The Agape Boarding School, which has been revealed to have a long history of abuse against the children placed in its care, and many connections to local community and law enforcement that have protected it, is finally closing its doors. Its school doctor, and numerous employees have been accused of physical, mental, and sexual abuse over its time of operation, and the state Attorney General has said that at least 22 more should be charged (and for much more serious crimes), but due to Missouri law that is up to the local prosecutor who has done the bare minimum in charging a couple people.
The AG had been trying to use the court system to force the school to close the last several months, and trying to get the director placed on a child abuse registry to keep him away from other schools.
Just one of many recent revalations of these christian 'boarding schools for troubled youth' that have turned out to be nothing more than abuse mills - and apparently Missouri has quite a few of them.
https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-01-11...se-allegations
https://www.news-leader.com/story/ne...l/69653418007/
the school of course tried to play it off as financial troubles (which, sure they're likely going to have from the countless abuse lawsuits tat are now being filed against them), with no mention of their vile abuse of the children in their care.
A very long look and deep dig into their history (apparently some sort of Baptist group), and a lot more disturbing detail into the abuse, can be found in this piece by Rolling Stone (be aware, some naughty language is used)... and unfortunately it sounds like while they are closing their boarding school they may be operating group homes in an attempt to continue their abuse under a shell game to hide from new laws about these sorts of schools that have been introduced in Missouri.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...ol-1234645835/
a couple quotes:
Earlier this year, Smock, the school’s longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. In August, Sandoval was charged with arranging the kidnapping of an emancipated teen in Fresno, California, on behalf of the boy’s estranged mother, and then having him driven, handcuffed, 27 hours to Agapé. (Both have pleaded not guilty.) In November, a man who is reportedly a former Agapé employee was charged with 215 counts of possession of child pornography. Nonetheless, the outcome of the civil suits is far from certain.
I have little doubt that that local prosecutor has connections to the school or to the law enforcement in the area that has connections to the school, etc...... or equally likely has some connection to one of the local related churches.
The AG had been trying to use the court system to force the school to close the last several months, and trying to get the director placed on a child abuse registry to keep him away from other schools.
Just one of many recent revalations of these christian 'boarding schools for troubled youth' that have turned out to be nothing more than abuse mills - and apparently Missouri has quite a few of them.
https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-01-11...se-allegations
Dozens of former students have gone public with their allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the Stockton-based Christian residential facility, which opened in 1996. For the last few years, Agape has been at the forefront of the state’s reckoning over abuse allegations at unlicensed faith-based boarding schools.
Agape Boarding School, the Stockton-based Christian residential facility under scrutiny for alleged abuse of its students over decades, announced it will shut down Jan. 20.
According to a statement provided to The Independent Wednesday afternoon by John Schultz, an attorney for Agape, the school has “made the decision to stop providing services to the boys in its care.”
“Agape’s decision to close is voluntary,” Schultz said, “and solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.”
The closure is long-awaited for dozens of former students who have gone public with their allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at Agape, which opened in Missouri in 1996 and has, for the last few years, been at the forefront of the state’s reckoning over abuse allegations at unlicensed faith-based boarding schools.
Allen Knoll, a former student and advocate, said he is “ecstatic for all of the survivors that have fought for so long bringing this issue to the forefront,” and called the news a “huge deal, after two and a half years of fighting.”
In numerous lawsuits, former Agape students detail a range of allegations, from having food withheld as punishment to being forced to submit to physical labor and extreme exercise to being taken off prescribed medications.
Last month, there were only 25 students at Agape, down from 121 in early 2021.
As long-time director Bryan Clemensen explained in testimony earlier this month, Agape has been struggling financially, forced to transition to a group-home setup amid dwindling numbers of students. There used to be a budget of $4 million per year, Clemensen said last month, which was down to $400,000 — quickly adding that now, “I’m sure it’s not even that.”
Missouri’s attorney general, along with the state Department of Social Services, filed for an injunction on Sept. 7 seeking to close Agape, alleging an “immediate health and safety concern” to the children there. It has been tied up in court ever since, over procedural matters.
The Department of Social Services said in an email to The Independent that they are “in consultation” with the attorney general “regarding steps forward with pending litigation” against Agape, and that their “top priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of Missouri children.”
The attorney general said by email: “I am proud of the work that this office has done to protect the students at Agape, and I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to make sure children throughout the state are able to thrive.”
Other avenues for state action frustrated former students too: Criminal charges against school leaders fell short of what the state attorney general recommended, and a push by the state to put the school’s director on a child abuse registry — and thus ban him from working at the school — was upended, for the time being, last month.
Agape’s focus now, Schultz said in the statement, is “getting the boys who remain in the program safely transitioned to their parents or to foster care, other group homes or residential programs.”
Knoll said he doesn’t believe the decision to close is truly voluntary.
