What is this all about, found this on my facebook from Cafety, I have no opinion. Just posted the info.
Former student sheds light on Heritage Boys Academy | light, academy, park - News - The News Herald
http://www.newsherald.com/news/light-84 ... -park.htmlFormer student sheds light on Heritage Boys Academy
Comments 6 | Recommend 3
Attorneys say investigation was misled
June 13, 2010 07:10:00 AM
S. BRADY CALHOUN / News Herald Writer
HILAND PARK — As a student, Jeremy Crunk hated it at Heritage Boys Academy.
But looking back, the 22-year-old U.S. Army sergeant believes the year he spent at the school changed his life for the better.
“I was just a mad kid,” Crunk said last week, a few days after law enforcement shut down the facility amid abuse allegations.
He was angry, Crunk said, because his father was away from home a lot because of work and other home life issues. He never got into any criminal trouble, but he often ran away from home. At 16, he still was considered a freshman in high school and was home schooled. If his mother had not placed him in Heritage, Crunk said he probably would have a criminal record.
“That place set me up for success,” Crunk said.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Florida’s Department of Children and Families removed 17 boys from the facility earlier this month, and investigators arrested 58-year-old Clayton C. “Buddy” Maynard, 20-year-old Russell Maynard and 40-year-old Robert Unger, charging each with one count of aggravated child abuse and five counts of child abuse. A fourth man, 22-year-old Marcus Kurbatoff, was arrested and charged with resisting an officer as authorities were arresting Maynard and Unger.
Investigators said the boys at Heritage have been beaten with sticks until they bled and that there was scarring and permanent marks on some of them. Authorities added that some students are believed to have been held down and choked. The school’s website, which has been offline since sometime after the arrests, promised that students will be treated with military-like discipline and will learn military drill instructions and formations along with Christian teaching.
Local attorney Waylon Graham is representing Russell Maynard; Jim Appleman represents Clayton Maynard. Both attorneys pointed out that the academy takes in the worst juvenile offenders, youths who are on their way to criminal careers and lives behind bars.
The school is “a last-ditch effort to save them,” Graham said. “Their motives were very pure. They wanted to try and help these kids.”
Appleman said the criminal investigation was misled by one student, who school officials describe as very troubled.
He and other students “basically lied and turned their backs on the people who were trying to help them the most,” Appleman added. “We’re going to prove that in a trial.”
Corporal punishment was supervised, documented and academy officials got blanket permission from each parent to use the punishment while their child was at the school, Graham said.
Records at the Sheriff’s Office showed the agency had investigated issues at the facility in the past. DCF officials said they also had looked into the academy several times but found no evidence of wrongdoing until the arrests June 4.
Student’s account
Crunk’s experience with Heritage began in 2004, when he awoke in his bed one morning to find himself surrounded by Heritage students and faculty. They had handcuffs and told him that he was coming with them. Crunk said he went quietly but added that if he had not been faced with overwhelming odds, he probably would have run.
Adults and other students watch the new students at the facility very closely to prevent escape attempts, Crunk said. He believes the reports of students being held down happened when children were attempting to run away.
“A lot of kids don’t want to be there,” Crunk said. “A lot of them would just fight.”
Students were given corporal punishment, Crunk said. It happened only when they refused to do chores, were disrespectful or attempted to run away.
“Pretty much you had to be not trying,” he added.
The adults explained that under Florida law they could give the students a total of five swats. The adults usually administered corporal punishment several hours after the incident, and they were always in control, Crunk said. The students were told to put on a pair of sweatpants and were then punished.
He described it as a “half-swing” that was “pretty firm.” It was hard enough to cause bruising, Crunk said, but the only time he saw anyone bleed was when a student put his hand between the stick and his backside. Crunk said there was little to do at the academy and described it repeatedly as being “locked down.”
He threw himself into his schoolwork, which was self-directed and Christian-based. As a 16-year-old freshman, he entered the academy a year behind, but by the time he left he was ahead. He graduated high school and entered college before his 18th birthday. He has two years of college and is still doing as much as he can while serving in the Army. Crunk said he hopes to one day work for the FBI as a hostage negotiator.
After a year in the facility, Crunk convinced his mother to come and get him. He was tired of being there and of not being able to talk to girls, he said.
“I was tired of being cooped up,” he added.
Comments: jayhawk
10:17 AM on June 13, 2010
Hmmm, I am really curious as to how this one turns out. Everything seemed so cut-and-dried (in media reports and BCSO communiques) after the arrests. Now one defendant has a local darling of the legal community (Graham) serving in his defense, and the other is defended by the former state's attorney (Appleman).
There might be more here than what the sheriff believed when the arrests were made. If so, it would seem these two would have a defamation case against someone. If that turns out to be true I'm sure Graham and Appleman will have no trouble filing the lawsuits.
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zeldo1
11:10 AM on June 13, 2010
Well Jayhawk, isn't it funny that this kid is confirming all of the facts the Sheriff's Office has released. They show up at his house with handcuffs, force him to leave, beat him until he has bruises, and he said he saw bleeding from the bruising.
I don't see a whole lot of defamation when everyone seems to have the same story. Waylon and Jim will try to turn this on the kids, and their pasts, as opposed to what the case is really all about.
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tedsnyder
5:30 PM on June 13, 2010
Hey zeldo1, you need to read that article again. You have mis quoted and mis represented what that young man said. First, please note that he was praising the school.
Then note that everything he said took place was legal and nothing in his statements suggest a Florida law was broken. You obviously have never dealt with rebellious people if you think using numbers to overwhelm someone is bad. That my friend is common sense.
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calicocreek
8:14 AM on June 15, 2010
Sounds like it was a successful program for Jeremy Crunk. HOWEVER, there are those that appear to have been abused at this facility. I am glad to hear that there was some positive stories coming from the boys home. BUT, I still do not condone the abuse of ANY child, troubled or not.
I don't see any defamation here either. The facts will be presented eventually.
When the child who left the facility was known to be missing, staff should have immediately reported the youth as missing to law enforcement and we wouldn't be where we are right now. Instead, it appears they sent a posse of other youth to bring the boy back. Just doesn't sound right.
Something smells bad about this place.
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grandmother55
10:32 PM on June 16, 2010
I hope they speak with the boys who spent time prior to this happening. Hopefully they will step forth. Sad to say though a few were brainwashed into believing getting beaten is acceptable. I hope they are investigating the families that live on that compound. What about all of those children. I know people that live there. Ive always said it is a cult. If it walks like a duck and quacks its a duck. Cult,
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sunnydel
10:20 PM on June 18, 2010
One thing to keep in mind might be that the boys that have never told the truth to anyone in their lives, and now that they are, the adults and some of you out there are not trusting what they are telling us.
I was born and raised here in the south and I got my fair share of whippings. But there is a BIG difference between that and what the home was allegedly doing to these trouble youth. Discipline in one thing and beating a child into submission is another!
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