reddit - Failed Escort Attempt

[cmack]

A person commenting on this story: http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/c ... at_a_utah/ tells of the time when his parents had paid escorts to take him from his home. The attempt failed.

His comments are posted below and can be found here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comm ... rvices_is/ his screen name is nazihatinchimp.

nazihatinchimp 32 points33 points34 points 6 months ago
They sign over their parental rights to the escort service. My mom, who is crazy, thought I had a cocaine problem (I didn't) in high school. She convinced my dad, who lived states away, of this and people came to drag me out in the middle of the night. They asked if I wanted to do this the easy way or the hard way and I chose the later. Blah Blah Blah the police were called and what the escort service didn't know that as a 17 year old living is South Carolina I was legally an adult and they broke the law. Worst. Practice. Ever.

TL;DR They get around the legal issues by temporarily signing over their parental rights.

nazihatinchimp 22 points23 points24 points 6 months ago
I didn't enough. Everyone convinced me not to press charges and I didn't. They dragged me through the house. My parents were supposed to be gone but they dragged me into a room and they were sitting there. They let them do it and I flipped out. It was terrible. Always press charges people. I'll do an AMA if there is interest.

nazihatinchimp 3 points4 points5 points 6 months ago*
I'll do one tomorrow and I'll make sure it gets posted there. Edit: I would do it now but I want to give it the proper time.

nazihatinchimp 29 points30 points31 points 6 months ago
Whatever, the place the people tried to drag/fly me too was in Utah and could very well be the same place. The people are chill as long as you are ok with getting your rights stomped on. Other wise they are condescending, mean, threatening and feel like they are better than you. Fuck those people and I am tempted to tell you to go fuck yourself too for being a part of that. No human being deserves to be whisked away in the middle of the night from their home or their bedroom. The event changed my life for the worse and I regret not sending the people who tried to drag me away to jail to this day.

No one deserves to be treated that way unless they are an outright violent menace.

If he ever did an AMA I couldn't find it.

[cmack]

http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/c ... at_a_utah/

StarKilla 109 points110 points111 points 6 months ago
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I was escorted to SUWS of the carolinas from the New England area. At the airport they told me if I tried to pull anything funny (like yell "kidnap!") that we would just have to drive the whole way. When we got breakfast before taking off, one of the escorts interrupted me as I tried to order hot coffee, saying I couldn't be trusted with it. One of my biggest regrets is not throwing the iced coffee I got instead in their faces.

The program I went to was a sort of intermediary on the way to the type of lock-down boarding school Xandir went to. 90% of people I met there graduated to such a school. I am somewhat ashamed that I played ball with the program and at times rolled over like their lap dog, but it is a horrible place to have your interaction with people and freedom so cripplingly regulated (only outside interaction was one weekly letter to parents). I ended up convincing my parents through the letters to change their minds and let me come home instead of the boarding school, much to the annoyance of my head counselor. Which really fucking pissed me off, because the only reason I got motivated in the first place was the alluring possibility of getting out on good behavior. Well I was fucking good, everyone said so, including my head counselor to my face, and what do you know, when the program is wrapping up for me he's giving strong recommendations to my parents to ship me off to the next thinly veiled mental institution/prison.

some people I met there were there for hard drug use or selling. one was a kid who had never done any drugs or drank, but defected from the cult he was born into and wound up at the program under the impression that it was a windsurfing camp. one kid lived dozens of miles from his closest neighbor in the middle of nowhere, and stole a cell phone from his dad. i think he was like 13. one girl was there because, "she had low self-esteem". one kid had aspergers, and was damn annoying, but had never broken the law either.

some people dug their heels in and refused to participate. i respect those ones a lot. the rest were somewhere between convincing their group that they gladly ate all of the program's bullshit up, and actually eating it, without there always being a clear line between the two. there was no sort of emergency button for the kids; if you screamed, the only people who could hear you were the people keeping you there and away from people who might hear you.

