Unusual abuse suit vs. sheriff & upcoming big trial-SNAP presser Fri. Sept. 6 @ 1:15 p.m
Young abuse victim files unusual suit vs. sheriff’s department
He charges staffers 'committed & concealed’ crimes against kids
The victim, now 23, was assaulted in 2015 & speaks for the 1st time
And a criminal trial vs. Christian school’s co-founder starts next month
Missouri’s ‘most prolific female predator’ faces dozens of charges & civil suits
In last minute plea, SNAP says ‘victims, witnesses & whistleblowers must speak now’
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, a 23 year old abuse victim will speak publicly for the first time and will announce his unusual new lawsuit. It charges that a southern Missouri sheriff’s department repeatedly ignored, concealed and committed abuses at a Christian facility for 'troubled’ children and seeks four unprecedented reforms that will help prevent similar crimes.
Separately, next month, a long-awaited criminal trial against Missouri’s most notorious serial boarding school abuser begins. So abuse victims are making ‘a last-ditch plea’ to ‘anyone who saw, suspected or suffered wrongdoing’ by the female defendant to “help prosecutors lock her up by coming forward to law enforcement now.’
And they will beg anyone with information or suspicions about crimes at Christian boarding schools to ‘come forward, protect others and get healing.’
WHEN
TOMORROW, Friday, Sept. 6 at 1:15 p.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk just south of the Charles E. Whittaker US Federal Courthouse, 400 E. 9th St., corner of Oak, (in Ilus Davis Park) in Kansas City, MO
WHO
The 23 year old plaintiff and victim who is suing, two other survivors/advocates and a St. Louis man who was abused as a boy and is the volunteer Missouri director of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
1)) According to the suit, Joshua Bradney of Indiana is suing to hold the former and current Cedar County sheriff’s and their staff “accountable for their negligent, reckless or conscious disregard for the safety of children at Agape."
Over several days (including on Valentine’s Day 2015), the Cedar County department staff “directly supervised” the children at Agape Boarding School in Stockton, the suit says. During those times, children were abused, they reported the crimes to the sheriff’s staff but they "took no action" and instead "aided and abetted the abuse."
Before 2017, the department was headed by Dean Leon Dwerlkotte. Starting in 2017, it was – and still is - headed by James "JimBob" McCrary. The two men and their subordinates "were also told of the abuses" at Agape but "took no actions regarding the inherent conflict of interest that existed" since their employees were among the accused abusers." (Dwerlkotte died in 2019.)
Current Deputy Sheriff Robert Graves (who is also an Agape staff member) also knew of the physical and sexual abuse of boys," the suit says.
McCrary also refused to investigate or report abuse allegations and when kids ran away, he simply returned to the facility, according to the suit. He also failed to train his staff to handle abuse reports.
Bradney also told a female sheriff’s department dispatcher he was being abused and raped – by both staff and fellow students - including once when sheriff’s deputies were on the premises. In fact, he “made so many reports to law enforcement that (sheriff staffers) threatened to taze him if he kept bothering them. Bradney’s father also made a report to the police but was told by Graves “that no evidence of abuse had been found.”
The suit asks for mandatory training on reporting abuse allegations to DCFS and on preventing conflicts of interest. It also seeks the creation of a community review board to investigate complaints against law enforcement officers and a public forum with County Commissioners at which victims of abuse at Agape can speak about their suffering “to protect future children from the same harm.”
2)) Next month, Missouri’s most notorious Christian boarding school abuser goes on trial facing 22 counts of child abuse and neglect. She is Stephanie Householder who, for years, along with her husband, ran two Christian boarding schools for ‘troubled kids’ in southern Missouri. (Before he died in June, her spouse Boyd was charged with 79 similar counts.)
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article289535052.html
SNAP is begging other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact law enforcement before the widely-anticipated trial begins next month in Stockton.
“Over decades, hundreds of kids suffered because of the Householders,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “So please, don’t sit back and be silent. If you saw, suspected or suffered abuse at these schools, help prosecutors get her locked up by coming forward now to the attorney general’s office, local law enforcement or SNAP.”
Dozens of ex-students accuse the Householders of using “brutal restraints, excessive workouts in extreme temperatures, psychological and sexual abuse” and withholding food and water as punishment. According to the AP, 16 former residents said they were handcuffed, whipped with belts, had their mouths taped shut and were punched for minor offenses such as singing.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2024/05/15/774285.htm
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/2024/06/after-ex-mo-boarding-school-owner-accused/
BACKGROUND
In recent years, criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and media reports have exposed shocking and severe abuse of kids in at least three similar facilities in Missouri (Agape School in Stockton, Kanakuk Kamp near Branson and ABM Ministries, a.k.a. Lighthouse Christian Academy, in Piedmont.)
The victim in today’s suit is represented by Rebecca Randles (816 931 9901, rebecca@rmblawyers.com) who has handled child sex abuse cases for more than three decades and Gerald McGonagle (816 221 2222, mcgonaglespencer.com). They represent more than a dozen Agape victims and some at other similar schools. Lawyer John Schultz represents Agape. All the attorneys are from Kansas City.
The suit, filed in the western district of the US District Court, seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages. There are now at least 24 civil abuse lawsuits filed against Agape. About 16 have settled.
Agape operated for nearly 30 years with a budget of sometimes up to $4 million annually. More than 5,000 boys were sent there.
Last year, a mother sued Agape for the alleged wrongful death of her son who was severely mistreated and abused at the facility.
CONTACT
David Clohessy