional abuse, and in . His outrage became open defiance. But in some states that have tried to close this oversight gap in recent years, like Montana, lawmakers have met with resistance. 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