I told my folks in my pleading letter to let me come home that I wouldn't harbor any ill will if they let me, that I would just be grateful for a second chance and would try my best. I did try my best when I got back home, but I was forced into a position where I never had the benefit of the doubt and lost my ability to stick up for myself. It also became clear eventually that I did in fact still resent my parents for hiring some assholes to kidnap me and ship me off, but the threat of getting sent away again was constantly looming. so i had to nurture absolutely disingenuous unhealthy one-sided relationships with my parents where they had taken the shit-feeding spoon straight from the program and any responsibility for blame on their part was impossible and i was responsible for all blame in all situations as an inevitability.

my mom kicked me out of her house 3 days after I got back home for leaving a window open.

the situations these kids are put in are totally absolutely 100% fucked. if nothing else, it is psychological abuse. you can feign playing the game, and they know you're faking it, but if they keep you there for long enough you will crack. seriously like the ending of 1984.

When I got to the place I was amazed that it was legal, and then very scared. I couldn't believe no one talks about these places. When I got out, I wished I could save everyone from having to go, but I was set to getting my life back on track and I couldn't figure out how to try and bring awareness to the issue, and kind of just forgot about it. call it survivor's guilt.

StarKilla 19 points20 points21 points 6 months ago
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i'm 22, got sent away at 16, my folks are divorced. i actually got shipped off in the first place for getting caught with an ounce of low-quality weed. my dad realizes it was a mistake to send me there (all things considered, i did get to enjoy the hiking/camping environment of the appalachian mountains for two months while i was there, i learned some great things, but i just didnt like that they were often bundled with bullshit, and i totally disagree with the method.) i thought maybe by now my mom would have seen how i'm just like i've always been, never been arrested, and doing ok for myself. my mom maintains to this day that i deserved it, which i recently found out when my little brother was discovered by her with 4 ounces of high-quality weed and i asked her about it. no punishment for him, and it was to be kept a secret from my dad. she said that their mistake was i should have been sent to the boarding school. i still don't fully understand. i just wanted an appology from my mom, not to get my little bro in trouble, but all my siblings and her cared about was that i didnt tell my dad. that was a bitter pill to swallow!

sublimelife 46 points47 points48 points 6 months ago
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I also went to CCM, and if you can believe it was worse when I was there. 2000-2001. It has taken almost the entire 10 years that I have been out to get over what happened there. I am still working to de-program myself. It does get better though. I don't know what my life would be like if I hadn't gone, that was taken from me, but I can live how I want now. I am better because I survived it, stronger. I know, for sure, exactly how I will live and what I will tolerate and anything that reminds me of something from there, I know to RUN in the opposite direction. Thank you for sharing your story. You are stronger too. It takes extraordinary courage to stand up to abuse and I commend you for seeing the evil and attempting to do something to change it. You are a hero.

pixel8Pixie 39 points40 points41 points 6 months ago
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Amazingly enough, survivors have little desire for revenge, most of them just want the abuse to stop. These are supposedly 'bad' kids, and a lot of them end up with social issues because normal behavior is punished (ie, friendships, relationships, bonding, treating people nice).

You have the exact, right idea by screaming in the airport. I don't know the exact details, but you can't transport an unwilling kid. Unfortunately, by the time they get the kids to the airport, they have been subdued and resigned to their fate. I mean, they're kids, they don't know any better. I wouldn't either except I read about it.

The regular cops technically would have to back up the parents and kidnappers, unfortunately. I've seen people post online to tell the cops you are being molested or abused, anything to be able to escape going to these facilities.

dervid 17 points18 points19 points 6 months ago
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My "escorts" told me it wouldn't matter if I screamed and made a scene because I would still go, but the trip would be much more uncomfortable for me. they gave me the cigarettes i requested and i was 15 so i caved and believed them in fear and resigned myself to my fate. its all a haze in my memory really. i remember flying with them from seattle to vegas, getting into a rental car in vegas and then just driving off into the desert towards utah. fucking surreal. i nearly talked myself into jumping out of the moving car into the desert (at 60-70mph...) but i didn't want to die and i knew it. i was just fucking in shock i think. reality didn't really set in for me until they made me strip of my "street clothes" shower with anti-lice shampoo, put on a uniform and took my eyebrow ring.

