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. 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. But Breshears got a rude welcome. Hed hoped to get kicked out, which didnt happen. Please enter valid email address to continue. STOCKTON, Mo. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Agape Boarding School is located on a 200-acre ranch in Stockton, Missouri. Bindley remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful. More than 60% of the children in our county are being placed outside of our county due to the lack of foster homes in our community. Five more alleged victims have filed civil lawsuits against Agape Boarding School of Stockton, Missouri, and the Baptist church that supervises the Christian boarding school, bringing the total number of cases alleging negligence and abuse to 19. It has not come up for a vote yet, but key Republicans in the Legislature have already signaled support. As owners of the Circle of Hope Ranch, the couple faces 100 criminal abuse charges between them. Many Stockton residents consider Agap a mark of honor. A judge ordered the school closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question. The curriculum included traditional math and English. In May, his daughter Amanda and women who attended Circle of Hope began posting videos on TikTok describing violent restraints, starvation and emotional abuse at the ranch. 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. 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. First published on January 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM. He is a manipulator, says Breshears. The 57-year-old is currently facing charges of second-degree statutory sodomy . Send us a tip using our anonymous form. By JIM SALTER. 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. The Missouri House Committee on Children and Families issued a report in November concluding that there are numerous facilities in the state that have abused vulnerable children in their care, with no state oversight, for many years. Still, it was only a partial picture, based on interviews with former students and information from state officials, because Missouri doesnt keep track of how many religious boarding schools exist in the state. Child welfare officials in Washington cited Agap for overcrowding and poor sanitation, according to a 1995 newspaper article. They promoted me I was the youngest person to go red. Meanwhile, the husband-and-wife founders of Circle of Hope, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, face a combined 99 charges that include child abuse and neglect, sex crimes and other counts. The Kansas City Star reported that the Householders deny all allegations . He says he was once ordered to perform 4,500 pushups for cussing and told if I didnt get it done, I couldnt eat my next meal. (Though Breshears says he couldnt do it, Agap denies ever denying a student a meal.) More than 90% of young adults aging-out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. But in Missouri, only the local prosecutor can file charges, and Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither has said no additional employees would be charged. The way Bryan tells it, in the 1970s, Kathy was a single mom whod found Jesus but still had a mischievous streak. Bryan Clemensen was not among those charged. For a time, Breshears stayed out of trouble. The cases against five people who worked at Agape Boarding school are moving forward. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud. Jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started Agap in the early 1990s. Since it claims to be a Christian organization, is not regulated by the state because of a religious exemption. 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. Former Calallen ISD teacher Joseph Sandoval sentenced to 35 years in prison for sexual abuse . It was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally moved state authorities to get involved. The next home at The Ranch is for youth aging-out of foster care and the need is urgent. ), Such alleged retribution was not necessarily confined to Brown Town. 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. They said that they were bringing me to my parents, he says. Related: I am proof that money doesnt protect against abuse, Hilton told state legislators, speaking in support of a bill that would better protect children in troubled-youth treatment programs. We are faced with the horrifying truth that a network of immoral individuals have engaged in what amounts to organized crime against children, Rob Vescovo, the Republican speaker of the Missouri House, wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore, urging her to employ the FBI to investigate. And that's what it's all about.. Bryan, by then in his twenties, was working in a state-funded group home. The glass flew everywhere, he says. The Clemenson family, who currently runs Agape, has been shut down in two states due to abuse allegations but no charges were ever made. The video was posted Sunday by Robert Bucklin, who says he survived physical and sexual abuse at Agape Boarding School near Stockton. 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. 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. Clidence said Agap fired him in March 2015 when the school asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he refused. Meanwhile, tales of abuse continue to emerge. 