Author Topic: Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ  (Read 4402 times)

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Offline girlfriday

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« on: February 07, 2005, 02:33:00 PM »
I found this in today's paper. Very Sad.

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs ... 033/NEWS01

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, Santa Rosa, CA

Boot camp sued in SR teen's death
Suit says Missouri center failed to give prompt, competent medical care, also abused youth
Monday, February 7, 2005

By PAUL PAYNE
and CAROL BENFELL

 
 
The parents of a Santa Rosa youth who died at a military-type boot camp in Missouri have filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the camp denied their son proper medical care.

Roberto Reyes, 15, died Nov. 3, less than two weeks after he was enrolled in the Thayer Learning Center Boot Camp in Kidder, Mo.

Medical examiners said his death was probably the result of a spider or insect bite. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Buchanan County, Mo., alleges that Reyes would have lived if he had received prompt, competent medical care.

"He collapsed. His death was called at the hospital, but he stopped breathing at the school," Kansas City attorney James Thompson, who represents the Reyes family, said last week before the lawsuit was filed. "No one knows when he was bitten."

A Missouri child fatality review panel, made up of state and county officials, reviewed the circumstances of Reyes' death and in December concluded that "earlier medical treatment at the Thayer Learning Center may have prevented this fatality."

Symptoms of Reyes' failing health "would have been present for a significant period of time prior to his death," according to the lawsuit.

The Caldwell County District Attorney's Office and the Missouri Department of Social Services are investigating the death.

The attorney for Thayer Learning Center, Ed Proctor, could not be reached Sunday for comment. He previously told the Kansas City Star that "every child at Thayer has immediate access to medical care at any time."

Aside from inadequate medical care, parents Gracia and Victor Reyes claim their son was dragged, hit, placed into solitary confinement and "forced to lay in his own excrement for extended periods of time."

"Abuse has been alleged by prior employees. The claims are very specific and graphic," Thompson said.

The tops of Reyes' toes were scraped, indicating he might have been dragged. The bottoms of his feet were blistered, as if he had been doing heavy exercise barefoot, Thompson said.

The Reyeses could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit Sunday.

"Their reaction is shock," Thompson told the Kansas City Star on Friday. "As more and more information comes to light, they cannot even comprehend it."

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of complaints against Thayer, which promises to instill discipline in willful young people at a cost of some $50,000 a year.

Former Thayer employees have told investigators that children were required to sit in their own urine, dragged, hog-tied and placed in solitary confinement, Thompson said.

Missouri is home to several teen rehabilitation programs, many of which are drawn to the state because of a lack of regulations.

The fatality review panel also called for new legislation giving juvenile authorities and social service workers greater access to such programs.

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« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Erinys

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2005, 03:00:00 PM »
The more the word gets out the better.  Here's another site that may dicuss these crimes.

http://www.crimenews2000.com/

T Rocha (posting 2/5) and Girlfriday:
I copied the links you posted and will submit them to the above site if there is no objection on your part.

It was news story I just happened to see, that made me skip a free trip to Fla. about 2 decades ago. Glad I did.

The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.
--Elizabeth Cady-Stanton

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline girlfriday

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2005, 03:30:00 PM »
Please post wherever you see fit. Spread the word!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Erinys

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2005, 04:18:00 PM »
Done!

Posted with this comment:
This is only one of a number of questionable youth camps/schools across the U.S.
Some of these schools move their operations outside US borders to avoid regulations.
These places manage to evade criminal charges. Leaving victims to pursue civil suits for murder, rape, torture and fraud.

I haven't registered there yet, but plan to.
Suggestion:
Don't want to look like an obsessed crackpot 'flooding' the site with submissions from one IP address. They'll think no-one else cares.

I posted the Press Democrat story url.  Anyone else wanna do the KC Star story?

Here's the place to post
http://crimenews2000.com/contactus.htm

May your days be joyously challenging and your words artfully true.
--Ginger Warbis

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline tlcrescue

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2005, 06:29:00 PM »
I rescued my son from there.  Here is the story you are talking about from the KS Star

Posted on Sat, Feb. 05, 2005
 
Parents of teen sue boot camp

By STEVE ROCK The Kansas City Star

The parents of a 15-year-old California boy who died while under the care of a northwest Missouri boot camp filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday.

The family alleged that their son ? Roberto Reyes, who died in November while a resident at Thayer Learning Center, a military-type home for troubled teens ? was subjected to physical exertion and abuse that caused or contributed to his death.

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that he would have lived had he gotten competent medical care in a timely manner and that he was dragged, hit, placed into solitary confinement and ?forced to lay in his own excrement for extended periods of time.? The parents, who placed Roberto at the center less than two weeks before his death, also accused Thayer and an affiliated referral service of fraudulent misrepresentation.