BlazerMorte 82 points83 points84 points 6 months ago
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I can confirm a lot of what she's said. Anyone claiming homosexuality in their past were badgered in an attempt to get them to recant and insulted mercilessly if they didn't.

I was there before she was, but Ron Garrett actually used me as an example to the entire facility, bringing me into other groups' therapy sessions, girls' side meetings and therapy sessions, etc. to have me 'preach' the horrors of TB to try to dissuade kids from acting up and getting sent there.

The program was very, very Mormon. Most staff were Mormon, the program was Mormon, the creator of the seminars and founder of the company running them is Mormon. I remember once on a service project at the human society, the lady in charge there did lunch for us. We had Shasta soda, a brand traditionally caffeine free and therefore popular in Utah, to drink. Soon after, we found out that one of the types actually had caffeine. All of the kids freaked out, thinking they were going to get in trouble. Many of them actually gave themselves punishments, rather than even seek clarification.

I never actually lived at Pro 1, that's where the worst groups were housed. I lived almost my entire time there at the off-campus facilities, West and South. Living there was a privilege, so we worked hard to keep it.

djjuno 15 points16 points17 points 6 months ago
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I was placed in the Turnabout program http://www.turnaboutteens.org when I was 14 for being disobedient to my step father. I am 29 now. I would have to say it was the worst experience in my life. I was in there for 5 months while I was trying to be reconditioned to have what they called a normal life. I can remember the pain and mental abuse from the counselors that I received. I remember being put in holds on the ground while I my counselors boot was pressed down on my head while I was so called "acting out" or just not agreeing to do what they told me to do.

I remember how they would take kids that were "acting out" and putting them in the corner of a room and have everyone in the facility yell at them. I heard of stories about them putting kids in the closet while duct tapping their hands behind their back and leaving them in there all day.

We were not able to speak out aloud or talk to the other kids unless we were a cretin level in the "program" They used everything they could against us while pumping us full of drugs that they so called doctors subscribed. I remember that I just never listened to what they told me do do and eventually they took away having milk on my cereal in the morning..

Granted i didn't have it as bad as some of the kids in the program.. but I came out of the place with having some pretty serious metal damage. I had night terrors from 15 to 21 years old where I would dream about fighting the counselors and or just trying to escape that place. Which i'm guessing is a form of PTSD. It still makes my stomach turn and get's me all pissed when I talk about it but bleh.. Sorry about all the bad grammar. Hopefully this will help someone who is thinking about putting their child into one of these programs.

I have always wanted to take some kind of recourse on this place for the metal damaged that was caused but I could never thing of anything other then blowing the dam place up lol. I would love to sue their ass to shut them down, but I doubt that would be possible now..

silenceisdanger 13 points14 points15 points 6 months ago*
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Xandir,

I am so incredibly sad to read this and as former troubled teen I offer you my deepest empathy. In 2000 I was at Sorenson's up near Richmond, UT and I remember hearing Cross Creek's name a few times while I was there.

Everything in that story is par for the course in the "teen reform" industry. Sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, violence towards youth, all of it is the same. My friend and I were placed in solitary confinement (which involved sitting upright and still on the edge of a bed facing the back wall inside a tiny stall from the crack of dawn until late at night) until we made false confessions about having sex with each other. The only touches passed between us were cuddling and playing with each other's (short and likely "lesbian looking") hair. They debated whether or not to allow us to bunk with the rest of the girls as they feared we'd rape or molest them. The same line was fed to my openly lesbian friend there and when I spoke out about discrimination against her we were taken into an office and threatened with a solid week of solitary confinement if we raised the issue.

What's awful is how normal it all seems over time. When you're in that world you have to accept it. You have no power, no recourse, nothing. Any time child protective services made a visit or a parent toured the facility the staff rounded up students with the highest levels who had the most to lose and had them act as representatives. The desire to scream and tell the stranger in front of you what's really happening is immense but the risk is too great. Even if you say something you don't have enough credibility (read: age) to make something happen.