“They can say it’s voluntary all they want but they fought tooth and nail to remain open,” Knoll said, despite pressure to close, continuing that “It’s a great victory for those that have shared their stories.”
“It’s a great day for Missouri and for survivors,” Knoll said. “It’s a shame that Missouri with our new laws and our politicians weren’t bold enough to do it sooner, but it’s a great day.”
Agape Boarding School, the Stockton-based Christian residential facility under scrutiny for alleged abuse of its students over decades, announced it will shut down Jan. 20.
According to a statement provided to The Independent Wednesday afternoon by John Schultz, an attorney for Agape, the school has “made the decision to stop providing services to the boys in its care.”
“Agape’s decision to close is voluntary,” Schultz said, “and solely due to the lack of financial resources to continue caring for the boys.”
The closure is long-awaited for dozens of former students who have gone public with their allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at Agape, which opened in Missouri in 1996 and has, for the last few years, been at the forefront of the state’s reckoning over abuse allegations at unlicensed faith-based boarding schools.
Allen Knoll, a former student and advocate, said he is “ecstatic for all of the survivors that have fought for so long bringing this issue to the forefront,” and called the news a “huge deal, after two and a half years of fighting.”
In numerous lawsuits, former Agape students detail a range of allegations, from having food withheld as punishment to being forced to submit to physical labor and extreme exercise to being taken off prescribed medications.
Last month, there were only 25 students at Agape, down from 121 in early 2021.
As long-time director Bryan Clemensen explained in testimony earlier this month, Agape has been struggling financially, forced to transition to a group-home setup amid dwindling numbers of students. There used to be a budget of $4 million per year, Clemensen said last month, which was down to $400,000 — quickly adding that now, “I’m sure it’s not even that.”
Missouri’s attorney general, along with the state Department of Social Services, filed for an injunction on Sept. 7 seeking to close Agape, alleging an “immediate health and safety concern” to the children there. It has been tied up in court ever since, over procedural matters.
The Department of Social Services said in an email to The Independent that they are “in consultation” with the attorney general “regarding steps forward with pending litigation” against Agape, and that their “top priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of Missouri children.”
The attorney general said by email: “I am proud of the work that this office has done to protect the students at Agape, and I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to make sure children throughout the state are able to thrive.”
Other avenues for state action frustrated former students too: Criminal charges against school leaders fell short of what the state attorney general recommended, and a push by the state to put the school’s director on a child abuse registry — and thus ban him from working at the school — was upended, for the time being, last month.
Agape’s focus now, Schultz said in the statement, is “getting the boys who remain in the program safely transitioned to their parents or to foster care, other group homes or residential programs.”
Knoll said he doesn’t believe the decision to close is truly voluntary.
“They can say it’s voluntary all they want but they fought tooth and nail to remain open,” Knoll said, despite pressure to close, continuing that “It’s a great victory for those that have shared their stories.”
“It’s a great day for Missouri and for survivors,” Knoll said. “It’s a shame that Missouri with our new laws and our politicians weren’t bold enough to do it sooner, but it’s a great day.”
the school of course tried to play it off as financial troubles (which, sure they're likely going to have from the countless abuse lawsuits tat are now being filed against them), with no mention of their vile abuse of the children in their care.
A very long look and deep dig into their history (apparently some sort of Baptist group), and a lot more disturbing detail into the abuse, can be found in this piece by Rolling Stone (be aware, some naughty language is used)... and unfortunately it sounds like while they are closing their boarding school they may be operating group homes in an attempt to continue their abuse under a shell game to hide from new laws about these sorts of schools that have been introduced in Missouri.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...ol-1234645835/
a couple quotes:
The state attorney general’s office claims that Agapé 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. In civil suits, Agapé 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.” Agapé, through its attorney, denies the allegations, and says that no student there has ever killed himself.
The Agapé 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. 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. 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. 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.”
The Agapé 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. 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. 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. 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.”
TOUGH-LOVE SCHOOLS CAN BE traced back to the 1950s, when a secular group called Synanon pioneered an approach to curing heroin addiction with isolation, humiliation, and sleep deprivation. Agapé, 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.
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. Today, it’s 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.
In recent months, Clemensen has become the face of the controversy — a fearless leader doing God’s work to those fighting to save his school, a sadistic villain to those who aim to close it. 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. 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.
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. Today, it’s 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.
In recent months, Clemensen has become the face of the controversy — a fearless leader doing God’s work to those fighting to save his school, a sadistic villain to those who aim to close it. 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. 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.
MANY OF THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST Agapé staffers are easily found on podcasts and interviews on YouTube. Yet Agapé’s neighbors insist they never had any idea. Indeed, the version of the school students describe, community members say, is starkly different from the Agapé the town has come to know.