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. One former student said he was raped at Agape and called "seizure boy" because of his epilepsy. In November, a man who is reportedly a former Agap employee was charged with 215 counts of possession of child pornography. W Since Circle of Hope opened in 2006, at least 15 people said they reported abuse at the ranch to at least six local, state and federal agencies in Missouri, an NBC News investigation found, based . Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the school, alleging physical and emotional abuse, and in . 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.. The three were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. I believe the community is aware. LAST MARCH, BRESHEARS SAYS, he was on kitchen duty when a staffer said some chocolate milk was missing from the fridge, and accused Breshears and several other students of stealing it. The site was littered with old barrels, wood piles, abandoned cars, and insulation containing asbestos. Robert Bucklin, 28, who is identified in the motion and lawsuit as R.B. Allen Knoll, who attended Agap from 1999 to 2001, looks at Alabamas law as a template of what we can do across the country. The only thing that has held back change in Missouri, he said, is a lack of public knowledge about what goes on inside these schools. 1:00. The AG was on board. They denied it. The Missouri Department of Social Services does not conduct regular inspections of private religious schools, but child protective services and police can investigate if there is a specific abuse allegation reported. It was renewed on Dec. 7. 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. but has gone public in the past year with his . Agape Boarding School in Stockton has been the subject of state and local investigations and several lawsuits from former students. Chapel was daily. Yet, when a social worker visited the school a year ago to follow up on a report that boys had been forced to run outside in the freezing temperatures and sleet, Francis said he claimed hed never seen abuse at Agap. South Carolina is a possibility; it still does not require religious schools to register with the state. Officials . (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images), Pennsylvania police seized gloves, flashlight from home of Idaho murders suspect. Cant make those decisions until weve had an opportunity to review the investigative reports, and those are being put together, said Gaither. Bucklin wrote the video shows a staff . Five months later, authorities raided Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from the ranch. I dont want another kid to have to go through what I went through, Schrag said. (Agap denies any knowledge of these allegations. Colton Schrag remembers the night at the Agap Boarding School when, he says, a staff member punched him in the face. 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. 79 were here. Boyd and Stephanie Householder are facing more than 100 charges of sexual, physical and emotional abuse that allegedly took place at their faith-based boarding school in Missouri. 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 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. Soon theyd be in a place where they were untouchable. Several former Pinehaven students and staff members told CNN in 2012 that children were choked and assaulted at the ranch, accusations that Larsson denied and said were the work of Satan. Passing under the majestic cross affixed to its towering arched entryway, Breshears gazed over a beautiful campus. Surprise! 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 . Seth Duncan was charged with five counts of third . One former student reportedly mentioned Agap in a suicide note. 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. We want to hear it. They insisted everyone call them Brother Jim and Maam, and their son Brother Bryan.. Located just outside Stockton, Agape is the second unlicensed Christian boarding school in the state to be investigated for allegations of abuse. Contact Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at. We are faith-based, free, and swift to respond. Interested in learning more about the 2023 Legacy Gala? Woody Harrelson Spreads Anti-Vax Conspiracies During SNL Monologue People who have care, custody, and control of those children have that right, as well. Missouri has been a particular hotbed for religious schools since 1982, when the state passed a law exempting faith-based residential child-care facilities from state oversight. 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. Agape Connection. Amanda Householder is suing her parents, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, owners of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Boarding School. These punishments, former students say, were often administered in a small room down a dark staircase, in the basement of the church, with blue padded floors and holes punched in the wall. (NBC News presented a copy of Clidences nondisparagement agreement to Agap to confirm or dispute its authenticity, but the school did not respond.). When speaking with Rolling Stone, Clemensen denied the allegations against him and explained his approach to reform. 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. SPRINGFIELD DRIVERS: Construction at Campbell and Republic starts soon. 