Students' Complaints Add to Academy's Woes
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
[email protected]As Utah native Narvin Lichfield continues efforts to reopen his beleaguered "tough-love" Costa Rican facility for wayward teenagers, eight more former U.S. students of Dundee Ranch Academy filed affidavits alleging abuse suffered at the hands of the former academy's staff.
The affidavits, presented to the Prosecutor's Office by child advocacy group Casa Alianza, tell a story of abuse and neglect at the academy, as well as negligence on the part of the Costa Rican government, which allowed Dundee to remain open for seven months after learning about allegations of misconduct there.
"I have seen many cases of mistreatment and abuse placed towards the students that attend the academy, many of which could have been very easily avoided if the government was doing their jobs and stopping all this nonsense the moment it was brought to their attention," wrote former Dundee student Codi Rouvinen, 14, in an affidavit obtained by The Tico Times. "[The government] chose to claim they were blind."
Located on the isolated pastoral grounds of a former hotel in the Pacific slope town of Orotina, Dundee Ranch was closed last May, following two government interventions to investigate allegations of rights abuse and minors being detained there against their will.
DUNDEE's Lichfield: still confused.
Tico Times/Julio Laínez
The interventions erupted into a chaotic situation of rioting, vandalism and orgies. Several dozen of the 200 mostly U.S. students ran away into the remote cattle farms surrounding the campus, and academy owner Lichfield was arrested for 24 hours on charges of abuse, coercion and human-rights violations (TT May 23, 30).
Lichfield was released from jail the following day on condition that he not leave the country for six months, while Costa Rican authorities investigate the allegations. Lichfield closed the school and all the students, some with the help of the U.S. Embassy, were sent back to the United States or picked up by parents or guardians and taken home. Several dozen students were reportedly transferred to Dundee's notoriously tough sister program, Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. One male student is reportedly still missing in the Los Angeles area, after dodging his pick-up contact at the airport last May.
Dundee Ranch, an affiliate of the Utah-based umbrella organization the WorldWide Association of Specialty Pro-grams (WWASP), was a "behavior modification" program that advertised itself as a "Paradise for Change." Most of the students fit a similar profile: troubled teens who had dropped out of school and who had histories of drug abuse, sexual promiscuity or delinquency (TT, Oct. 25, 2002; Jan. 17, March 14).
The academy - and many of the parents who sent their kids there - claimed Dundee's extreme discipline tactics were necessary to help children with extreme discipline problems. Lichfield summed up the program's philosophy as: "Identify your incorrect behavior, and stop doing it."
Critics, however, claim the program misrepresented itself as an alternative educational environment, and was run more like a prison camp than a legitimate boarding school. Opponents charge that disciplinary tactics such as physical restraint and solitary confinement were abusive and not mentioned in the academy's glossy promotional material. Several former students charge that staff members and "upper-level" students beat those who misbehaved, and that kids were drugged with "morphine" or a "lithium knock-off."
Lichfield denies knowledge of beatings or druggings at his academy, and maintains his innocence.
"What did we do wrong? I am still confused about this," Lichfield told The Tico Times this week during a phone conversation from South Carolina, where the Department of Social Services (DSS) recently banned him from the campus of his other behavior modification program, Carolina Springs, based on allegations of abuse at Dundee. Lichfield, granted special permission from a Costa Rican judge to leave the country on vacation last month, said he will return here next week.
"I never worked with kids, so how could I abuse them?" Lichfield said, adding: "I heard rumors about what staff did, but I can't say because I wasn't there."
Lichfield, who split his time between his facilities in Costa Rica and South Carolina, claims he should be free to leave Costa Rica whenever he wants because he has not been charged with a crime here.
"Why is Narvin Lichfield being held [in Costa Rica]?" Lichfield demanded. "Show me one shred of evidence I abused a kid."
Casa Alianza, meanwhile, claims the evidence of abuse is evident in affidavits presented to the prosecutor this week, along with a criminal accusation that Dundee violated 20 Articles of Costa Rica's Penal Code, Constitution and Children's Rights Code. The accusation charges Dundee of violating individuals' right to free correspondence, torture, abandonment, failure to provide medical assistance to those in need, coercion, cruel and inhumane treatment and international crimes, among others.
The affidavits allege that three Jamaican staff members employed at Dundee without work permits physically and emotionally abused students. The three managed to slip out of the country during the government interventions.
Lichfield is named in the allegations, but is not directly accused of abuse in any of the affidavits obtained by The Tico Times.
Lichfield, who said he has not yet had a chance to study the new accusations, responded to news that they were filed by saying: "Sounds great, but it will all be lies."
In his defense, Lichfield last May paid for half a dozen "satisfied" Dundee students to return to testify in favor of the facility.
WWASP, meanwhile, apparently paid hush money to an unknown number of former Dundee families in exchange for their silence.
The Tico Times this week obtained a copy of a letter from WWASP attorney J. Ralph Atkin to former Dundee mother Shannon McCullough of California, offering her an "indemnification" in exchange for her agreement to not pursue legal actions against Dundee or Carolina Springs. The letter, dated July 30, was enclosed with a check for $16,328 and a note reading: "By cashing the above mentioned check, you are releasing Carolina Springs Academy, Dundee Ranch Academy and all of their owners, operators, managers, agents, employees, contractors, sub-contractors and consultants and hold them harmless from and against any and all legal actions or proceedings that may be instituted as a result of the student's enrollment in the School."
McCullough, whose daughter Codi was enrolled at Carolina Springs and Dundee, said she cashed the check despite the fact her daughter is one of the eight former students to testify against the Costa Rican facility.
As the investigation against Lichfield and Dundee slowly moves forward, the Ombudsman's Office continues to investigate the government's handling of the events leading up to the May 22 intervention and subsequent closure of the school. The Ombudsman's Office last June gave the Child Welfare Agency (PANI), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Drug and Alcohol Institute one week to submit reports detailing who knew what when and what actions government institutions took (TT, June 13).
A spokesman for the Ombudsman's Office told The Tico Times this week that the reports are under study. He said the Ombudsman is expected to make a decision today (Friday) about what government agency will to be held accountable and what actions to take.
Lichfield, meanwhile, maintains that a new and improved Dundee will reopen as soon as he gets permits from the government (TT, July 11). He originally wanted to reopen by the end of August, but now says he hopes to be up and running again by Christmas.
"In Narvin's world, we will have a facility set up where the PANI has oversight and if the staff goes on its own and abuses kids, the government will prosecute the individual and not hold the facility guilty," Lichfield said.
Understand that legal and illegal are political, and often arbitrary,
categorizations; use and abuse are medical, or clinical, distinctions.
--Abbie Hoffman
