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August 2007

Following Second Death, PA Judge Begins Pulling Children from Chad Youth Enhancement Center

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A family court judge has begun removing Philadelphia children from a controversial treatment center in Tennessee, where a 17-year-old resident died after a confrontation with staff.

The Chad Youth Enhancement Center is located in Montgomery County, Tennessee, about 40 miles west of Nashville.

The children were sent there by Philadelphia's Department of Human Services, even though an agency official who visited the facility in 2005 concluded that "residents were being harshly and improperly restrained."

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August Aichhorn Center Acknowledges Inquiry into Sex Abuse

NEW YORK - A residential psychiatric treatment center for adolescents in Manhattan acknowledged an investigation by prosecutors into allegations that three former employees sexually abused girls in their care.

Dr. Michael A. Pawel, the executive director of the August Aichhorn Center for Adolescent Residential Care Inc., said in a statement on the organization's Web site that it had been cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in its investigation of the former employees, The New York Times reported in Monday editions.

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Sue Scheff, PURE, and Others Accused of Fraud: "Horrific Acts of Child Abuse" Alleged at Academy Referred by Scheff

Written by: Paula Reeves

BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA (August 12, 2007): As the sun sets on one case after another involving Sue Scheff and her one-person company, PURE (Parents Universal Resource Experts), another case looms on the horizon.

The case filed by the Green family in late July 2007 alleges that Scheff, “[S]et up PURE based on the business model of a Utah entity known as WWASP [World Wide Association of Specialty Programs],” an organization to which Scheff referred children and against whom Scheff later engaged in protracted litigation. The civil complaint alleges that Scheff lied about the money she received from private children’s programs and, instead, pretended to be “a volunteer who used proceeds from a successful lawsuit and from a trust fund to support her work and her organization . . . .”

The complaint alleges that other defendants, Boyd Hooper followed Scheff’s lead and likewise misrepresented that he was an “education specialist.” In reality, Hooper was Scheff’s public relations agent and fees were paid to Scheff and others, according to the complaint.

Focal Point Academy in Mesquite, Nevada is the place to which Scheff referred the Green family, according to the case. Focal Point was reportedly marketed by Scheff as a therapeutic boarding school. It was later discovered that Focal Point was not licensed as a school, but as a foster home, with no foster children present.

The Greens were willing to spend more than $5,000 a month for their son to receive the intensive psychiatric help they felt he needed. Instead, their son was reportedly not provided the specialized treatment promised by Scheff, Hooper, and Focal Point. They say their child was beaten and subjected to perverted sexual acts by other “students” that continued even after Focal Point Academy was notified. Focal Point reportedly refused to notify authorities.

The defendants’ answers to the allegations have not yet been filed. The defendants are expected to deny all assertions of fraud and breach of fiduciary duties.

Like her counterpart, WWASP, Scheff has been in litigation a number of times where others have made accusations of fraud and deceit. This time, however, it appears that trouble may be brewing for Scheff.

Copyright 2007 www.paulareeves.com

Reprinted with permission

http://greenversussuescheff.blogspot.com/2007/08/sue-scheff-pure-accused-of-fraud.html

www.paulareeves.com

Click Here to Read the Lawsuit, Courtesy of ISAC

Randall Hinton's Trial Begins Monday

A week-long trial is scheduled to being Monday for the Royal Gorge Academy co-founder who faces allegations that he assaulted several teenagers who once attended the private boarding school.

Randall Hinton, 32, is set to defend himself against seven counts of third-degree assault and two counts of false imprisonment. All charges Hinton faces are misdemeanors that carry potential jail time, if convicted.

The trial is the culmination of an investigation that began in January and was carried out by the Cañon City Police Department.

According to police records, Hinton allegedly was abusive toward as many as seven different students. Five of the alleged victims are scheduled to testify next week.

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Teenager testifies in Hinton trial

Disturbing testimony was provided Monday by a former Royal Gorge Academy student who described bloody details of the alleged physical abuse he received on the part of the boarding school’s co-director, Randall Hinton.

However, the student’s credibility was questioned by Hinton’s attorney — something that will certainly be a large part of the accused’s defense as more witnesses take the stand — as Hinton’s week-long jury trial commenced.

A 17-year-old California boy testified he and two other former students were in a room alone with Hinton when the abuse took place during an Oct. 3, 2006, incident.

“He twisted my arm behind my back and smashed my face into the ground,” the boy said. “I felt like my arm was going to snap. He made me lay in my blood…”

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After 2 Deaths, Chad Youth Enhancement Center Faces New Complaint

A 13-year-old boy who was in the care of the Chad Youth Enhancement Center in Montgomery County was taken to the hospital on Monday as a victim of sexual assault.

The facility for troubled youth already is under investigation after 17-year-old Omega Leach, of Philadelphia, died there in June when Chad staff physically restrained him, pushing him face-down to the floor.

Investigators are trying to find out whether Leach was restrained improperly, preventing him from breathing.

It was the second death there in as many years.

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More students testify in Hinton case
Boy claims he was slammed against wall

Day two of the Randall Hinton trial featured testimony from four former Royal Gorge Academy students who testified the boarding school’s co-director was physically abusive toward them, as well as other students.

The most compelling testimony provided Tuesday was by a 15-year-old Riverside, Calif., boy who detailed an alleged incident where he was put into a headlock and slammed against a staircase wall by Hinton.

“He thrust my head into the wall, my face hit the wall, and I fell to the ground,” said the boy.

According to the boy’s testimony, it was his refusal to wear a pair of sandals while with Hinton as the two were inside the school’s lobby that caught the ire of the defendant.

“He grabbed me by my left arm and pulled me into the staircase and said, ‘You don’t get it, do you?’” the boy testified.

Hinton then carried the boy up a flight of stairs by the boy’s head, his “tiptoes touching the ground sometimes,” the boy said.

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Boy, 13, Arrested On Rape Charges
Teen Accused Of Raping Another Boy At Chad Youth Center

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- A 13-year-old boy who was a resident at the Chad Youth Center in Montgomery County has been charged with rape.

The boy is accused of victimizing another resident, who was also 13, on Sunday.

They family of the victim said they are not upset just because their son was allegedly the victim of a sexual assault by another teen, but because of how Chad officials reacted.

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Former employee testifies at Hinton trial
Secretary claims she was disturbed by incidents

Dueling testimony of Royal Gorge Academy staff members — one a former employee, the other the school’s current vice president — featured stark contrasts in knowledge of whether Randall Hinton had abused students at the school.

Meanwhile, the issue of religion created a momentary atmosphere of tension inside the Fremont County courtroom during day three of the Hinton trial.

A tearful, former Royal Gorge Academy employee testified Wednesday she believed Randall Hinton had assaulted students and that she decided to come forward with information in spite of being “scared” of potential repercussions.

Patty Pacheco, Hinton’s former executive secretary, said she had heard a former female student “screaming frantically and telling Randall to get off of her” during an incident the 17-year-old Highlands Ranch girl testified to Tuesday.

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