San José, Costa Rica
November 5, 2003
U.S. Federal Probe of WWASP Requested
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net
U.S. Representative George Miller, Senior
Democrat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a
letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday requesting a
federal investigation into allegations of abuse by the WorldWide
Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP).
One of Rep. Miller's congressional aids had
told The Tico Times in September that the U.S. lawmaker was
preparing to request a federal probe following the closure of Costa
Rica's WWASP-affiliated Dundee Ranch Academy and allegations of
abuse at other WWASP facilities in the United States, Jamaica and
Mexico (TT, Sept. 12).
WWASP is the umbrella organization under which
Dundee Ranch Academy, a behavior-modification program for troubled
teens, operated here, before being closed last May following
government interventions to investigate allegations of rights abuse
(TT, May 23).
"I am requesting, in my capacity as Senior
Democratic Member, that you initiate a formal investigation into
allegations of child abuse, human rights violations, fraudulent and
deceptive advertising, fraud and unjust enrichment under the
Internal Revenue Code, and violations of other Federal civil or
criminal laws by [WWASP] and its founders," reads the congressman's
letter to Ashcroft.
Dundee Ranch was one of 11 WWASP programs in
the United States and abroad. An estimated 2,200 children were
enrolled in the residential programs, including 200 in Dundee Ranch.
"There have been serious allegations that
hundreds of children have been mistreated or neglected and that
their legal rights have been regularly flaunted. There are also
hundreds of parents who assert that they were drawn into the program
by misleading advertising. We believe that the Department of Justice
should investigate whether federal laws concerning child abuse and
neglect, interstate commerce or unfair or deceptive advertising have
been broken by WWASPS or those operating these facilities," the
letter reads.
The letter to Ashcroft mentions that "Dundee
Ranch was closed after Costa Rican authorities charged the facility
with violating children's civil rights," and quotes testimony of
abuse by former Dundee Ranch director Amberley Knight, who first
told The Tico Times last March that the academy "is poorly managed,
takes financial advantage of parents in crisis, and puts teens in
physical and emotional risk " (TT, March 14).
The letter concludes by asking Ashcroft to
"please provide by Nov. 17, 2003, a written report on steps you have
taken to initiate an investigation of all allegations."
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