Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Thayer Learning Center
14 Year old Dies at THAYER LEARNING CENTER
finlyrite:
State report critical of boot camp over California teen's death
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A state report on the death last year of a California teenager at a northwest Missouri boot camp found fault with access to medical care there and said records may have been falsified.
The Caldwell County Sheriff's Department had asked the Missouri Department of Social Services to investigate the November death of Roberto Reyes, 15, of Santa Rosa, Calif. The youth died at the Thayer Learning Center in Kidder, less than two weeks after arriving there. An autopsy cited complications from rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle fibers, and said the condition was probably due to a spider or insect bite.
In a wrongful death lawsuit filed in February in Buchanan County Circuit Court, the boy's parents alleged that he was subjected to physical exertion and abuse that caused or contributed to his death. Reyes' parents also claim their son would have lived had he received competent and timely medical care.
The state report was given last week to Jason Canoy, the Caldwell County prosecutor, who released it to The Kansas City Star. Canoy said he hadn't decided whether he would take any action.
"There are some alarming parts about it," he said of the 275-page report. "But I have not made a decision as to who I would file charges on or if I would file charges at all."
The state team that investigated said the boot camp apparently "failed ... to provide access to appropriate medical evaluation and/or treatment." Further, it said, "interviews and evidence also suggest significant contradictions and possible deliberate falsification of written records."
Ed Proctor, an attorney for Thayer, was unavailable for comment Thursday, but has told The Star that "every child at Thayer has immediate access to medical care at any time."
In interviews excerpted in the state report, owners John and Willa Bundy, along with other people connected with the camp, said they didn't know or think the boy was sick before he died. Willa Bundy also said she hadn't read the records in question until she was interviewed by a state investigator in late February.
At least 10 people identified as Thayer employees gave the state investigators descriptions of the boy, one saying he appeared lazy, another saying his attitude was bad. Some said he struggled to keep up with the rigorous exercise, that he complained of sore muscles, needed assistance walking and at times used others as "a crutch."
At least four said they never saw or were told anything to suggest Roberto was sick. But one drill sergeant said she eventually came to think he might be sick, and at some point relayed her opinion to Dorothy Steele, identified in the report as the facility's medical officer. The report said Steele, also the general manager of the kitchen facilities, is not a registered nurse and that an EMT license that she had expired in 2003.
Steele told investigators she treated Reyes on Nov. 1 for blisters on his feet. Besides sore arm and leg muscles, had no other medical complaints, she said.
Former employee Sarah Mackey, who resigned in December, told investigators her duties included filing daily "shift notes" about students and activities. The report said that after Roberto died, she read notes from the days leading up to his death and "stated that every day the log sheets indicated that Roberto was getting worse and worse and worse."
Mackey told the investigators that Willa Bundy later took files of the shift notes, asked for 10 blank forms and went into her office. When Mackey later reviewed faxed copies of shift notes sent to the state by an attorney for the boot camp, she "stated they were inaccurate and incomplete, compared to the shift notes she had seen and read in the office."
finlyrite:
The Bundy's blame everyone else for anything negative. I should have realized that when I saw the contract - they are not responsible for anything ANY employee does - that should have been my red flag. Now, they want to blame an ex-employee - not the fact they ARE NEGLIGENT TO THE CHILDREN THAT THEIR PARENTS ARE PAYING $4,000 A MONTH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. PLEASE PARENTS - DO YOUR HOMEWORK - I HAVE HAD TO LIVE WITH MY MISTAKE OF SENDING MY SON TO THAYER.
finlyrite:
Over a year ago, there was much postings both favorable (by Mrs. Bundy herself) and upon researching her statements and finding incorrect or an out and lie - whatever your preference - the entire site disappeared before my eyes -- while John Bundy was on the telephone conversing about my complaints with the program - and blatantly stated the ezboard web site was gone --his attorney had it removed. There you go folkes - if you are TRULY professional and credible - why would you "brag" that the web postings have been deleted?
finlyrite:
Tim Rocha stepped up and did what the Attorney General should have done over a year ago. If the Attorney General was proactive in their responsiblity to the State of Missiouri and the taxpayers of these United States, Reyes may be alive today!!!! Believe me...the State of MO has received allegations of neglect at a minimum. It will now be interesting to see if the DA steps up to file criminal charges of neglect. There are witness statements as Willa Bundy attempting to falsification of logs. Yea, Willa Bundy told me she had pages and pages of documents my son had written about me and when I asked why I was not given copies of those documents, Willa Bundy told me they were "confidential"--but I knew it was another of her bold face lies and considered the source. Now I understand she has stated that the records are destroyed when a cadet leaves Thayer. Which is it? Is the State of Missouri going to continue to look the other way, even after the death of a child. Pretty bad when us naive parents PAY someone to neglect your child to the point the child dies!!!!!
Anonymous:
i was a cadet not to long a go and i feed the 14 year old kid who died i was right by his side every time i tried to help or feed him they would pull me away from him. i was the one who washed him and feed him he was a large child and he continued to fall and could not stand or even sit up it was very bad but ill atmit they did not bet him the pick him up and he fell on his face every time the brewses where from himself and thats the truth.at thayer they show no mercy at all they do not kare.
anther problem i had was that the female staff was a set up as soon as you made a move they would fill charges on you but they advertice them selfs and they were extremly tight close and trie to hide look out they are bad news
ronald spaulding
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