JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
DavidClohessy.com [St. Louis MO]
July 16, 2024
By David Clohessy
Victims beg AG: No plea deal for ‘horrific abuser’
She’s ‘Missouri’s Ghislane Maxwell,’ they charge
Woman & her husband faced 100 counts of crimes vs. kids
But he just died & victims fear she’ll cut ‘a sweet deal’ from AG
At event, group will write to sheriffs & prosecutors in 20+ counties
A ‘potentially dangerous’ boarding school is in each one, they say
SNAP: ‘Don’t wait! Go after these Christian boarding schools now!’
WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference – chanting and holding signs that read “No plea for Stephanie!!” – victims of abuse at Christian boarding schools will hand-deliver an impassioned letter to Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office urging him to
–take a notorious accused female serial abuser to trial this fall, and
–NOT offer her another plea deal.
Then, sitting on folding chairs, they will address, stamp and stuff envelopes with letters to sheriffs and prosecutors in 20+ Missouri counties where these controversial facilities operate, urging them to ‘pro-actively and aggressively’ investigate these boarding schools for ‘past, recent and potentially current sexual, emotional and physical crimes against kids.’
WHEN
Wednesday, July 17 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Missouri Attorney General’s office, 207 W. High Street (between Broadway and Washington) in Jefferson City
WHO
Two-three young adults who as kids were abused at Christian boarding schools (including one or two who have never spoken publicly before), a former boarding school employee, the ex-spouse of a boarding school principal, and several supporters including a Missouri man who for 30 years headed SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
1) In October, Stephanie Householder is set to face 22 criminal charges of child abuse and neglect at a trial in Stockton MO. Until he suddenly passed away last month, her husband Boyd was charged with 79 similar counts.
The two founded and ran two now-shuttered Christian boarding schools in southwestern Missouri for ‘troubled kids.’ One has been compared to “a concentration camp or torture colony cloaked in the guise of religion.”
Since her husband died, victims fear Stephanie may soon be offered a second plea deal, which they vehemently oppose, by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (Last month, one news outlet reported “It’s not clear how Boyd’s death might affect Stephanie’s case. Bailey’s spokesperson declined to comment.)
Dozens of ex-students have alleged that the Householders used “brutal restraints, excessive workouts in extreme temperatures, psychological and sexual abuse and food and water used as punishment” According to the AP,”16 former residents said the Householders frequently restrained them with handcuffs, whipped them with belts, taped their mouths shut and struck or punched them for minor offenses such as singing.”
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2024/05/15/774285.htm
2) Frustrated by Missouri AG Andrew Bailey’s continued refusal to ‘do anything about this growing scandal,’ victims are also writing sheriffs and prosecutors urging them to investigate the boarding schools in their counties. (Copies of their letters will be available at the news conference &/or online beforehand at DavidClohessy.com &/or at SNAPnetwork.org – under Media Statements.)
DETAILS
In recent years, at least five or six similar ‘secretive and essentially unregulated’ faith-based boarding schools in the state have been targeted with criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits and national media stories detailing horrific reports of the abuse of children. Three of them in Missouri have shut down since 2020.
The facilities, mostly in remote counties with few residents, include Agape, Circle of Hope, Ozark Trails Academy, Lighthouse Academy/ABM Ministries and Kanakuk Kamp.
“Because of cheap land, no oversight, few restrictions and excessive deference to self-proclaimed ‘religious’ institutions, Missouri has become a magnet for these schools and facilities in turn are magnets for sadists and predators,” said Doug Lay, a St. Louis Protestant minister and whistleblower who supports the victims.
In 2021, Agape’s longtime doctor was charged with child sex crimes. Five other workers were charged with lower-level abuse counts. Missouri’s then-Attorney General contended that 22 employees should have been charged. “Three pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanors and received two years’ probation,” according to the Kansas City Star.
In March of that year, the Householders were charged with nearly 100 counts of crimes against children. Stephanie is under house arrest, presumably at her home in Nevada, Missouri.
The Householders were at Circle of Hope (near Humansville) from 2006-2020 and at Agape (near Stockton) from 2001-2006. Circle of Hope opened in 2006 and closed in 2020. Agape opened in 1996 and closed in 2020.
On June 24, Boyd Householder reportedly passed away after a ‘cardiac arrest.’
Other Agape staffers who face either civil or criminal abuse and neglect charges include Bryan Clemenson, Julio Sandoval, Scott Dumar, Brent Jackson, Jon Wilke and board member Rev. Jeff Ables, who now pastors Berean Baptist Church in Springfield.
Several law enforcement officers also face civil charges of committing, ignoring or concealing abuse” including two in Cedar County (where Agape Boarding School was located): Sheriff James ‘Jim Bob’ McCrary and Deputy Sheriff Robert Graves.
Over the last few months, victims have repeatedly prodded Bailey to investigate the facilities, prod local sheriffs and prosecutors to do the same, hold a Zoom call soon with victims publicly warn parents about them. Last month, they also urged Bailey to ask school owners to allow unannounced inspections of their schools by independent children’s groups and law enforcement personnel (including the Highway Patrol).
For decades, reports the AP, “Missouri had among the most lax boarding school regulations of any state in the nation. A 1982 state law gave religious boarding schools free rein and the state no way to monitor how kids were educated. Even the state Health Department had no oversight, including for schools that claimed to address mental health, behavioral and addiction issues.”
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2024/05/15/774285.htm
Here’s a list of 31 of these controversial largely ‘under the radar’ ‘schools in Missouri:
https://dss.mo.gov/provider-services/children/docs/cd-license-exempt-agencies.pdf
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a notorious serial abuser.
CONTACT
David Clohessy of St. Louis