In fiery letter, Schmitt says county prosecutor won’t ‘seek justice’ for Agape victims

In a letter to Gov. Mike Parson, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has asked to be removed from the investigation into abuse allegations at Agape Boarding School.

The request comes after Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither has said he plans to charge just seven Agape staff members with roughly 14 counts of assault and other crimes. The Attorney General’s Office, which has been assisting in the southwest Missouri case, recommended prosecuting three times that many people — 22 people — with a total of 65 counts.

“The Attorney General respectfully requests to be relieved of the appointment as Special Prosecutor for Cedar County in the Agape Boarding School Investigation and Prosecution,” the letter sent to Parson on Thursday stated. “Mr. Gaither’s decision to pursue a relatively small number of minor felony offenses reveals that he has no real need of the expertise and resources of the Attorney General’s Office.

“More importantly, however, in deciding not to charge a number of other offenses, Mr. Gaither has expressly rejected the assistance and expertise of the Attorney General’s office, and he has indicated that he does not intend to seek justice for all of the thirty-six children who were allegedly victimized by twenty-two members of the Agape Boarding School staff. “

After The Star asked Gaither for comment Friday afternoon, he said in an email that he wasn’t aware of the letter detailing the desire of the AG’s office to be released from the case.

“But (I) am sure they will be of invaluable assistance in funding, coordinating and arranging transport for the out of state witness and possible expert witnesses in this case,” Gaither said.

The letter from the Attorney General’s Office to Parson shows how frustrated Schmitt and his staff were with Gaither’s actions.

It also tells Parson that earlier this month the office filed a motion to seat a grand jury to hear evidence “regarding the abuse of these 36 children at the hands of the 22 identified suspects and to sign any resulting indictments.”

That motion was denied after Gaither wrote a letter to David R. Munton, presiding judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit on Sept. 13. Gaither stated, in part:

“All matters in this investigation will require my signature and must come from my office. For your information we are preparing what we consider to be the proper charges in this matter and expect an Associate filing around September 22, 2021. The highest charge level will be assault in the 3rd degree.”

No charges had been filed as of Friday.

According to the letter sent to Parson, “Mr. Gaither further stated that he ‘expects to have the continued assistance of the Office of the Attorney General with coordination and transport of witnesses.’”

The 65 charges the AG’s office recommended included Class B and D felonies for abuse of a child, Class D felonies for tampering with a victim and misdemeanors for endangering the welfare of a child and failure to report child abuse, according to the letter sent Thursday to the governor.

Gaither told The Star that the majority of the 14 or so counts he intends to file would be Class E felonies, the lowest felony level possible. Several charges are expected to be misdemeanors. Some people who will be charged, he said, no longer work at the boarding school.

For weeks, former Agape students have flooded local and state authorities and officials — including the governor’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — with phone calls insisting the county prosecutor is too close to the case and that he and other authorities in the community have conflicts of interest. Former students said they’re worried that key Agape staff members, who have been accused of abusing students for decades, will not face serious charges.

Frustrated by a lack of action in the case, two former students told The Star that they contacted the FBI this week. Both said they were told by the FBI in Kansas City that the agency’s Springfield office was handling the case. An FBI spokesman in Kansas City, however, said he could “neither confirm or deny” any investigation into the matter.

Gaither has denied that he has a conflict in handling reform school cases in his county. In a recent interview with The Star, he reiterated that, saying he does not know the owners of Agape and is not friends with anyone at the school.

“I don’t know any of these people that we are considering filing charges against,” Gaither said in a phone call. “I don’t know the people who run Agape. I’m just the local prosecutor. I’ve been here about eight years. I don’t know any of these people. There’s no conflict that I recognize.

“I do not have a conflict.”

Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, who led a legislative push for a law addressing the oversight of unlicensed boarding schools like Agape and Circle of Hope, said she stands with the Attorney General’s Office and “the law enforcement officers who completed a thorough investigation.”

“I’m always on the side of survivors getting justice, and it seems this is a great disservice,” she said Friday. “For whatever reason, Mr. Gaither is refusing to seek justice on behalf of these survivors and it flies in the face of any kind of reason.”

Colton Schrag, who did two stints at Agape from 2004 to 2010, said the state has let down victims and survivors of child abuse.

“The message being sent to other victims of abuse and domestic violence should have been, we will listen, investigate and do all the means necessary to protect you,” Schrag said Friday. “But instead, the message received is one that does not encourage potential victims to speak up and seek help. Because the local authorities will only pursue the lesser charge and will allow the abuser to continue to live and operate local.”

Before this week, the attorney general’s office had declined to comment on the specifics of the charges it recommended to Gaither. The Star sent a Sunshine request to the AG asking for the letter it sent Gaither regarding those recommendations. The AG provided the letter, but its entire content was redacted.

Gaither’s charging decisions come after The Star’s investigation into Agape and other unlicensed Christian reform schools in Missouri. Former Agape students told The Star they were physically, emotionally and sexually abused while attending the boarding school.

Missouri law stipulates that the county prosecutor has sole authority in deciding what charges are filed. Though Gaither requested the assistance of the AG’s office, he maintained jurisdiction in the case and charging decisions.

Agape, located just outside Stockton, Missouri, is the second unlicensed Christian boarding school in the state whose staff members have been investigated by state authorities for allegations of abusing students.

Circle of Hope Girls Ranch near Humansville was closed last year after authorities removed about 25 students amid an investigation into abuse and neglect allegations. Owners Boyd and Stephanie Householder were charged in March and await trial on 100 criminal counts — all but one are felonies — including statutory rape, sodomy and physical abuse and neglect. Both have pleaded not guilty and were released in July on $10,000 bond pending trial. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 19.

