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Devlin Graves's Affidavit
AFFIDAVIT FOR DEVLIN GRAVES
Jordan Blair's Affidavit
Ronald Blair's Affidavit
Sam Gerhatd's Affidavit
Bob Will's Affidavit
Drew Parrish's Affidavit
Devlin Graves's Affidavit
Jim Clemenson's Affidavit
Devlin Graves, having been duly sworn upon his oath states and avers as follows:
1. My name is Devlin Graves and I am over the age of 18 and make this affidavit of my own knowledge.
2. On or around July 9, 2002, I saw an article in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch about a religious reform school being sued for abuse and violation of civil rights. I was shocked when I saw the name Mountain Park Academy, and its location in or near Greenville, Missouri. What shocked me the most is that I remember going to a church as a teenager and a religious reform school paying our church a visit out of the Greenville area. I could not remember the name but I researched Mountain Park Academy further and found the website for Mountain Park Academy and saw that the pictures posted on the site were very much the same as shown in the slide show to our church. I realized that I once went to a church that may have sponsored Mountain Park. From that moment on I further researched Mountain Park and to my surprise after talking to maybe hundreds of former students of Mountain Park I found the accusations being made against Mountain Park by the many kids who have left there to be true based on the many similar incidents I have been told about by former students. I have talked to hundreds of former students in many cases it has been discovered that Mountain Park is willing to take any kid and it does not matter if they are ?troubled? or not. I have talked to several kids who say that they were not doing drugs or engaging in ?risky? behavior prior to being enrolled in Mountain Park Boarding Academy. One girl for example was sent to Mountain Park simply because she threatened to turn her step-dad in for making sexual advances towards her. These reports by former students deeply disturbed me because I felt that I was partially responsible for Mountain Park?s continued existence since my church helped fund the place and its practices. I vowed to make amends for the wrong that I feel I unknowingly helped support years ago, thus here we are today.
3. When I read the original motion for the protective order on the Court website I felt compelled to respond to the motion due to the character assassinations against me. I am providing this affidavit in order to clear my name due to the out right lies being told about me to the Court by the defendants.
4. It is true that there are several websites set up by myself and others and they do contain information related to the Blair case and other court cases concerning Mountain Park, however, these sites that list these court cases to my knowledge do not contain any intentional misstatements or libelous or slanderous statements made towards the defendants. In fact these sites that list any court documents are verbatim and court documents have only been edited to remove minors names and in one instance, information was removed that I feel would be very embarrassing to Jordan Blair but that information really has nothing to do with the conditions at Mountain Park and I don?t believe that it serves any useful purpose other than to embarrass Jordan Blair. If the defendants would contact the webmasters of these various websites and inform them what statements being made are libelous or slanderous or untrue, I have no doubt that the webmasters would research the statements being made on their sites and if they are found to be untrue or libelous or slanderous they would be removed immediately, but, truth that the defendants don?t want reported because they don?t like what the former students are reporting, will be reported as related by the former students. It is up to the reader to then decide if what has been said by a former student is the truth or not ? just as it is up to parents who go to Mountain Park?s own websites and decide if what Mountain Park is saying is the truth or not based on what is presented there. Just because Mountain Park uses only positive testimonials at their own website does not make them any more true than the not-so-positive testimonials at the websites they are complaining about. It is up to the reader to decide and I believe such statements being put on the Internet are a matter of free speech that is protected by the First Amendment. There is a difference between the opinions expressed at Mountain Park?s website and those they are now complaining about at other websites: Mountain Park puts up statements in order to increase enrollment and make more money ? money that is used to purchase multi-million dollar properties for several of the defendants along with expensive boats and automobiles as shown at the websites from information found through public sources ? but the websites that the defendants are complaining about don?t make any money and are there solely to inform the public based on what former Mountain Park students are reporting, through their lawsuits and personal stories and contact information. This is not being done to harass, disparage, or ?ruin business? ? it is done in order to get both sides of the story out so that all interested parties can decide what is the truth after hearing both sides. The defendants? court documents have been posted on the websites, too. The defendants? side of the story is being told at the websites, it is not just one-sided and newspaper articles that are positive of Mountain Park?s position have always been posted at the websites now being complained of by the defendants.