I remember my second month there I told a staff the facility would get shut down one day. She laughed at me and said, "That's what they all say." I'm sad that over a decade later these American Madrassas are still open.

A word of hope for you Xandir: time heals all wounds. The first years after getting out are the hardest. I moved through the rest of the world carrying this dark, painful secret and unable/unwilling to tell anyone because I thought it was too scary or strange. For years I suffered from PTSD and struggled to make eye contact or speak without reflexively staring at the ground and covering my mouth. I had nightmares that the staff found me and kidnapped me again. (One of my escorts restrained me in the backseat of the car by choking me with his arm and body weight.) But after awhile, the memories fade a little bit and that awful, tangled poison of emotions subside. Not completely but enough.

If you can, I encourage you to go see a therapist at some point. I know it can be hard after enduring the forced "therapy" sessions but there are people who can help you gain a more healing perspective. Please contact me if you want to talk. I completely understand what you've been through.

For anyone else reading this, feeling horrified that this goes on unnoticed, you can help. First: send and post this everywhere. Next: take action by donating to groups working to advocate for survivors and reform legislation. This is a good hub to begin with: http://teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/T ... ustry.html

Here are some accounts from youth and parents about the center that locked me up: http://www.heal-online.org/sorensen.htm

Here is a lawsuit they brought against a Myspace group criticizing the school: http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/sore ... escription

And is an info page with the congressional hearings on the Teen Reform Industry: http://www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm

For a long, informed documentary, check out this PBS Special: http://www.montanapbs.org/WhosWatchingTheKids/

Remember: our youth are our future. This is no way to handle our future.

red9001 22 points23 points24 points 6 months ago
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I went to teen challenge boys ranch which was similar to this program. I have personally seen people try to get out of this program by drinking bleach, I have seen them break limbs and work out people from morning to night non stop for days on end. My mother never understood it until one day I had a panic attack from a flashback, I was diagnosed with PTSD by a shrink. I cannot function as a normal person now, I believe everyone is out to get me. Kids really do not rights and its so sad that we can not even defend ourselves

chotheamazing 8 points9 points10 points 6 months ago*
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I spent 2 years at Heritage RTC in provo, utah from 2004 - 2006. Now this is one of the better of the schools, but still has some flaws. Originally my mom was going to place me at Provo Canyon but after hearing horror stories about it through friends parents as well as local support group families she decided against it and canceled the bed they had on hold for me.

A little back history, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 11. Didn't really dabble too much into drugs, but started to closer towards the few months before I was sent there. I mainly had a lot of lows from the bipolar, and dealt with self harm and several suicide attempts. Now Heritage had the double standard.. boys were allowed to have CD players, girls couldn't. Boys were allowed to listen to radio stations the girls were allowed to listen to. Just random small stuff like this is what I experienced from Heritage.

The only thing that made my 2 year experience slightly uncomfortable while being boarded up there was the fact that we would frequently visit the church to hold meetings with our unit/dorm. I'm Christian, so I didn't really have too big of a problem about being in there, but out of common courtesy they are supposed to put the blinds down over all the paintings and crosses. This actually caused a lot of drama with the other girls who were atheist. I stand by them, it may be something most individuals can overlook, but its just something that should be done anyway. I developed a great friendship with 2 of my counselors and we would always sit and talk about life and my issues and just general stuff.. sometimes they would bring up the whole religious thing off topic. I personally have things against the ideas and beliefs of mormonism, and the fact that sometimes they would try to bring it up in a therapuetic matter just didn't work out.

My experience overall was very beneficial. I had been in and out of psych wards since I was 11, and medicated heavily for 7 years. I feel that my personal experience actually benefited me. I don't use coping skills, or any of the cliche terms and activities they used. But the general ideas gave me a great insight behind basic techniques and survival skills to being a "norm" in society.