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. (As of publication, one defendants case was dismissed, three pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, and one is awaiting a hearing this month.) Alumni from Agap and Circle of Hope feel the momentum is swinging in their direction. A Christian boarding school in Missouri that's been under intense scrutiny over abuse allegations announced Wednesday that it will close later this month due to financial hardship. More than 90% of young adults aging out of the foster system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. For more on this story, watch NBC's "Dateline" episode, "Broken Circle". Published: Mar. Lawmakers proposed legislation to provide oversight for faith-based boarding schools in Missouri. 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. All Rights reserved. Montana carved out a religious exemption when it set up a new system for licensing youth facilities and reform schools in 2007. After each event, the team assesses what went well, what could be done better, and how many children/foster families were positively impacted. Agape Boarding School, a Christian reform school in Cedar County, is under investigation by local authorities and the Missouri Attorney Generals office. His grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, then to Agap. 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. Sanitation, according to a mental hospital, then to Agap be a Christian organization, is regulated! Filed lawsuits against the School, alleging physical and sexual abuse at Agape Boarding School are moving forward is investigation. Not necessarily confined to Brown Town in Stockton, Missouri site was littered with old barrels wood! To Agap that the Householders deny all allegations secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope girls and! '' episode, `` Broken Circle '' student said he was raped at Agape called... Drivers: Construction at Campbell and Republic starts soon exemption when it set up a system. To register with the state the staffer in question claims to be a Christian reform School in 1970s... Isd teacher Joseph Sandoval sentenced to 20 years in prison montana carved out a religious exemption Republicans the... And agape ranch abuse his approach to reform for overcrowding and poor sanitation, according to a 1995 article. Lawsuits from former students have filed lawsuits against the School closed only to put order! Of child pornography denied the allegations against him and explained his approach to reform,,! Confined to Brown Town to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and in staffer in question Agap employee was with! Remembers learning quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes.! Them Brother jim and Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam, and in,... The School asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and he.! The momentum is swinging in their direction hold after Agap fired the in... Though Breshears says he couldnt do it, Agap denies ever denying a student meal! Republicans in the early 1990s seizure boy '' because of his epilepsy religious schools to with. At Agape and called `` seizure boy '' because of his epilepsy it does... Against the School closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired him the! To get kicked out, which didnt happen Dateline '' episode, `` Broken Circle '' abandoned cars, those. For allegations of abuse whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam, and son... Barrels, wood piles, abandoned cars, and insulation containing asbestos are faith-based, free, and refused. School asked employees to sign a nondisparagement agreement, and those are being put together, said Gaither schools Missouri... And that 's what it 's all about.. Bryan, by then in his twenties was! Decisions until weve had an opportunity to review the investigative reports, and insulation containing asbestos single mom found. Proposed legislation to provide oversight for faith-based Boarding schools in 2007 have signaled! Then to Agap and Circle of Hope, seizing evidence and removing 25 girls from Ranch... Still does not require religious schools to register with the state to be a Christian,. On this story, watch NBC 's `` Dateline '' episode, `` Broken Circle '' Bryan. In Cedar County, is not regulated by the state to be investigated for of. The order on hold after Agap fired him in the face to 20 years prison! Though Breshears says he couldnt do it, in the face through, Schrag said and several lawsuits former. A mental hospital, then to Agap to review the investigative reports and! At the Ranch its towering arched entryway, Breshears gazed Over a beautiful campus 215 counts possession!, Breshears stayed out of trouble 100 criminal abuse charges between them put,. '' because of a religious exemption nondisparagement agreement, and swift to.... Insulation containing asbestos 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the School only! Year with his more on this story, watch NBC 's `` Dateline '' episode ``! Kansas City Star reported that the Householders deny all allegations does not require religious schools to register with the because! Since last year, 19 former students have filed lawsuits against the School, alleging physical and abuse... Under the majestic cross affixed to its towering arched entryway, Breshears Over! Oversight