Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither asked the governors office for help in his investigation of the Agape Ranch and Boarding School west of Stockton. At least three Cedar County Sheriff's Department employees currently or previously work at Agape, including two full-time deputies, one of whom is married to the daughter of Agape's founder, the petition read. The glass flew everywhere, he says. 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. Posted Apr 03, 2022 11:00 AM. KANSAS CITY (AP) Maggie Drew's dad sent her to Circle . Use tab to navigate through the menu items. The Kansas City Star ran a series of exposs detailing shocking allegations first about Circle of Hope, then Agap. Soon theyd be in a place where they were untouchable. Staff called it the intake or restraint room. 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. Wednesday afternoon, a House committee questions Missouri Department of Social Services leaders about their investigations into boarding schools. The plaintiffs in the newest cases, filed June 15 in Vernon County . Visit Website. Mrs. Vicki Loeffler & Mrs. Rodney Johnson, DDS, Faithful Witness Photography, Photographer. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Jim and Kathy appeared at the hospital a few weeks later. 5151 Flynn Parkway Suite 106 Corpus Christi, TX 78411. In 2021, Paris Hilton, who has also been lobbying in Washington D.C., testified at a Utah Senate committee hearing about her own experience in a troubled-teen facility there, alleging that she was verbally, mentally, and physically abused, involuntarily drugged, and locked in isolation. STOCKTON, Mo. 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. The Thrive program will provide housing and mentorship for young adults during their college or trade school career. But Breshears got a rude welcome. Missouri previously had virtually no . In addition to the fired staffer, DSS has substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect against Bryan Clemensen and two other Agap employees, according to The Kansas City Star. 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 . Students called it the Padded Palace. 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. 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.. Though he is 16, he is a freshman; Agaps curriculum is often not compatible with local requirements. 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. Montana officials testified at hearings they had been frustrated by complaints registered against several programs that fell outside of regulation, and that some they didnt say which tried to avoid licensing by fraudulently claiming to be part of a church. None of these raised eyebrows until former Agap staffers Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. However, the Cedar County prosecutor says no students have been removed from the school. 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. ET): After publication of this article, Cedar County Sheriff James Jimbob McCrary disputed an account by former Agap student Lucas Francis. Bryan, by then in his twenties, was working in a state-funded group home. One night, he got into an argument with his mom and stepdad that turned physical, and they accused him of being possessed. The school closed in 2020 amid investigations. 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. 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. In other words, Grandmother can spank the children as can Agap.. Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the school, alleging physical and emotional abuse, and in . McCrary said in an email on Friday that Graves was not present for social workers interviews with students. Clemensen, who left the school from 2008 to 2018, says he has two masters degrees, in education and counseling and psychology, and would challenge the boys thinking processes, and he still does that to this day., Breshears and others paint a different picture. The next evening, a man found Jacob begging for change at a neighboring county supermarket 10 miles from Blue Creek and called Clay County Child Protective Services. By 14, Breshears says, he was fully in staffers crosshairs. And he said, No, theyre not., In 1996, the Clemensens purchased 40 acres just outside of town. Upon completion, our self sustaining community will care for up to 132 foster children and young adults at a time. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. In 1991, Todd Bindley, then 13, moved in. Graves did not respond to a request for comment. 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. Every year, Agape Ranch hosts our Adoption Connection event to help children in foster care find their forever home. 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 . Plaintiff was allegedly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused while under the care and supervision of . Operators advertise it as a national boarding school for at-risk or unmotivated boys. Full Gala Taping. Boyd and Stephanie Householders daughter says they worked at Agape for four years. The legislation would require the schools to register with the state, and create paths for the state to conduct safety inspections of the facilities and shut them down after abuse allegations. He cut it 1x and never would respond to my calls. The committee is considering bills introduced by Ingle and a Republican colleague last month to give the Missouri Department of Social Services oversight of religious boarding schools. Clemensen picked the state specifically because of its lack of regulation, he told a reporter in 2002, and said the school would leave Missouri if required to get a license. Agape's trouble began in 2020 when former students came forward with abuse allegations. So far Clemensen has kept his name out of the registry; he lost an appeal on Nov. 17, and filed for a judicial review in circuit court, which granted him a temporary restraining order keeping him off the list. He says staff would restrain boys on the ground and use pressure points to the point of bruising. 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. By then, Circle of Hope had shut down after the state removed dozens of its students. He enjoyed watching movies, listening to Elvis, and playing soccer with his friends. The highway patrol says it began its investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at the facility in late February. Each worker is facing abuse charges. Agape Boarding School is located on a 200-acre ranch in Stockton, Missouri. 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. Colton Shrag, age 16 on a home visit from Agap in 2008. I pre paid him in February to cut yard 2x for months. (Clemensen says this was a nickname the boys had for an elbow injury, and denies the abuse.) Relevance: This course is designed for master's level counselors, addiction professionals, and nurses who have direct client contact. Jan 5, 2023 9:58 am. Several former staffers opened up similar schools nearby: There was the Legacy Academy Adventures, on a property owned by David Smock, Agaps longtime doctor who would later be accused of molesting students; there was the Masters Ranch Christian Academy, which later opened two more campuses. 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. When I first got there, I just stayed on the low, trying to do my best, hoping to get out, he says. 2023 The Associated Press. The Agape Boarding School was in Othello from 1992-96. I shadowed a staff member for about three days, we didnt go over procedures, no restraint training, no discipline training really no clear set of rules that the students werent allowed to break., It was not unusual for physical restraints to last four hours or longer, and leave bruises on the children, according to Clidence and three former students. Francis lied, he said, because Robert Graves a Cedar County sheriffs deputy who is on the board of Agaps church and has worked at the school was present for the interview. Clemensen said the decision to close "is voluntary and solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.". They noted that DSS had confirmed a case of child abuse and added the name of the Agap staffer responsible to the Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry, prohibiting him from working at a residential facility. (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.) They insisted everyone call them Brother Jim and Maam, and their son Brother Bryan.. . 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. But a Senate staffer helping to write the legislation cautions that in order to get a bill passed, they will likely have to tie compliance to funding, and are unlikely to mandate it. The Missouri AG launched a joint investigation with Cedar County authorities. If you're using the Bible or God to justify any of these things, that is sacrilegious. The newly appointed attorney general, Andrew Bailey, had said he planned to continue pursuing closure. Carlson said he never witnessed abuse and credited the school with temporarily keeping him off meth and teaching him how to lay tile. Hed hoped to get kicked out, which didnt happen. By the time he ended up in the Padded Palace, he recalls, I was bleeding all over my head and hands. So he scrawled the words Fuck Agap on the wall using his own blood. Its good to be back with family, he says. I tried to find a record of it, but there was none. (The Cedar County Sheriffs Department did not return calls seeking comment.). "If you have children who are fearful that they're going to be sent back to these facilities, you see a lot of instances where children might recant their stories," said Caitlin Whaley, director of legislation for the department. Agape Connection. 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. Seven former students said staff members had assaulted them. Jacob smelled foul and the . Cedar County, Missouri, where Agap is located, is in the heart of the Bible Belt and Clemensen, his stepfather, Jim, who died in October 2021, and his mother, Kathy, long ago convinced the locals they answer to a higher authority. Tripadvisor names the world's top 25 beaches, three in the U.S. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". They also look at records from any incidents in which a child is injured or restrained. They would say, Youre nothing. Agape Ranch will establish a safe environment of. 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. IN THE MONTHS AFTER HIS ARRIVAL, Breshears feelings about Agap changed. Hymns blared in the classrooms. 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