5. The website
http://mountainparkhorros.netfirms.com was not set up to harass or disparage the Mountain Park or Palm Lane defendants, instead it was set up to inform any interested party of the truth concerning Mountain Park Academy. The website to the best of my knowledge does not contain any misstatement of facts or libelous or slanderous statements. The defendants have been in touch with me on numerous occasions and they have requested at various times that certain items be removed from the website and I have removed several disputed documents and photos from the website when they asked me to ? not because the items were untrue or libelous or slanderous, but because the defendants asked me to remove them because they claimed they owned the material that I had put on the website. At no time did the defendants inform me of any misstatement of facts or libelous or slanderous statements. If the defendants would have given me a list of any misstatement of facts or what they felt were libelous or slanderous statements, I would have researched them further and if they were found to be a misstatement of the facts or libelous or slanderous, I would have already removed them, but the fact is, the defendants have never provided me with a list or any specific complaints other than what has already been dealt with, as shown in the emails that follow.
6. On October 7, 2003, I met Attorney Briggs, defendants? counsel, at a motel in Cape Girardeau and he never once said anything to me about the websites containing any misstatement of the facts or libelous or slanderous material. The only thing Attorney Briggs asked me was concerning the ownership of the website and I explained to him how he could easily check to see who the owner of the website is: The owner is NOT Oscar Stilley and Attorney Briggs knew how to find out who the website owner is, because I told him how to do that on October 7, 2003 ? because Mr. Briggs asked me how to check, I told him. The only information the website does contain on Mr. Oscar Stilley is the contact information for him, and I provided that information on my own, NOT because Attorney Stilley asked me to. In no way is the website affiliated with Mr. Oscar Stilley: He does not control me or the website and I do not work for him. I met Attorney Stilley for the first time ever on October 6, 2003, at the same motel that I met Attorney Briggs at for the first time ever on October 7, 2003.
7. On October 12, 2003, I sent Sam Gerhardt an email that officially stated my position towards Mountain Park Academy after I received information from a former student who had assisted an 18 year old student in exercising her right to leave Mountain Park, and this former student told me that she was contacted by her very upset mother concerning Mountain Park and her actions in assisting the 18 year old girl to leave Mountain Park. This is not the first case that I have been told about where Mountain Park contacts parents in an effort to get them to put pressure on their adult children who are former Mountain Park students. I was also informed by one former student, now an adult, that Mountain Park faxed a copy of her complaint to her father and informed her father that she was indeed suing Mountain Park. The girl?s father then contacted his daughter and tried to intimidate her into not suing Mountain Park by threatening to testify against her and telling her he would tell about all her secrets and most embarrassing things about her to the courts (thus making it public record and the world then would know). At that time I was notably disturbed and aggravated at the defendants intimidation tactics and I still am. I was just informing the defendants that such tactics will not work because people like others and myself who want to see the right thing done will not stand back and let this kind of intimidation go on. We will do anything within the law in order to stop the reported abuse going on at Mountain Park Academy and expose their intimidation tactics against former students who are now adults and are attempting to exercise their rights and have their stories told.
8. While the website does contain numerous documents concerning Mountain Park, they are not limited to the cases covering Mountain Park Academy. The documents concerning Jamie Kaufmann Woods are were not posted before the case was filed. They were posed in HTML format for the ease of reading the 66-page document. These documents were posted after they showed up on PACER. The documents were posted on the Internet on or after September 26, 2003, and the date the case was filed was on September 25, 2003.
9. The websites do generate discussion among former students and other interested persons and many of the former students do contact me after reading the information found at the website. For example, Mountain Park claims not to have any ties to ?bounty hunter? or ?escort? type services as shown in the documents filed with the court, but I have talked to a former student who is one of the many former kids who have said that they were escorted to Mountain Park by a ?bounty hunter? escort-type service. While this particular former student was enrolled at Mountain Park she was working in the kitchen and the phone rang - apparently an intercom-type phone - and she answered it and it was the same ?bounty-hunter-type? ?escorts? who had kidnapped her and took her to Mountain Park and they were outside Mountain Park and were wanting in the locked doors to bring in a new ?student? they were ?escorting?. I have also been told about kids who were sent to Mountain Park under Court Order even though Mountain Park denies that they accept kids under Court Order and it is extremely difficult for these kids to get copies of their Court Orders because of the juvenile confidentiality laws, but one former student is in the process of trying to get a copy of her Court Order in order to prove that Mountain Park?s claim that they don?t accept kids under Court Order are false and I have been told that I will be provided with a copy of the order once the former student, who is now an adult, obtains a copy of the order.
10. In order to show that I have been in regular contact with the defendants and to show that they have had plenty of opportunity to voice their specific complaints directly to me over this past year, the following are emails I have sent to Sam Gerhardt and responses I have received from him and for ease of reading I have emphasized what I wrote and put my statements in bold italics and what Sam Gerhardt wrote back to me is emphasized in bold and underlined - any newspaper articles or things not written by me or Mr. Gerhardt and that I sent to Sam Gerhardt are not emphasized but are shown because they were emailed to Mr. Gerhardt along with what I had written to him.
11.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 7:03 AM
To: S.L. Gerhardt
Subject: peace offering
i am no longer running the webistes you mentioned in the letter froom Mr Warren. i have nothing to do with running with any negitive webistes about MP. I will go away forever if you can show me that MP is what you say it is! i have a very good background in a funemental church so i see most thing the way you do, IE interracial marrages and dating, and namy others as i am a born agian and baptised christian. i will volenteer my srevices to you Minestry for one week i understand you need computer staff. That is my area and i can help that alot. During that week i will get a true picture of MP.That is if you have nothing to hide! If i find MP is what you clain i will publicy appoligise and go away if you want. think it over if i dont get a reply i will assume you are not intested and hiding the truth still.
thanks,
Devlin graves
12.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 11:07 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Reply: peace offering
Mr. Graves:
I appreciate what you have you say. BUT, letting a man who has been such an enemy come for a week would be like inviting the fox into the hen house! We do not have anything to hide and that can be determined by who you choose to believe. So far you have CHOSEN to condemn us based upon unproven accusations made by people you do not know. Even this "peace offering" is presented in a confrontational tone. Why not choose to believe those who have the good things to say? There is no reason that we need to prove anything to you. EVERY accusation investigated by the state of Missouri has proven to be "unsubstantiated". In other words, no substance to the charge! Every time! If you won't believe those who do know and you choose to believe those who will lie to justify their own bad choices, why should I consider trusting you?
You say you are a born again Christian? Then, read your Bible and see how those who stood for the truth were persecuted wrongly! Read Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, "blessed are ye when men shall revile you...for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
Go visit Pastor Ed Bragg, Lafayette Bible Baptist Church in Ballwin. Go visit Pastor Jim Beller, Arnold Baptist Tabernacle, Arnold, or Evangelist Sean Mulroney from the same church. Go visit Dr. John A. Stormer, Florissant. Contact our Senator Bill Foster and our Representative Rod Jetton, who have been with us MANY times and talked privately with our students.
Remember that parents come visit students nearly every weekend. They go off campus with their children for 3 and 4 days when we are in school. Many students go out for 2 weeks with their families at Christmas and on summer breaks. Many students actually return home for 2 weeks and then return to school. Give these kid's parents some credit. If all of the horrible things were going on that we have been accused of, wouldn't somebody say something when away on a visit? Surely you cannot believe that they are so terrorized that they cannot talk with their parents off campus?
Remember that parents talk to their children regularly. Phone calls are not censored. A kid can cover the handset and whisper anything they want! Kids form homes that speak Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, whatever, can speak on the phone in their own language.
One of our biggest critics, a former student, speaks badly of our education system. This individual came to us from another ministry with 1.5 credits. She was able to accomplish enough school work with us to make up for the time she lost. She graduated with 27.25 credits (only 23 are required to graduate in Missouri). As a senior she made a 27 on her ACT. How's that for a poor education?
Do not remain "blind on purpose". You have been duped by a group who can hurl accusations unchecked. You know it does no good to defend ourselves, you know how that is handled. When your mind is made up it is made up, right or wrong.
If you are a Christian with some understanding of fundamental teaching, you have sided with the "liberals".
If you can handle this, we will continue our exchange. If not then I will thank you to do as you said, go away and leave us alone.
For teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
13.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 4:38 PM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: Reply: peace offering
Devlin, you would come looking for goblins. Thanks, but no thanks. I do not trust you as far as you could be thrown by your mother. You may be an enemy but you are not feared. We have no reason to impress you, nothing to gain. Your position is one of your own choosing, you do not have to come hear to give it up. We see nothing to gain by inviting you.
You may have a handbook, but maybe you misunderstand what is there. The handbook does not tell a parent that they cannot speak in their native language on the phone, now does it? You approach the handbook like you would come here, looking for goblins. That clouds your vision and you cannot/will not see the truth. Besides, where do you get the authority to second guess the decision of a parent? As long as the parent is aware and agrees to the policies, it is no one else's business. At anytime a parent decides they do not agree they can come withdraw their student. Children are an heritage of the Lord, not resources of the state. It is the parents right and responsibility to make decisions about their children, not the state, and not some ignorant campaigner like yourself. Get married, have children, raise them before God in your own conscience. Leave other parents free to do the same. As a single man with no wife or children you are not even qualified to enter the debate!
By the way, you need to relook at Sen. Foster's voting record. He has not voted to regulate us in any way. He agrees that the current statutes should be left alone. Ask him!