An employee at the center, located about 50 miles north of Kansas City in Kidder, referred calls to attorney Ed Proctor. Reached by phone Friday evening, Proctor said he had not seen a copy of the lawsuit and therefore could not comment.

Proctor had previously told The Kansas City Star that ?every child at Thayer has immediate access to medical care at any time.?

The lawsuit names Thayer Learning Center, Parent Help and three Thayer employees as defendants.

The employees named are Richard Sperry of Chillicothe, Robert Carter of Kidder and Dave Swymeler of St. Joseph. The lawsuit filed in Buchanan County Circuit Court claims they failed to take reasonable steps to contact emergency personnel once it was known that Roberto was gravely ill.

Sperry declined to comment Friday night. Neither Carter nor Swymeler could be reached.

The plaintiffs, Gracia and Victor Reyes, through their attorney declined to comment.

?Their reaction is shock,? said attorney James Thompson. ?As more and more information comes to light, they cannot even comprehend it.?

According to the lawsuit:

Roberto's parents contacted a referral service called Parent Help in October 2004 to seek help with Roberto. Parent Help recommended that the Reyeses send their child to Thayer but did not disclose its connection to Thayer.

Thayer and Parent Help are owned by John and Willa Bundy, and the lawsuit says the two businesses are ?inextricably intertwined for common schemes and goals.? The lawsuit alleges that Parent Help and Thayer misrepresented the type of discipline and care that children get.

The lawsuit says that between Oct. 25 and Nov. 3, Victor and Gracia Reyes received periodic contact from Thayer representatives. The parents were told that Roberto was not being cooperative, that he had sore muscles from exercising but that he was otherwise fine.

On the morning of Nov. 3, a Thayer representative contacted the Reyeses to ask whether Roberto had any breathing problems in his medical history. Roberto died that afternoon. According to the lawsuit, symptoms of Roberto's failing health ?would have been present for a significant period of time prior to his death.?

?Had Roberto Reyes received competent medical intervention in a timely manner,? the lawsuit states, ?he would have survived.?

Previously a doctor with the Jackson County medical examiner's office identified the probable cause of death as a spider or an insect bite. What caused Roberto's health to fail, Thompson said, has not been definitively determined.

?What he died from, regardless of the cause, would not have led to a deterioration of his condition in an immediate sense,? Thompson said Friday. ?It's a process that would have taken time.?

The lawsuit alleges that Roberto ?was subjected to sadistic, cruel and harmful acts.?

?Defendants' agents, servants and employees forced other students to wake up and drag and attempt to carry Roberto Reyes to the shower in his filthy clothes to be hosed down in a crude attempt to wash off human excrement and filth,? according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the defendants treated Roberto's physical complaints as ?games and ploys, despite an inability to walk, deteriorating respiratory status and diminishing mental and cognitive function.? The lawsuit says Roberto was left ?to die alone ? with a feeling of utter hopelessness.?

It also states that Thayer ?engages in a pattern and practice of inflicting physical and emotional harm to children under its care? and that it fails to provide them with adequate medical care.

The lawsuit says the family is seeking in excess of $25,000.

No charges have been filed in connection with Roberto's death. A division of the Missouri Department of Social Services is conducting an investigation.

Gus Kolilis, deputy director of the department's legal division, said a state investigator had spoken with many people connected to Thayer.

?There are just a lot of pieces here, ? he said.

Kolilis said he hoped to conclude the investigation this month.

Caldwell County Prosecutor Jason Kanoy said he was awaiting results from the state investigation before deciding whether his office would take any action.

After Roberto died, a panel of county and state officials charged with reviewing child deaths said earlier medical treatment might have prevented the death. That review, coupled with police reports and allegations made by former students and employees, painted a disturbing picture of life at Thayer, which houses about 100 teens.

A Dec. 19 story in The Star cited police reports and interviews with seven former Thayer employees and students alleging physical and emotional abuse of students, such as one being forced to eat her vomit and another being forced to sit in a tub of urine.

In a response to The Star in December, Thayer officials called the allegations ?ludicrous and false.?

To reach Steve Rock, call (816) 234-4338 or send e-mail

to srock@kcstar.com
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline nite owl

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Thayer Learning Center LAWSUIT--PLEASE READ
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2005, 08:08:00 AM »
This family should sue for much more than $25,000 - there are many more causes of action.
What happened to this boy is outrageous and disgusting. Thayer should be shut down for this atrocity. Nothing can replace this child. NOTHING - no amount of money.  I have a 15 year old son myself. This is sickening.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
--Denis Diderot, French encyclopedist

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »