Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
Rare video of children being abused at Pasadena boot camp
Reddit TroubledTeens:
http://www.pasadenasun.com/the626now/tn ... 9466.story
DA mulls new charges against boot camp operator
(KTLA-TV)
(KTLA-TV)
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January 25, 2012 | 12:47 p.m.
Prosecutors are considering new charges against juvenile boot camp operator Kelvin McFarland, who is already facing extortion and false imprisonment charges for a 2011 incident.
On Wednesday Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Caroline Lugo told L.A. County Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz she needs more time with McFarland’s case. “We may be filing on other [matters],” Lugo told the court. “That decision has not been made.”
McFarland, operator of Family 1st Growth Camp for at-risk youth, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an incident involving a 14-year-old Pasadena girl. He is accused of demanding payment from the girl’s parents before handcuffing her and taking her to a relative’s home in May 2011.
Months later, Pasadena police began to investigate videos of boot camp activity in which one juvenile was forced to walk with a car tire around his neck as adults yelled at him from inches away and other juveniles appear to have been forced to drink water to excess. McFarland has denied that he had a role in alleged misconduct on the videos.
On Wednesday, Lugo declined to state whether the potential new charges may stem from the videos, though Pasadena police have interviewed more than a dozen witnesses related to the videos and forwarded the information to prosecutors.
McFarland’s attorney, Evan Dicker, said “I don’t believe [the potential new charges] have anything to do with events of that day,” referring to the May 2011 incident that prompted the current case against McFarland.
McFarland declined comment.
Schwartz granted an extension in the case until Feb. 22.
-- Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News
Twitter: @bkisliuk
Photo: An image from a Pasadena boot camp video. Credit: KTLA-TV.
Copyright © 2012, Pasadena Sun
none-ya:
Hasn't this guy "Sgt.Mac",been on daytime television screaming at little kids? Rambo the clown.
Oscar:
Legislation aims to improve boot camp oversight
Pasadena Sun, February 15, 2012
Legislation that would protect children in military-style boot camps and increase state oversight was introduced by two Pasadena-area legislators in Sacramento Wednesday.
The bill, SB 1089, authored by State Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) comes after the release of two videos depicting drill instructors forcing children to drink water to the point of vomiting, were released by the Pasadena Star-News.
Reddit TroubledTeens:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_19974766
Portantino and Liu author boot-camp bill
Brian Charles, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/15/2012 07:51:32 PM PST
A bill to protect children attending military-style boot camps will be introduced by lawmakers Carol Liu, D-Glendale, and Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena.
Liu, a state Senator, and Assemblyman Portantino co-authored SB 1089, which adds private boot camps and other non-traditional youth programs to the list of programs licenced under the state's Health and Safety Code.
The move comes after this newspaper published two disturbing videos and a series of articles on alleged abuses at Pasadena-area boot camps.
The videos feature Kelvin "Sgt. Mac" McFarland coercing children to binge-drink water. The binge-drinking, known as "smoking," can lead to brain swelling and death, according to medical professionals.
"As a father of two, I understand the concept of tough love. I also know that there is a line that should not be crossed in putting our children's safety at risk," Portantino said in a statement Wednesday. "I look forward to working with Sen. Liu to develop strict oversight for children's `boot camps' in California to make sure our children's well-being is maintained."
Liu said the first priority must be to protect children.
"We must make sure these boot camps are safe, and we need to know the background and training of any instructors," she said.
In addition to the binge-drinking of water, one of the videos shows a boy carrying a truck tire around his neck and being berated by McFarland and other boot-camp instructors.
The crying boy is shown falling to the ground.
McFarland's fellow boot-camp instructor, Keith "Sarge" Gibbs, can be heard talking on one of the videos.
Both McFarland and Gibbs deny being present during the video-taping.
At the time the video was shot, McFarland and Gibbs worked together, according to several sources familiar with the boot camps.
McFarland and Gibbs parted ways in August 2009, when McFarland started his own camp.
In May, McFarland was arrested on unrelated felony charges of kidnapping, child endangerment, extortion and child abuse, as well as a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a badge.
No additional charges have been brought against McFarland and no charges have been filed against Gibbs.
Boot camps remain largely unregulated as federal lawmakers have failed several times to pass boot-camp legislation.
According to a federal Government Accountability Office report in 2007, more than 1,600 incidents of child-abuse and 10 deaths occurred in boot camps nationwide between 1990 and 2007. The numbers could be worse, as the data is difficult to gather due to the lack of industry regulation, the report said.
Contact Brian via email, by phone at 626-578-6300, ext. 4494, or on Twitter @JBrianCharles.
wdtony:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_2027 ... -two-girls
DA charges boot camp operator with assaulting two girls
By Ruby Gonzales and Brian Charles, SGVN
Posted: 03/28/2012 08:47:13 PM PDT[/b]
PASADENA - The operator of a boot camp for troubled teens was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls in 2004.
Kelvin "Sgt Mac" McFarland, who operates Family First Growth Camp in Pasadena, pleaded not guilty to sexual penetration by a foreign object, forcible rape, oral copulation of a person under 16, lewd acts upon a child and unlawful sexual intercourse during a Wednesday arraignment in Pasadena Superior Court.
According to the criminal complaint, McFarland allegedly raped one girl on Dec. 12, 2004, and allegedly had unlawful sex with the second girl on March 19, 2004.
The court document doesn't say how the 42-year-old Monrovia man met the teens or where the alleged assaults occurred.
Pasadena police spokeswoman Lt. Phlunte Riddle said the incidents happened in an unincorporated area and that her department didn't do any of the interviews.
"We got some information and assisted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department," she said.
Sheriff's investigators couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday night.
McFarland faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted, according to Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.
Gibbons said this is a new case and separate from an existing criminal case against McFarland.
On May 16, 2011, Pasadena police said he handcuffed a truant high school student and extorted $100 from her family. The 14-year-old girl claimed he also flashed what she thought to
be a police badge when he approached her.
The incident resulted in prosecutors charging McFarland in June with felony child abuse, kidnapping, false imprisonment, extortion and a misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a badge. Gibbons said he faces a 12-year sentence if found guilty.
In October, McFarland became part of a controversy that erupted after the Star-News' website posted videos of a training session at the boot camp.
The videos showed children being urged by drill instructors to drink water to the point of vomiting and a boy wearing a tire around his neck being yelled at by instructors.
McFarland can be seen in both videos. But he denied being in the videos, which were shot in 2009 when he worked for another Pasadena-area bootcamp.
Booking records show McFarland was placed in custody in lieu of $275,000 bail. He has an April 11 pretrial hearing on the kidnapping case and an April 17 preliminary hearing on the assault case. Both are being heard in Pasadena Superior Court.
- ruby.gonzales@sgvn.com
626-962-8811, ext. 2230
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