Just because Christian schools have been discriminated against in some places in America does not mean their diplomas are not worth anything. Yes, there are some poor Christian schools, Mountain Park is not one of them. The weakness of a few are often borne by the many. There are more poor public schools than poor Christian schools. Have you kept up with the accreditation troubles that Kansas City and St. Louis public schools have had in recent years? Again, you seek every opportunity to show your ignorance. The info is in the handbook so a parent will not be surprised if at some point they are discriminated against by the government school system. Discrimination does not equal inferiority! Ask any black man! The proof of the education system is told by the standardized test results. Mountain Park's students from 8th grade level up through 12th grade level is always 8 months to 1 year plus ahead of the public schools on a national average. The longer a student is with us the more likely they are to test above the public school students on a national average. If our school system is no good how did this young lady make such scores on her ACT? Are we to believe that she was brilliant enough to accomplish this without an education? Where did she get that education? Mountain Park! My own children were educated here. Both scored 32 and above on the ACT. My daughter earned her Masters in 4 years. My son earned his Bachelors in 3 years. How is that for an inferior education? You know, Dev, it is better to keep your mouth shut and people think you are a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. You are ignorant on this subject AS WELL.
The reason I mention the Pastors in St. Louis is because all of them have been here. They know us. Listen to what they would testify of us. Do you choose to listen to a troubled adult who was a troubled teen, or to a Pastor who is busy serving the Lord?
Still for teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
14.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 5:58 PM
To: S.L. Gerhardt
Subject: Re: Reply: peace offering
You rember i have a handbook so i know all the rules! students would be punised if thet spoke in a differnt langauge. I have talked to Bill Foster he is more neutral , in fact 2002 he voted for the bill to regulate chritstial reform schools that died in the house I have a copy of the voting record. i have viisted these churches you mentioned and and you are right I have turned more liberal with time i disagree with dancing is a sin and mixed swimming and all music that is not christian is the devils music, country music for example if you are carfull it is ok. As far as the education the diplomas are not worth the paper printed on (in the handbook it clearly states parents must sighn a paper that they understad your school is not accreited). That is just a few things me and you see diferently, I wont go on no use arguing. Sorry for bing so confrontional in the first e-mail. I wont take any cameras or recording equipment in fact I will leave my cell phone at home so if i make a call it could be monited. I would vonuentary submitte to a search even. All i would bring is my laptop and cloths and a bible (king james version) in with me you can even see i am not up to anything. With no recording devices who wold belive me! And if i saw what you say i would come out praising MP it would help you a lot having a majore enemy pubicly appoligize and support you.
15.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 2:45 PM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: Reply: peace offering
Give it up, son. I am not inviting you to spend any time at MP. There is no purpose for us in to do so. You are right, we would not open to Matthew Frank and will not open to you. By the way, to show you Mr. Frank's bias; I told Mr. Frank that he would be welcome to come spend a day after the law suit was all complete (which was the premise he gave for beginning his articles in the first place). He stated that he would not be interested in coming after the law suit, we would no longer be "news".
I may consider meeting you somewhere neutral for a lunch and conversation. I will prayerfully study that possibility. I may even consider allowing you to come for a church service and some conversation and a meal. I do not see ever inviting you in for a week.
By the way, you have never given me a single name of any former students or staff you have directly spoken to. Why not? I would expect you to do so if we are to proceed.
For teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
16.
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:03 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: re-adviice
You say that you are willing to see the other side as though I am not. Again you reveal your ignorance. I know both sides. I know what the lies are and what the truth is. I see the results of your way of thinking and have decided that you are totally wrong and misinformed. You have blindly accepted the false allegations and refuse to accept the truth. You chose to believe the word of those who have continued to live unscriptural lives while rejecting the word of Pastors, 2 state legislators, and all of the others to whom I have referenced.
What I am trying to get you to see is that the information you seek is none of your business. It is the business of the parents who enroll their children. It is the business of the Lord. We give account to the Lord and the parents. Whether or not you like or understand our policies is irrelevant. Whether or not the students like our policies or not is irrelevant.
You seem to have in your mind that these young people are sweet innocents and are being mistreated by their parents and MP. You reveal your youth and your ignorance of the teenagers who come and you reveal an unscriptural world view. Some who you have talked to present themselves as though they were victims of their parents and they were doing just fine before coming to MP. Some say their parents were wrong to interfere with their lives. You choose to believe the lies of rebellion over the truth of parental authority.
For teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
17.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 12:06 PM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: the continuing conversation...
The check has been mailed.