I left Heritage graduating a year early from high school, and went off my meds the minute I got home. It was a bit rocky at first of course, especially being on Serequol for almost 7 years at that point, and being on the trileptol for a little over 1 year. I have been off my medication now for 6 years and have been doing great. I saw a therapist for the first few months out of heritage, and just started up again because I had been feeling a bit off for quite sometime now.

It is very unfortunate that you had to deal with this, and I feel that the word should get out there that some schools do stuff like this. But just to put it out there, not all of them are like this. I feel that being placed at Heritage made me very fortunate. A lot of girls at Heritage came there as a step down program from other schools (provo canyon, wilderness, cross creek, island view, etc.). Provo was the worst I heard about, where staff were blatantly having "relationships" with the clients. Dating them, giving them special privileges for sexual acts, and more.

TL;DR I spent 2 years at Heritage with little to no issues. Not every school is like what the OP is saying, but a majority of them are and need to be closed.

EDIT Was also going to add about the restraints. I had been sent to ISU (intensive support unit) several times for the smallest of things. Even for having a disagreement with a staff member because I felt that what they were saying was wrong. I had one experience where I was crying really hard and they wanted to send me down there for the night. And they had the staff guys come to get me and they just kind of dragged me, didn't even give me the oppurtunity to walk myself or ask me if I was going to cooperate. I was crying so hard I told them that I had to throw up, and they still kept walking and I ended up throwing up all over them and myself because they wouldn't stop. That was pretty much the worst I had ever experienced at Heritage.

NSView 8 points9 points10 points 6 months ago
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Never went through anything like this myself, but when I was in high school, one guy I know got body-grabbed by a couple of goons about six months before he turned 18.

They made the mistake of keeping him in false imprisonment past his age of majority. He escaped during a "home visit", I think about a year after the kidnapping, by throwing a kitchen table through a bay window. He jumped out, bolted to a police station, and filed charges against his parents, and everyone in the criminal organization that he could name. Never did hear how the litigation ended up.

Boobzilla 13 points14 points15 points 6 months ago
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Omg. My sister went to one of these schools a few years back, and I knew it was bad-but not that bad. My parents sent her there because she had just stopped going to school, so I thought it might be a good idea for her...until she got back and told me about it. After what she told me, I felt awful for being a part of putting her there....but now, I think I feel even worse. : (

GuidedKamikaze 7 points8 points9 points 6 months ago
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I also experienced this as well, different facility same end result. I remember telling my father that if he were to send me to one of these places I would never speak to him again and so far several years later it still holds true.

Luckily enough my mental fortitude was such that it had no long term effect to my state of mind but I will never forget the feeling that lingered after I left. Weeks directly after leaving I was completely devoid of what can be considered normal thought, I am almost sure it was severe ptsd. So many nights waking up expecting to find myself back there and countless nightmares just from the kidnapping alone. Many of the problems years after leaving I can contribute to the experience. The only thing that saved me from that place was actually testicular cancer as my insurance would not cover costs in utah. I remember thinking and the time (and still do to some extent) that the cancer was a godsend and would happily trade all the pain associated with cancer over that. I think that accurately describes the atrocities that places such as this produce.

Facilities like this do so much damage to so many kids it is absolutely disgusting. I can honestly say that the facility did no good to anyone involved and from what I could tell it was almost purely for the profit of a few individuals powered by the mormon church. Unfortunately I don't see any amount of action from anyone changing any of this as mormons OWN utah and everything political around it. These sort of camps will continue as long as there is profit to be made and the mormon religion holds and sort of power.

KnevetS 6 points7 points8 points 6 months ago
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I have (had) two friends who went through these programs. One went batshit religious, the other has disappeared. The programs (that I've seen) target well off parents who have control issues with their kids. Both were pretty normal before the programs, both came back off-kilter and had problems adjusting to the real world.