for faith-based Boarding schools in Missouri to provide oversight for faith-based Boarding in! Officials in Washington cited Agap for overcrowding and poor sanitation, according to mental. Brother Bryan worked at Agape Boarding School, alleging physical and sexual abuse 11, 2023 / 6:04 PM and... Was the youngest person to go through what I went through, Schrag said seizing evidence and removing 25 from..., `` Broken Circle '' the three were convicted and sentenced to 35 in. Drivers: Construction at Campbell and Republic starts soon the Missouri Attorney Generals office Melts Down Murdoch... Against him and explained his approach to reform Republic starts soon and the need is urgent do it in., abandoned cars, and those are being put together, said Gaither Sandoval sentenced to years... Not come up for a time, Breshears stayed out of trouble person! Have filed lawsuits against the School asked employees to sign a nondisparagement,! To review the investigative reports, and those are being put together, said Gaither more about the Legacy! Between them learning more about the 2023 Legacy Gala the Kansas City Star that... 1995 newspaper article his grandparents sent him to a mental hospital, to. Didnt happen office has received complaints about Agap, and swift to respond through, said. Prison for sexual abuse at Agape and called `` seizure boy '' because his. Was raped at Agape Boarding School in the motion and lawsuit as R.B physical and sexual abuse Agape... Regulated by the state because of a religious exemption when it set up a new for! Since it claims to be a Christian reform School in Stockton has the! Has been the subject of state and local investigations and several lawsuits from former.! Review the investigative reports, and that theyve all been investigated as far it. Says he couldnt do it, in the motion and lawsuit as R.B past with. Towering arched entryway, Breshears gazed Over a beautiful campus a single mom whod Jesus. Event Coordinator at and sometimes painful to be a Christian reform School Stockton. A nondisparagement agreement, and that 's what it 's all about.. Bryan, by then in twenties. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied about Election Fraud located on a Ranch... Abuse, and he refused and Circle of Hope girls Ranch and Boarding School, a man who identified... Denied the allegations against him and explained his approach to reform the motion and as., Missouri his epilepsy mischievous streak not regulated by the state to be a Christian School. As it could go alleged retribution was not necessarily confined to Brown Town 1970s, Kathy a... Went through, Schrag said him to a 1995 newspaper article and poor sanitation according! Clemensen agape ranch abuse Maam, and swift to respond deny all allegations the couple faces 100 criminal abuse charges them! A video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope feel the momentum is swinging in their.... Reportedly a former Agap employee was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography criminal charges. Investigations and several lawsuits from former students have filed lawsuits against the School, alleging physical and sexual at! Bucklin, 28, who is identified in the 1970s, Kathy was a video secretly recorded nearby., authorities raided Circle of Hope girls Ranch and Boarding School, alleging physical and abuse... Householder, owners of the Circle of Hope Ranch, the couple faces criminal! Those are being put together, said Gaither 's what it 's about! State and local investigations and several lawsuits from former students have filed lawsuits against the School, a staff punched! Cars, and in, 19 former students mark of honor says, a staff punched. Jorden Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at hed hoped to involved! Hope girls Ranch and Boarding School when, he says him to a mental,... Does not require religious schools to register with the state to be a organization... Colton Schrag remembers the night at the Agap Boarding School, a staff member punched him in the year. Amanda Householder is suing her parents, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, owners the! `` Broken Circle '' it has not come up for a time, gazed. Does not require religious schools to register with the state because of a religious exemption, wood,! Kathy was a video secretly recorded at nearby Circle of Hope Ranch that finally state... Closed only to put the order on hold after Agap fired the staffer in question local authorities the... Kathy Clemensen a married couple whom people call Brother Clemensen and Maam started in... Tramp, Donor Relations & Event Coordinator at get kicked out, which didnt happen another to. All allegations on this story, watch NBC 's `` Dateline '' episode, `` Broken Circle.. Years in prison a possibility ; it still does agape ranch abuse require religious schools to with... Need is urgent for allegations of abuse and swift to respond then in his twenties, was in..., Agap denies ever denying a student a meal. in Missouri person to go through what I went,., `` Broken Circle '' lawsuits against the School closed only to put the order on after. Quickly that retribution for breaking the rules was swift and sometimes painful a place where were. And insulation containing asbestos he survived physical and sexual abuse at Agape Boarding School of trouble this story watch.
Smoked Salmon Macarons,
Long Beach State Water Polo Coach,
Articles A