Again you have half of the information and many lies.
Yes, they can have similar stories that are not true. Yes, they do exaggerate greatly. Have kids been spanked when they did not want to be? Yes. Has anyone ever been abused? No!! You speak of a girl with scars? They were not put on her by anyone at MP! Would someone fake such a thing to hurt us in order to get out or have their own way? Why, of course they would! I do not know what you have pictures of, but I can assure you that no one has any scars from treatment by us.
You also do not understand the laws regarding 17 year olds that are from other states. The law of their state applies to them. Missouri law applies to students from Missouri. Besides, is a parent to give up on their child and allow them to destroy their lives because of 1 too many birthdays? If you were a parent who had tried all other resources and was still losing your child you would do whatever it took to try one more time to salvage his life. The problem is that you are not a parent but sit in judgment of those who are as though they are too ignorant to decide for themselves what is best for their own flesh and blood.
Yes, there was a need at one time to consider bankruptcy. When you have dealt with enough money you will understand this. Major corporations go into bankruptcy and reorganize all of the time. Nothing illegal about it. You have no way of knowing the intent or purpose. You have know way of knowing how we were going to care for our debts before the Lord and man. Your basic premise is perverted. We are responsible for our testimony before man and had everything rightly in order. You see, you have half the information you choose to think the worst.
Concerning Mississippi, you fail to understand what the state had illegally and wrongfully done when they came in Gestapo fashion. The state did the wrong. There are too many details to give, but they came in Gestapo fashion. They shut down the worship services of Redemption Baptist Church. They lied to parents about their purpose and about Bro. and Mrs. Wills. They brought in an Episcopalian Priest to counsel the girls. They gave the girls cigarettes. They had an order to be there for 72 hours (3 days). They came on Thursday and stayed through Monday (5 Days), saying that Saturday and Sunday did not count! These are just the basic things, as I said, too many details. If someone were wrongfully trying to take the children in your care, you would do what is necessary to protect them if you have any manliness at all. The state took kids against good parent's wishes and some have not been seen or heard from since!
Concerning Lester Roloff, He was one of the great preachers of our time. He was wrongly accused and persecuted in Texas. He was responsible for successfully rescuing more young people and adults than any state institution has ever been. The old time gospel and a disciplined life produces charactered Christian people. He preached and practiced that a person's life can be changed by the power of the gospel and the application of the word of God to everyday living. He refused to allow the state regulations to replace his Bible. You see, the state is not to regulate the ministry of the church. That is and has been the issue. A lesser authority cannot regulate a higher authority. Any "outlaw" activity that we or Bro. Roloff has been accused of boils down to that question. Are we to allow the state to oversee the ministry of the church? No!! If a parent chooses to ask the state for help and accept the state's answers, that is the parent's right and the church is not to interfere. If a parent chooses to ask the church for help and accept the church's answers, that is also the parent's right and the state is not to interfere. Again, you approach things from a secular viewpoint not a Biblical viewpoint. If you sit in judgment of Bro. Roloff you do so from the world's eye not the Lord's. You have bought the "party line" about the events in Mississippi. We would not then and will not now be regulated by the state. Then and now we will keep our Bible over the state child care regulations. We answer to a Higher Authority!!
Regarding investments or personal property, what business is that of anybody's? Is it wrong to invest for the future of the ministry or personal retirement? Are any of your "friends" going to care for Bro. and Mrs. Wills after they have given their lives to rescue teenagers? Has everyone forgotten that when they entered the ministry they sold all they had and gave it all to the ministry? Has everyone forgotten that they lived in a converted school bus for a long time in order to start the ministries while others their age were enjoying the fruits of their labors? Has everyone forgotten the years of long hours and many tears given in order to offer the hope of Christ to those who would now through rocks? Has everyone forgotten that the health problems that both Bro. and Mrs. Wills face today are because of the years of labor and the stress of fighting the battles in order to continue to rescue teenagers from their own sinfulness and the godless influence of this sin sick world? Devlin, you and your crowd should be ashamed of yourselves, especially if you call yourselves Christian!! Who would expect anyone to labor as the Wills have and not enjoy some fruits in their latter years? There is no way that they could be repaid in this life for the sacrifices for others they have made through these many years! How dare anyone question or pass judgment!! I have answered many of your questions. I expect you will now attack the answers and continue to defend your unrighteous position. As I have said, you choose to believe the lies and will not accept the truth.
For teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
18.
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 8:33 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: up to no good
Once again, you reveal your harmful intent. You are in contact with me saying you are open to reconsidering while at the same time you are contacting current student's parents and spreading the lies. I am thrilled to know that most decent folk will see through your wicked intent. You have no integrity.
