http://www.sltrib.com/2003/May/05242003/utah/59846.aspDundee Ranch Students Head Back to U.S.
By Tim Sullivan
The Salt Lake Tribune
OROTINA, Costa Rica -- It looked like the end of spring semester for the parents and teens driving packed SUVs out of Dundee Ranch on Friday, yet the feeling was anything but satisfaction.
One after the other, parents fresh off flights from all over the United States arrived in rental cars, ripping down the dirt road to the camp -- a remote school of last resort for troubled teens -- to recover their children. Most were spurred by the Costa Rican government's order to the students to return home while an investigation into their treatment at the ranch continues.
Dundee Ranch is affiliated with World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools of St. George, and offers a 16-month program. It accepts teens who are "struggling in their home, school or community" and pledges that "inappropriate behavior is confronted, consequented and redirected."
PANI, Costa Rica's child welfare agency, has been investigating the ranch for four months for alleged mistreatment of its students. Earlier this week, the agency told students the ranch could not hold them against their will, prompting escape and reckless behavior among some students. On Thursday, ranch owner Narvin Lichfield, who is a U.S. citizen, was arrested by police, prosecutor Fernando Vargas said. "We suspect that he was trying to hide evidence," Vargas said.
Lichfield has been charged with aggravated privation of liberty, coercion and international crimes. The last charge, Vargas said, carries 10 to 15 years in prison per count. He has asked a judge to hold Lichfield indefinitely until a full investigation has been conducted. If the judge denies the request, Vargas has asked that Lichfield not be allowed to leave the country and be required to post $256,000 in bail. A decision by the judge was expected late Friday, Vargas said.
Vargas said he received conflicting information about a group of remaining students being transported in a van on Thursday.
Some Dundee staff members told Vargas they were taking remaining pupils to another facility in Jamaica; others said the teens were being returned to their parents.
The students were traveling without passports, Vargas said, and at least one mother called the prosecutor saying she could not find her child and had given the academy no permission to transport the teen to another facility.
Friday, PANI director Rosalia Hill Fernandez met with ranch administrators and resolved to get the remaining half of the school's 200 students home by the end of the weekend. She said the facility is not equipped to handle all of its students.
Meanwhile, federal police kept a presence on the grounds to ensure the safety of the students and PANI staffers, said Juan Arce of the Costa Rican Fuerza Publica.
"This has been difficult for everyone," said Peter Livak, Dundee Ranch's family liaison, adding that the ranch was cooperating in returning its students home.
Livak, however, would not comment on the ranch's future. Hill said the prosecutor's office will continue its investigation, but PANI's main goal is to get all the Dundee Ranch students home.
Parents' emotions Friday ranged from jolly to furious as they picked up their teens. While one father peeled through the ranch gate to the school with a silent, steely stare and left an hour later with an even angrier expression and his son in tow, others needed a more lighthearted attitude to get through logistical snags.
Bob Waddington, a former North Carolina resident now living in Costa Rica, tried to pick up his friend's son with a letter proving power of attorney, but the ranch had already sent the teen to the airport. In very blunt terms, Waddington said the entire situation was a mess.
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Tribune reporter Rhina Guidos contributed to this story.
