Letter to MO prosecutors
Both of these have beein sent to prosecutors in these MO counties: Johnson, Grundy, Morgan, Lafayette, Pettis, Stone, Jackson, Shelby, Taney, Oregon, Audrain, Dade, Lafayette, Scott, Cole, Jasper, Cape Girardeau, Greene County
July 17, 2024
Dear Prosecutor –
For the safety of innocent, vulnerable girls and boys in your county, we beg you to start investigating and urge your local law enforcement agencies to investigate – if not formally, at least informally - any and all unregulated Christian boarding schools in your county.
For many reasons, most especially virtually non-existent state oversight or regulation, Missouri has become a magnet for these facilities. And these facilities, we believe, are all-too-often magnets for sadists and abusers and those who would ignore or hide their crimes and cruelty.
Let us acknowledge right up front: none of us are law enforcement officials or attorneys. We can’t imagine how demanding your job must be: too much crime, too little resources and competing demands on your time, attention and expertise. We realize too that child abuse cases – whether physical, sexual or emotional – are very tough to bring and win.
But our state faces a broad and growing crisis, and kids need your help now. It’s not just ‘a couple of bad apples’ in a few institutions. Consider these recent facts:
----Since 2020, at least three such facilities in Missouri have closed or been forced to close (Circle of Hope in Humansville in 2022, Agape Boarding School near Stockton in 2023, and ABM Ministries/Lighthouse Christian Academy in Piedmont in 2024. (There are just over 25 such schools in Missouri, so this is an alarming number.)
--Just this year, criminal cases have been filed against at least four former boarding school staffers.
--Federal kidnapping charges from 2022 are still pending against another staffer: Julio Sandoval – who has worked at two facilities. He was found to have abused or neglected students at one boarding school, but later became head of another similar school. Its owners were also charged with kidnapping.
--David Smock, who worked at one of these facilities for years, faces “a wide range of abuse, from starvation to physical and emotional abuse” and child sex crimes (filed in Dec. 2021 and Feb. 2022.)
https://cedarrepublican.com/stories/stockton-missouri-doctor-denied-bond,56321
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/arrests-made-transportation-fresno-county-teen-school-missouri
--At least two law enforcement officials have been publicly accused in civil abuse lawsuits, in committing or concealing crimes against children: Deputy Sheriff Robert Graves & Sheriff James “Jimbob’ McCrary, both of Cedar County. (“Several former students” told The Kansas City Star that “they suspected a close relationship between law enforcement in the rural southwest Missouri county and staff leaders at Agape kept them from thoroughly investigating allegations.”)
-- A local prosecutor, Ty Gaither of Cedar County, “faced critical ire from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt over his handling of Agape abuse cases. Schmitt wanted to file charges 65 criminal counts against 22 Agape co-defendants. But Gaither “opted to charge just five defendants with low-level felonies.”
--Just this year, at least six/eight kids have run away from these institutions. (In May, for instance, two kids ran away from Ozark Trails Christian Academy near Willow Springs.)
While some of these ‘schools’ are relatively new, some have been around for years. It’s safe to say that hundreds of kids are in them now and thousands have passed through their doors. Since there’s very little oversight, monitoring or public scrutiny of them, and since school staff have such extraordinary power over children who likely already feel helpless, the potential for crimes to occur and go unreported is truly staggering.
Defining one after another after another after another case of child sex crimes as ‘isolated incidents’ or ‘aberrations’ is precisely what nearly everyone did for decades about predator priests.
Now, almost everyone would admit that this assumption was naïve and reckless and resulted in thousands of preventable crimes against kids.
All of us must do all we can to make sure that irresponsible pattern is not repeated now in Missouri.
Often, public officials respond to our pleas with vague and frankly insulting platitudes (“We take every allegation seriously”) or by ‘man-splaining’ the criminal process to us (“Without a direct report from an alleged victim, we can’t do anything”).
While statements like this aren’t flat out false, neither are they fully accurate. We firmly believe that you may feel or claim to be largely powerless, but ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ We know that you are well-connected and well-respected in your community. Nothing prevents you from taking simple, inexpensive and non-controversial but helpful and prudent steps like:
--Offering interviews to local media in which you reassure citizens that you’re open to hearing about any known or suspected crimes against children, no matter how long ago they may have happened or who the wrongdoers may be.
--Using social media and your own website, not once but repeatedly, to do the same.
--Insisting that every person on your staff start asking acquaintances “Hey, do you know anyone who works at one of these boarding schools? Or used to work at one? Or lives down the road or across the street from one?” Or who attended one?”
--Educating yourself about this growing crisis. Scores of mainstream news accounts exist that can help you better understand how often reports of crimes and cover ups are surfacing against these institutions.
Thank you for your consideration. We hope to hear from you soon.