Our communication is complete.
Pastor Gerhardt
19.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 8:45 PM
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Subject: RE: up to no good
Talk about "up to no good"! Below is a copy of the weblogs of a webiste i designed for someone i do not own it or operate it at ALL! When this site was designed and published its content was checked by a lawyer before it was published online. The website even has a disclamer on it even so it is not confused with MP's site. It has a domane name far from MP's name and also there is not tradmark viloations at all. It also has a different look than your site as well! As far as the content on the site that can be backed up by many crediable witnesses including some law enforcment that would gladly fo before a public jury trial full on news media if there was any kind of lawysuite at all. If there is any legal issues that was missed anywhere let me know i will recomemd to the site owner that she fix any thing that is agest the law. As far as the basic content of the site that will not change that much. I mean the many news aritcals and the property listings and the many lawsuites, the past history of Bethesda, IE stuff like that will not be taken down, but any other issues such as copywrite or somthing like that will be adressed and i will recomend to Miss. Adams that changes be imeadiatly made.
thanks
devlin
Visitors:
10 Mar, Mon, 11:04:07 oliverlaw.com MSIE 6 Windows XP
10 Mar, Mon, 11:06:27 209.152.7.1 MSIE 6 Windows XP
10 Mar, Mon, 11:24:12 209.152.7.1 MSIE 6 Windows XP
10 Mar, Mon, 11:29:50 oliverlaw.com MSIE 6 Windows XP
10 Mar, Mon, 11:49:14 oliverlaw.com MSIE 6 Windows XP
Referrers:
10 Mar, Mon, 11:04:07 http://search.msn.com/results.asp?http: ... +Gerhartds
10 Mar, Mon, 11:06:27
http://www.mountainparkhorrors.netfirms.com/faq.htm
10 Mar, Mon, 11:08:26 http://www.google.com/search?http://www ... gle+Search
10 Mar, Mon, 11:29:50 http://search.msn.com/results.asp?http: ... +Gerhartds
10 Mar, Mon, 11:49:14 http://search.msn.com/results.asp?http: ... +Gerhartds
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 6:58 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: up to no good
You have invaded many privacy issues! It is illegal to use anyone's likeness without express written permission! You do not have permission to use any of the staff pictures, student pictures, or pictures of private property.
20.
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 11:20 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: up to no good
Devlin, No material from any of Mountain Park's work product is legal for you to use. You are breaking the law by infringing on our copyrights. You may not use any of our material from our handbook or any other source without our express written permission which you do not have.
Pastor Gerhardt
21.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 12:17 AM
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Subject: RE: up to no good
the websites are corrected of any pictures see for your self:
http://www.mountainparkhorrors.netfirms.com
http://www.whypalmlane.netfirms.com
http://whymountainpark.netfirms.com/
if i missed taking any down let me know where they are located and of what and they will be pulled as well.
22.
From: Devlin Graves
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 3:32 PM
Subject: RE: up to no good
give me a day or two on this one i want to talk to the lawyers about this. I or my atterneys never saw a copywright in the handbook or any other documnets we possesed. Also some of the documents on the site are not directly posted by the site be they are posted by other webistes (mountain park survivors) and only linked to. If the lawyers say the same thing you say then things will be removed. I will let you know what my attterny says and then we can go from there. The goal of the website is to tell the other side of MP and be totaly legal at the same time, so you can only cry and pray over it, and to remain up and let perspective parnets see the whole picture of MP. And to keep the site listed in the top 5 places in all majore search engins so perspective parents can esily find the site and see the total picture. that is the sites goals and they will be meet i do not want to beak any laws or violate any courts of law unlike MP!
23.
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 2:22 PM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: up to no good
Great NEWS! Two students have enrolled over the last 10 days who learned of us through your websites!! Praise the Lord! The devil meant for evil but God for good. Thanks for the help!!
24.
From: Devlin Graves
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 12:41 AM
Subject: Good News
I wanted you to know after you told me that 2 students was refered to you from the webistes i designed and saw to it they was placed on the majore search engins. I decided to help perspective parents who hit the sites even more by providing "reference" list of former students for them to talk to so they can get a good picture of MP! LOL You will love the students horror stories they have to tell about MP! And the good thing is perspective parents if they choose to contact the students on the list they will hear them ALL! This list is new so it is small for now. Just wait till it gets about 20 or so then it will be impossiable to pass off as a few disgrutled students. here is a copy of the list so far! http://www.mountainparkhorrors.netfirms.com/referal.htm you have you own referal list i just figured its about time the MP "survivor" goup get one as well. This not only will enable them to reach many perspective parents, but it will allow the students easy access to each other then they get out of MP.
