A teen with special needs was repeatedly sexually assaulted by an employee at a small private boarding school in South Carolina, his parents say in a lawsuit as they advocate for greater oversight of similar medical facilities .
The lawsuit states that the teen, who attended Whetstone Academy between October 2018 and January 2020, was “frequently sexually assaulted” and raped when she was 14 years old.
The lawsuit accuses the school’s parent company, Singleton Investment Properties, of negligence and failure to properly protect the teen. The company denies the allegations.
The lawsuit, filed in April, identifies the parents anonymously as Mother Doe and Father Doe, and their son as John Doe. The Associated Press generally does not identify those who say they were sexually abused and is not naming the parents to avoid revealing the identity of their son.
The parents first sued the school and reached a confidential settlement in January. But he said he hopes this upcoming lawsuit will bring about sweeping change and accountability by taking on the corporate structure.
Earlier this month the judge indicated a hearing was likely next spring, but he ordered both sides to participate in mediation to see if a settlement could be reached before then.
“We’re really hoping that there will be some systemic change here, some legislation to be enacted and real accountability,” Tyler Bailey, a lawyer for Doose, told the AP.
Bailey said therapeutic boarding schools like Whetstone should be regulated in the same way as state-licensed daycare centers, tracked for complaints as far as possible, and publicly accessible.
Bailey said, “Money is one thing, but change is something so that parents and children don’t have to go through what they went through, that’s what they want from this case.”
“We specifically deny the allegations,” John Singleton Jr., who owns Singleton Investment Properties and Whetstone Academy, said in an email. The company also denied the allegations in a court filing earlier this month.
As soon as the school became aware of the allegations from the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the employee was immediately suspended and the school cooperated fully with the state agency’s investigation. Since the agency took no action and no criminal investigation or charges were filed, Singleton said, the employee was reinstated and has returned to work at the school.
The employee is not named in the lawsuit.
Singleton wrote, “The focus of Whetstone Academy was, is and always will be to ensure that each student is cared for in a safe and nurturing environment with close supervision and rigorous staff oversight.” “Students receive individual and family therapy by our licensed therapists. We provide evidence-based training to our employees that is guided by our policies and procedures.”
The Doses, who live in Alabama, said their son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was young. By age 14, he was throwing tantrums several times a day, breaking things and being emotionally upset, the father said in a phone interview. An educational consultant suggested sending him to a therapeutic boarding school for extra care and therapy.
Whetstone Academy, in the remote Mountain Rest community in the northwest corner of South Carolina, takes students in grades five through nine and was one of the schools recommended by the advisory.
The father said the teen was initially making progress in school, but after about 10 months his behavior became so difficult that the parents were advised to send him to a separate facility for more intensive treatment. After a summer at that facility, he returned to Whetstone.
The mother said, “He stayed there for a while, but he realized if he did something wrong he would be thrown out and he did. Thank God he did.”
Then Doose sent his son to a school in Utah. After spending about six months there, her parents took her to a Georgia resort for the holidays. At a dinner, John Doe told his parents that he had been sexually assaulted multiple times and raped by a Whetstone employee, his mother said.
Doss called her son’s therapist at the Utah school for advice. Bound by mandatory reporting requirements, the therapist contacted authorities, who interviewed the teen and said they notified South Carolina authorities to investigate, the father said.
South Carolina’s social services agency does not license therapeutic boarding schools, but spokeswoman Connelly-Anne Wragley said in an email that the agency investigates reports of sexual abuse involving minors. He said any sexual abuse allegation sent to the agency’s intake line will be reported to law enforcement within 24 hours in accordance with state law.
The Department of Social Services told the AP that information about child abuse investigations is confidential and cannot be released under the state’s open records law.
Master Deputy Jimmy Watt said in an email that the sheriff’s office in Oconee County, where Whetstone is located, conducts criminal investigations only when official reports are filed and that in most cases, sexual assault lawsuits require victim cooperation. Is.
He said the agency has no records relating to any allegations against the employee accused of sexually abusing John Doe. A spokesman for the state Law Enforcement Division said the agency was not involved.
The Doss want to ensure that cases like their son’s are referred to law enforcement for thorough investigation and not fail. His attorney said he has not filed a report with South Carolina law enforcement because he does not trust officials in the small, insular community to investigate.
John Doe, now 18, is still sometimes unbelieving and it took years for his parents to repair their relationship with him, he said. His mother said she talked to him about the fact that pursuing the case would let people know what happened to him.
“She’s the bravest kid I’ve ever met because she said, ‘I don’t care. It’s all about helping others, Mom,’” she said.
Kate Brumback, The Associated Press
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