Neither of their parents acknowledge the damage that they caused.

nemimi 6 points7 points8 points 6 months ago
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I was sent to one of these facilities in Utah when I was 15. I wasn't kidnapped in the middle of the night, but taken by police to Charter Hospital for an overnight stay before being picked up by Sorensen's Ranch School staff for the drive from Los Angeles to Koosharem, UT.
I have to admit that there were good things about the experience (woodshop classes, horses, learning to heard cattle), but it was generally pretty awful and I was surrounded by kids with criminal records & violent behavior problems.
What did I do to deserve this punishment? Sex? Drugs? Trouble with the law? Nope. I ran away from home twice. To get away from an abusive stepfather.
I had nightmares about being sent back until I was an adult. When I moved cross-country in my early 20's I took a massive detour to go through Koosharem just to see if it had been real. Sadly, it was, and sadly, there was another generation of "troubled teens" stuck there, learning bad behaviors from each other & growing angrier & angrier by the minute.
I'm now a somewhat well-adjusted almost 32 year old with a great career, but for some reason I'm still occasionally pretty pissed at being abandoned as a teenager.

[none-ya]

Instead of building a fence across the Mexican border, let's build one around Utah. Let everybody that wants to leave out first,and then lock the Mormons in.

[DannyB.II]

Another example of None Ya being judgmental and hateful. The Mormons didn't do this, and if one or two of them are Mormons you don't chastise a entire religion because of the actions of a few.

Have we learned nothing? Or is this just one troll's (none ya) opinion?

[none-ya]

Another example of None Ya being judgmental and hateful. The Mormons didn't do this, and if one or two of them are Mormons you don't chastise a entire religion because of the actions of a few.

Have we learned nothing? Or is this just one troll's (none ya) opinion?

Didn't you read the op? They were ALL Mormons. Why do you think so many of these extreem programs are alowed to exsist there without much (if any) regulation. The Mormon faith is in lockstep with the TTI.
And yeah,at least I HAVE a legitimate opinion.
All you gotta' do is ask...........

[DannyB.II]

:spam:

[Troublemaker]

None Ya your really starting to sound like a troll.

Were you staff in whatever program you were in?

You sound like it

[cmack]

A person commenting on this story: http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/c ... at_a_utah/ tells of the time when his parents had paid escorts to take him from his home. The attempt failed.

His comments are posted below and can be found here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comm ... rvices_is/ his screen name is nazihatinchimp.

nazihatinchimp 32 points33 points34 points 6 months ago
They sign over their parental rights to the escort service. My mom, who is crazy, thought I had a cocaine problem (I didn't) in high school. She convinced my dad, who lived states away, of this and people came to drag me out in the middle of the night. They asked if I wanted to do this the easy way or the hard way and I chose the later. Blah Blah Blah the police were called and what the escort service didn't know that as a 17 year old living is South Carolina I was legally an adult and they broke the law. Worst. Practice. Ever.

TL;DR They get around the legal issues by temporarily signing over their parental rights.

I saw this on another site and thought it might help explain why this kidnapping attempt failed.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8386011_legal- ... olina.html

http://www.ehow.com/info_8386011_legal-rights-17yearolds-south-carolina.html

Legal Rights of 17-Year-Olds in South Carolina
X
Jonita Davis

   1.
      Medical Consent
          *

            In South Carolina, a 17-year-old has the right to consent or deny treatments or tests on his own body. Parents cannot override these rights without going to court and proving the 17-year-old patient unfit to make his own medical decisions. These rights extend to consent after death, the 17-year-old has the right to refuse or consent to donating body parts, refusing resuscitation or performing diagnostics on the body.
      Driving
          *

A relevant comment on the site.

Kathy Daniels · Chesterfield Marlboro Tec
A South Carolina policeman recently told my daughter (that was 16 at the time) that she had to follow my rules until she turned 17 then she could be out on her own. Approximately 3 weeks after she turned 17 she left home. The same police dept. told me there was nothing they could do about it but look for her and ask her to return home because they couldn't make her come because she was an adult at 17!
Reply · Like
· Sunday at 10:13pm

People can't exercise their rights if they don't know them. This young man lucked out in that he put up enough resistance that the police had to be called. Fortunately the Police did know the law and saved this young man from a potentially very traumatic and abusive experience.