25.
From: S. L. Gerhardt
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 11:25 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: Good News
20? Is that all you can muster? Considering the hundreds that have come through the doors, 20 is a disgruntled few! Most intelligent people can discern between truth and fiction. That doesn't leave you looking to bright there, boy. (By the way, did you flunk elementary English? A good ACE education would have helped you with your grammar and spelling skills.)
We recently discovered that you committed a federal offence. You left some items in a US mail box that did not go through the US mail!
I have wanted to see that fictional book that you illegally gave to me but I would not waste my money on it. As I have told you in time past, you choose to believe the lie.
Still for teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
26.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 9:11 PM
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Subject: mail
You really want to talk federal mail laws. I got this information e-mailed to me by a legal researcher who is helping me out. Read this mail law: http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/ins ... desert.htm
Title 18, United States Code
Section 1702. Obstruction of correspondence
Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or
any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail
carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or
in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered
to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the
correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens,
secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title
or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Your mail policy leaves you vunerable here! If you want to comply with federal law why not make the students open the mail in front of a staff member to see no drugs come in to MP. And if you are concered about mail from the wrong person getting to the student only accept letters from the students parents adress or a approved mailing list. The rest mark retern to sender. Maybee i should be asking all the former students this set of questions now according to legal reserch MP is vunerable here as well too:
How many of you former students who were at Mountain Park past your 18th birthday had your letters opened and read by Mountain Park staff members before they were given to you? If that happened to you, then you need to read the following law, and make a complaint with the United States Postal Inspector. It is even possible that Mountain Park may be guilty of opening the mail in violation of the following law of those who had turned 17 years of age because of the laws pertaining to minors in Missouri. Definitely, if you were over 18 years of age and your mail was opened and read without your permission by Mountain Park staff before it was given to you, you need to contact the Postal Service and file a complaint based on violation of the following law.
27.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 12:53 AM
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Subject: movie (who knows one may get made about MP)
Trailer for "The Magdalene Sisters" which is based on true events about young women being banished by their parents to the Magdalene Sisterhood Convent run Catholic Church , where they're forced to change their behavior and literally wash away their sins by working in a laundry seven days a week. Horrendous abuse and cruelty occurs at the hands of the nuns. http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/m ... sters.html
(requires Quicktime Player) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/index.html
isnt this a lot like Mountain Park Academy and Bethesda Home for Girls???
28.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 6:08 PM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: movie (who knows one may get made about MP)
[No message. Blank email.]
29.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 10:20 PM
To: S.L. Gerhardt
Subject: RE: movie (who knows one may get made about MP)
if you want to see this movie, i know you dont go to theaters. i will pay for the tickets even!
30.
From: S.L. Gerhardt
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 5:46 AM
To: Devlin Graves
Subject: Re: movie (who knows one may get made about MP)
Dev,
One day you will stand before God and give an account for all of the lies you continue to spread. You have chosen to run with the wrong crowd. The Lord knows who is honest and upright and who is deceitful and corrupt. He is our judge.
Still...
For teens,
Pastor Gerhardt
31.
From: Devlin Graves
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 9:26 AM
To: S. L. Gerhardt
Subject: Does it feel like the walls are closing in???
First Nathan Day, then this looks like these "christian" based abuse programs are finally getting noticed. Your day is coming too....
7/4/03
Teen-ranch owner faces charges
Teri Figueroa
Staff Writer
An Aguanga man pleaded not guilty Thursday to allegations that he lied to police and twice reopened his Christian ranch for troubled teens after the state shut it down following allegations of sexual misconduct, according to court records.
Mark Bonacquista, the 40-year-old director of the Gentle Spirit Ranch in Aguanga, faces up to two years in jail if found guilty of the misdemeanor charges, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Colleen Maas said.
State officials say they have shuttered Gentle Spirit Ranch in Aguanga three times in the last 15 months.
Allegations of sexual abuse led state officials to shut down the ranch in April 2002, according to the state's Department of Social Services.
Seven teenage girls were removed from the ranch by Child Protective Services at that time, state authorities said.
But upon investigating a tip authorities received a year later, deputies found the ranch was still operating, and once again shut it down. At that time, Child Protective Services removed three teens, said Department of Social Services spokesman Rapone Anderson.
Then, two weeks after removing the three girls, authorities once again found the ranch open for business and once again had to remove a child ---- one of whom was one of the same teenage girls they had removed two weeks earlier.
Bonacquista did not respond to requests this week for comment.
