Phyllis Stein said what?
Sue Scheff writes about herself like she's the natural successor to Mother Theresa while Scheff omits mention of the brutal physical attack on her daughter, her referrals to abusive nightmare programs like the Whitmore, the lawsuits dogging her for fraudulent representation...Wit's End misses the real Sue Scheff Truth: She profits from placing kids in treatment programs she knows to be dangerous and ineffective. She has befriended and done business with monsters. Gayle Palmer DeGraff, who was involved in two adolescent programs where two young girls died horribly. Randall Hinton, the ex-WWASP thug who tortured Layne Brown at Tranquility Bay in Jamaica daily, using pepper spray and allegedly scrubbing Layne's genitals with a toilet brush. Hinton said in an interview that Layne's treatment may have looked abusive, but Hinton felt he was equally abused by Brown. When Layne Brown returned to America, he was shattered and eventually committed suicide. Randall Hinton was charged with child abuse and quit working in the Troubled Teen Industry, still claiming victim status.
Scheff is still loyal to Whitmore Academy, the defunct program run by Mark and Cheryl Sudweeks. Mark Sudweeks was charged with animal cruelty and abuse in British Columbia. Horses Mark Sudweeks had on his ranch were found in a terrible state of starvation and neglect. Mark Sudweeks became the only person in British Columbia to be forbidden from owning any animal...yet he still had people entrusting their children to him. Cut to Mexico, and the Sudweeks adolescent program there: the Mexican government shut it down and kicked the Sudweeks out of the country for child abuse. The Sudweeks opened the Whitmore Academy, adolescent program upstairs, bed and breakfast downstairs. How did B+B guests react to seeing kids hurled down a flight of stairs by the belligerent Cheryl Sudweeks? Scheff ignored warnings from parents about the violent nature of the Whitmore's owners and continued referring kids to the Sudweeks' program in exchange for kickbacks, or referral fees. Juab County in Utah filed seven counts of child abuse and hazing against Cheryl Sudweeks, a woman Scheff described as a "good Christian woman with a smile can light up a room". The Whitmore was shut down for defying licensing and Cheryl Sudweeks copped a plea bargain to avoid a long, messy trial. Scheff's reaction was to post frothing-at-the-mouth blogs defending the Whitmore and it's disgraced owners.
One can only assume Scheff was very aware of her own liability regarding the Whitmore and the negative effect her longstanding alliance with the program could have on her business. Scheff rabidly went after a scapegoat and identified the mother of a girl who was abused at the Whitmore. This parent had been a vocal opponent of the Sudweeks and Scheff and presented an easy target - although how one parent could be responsible for the Whitmore's refusal to comply with state licensing or Cheryl Sudweeks' criminal charges was never explained. Scheff and her "associate" Isabelle Zehnder started posting vicious, defamatory blogs about the REAL advocate/mom, accusing her of sexual perversion and harboring dark "secrets" which Scheff and Zehnder promised to reveal and never did. Scheff attacked a group of her harshest critics by posting incredibly vile blogs about their personal lives, mixing innuendo with character assassination, even posting the addresses and phone numbers of her targeted critics. Many of the individuals Scheff attacked in the blogs were former friends and supporters she betrayed by taking referral fees from programs - PURE presented itself as non-profit, and Scheff's kickbacks remained hidden from the group of supporters PURE attracted. These allies viewed Scheff as a heroic mom, a mighty child advocate. Scheff's illicit income was revealed to her supporters as part of a series of shocking revelations during the WWASP v. PURE lawsuit.
Scheff's friendships are opportunistic, lasting as long as they are profitable to Scheff, and in her black and white view, there are two groups: those in her service and her enemies. Scheff's relationships seem to be self-serving and disposable, and anyone whose loyalty shifts from her, any former confidante who reveals Scheff's business dealings or openly criticizes their former boss is subject to Scheff's vengeance. Ask Carey Bock, a former Scheff associate who betrayed Scheff by selling her hard drive to WWASP. Scheff would not provide certain emails requested as evidence by the plaintiffs during the WWASP v. PURE lawsuit, claiming her computer had automatically deleted them. Carey Bock had the emails on her computer and exchanged her hard drive for $5,000 from WWASP. At one point, Carey Bock was on Scheff's witness list AND WWASP's. Bock later criticized Scheff on the internet in much the same way Scheff had gone after WWASP. Scheff sued Bock for defamation and won an 11.3 million judgment - and Bock wasn't even in the court room. Bock was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and Scheff's lawyers waited until Bock was in transit to Texas to send notice of the court date to Bock's old address. Scheff is without conscience when it comes to dealing with her enemies. A young man whose journalism exposed Scheff's many sins and deceptions was accused of being a "sociopath" by Scheff in a venomous blog, and she cited his alleged difficulty maintaining friendships as one of her proofs. Oddly enough, Scheff listed some of HER betrayed acquaintances as friends of the young journalist, not realizing the irony.
Don't buy this book, Sue Scheff is a ruthless predator who views the children she sells into dangerous residential treatment programs as cattle, or a former associate. She exploits families in crisis for profit and once payment is made, her involvement is finished. The trauma of kids dragged out of bed by Scheff recommended escort services is rationalized. After the kids are kidnapped by the "escorts" - bitter ex-cops, failed football players - and delivered to the RTC, Scheff is already hustling more parents. Wit's End is another shakedown and a misrepresentation of Scheff and her motives. Pay attention to Scheff's promotion of Wit's End - her daughter Ashlyn is not involved, Scheff has recruited a young woman who went through an abusive program to be a surrogate daughter. The Lifetime interview with Scheff to promote Wit's End was an infomercial, too. Check Lifetime's archived video of Scheff's spot and it says "sponsored by Sue Scheff for Lifetime".