Stockton is located 130 miles south of Kansas City, a lazy drive down sunbaked roads lined with oak forests and rolling fields. Home to a population of 1,600, it has a tiny main square, the world’s largest processor of eastern black walnuts, and 21 churches.
Though the area is largely Baptist, Cedar County has a tradition of religious tolerance. On the wooded roads near Agapé, 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.”
In 1996, the Clemensens purchased 40 acres just outside of town. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. They moved their wards in and set them to work clearing the site and fixing the property. Locals says the Clemensens ingratiated themselves by offering tours, and hosting Boy Scout breakfasts and luncheons for the local Methodist group. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. They insisted everyone call them “Brother Jim” and “Ma’am,” and their son “Brother Bryan.”
They have law-enforcement ties, too. According to AG Schmitt’s office, the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department employs at least three people who used to work at Agapé. One of them is Robert Graves, a student turned staffer who joined as a sheriff’s deputy and married Kathy and Jim’s daughter, and is listed as a member of the board of an Agapé-affiliated church. Sandoval, Agapé’s dean of students, worked shifts at the county jail. He would later set up a transport business to collect teens, hiring off-duty deputies to help him.
Former students wonder if it’s because of this that authorities failed to act sooner. Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. “I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department, and I tried to tell the guy, like, ‘They’re beating us, don’t take me back there,’” he says. “And he said, ‘No, they’re not.’ He cuffed me up and dropped me back off at Agapé. I tried to find a record of it, but there was none.” (The Cedar County Sheriff’s Department did not return calls seeking comment.)
Stockton is located 130 miles south of Kansas City, a lazy drive down sunbaked roads lined with oak forests and rolling fields. Home to a population of 1,600, it has a tiny main square, the world’s largest processor of eastern black walnuts, and 21 churches.
Though the area is largely Baptist, Cedar County has a tradition of religious tolerance. On the wooded roads near Agapé, 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.”
In 1996, the Clemensens purchased 40 acres just outside of town. The site, designed as a Christian camp, had cabins, a shower facility, a mess hall, and a small chapel. They moved their wards in and set them to work clearing the site and fixing the property. Locals says the Clemensens ingratiated themselves by offering tours, and hosting Boy Scout breakfasts and luncheons for the local Methodist group. They held a blood drive, organized a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular, and began holding an annual rodeo. They insisted everyone call them “Brother Jim” and “Ma’am,” and their son “Brother Bryan.”
They have law-enforcement ties, too. According to AG Schmitt’s office, the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department employs at least three people who used to work at Agapé. One of them is Robert Graves, a student turned staffer who joined as a sheriff’s deputy and married Kathy and Jim’s daughter, and is listed as a member of the board of an Agapé-affiliated church. Sandoval, Agapé’s dean of students, worked shifts at the county jail. He would later set up a transport business to collect teens, hiring off-duty deputies to help him.
Former students wonder if it’s because of this that authorities failed to act sooner. Schrag says he tried to escape around 2007, when he was 15. “I got picked up by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department, and I tried to tell the guy, like, ‘They’re beating us, don’t take me back there,’” he says. “And he said, ‘No, they’re not.’ He cuffed me up and dropped me back off at Agapé. I tried to find a record of it, but there was none.” (The Cedar County Sheriff’s Department did not return calls seeking comment.)
Several former staffers opened up similar schools nearby: There was the Legacy Academy Adventures, on a property owned by David Smock, Agapé’s longtime doctor who would later be accused of molesting students; there was the Master’s Ranch Christian Academy, which later opened two more campuses. None of these raised eyebrows — until former Agapé staffers Boyd and Stephanie Householder opened Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch. That’s where someone went too far.
Earlier this year, Smock, the school’s longtime physician, was charged with 12 felony sexual-molestation crimes against those in his care. In August, Sandoval was charged with arranging the kidnapping of an emancipated teen in Fresno, California, on behalf of the boy’s estranged mother, and then having him driven, handcuffed, 27 hours to Agapé. (Both have pleaded not guilty.) In November, a man who is reportedly a former Agapé employee was charged with 215 counts of possession of child pornography. Nonetheless, the outcome of the civil suits is far from certain.
After a months-long investigation, the AG’s office recommended 65 charges against 22 staff members, accusing them of abusing 36 children. (The recommendations are not public, so the implicated staff members are unknown.) But under Missouri law, it was up to Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither to file charges. In September 2021, he charged five Agapé staff members with a total of 13 counts of third-degree assault, the lowest degree of felony. Bryan Clemensen was not among those charged. (As of publication, one defendant’s case was dismissed, three pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, and one is awaiting a hearing this month.) Gaither declined to comment, but told the Cedar County Republican that Agapé has the right to administer corporal punishment. “In Missouri, parents are allowed to discipline their children,” he said. “People who have care, custody, and control of those children have that right, as well. In other words, Grandmother can spank the children … as can Agapé.”
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