Gentle Spirit Ranch sits on 20 acres in Aguanga, about 20 miles east of Temecula. According to the ranch's Web site, Bonacquista and his wife, Virginia, ran the ranch as a "Christ-centered boarding school" for girls from 13 to 16 years old.
The average stay at the ranch ---- which costs $2,500 a month ---- is 15 to 48 months, the Web site states.
The ranch accepted troubled girls who may have used drugs and alcohol, who have been prone to run away, and those who have been pregnant, to name a few. Violent girls and felons are not accepted.
The allegations of sexual misconduct
As listed in the state's complaint against Bonacquista, dated April 5, 2002, the allegations that led to the eventual shutdown of the Gentle Spirit Ranch came from one girl, a client at the ranch. She charged that:
Bonacquista inappropriately touched the victim on her inner thigh; he lay in bed next to the girl and caressed her hair and face; he held the girl's hand in an inappropriate manner, causing the girl to feel uncomfortable; and he massaged the child on her back under her clothes near her buttocks and told her that doing so caused him to have an erection.
"As soon as we got this information, we acted on it," Department of Social Services spokesman Anderson said. "That's when we shut the place down."
That closure was temporary, pending an appeal from Bonacquista, Anderson said. But Bonacquista did not appeal the investigation findings and the Gentle Spirit Ranch license was permanently revoked in May 2002.
State officials said they substantiated the sexual abuse allegations by the girl who came forward; the department's investigation of the allegations at that time revealed no other alleged victims.
Then came word in April of this year that Gentle Spirit Ranch may still be operating.
The ranch allegedly reopens
According to the investigation case report from the Department of Social Services, a local social services agency received a call April 16 from the parents of a teenage girl living at the ranch ---- a placement that was reportedly costing the couple $35,000 a year.
The parents, who live in Minnesota, reported that ranch officials do not allow any communication with the girls in their care. But the couple had become concerned when they received a videotape of their daughter, in which the girl ---- who suffers from anorexia ---- looked very thin, the report states.
Later that night, Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Chad Craig went to the ranch to check on the girl, according to a May 26 affidavit from Craig, which was filed in support of an arrest warrant for Bonacquista.
Craig asked about the teenage girl several times, but Bonacquista refused to cooperate, Craig said in the affidavit. The Department of
Social Services report adds that Bonacquista was placed in the police car at one point.
Craig then spoke with Bonacquista's wife, who told him there were three teenage clients at the facility, which she claimed was a boarding school.
When the couple was not able to produce a license to operate the facility, the three teenagers were removed from the ranch and returned to their parents, according to the state's report. All three of the girls were interviewed, but none disclosed sexual abuse, according the state's case report.
What was reported, according to an affidavit by social services investigator Michael Jackson, was that all three of the teenagers at the ranch said they felt uncomfortable around Bonacquista ---- and two of them told Jackson that Bonacquista touched them on their faces, shoulders and thighs in the mornings to wake them up.
Then, two weeks later on May 1, Craig returned to the facility with Jackson. At that time, they again found a teenage client ---- one of the same girls they had found at the ranch two weeks prior, the affidavit states.
Once again, Child Protective Services removed the girl, Craig states.
In his report, Jackson states that the girl, who suffers from an eating disorder, had recently begun purging, but had not been taken to a doctor for treatment.
Deputy District Attorney Maas said Jackson told her the ranch had no running water when he inspected it May 1.
According to police and social services reports, Bonacquista claims he was operating a boarding school exempt from licensing.
But Gentle Spirit Ranch advertised for and provided counseling services, and thus does not meet the state's standard to be licensed as an exempt boarding school, which must provide education only, social services department spokesman Anderson said.
In addition, he said, there were no teachers employed at the facility, nor was there a school curriculum.
"They tried to hold themselves out as a school, but they are not. They have no teachers," Maas said. "(The girls said) the only instruction was (what) they studied themselves and that was it."
The ranch had originally been licensed as a foster family home, a license given to Gentle Spirit Ranch in 1999.
Gentle Spirit was required to be licensed because the facility was providing care and supervision, including rehabilitation, therapy and counseling services, Anderson said.
Solicitations for help and donations
In December, seven months after the state revoked the ranch's license, help wanted advertisements for Gentle Spirit Ranch appeared
on two different Web sites: christianemployment.com and ministrymatch.com.
Both ads state that the ranch was "praying for a mature married couple" to become full-time ministry directors for a salary of $24,000 to $36,000 a year.
Both ads directed job seekers to contact Bonacquista.
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:dD ... n&ie=UTF-8We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
--Plato