The AG’s office filed those charges on the Householders because when Gaither asked for assistance in that case he gave it authority to take the lead, which included charging decisions. Gaither did not hand over that authority in the Agape investigation.

It is still unclear why Gaither allowed the AG’s office to take the lead in the Circle of Hope case, but refused to give them full authority with Agape, a school with five times the number of students and dozens of staff members.

When asking Parson for the help, Gaither said that his office didn’t have the money or employees to handle either boarding school case.

“Due to the volume of evidence referenced by the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation and the number of possible out-of-state victims and witnesses, it will be impossible for my office to fund the prosecution of this case,” Gaither wrote in a March 18 letter to Parson — which The Star obtained through a Sunshine Law request — asking for assistance with Agape.

“Additionally, as a single prosecutor office, I cannot devote the hundreds of hours necessary to review, prepare and prosecute a case involving multiple victims, witnesses and defendants.”

Gaither’s letter requesting the AG’s help with the Circle of Hope case was nearly identical.

The Missouri Highway Patrol began conducting a criminal investigation at Agape in late February. On March 22, Parson approved the request from Gaither and directed the Attorney General’s Office to assist in the investigation.

In a months-long investigation, the patrol interviewed more than 150 current and former students and many staff members at the school.

After that, a team of prosecutors, investigators and victim advocates from the AG’s office spent “the hundreds of hours necessary to review, prepare and prosecute” the alleged offenses at the Agape Boarding School,” Schmitt told Parson in the letter Thursday.

“Please understand that the Attorney General’s Office stands ready to provide services to assist local prosecutors in the prosecution of crimes,” the letter said. “However, inasmuch as Mr. Gaither has made plain that he does not desire the Attorney General’s expertise in this matter, and inasmuch as he has made plain that he will not prosecute a number of serious offenses uncovered during this investigation, the Attorney General must seek to be removed as a Special Prosecutor in this impending criminal case.”

Agape Boarding School officials have not responded to repeated requests from The Star for comment on any of the stories it has published. Last fall, the school posted a lengthy letter on its website that was directed at parents in response to The Star’s Nov. 8 report on the facility that detailed some of the alleged abuse. School leaders denied the allegations of former students and defended their program and employees.

“We on staff at Agape aren’t perfect, nor are the staff of any such program — sometimes we make mistakes, but our hearts are in the right place,” the response said. “We desperately want to help these boys, and we do for most boys who come here. Most boys flourish here and go on to a great future, while a small number of other boys are just not the right fit and get bitter for being brought here.”

Six civil lawsuits have been filed this year alleging abuse and neglect at the school, the latest one on Sept. 2. Three of those suits allege that Agape staff members have physically and emotionally abused students with disabilities including autism, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Some of the lawsuits also allege sexual abuse by fellow students, and one alleges sexual abuse by a staffer.

Agape is one of more than a dozen reform schools that operate in Missouri, where there was no state oversight because of a nearly 40-year-old law that exempts faith-based facilities. Parson in July signed into law a measure that for the first time gives the state some oversight over unlicensed boarding schools. The proposal received overwhelming support in the Legislature this past session.

The Star has been investigating the schools since last summer, with students recounting stories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse they say were inflicted on them by staff and fellow students.

Some said Bryan Clemensen, who now runs the school, became known for his “Jurassic elbow,” a tactic he would use to deliver a powerful blow to the back of the head or between the shoulders — places that don’t bruise easily.

Agape Boarding School opened in Missouri in 1996 after leaving two other states where it came under scrutiny, The Star’s investigation revealed.

Many also said they tried to get local authorities’ attention over the years to alert them to the abuse they said was taking place at Agape. Some said they ran away to seek help from the sheriff’s department, only to be driven right back to the school.

The Star found close ties between Agape and law enforcement in Cedar County. Two sheriff’s deputies, including former student Robert Graves — son-in-law of Agape owner James Clemensen — have worked at the school. Graves also is listed in state corporation documents as a board member of Agape Baptist Church, which oversees the school. Graves’ daughter — James Clemensen’s granddaughter — works for the Sheriff’s Office as well, according to information provided to the Star through a Missouri Sunshine request.

Other part-time and full-time sheriff’s employees also have connections to Agape, The Star’s investigation revealed. That includes Agape’s dean of students Julio Sandoval, who Sheriff James McCrary said had occasionally worked shifts at the county jail. Sandoval also owns a company that parents can hire to transport their troubled teens to the school. Graves and another deputy work off-duty for that company, the sheriff said last fall.

McCrary told The Star he was aware of the connections his employees had to Agape but said that hadn’t influenced the department’s investigations. He said if a potential conflict arose, he would pass the case to another agency to follow up.

The week before the attorney general’s office became involved in the investigation, the Highway Patrol executed a search warrant at Agape after an employee called and said staff members were destroying records that would document the abuse of students, according to a warrant request obtained by The Star.

Documents showed that investigators seized two bags of current student medical records from the infirmary, four bags of current student discipline records and one bag of staff discipline records from Sandoval’s office, and staff discipline records from school director Bryan Clemensen’s office.

The search warrant records also said that the Highway Patrol investigators had initiated multiple child abuse investigations at Agape, and students told authorities that staff members were using extreme force and inflicting pain as a form of discipline.

As a result of the investigations, the records said, “over 50-60 specific acts of physical child abuse upon different students were documented.” The abuse involved staff members physically restraining students by force as a form of discipline, the records said, and that as a result, students “have suffered physical injury including bruising, nerve damage, and lacerations, requiring stitches.”