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News Channel 13
Canon City School Director Arrested
Charged with assaulting female student
January 10, 2007
By Scott Harrison
Past accusations about a director
of schools for troubled teens have caught up with him in Canon City.
Randall Hinton, 32, is charged with assaulting a female student at
the Royal Peak Academy, 615 Pike Avenue. Third-degree assault, false
imprisonment and reckless endangerment are the official charges
against Hinton.
The year-old academy enrolls about
45 students from across the country, and is the site of St.
Scholastica, a former Catholic girls' school. According to court
documents, an academy employee reported the incident because she
"could not deal with the way students are treated." The incident
happened December 30.
"She was restrained by Mr. Hinton
in a proned-out position on the floor," says Capt. Allen Cooper of
the Canon City Police department, "for a period in excess of six
hours. During that time period, he used a wrist lock to restrain
her--which was applied periodically." According to court documents,
the student was not allowed to use the bathroom and suffered minor
injuries. She also had run away from the academy a day earlier,
because of what she believed was cruel treatment.
But the attorney representing
Hinton and the academy contends Hinton had a legitimate reason for
his action. "The girl at some point went into some kind of rage,"
explains Michael Gillick. "(She) took a stapler and started stapling
her hands and fingers, then started hitting herself in the head and
face. The person who reported this to police did not see what
happened, didn't see what the girl was doing, didn't understand the
danger this girl had presented to herself." Gillick says Hinton
acted properly, as he's trained to do in such a situation.
However, Cooper says other students
have complained about Hinton's methods. And court documents list
students who suffered black eyes, bruises and bleeding after being
disciplined by Hinton. Even an academy staff member called Hinton a
good man but confessed "he may have an anger problem."
Previous reports describe Hinton as
working for the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and
Schools (WWASP), an organization which has operated schools in
Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. The schools stressed
"tough love" as behavior modification for difficult teens. Some
students at those schools complained of receiving pepper spray and
other forms of discipline from Hinton. In fact, he's blamed for the
suicides and other deaths of at least three former students who
apparently couldn't recover from their treatment by him. But Gillick
says Hinton never was charged in any incident until now. Two years
ago, WWASP tried to open a similar school at the site of an former
military academy in Missouri, but the local town council denied the
request after learning of the previous allegations.
Gillick says town officials do not
understand how the academy tries to help troubled teens--and if they
did understand, Hinton would not be charged. According to Gillick,
police and social service agencies have ignored invitations to tour
the academy. He believes police mishandled the situation. "The
police acted certainly very inappropriately-maybe illegally--during
(a) search warrant, interviewing children without a guardian or
parent, without separating the children." Gillick also thinks police
owe Hinton an apology.
Cooper says the incident doesn't
make him concerned about overall safety at the academy. "It's
generally one or two individuals who are involved, who get a little
out of control--if that's the case. That remains to be seen."
Hinton posted a bond of $2,500 and
is free until his scheduled court appearance Tuesday afternoon. The
academy remains open. Some parents have withdrawn their kids from
the academy. There's no indication about whether the female student
involved in the incident remains enrolled.
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