Amanda Householder of California, abused at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch berlinvonmortis@gmail.com
David Clohessy of St. Louis (SNAP), 7234 Arsenal St., St. Louis MO 63143, 314 566 9790
314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com
2) July 17, 2024
Dear Prosecutor –
For the safety of innocent, vulnerable girls and boys in your county, we beg you to start investigating and urge your local law enforcement agencies to investigate – if not formally, at least informally - any and all unregulated Christian boarding schools in your county.
For many reasons, most especially virtually non-existent state oversight or regulation, Missouri has become a magnet for these facilities. And these facilities, we believe, are all-too-often magnets for sadists and abusers and those who would ignore or hide their crimes and cruelty.
Let us acknowledge right up front: none of us are law enforcement officials or attorneys. We can’t imagine how demanding your job must be: too much crime, too little resources and competing demands on your time, attention and expertise. We realize too that child abuse cases – whether physical, sexual or emotional – are very tough to bring and win.
But our state faces a broad and growing crisis, and kids need your help now. It’s not just ‘a couple of bad apples’ in a few institutions. Consider these recent facts:
----Since 2020, at least three such facilities in Missouri have closed or been forced to close (Circle of Hope in Humansville in 2022, Agape Boarding School near Stockton in 2023, and ABM Ministries/Lighthouse Christian Academy in Piedmont in 2024. (There are just over 25 such schools in Missouri, so this is an alarming number.)
--Just this year, criminal cases have been filed against at least four former boarding school staffers.
--Federal kidnapping charges from 2022 are still pending against another staffer: Julio Sandoval – who has worked at two facilities. He was found to have abused or neglected students at one boarding school, but later became head of another similar school. Its owners were also charged with kidnapping.
--David Smock, who worked at one of these facilities for years, faces “a wide range of abuse, from starvation to physical and emotional abuse” and child sex crimes (filed in Dec. 2021 and Feb. 2022.)
https://cedarrepublican.com/stories/stockton-missouri-doctor-denied-bond,56321
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/arrests-made-transportation-fresno-county-teen-school-missouri
--At least two law enforcement officials have been publicly accused in civil abuse lawsuits, in committing or concealing crimes against children: Deputy Sheriff Robert Graves & Sheriff James “Jimbob’ McCrary, both of Cedar County. (“Several former students” told The Kansas City Star that “they suspected a close relationship between law enforcement in the rural southwest Missouri county and staff leaders at Agape kept them from thoroughly investigating allegations.”)
-- A local prosecutor, Ty Gaither of Cedar County, “faced critical ire from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt over his handling of Agape abuse cases. Schmitt wanted to file charges 65 criminal counts against 22 Agape co-defendants. But Gaither “opted to charge just five defendants with low-level felonies.”
--Just this year, at least six/eight kids have run away from these institutions. (In May, for instance, two kids ran away from Ozark Trails Christian Academy near Willow Springs.)
While some of these ‘schools’ are relatively new, some have been around for years. It’s safe to say that hundreds of kids are in them now and thousands have passed through their doors. Since there’s very little oversight, monitoring or public scrutiny of them, and since school staff have such extraordinary power over children who likely already feel helpless, the potential for crimes to occur and go unreported is truly staggering.
Defining one after another after another after another case of child sex crimes as ‘isolated incidents’ or ‘aberrations’ is precisely what nearly everyone did for decades about predator priests.
Now, almost everyone would admit that this assumption was naïve and reckless and resulted in thousands of preventable crimes against kids.
All of us must do all we can to make sure that irresponsible pattern is not repeated now in Missouri.
Often, public officials respond to our pleas with vague and frankly insulting platitudes (“We take every allegation seriously”) or by ‘man-splaining’ the criminal process to us (“Without a direct report from an alleged victim, we can’t do anything”).
While statements like this aren’t flat out false, neither are they fully accurate. We firmly believe that you may feel or claim to be largely powerless, but ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ We know that you are well-connected and well-respected in your community. Nothing prevents you from taking simple, inexpensive and non-controversial but helpful and prudent steps like:
--Offering interviews to local media in which you reassure citizens that you’re open to hearing about any known or suspected crimes against children, no matter how long ago they may have happened or who the wrongdoers may be.
--Using social media and your own website, not once but repeatedly, to do the same.
--Insisting that every person on your staff start asking acquaintances “Hey, do you know anyone who works at one of these boarding schools? Or used to work at one? Or lives down the road or across the street from one?” Or who attended one?”
--Educating yourself about this growing crisis. Scores of mainstream news accounts exist that can help you better understand how often reports of crimes and cover ups are surfacing against these institutions.
Thank you for your consideration. We hope to hear from you soon.
Amanda Householder of California, abused at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch berlinvonmortis@gmail.com
David Clohessy of St. Louis (SNAP), 7234 Arsenal St., St. Louis MO 63143, 314 566 9790