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Death of boy in Missouri stands out
in GAO report
October 11, 2007
By Megan Boehnke
WASHINGTON — Congressional
investigators found numerous allegations of abuse at youth "boot
camps" across the country, including evidence of mistreatment in the
death of a 15-year-old boy at a Missouri program in 2004, they told
a House committee Wednesday.
Of the 10 deaths closely examined
by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of
Congress, lead investigator Greg Kutz called the Missouri case "one
of the three worst."
"Ineffective program management
played a key role in most of these deaths," the GAO's Kutz
testified.
A coroner's autopsy report said
Roberto Reyes, of Santa Rosa, Calif., died from rhabdomyolysis, or
the breakdown of muscle fibers and the release of fibers into the
bloodstream, resulting from a spider bite less than a week after
arriving at Thayer Learning Center.
The GAO report presented to a
congressional committee for a hearing Wednesday also said Roberto
endured abuse after complaining of illness and was denied medical
care.
Criminal charges were never filed,
even though a state investigation found evidence of staff neglect
and concluded medical treatment might have saved Roberto's life.
The findings in the Thayer case
prompted a call for the Justice Department to examine the fatality
and why local agencies declined to file charges. The request came
from Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education
and Resources committee. He also asserted during a hearing that
conditions in many residential treatment programs designed to prove
"tough love" for troubled teens are "inhumane."
"This nightmare has remained an
open secret for years," Miller said. "Sporadic news accounts of
specific incidents have built a record that should never have been
ignored, but shamefully was."
The coroner in Missouri's Caldwell
County at the time of Roberto's death said his autopsy concluded
that the death was an accident and that the boy could have been
bitten before he arrived at the camp.
The GAO report presented to the
committee said Roberto had more than 30 cuts and bruises on his body
when he died. The staff had interpreted Roberto's symptoms —
including falling down frequently, complaining of muscle soreness,
vomiting and involuntarily urinating and defecating on himself — as
rebellion.
After complaining of illness, the
boy was forced to the ground and held there on several occasions,
according to the report. Once, he had a 20-pound sandbag tied around
his neck when he was too sick to exercise.
Roberto was placed in the "sick
bay" the morning of the day he died, where a staff member checked on
him at midafternoon and found he had no pulse. The staff then called
911, and the boy was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced
dead.
A state investigation found that
Roberto might have survived if he had earlier medical attention and
that records at the camp may have been falsified. No criminal
charges were ever filed, though the boy's parents filed a wrongful
death lawsuit that was settled out of court for about $1 million,
according to the GAO.
Thayer Learning Center did not
immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the report.
PARENTS TESTIFY
The committee heard testimony from
three parents of children whose boot camp deaths were among 10 cases
examined in the report:
— Ryan Lewis, 14, of East
Longmeadow, Mass., suffered from clinical depression and committed
suicide while at a camp in West Virginia, even after he had cut his
arm with a camp-issued pocket knife and pleaded with counselors to
let him leave in July 2002.
— Erica Harvey, 15, of California,
died from heatstroke while hiking during her the first day of a
program in Oregon in May 2002.
— Aaron Bacon, 16, of Phoenix, lost
20 percent of his body weight while at a Utah program. He collapsed
and died after being denied food and water in 113-degree heat.
"Aaron's bloody and tattered
journal would contain no poetry, but would record in his own words
an unbelievable account of torture, abuse and neglect," his father,
Bob Bacon, said at the hearing.
The GAO said it was not passing
judgment on all boot camp programs and is taking a broader look for
a report to be released early next year.
mboehnke@post-dispatch.com 202-298-6880
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