Pasadena women step forward with more boot camp allegationsBy Brian Charles, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/31/2011 06:05:02 PM PDT
PASADENA - At least three Pasadena women say they witnessed what they considered abuse by drill instructors from Family First Growth Camp while the boot camp operated on Pasadena city property.
Pasadena residents Susan Lafferty and Nancy Rose and Sierra Madre resident Julie Unamuno said they forwarded their claims of abuse to the city by email in 2009, but nothing was done.
"I saw (someone) getting in their faces and screaming while the children were sobbing. Some of the (children) were as young as 8 years old," Lafferty said. "And I could not see how any of this could help a child."
"I would never even yell at an animal like that," Rose said.
There was "no formal investigation related to the tactics" but officials will review the 2009 emails, Pasadena spokeswoman Ann Erdman said in a statement Monday.
Erdman acknowledged that city officials were aware that Family First Growth Camp, operated by Kelvin "Sgt. Mac" McFarland, used the Arroyo and Hahamongna Watershed Park, both city properties, to train children. The camp was routinely ushered off city land for failing to have a permit, Erdman said.
"Anytime park safety officers encountered the operation on city-owned property, they ordered them to vacate the premises immediately," Erdman said.
Neither McFarland nor his attorney, Evan Dicker
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of the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender's Office, returned calls seeking comment.
McFarland was arrested on May 27 on suspicion of of child abuse, child endangerment, kidnapping, extortion and unlawful use of a badge stemming from his encounter with a young girl in Pasadena.
His case is still pending.
In July, Judge Stan Blumenfeld decided to hold McFarland over for trial. McFarland remains free on $185,000 bail. He is due back in court Nov. 16.
McFarland's criminal record includes arrests and convictions for driving under the influence in 1991 and 2005, as well as a 2000 conviction for misdemeanor battery and a 2009 conviction for driving with a suspended license.
McFarland can be seen in two videos that provide an inside look at juvenile boot camps.
In one video, McFarland can be seen coaxing children to drink water to the point that several children began vomiting. In the second, he and several other adults can be seen taunting a child who has been forced to wear a tire around his neck.
Those videos were released by this newspaper last week.
The voice of boot camp instructor Keith "Sarge" Gibbs, who operates Sarge's Community Base/Commit II Achieve, can be heard on one of the videos.
Both men deny being present for the videotaping. Gibbs has not been charged with a criminal offense.
Lafferty, Unamuno and Rose all ride horses in the Arroyo and Hahamongna Watershed Park. They said the tactics employed by the Family First Growth Camp during their run-ins with the camp in 2009 bore striking resemblance to the scenes depicted in those videos.
Unamuno, who is a riding instructor in the Arroyo, said she first encountered McFarland in November 2009.
"I saw what appeared to be a drill sergeant was pointing his finger in a young girl's face while she was covered in dirt," Unamuno said. "She had been reduced to tears."
Lafferty, Rose and Unamuno came forward after seeing the videos. Rose, Lafferty and Unamuno said they didn't see any children being forced to drink large volumes of water, but they did see children being forced to carry truck tires around their neck.
During their horse rides, the women said they also saw children forced to scale steep hills during a heat wave in 2010 and also witnessed instructors regularly give obscenity-laced tongue lashings to the children.
"Do you think breaking them down to be nothing and using obscenities is going to make them any better? Rose asked. "They are not adults, they are kids and their minds are not even developed."
After a handful of run-ins with the camp, the women said they decided to report the acts to Pasadena City officials.
"We knew this was at the very least inappropriate behavior if not out-and-out abuse," Lafferty said.
Lafferty contacted the Pasadena Department of Public Works, directing many of her emails to Martin Pastucha, the department's former director, Lafferty said.
The women said they thought to call the Pasadena police, but were unable to make out a license plate on a car and were too afraid to approach the boot camp to ask for names, Rose said.
It remains unclear what happened to the email sent by Lafferty, but Pasadena Police Department officials said they had no knowledge of any of the activities in the Arroyo or Hahamongna Watershed Park.
"We do not have any prior complaints of child abuse against Mr. McFarland and Mr. Gibbs regarding boot camps," Pasadena police Lt. Tracey Ibarra said. Ibarra runs the Police Department's youth outreach program.
Despite not having a permit, the camps returned in 2010 and were spotted in the Arroyo as recently as last summer, Rose said.
The riding group began to alter its route to avoid the group, since Unamuno often takes her own children on the path.
"It's unnerving to see that type of drill going on in that setting and trying to explain that to young children," Unamuno said.
Meanwhile, no arrests have been made in the case, as investigators said they are still unsure a crime has even occurred, Ibarra said.
"The Pasadena Police Department has had discussions with the District Attorney's Office, but there has not been any cases opened," Ibarra said. "We are still trying to determine whether there has been criminal act with identifiable suspects."
The department has not contacted the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Service since it's unclear whether any laws were broken, Ibarra said.
The video contains episodes recorded during McFarland's time with Gibbs, according to multiple sources familiar with the camps.
Gibbs has not operated free of controversy.
In 2009, he was removed from Pasadena Unified School District campuses when accusations surfaced that his tactics were "too rough," according to district officials.
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