Highway Patrol investigating abuse allegations at southwest Missouri reform school
The Missouri Highway Patrol is conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at Agape Boarding School in southwest Missouri, a patrol spokesman told The Star Friday evening.
“The investigation is being conducted at the request of the Cedar County Sheriff and the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division,” said Capt. John Hotz, a patrol spokesman.
Investigators have been at the school for the past several days interviewing students regarding abuse allegations, several sources told The Star.
The patrol would not elaborate on the status of the investigation.
Agape is one of more than a dozen reform schools that operate in Missouri, where there is no state oversight because of a nearly 40-year-old law that exempts faith-based facilities. The Star has been investigating the schools for months, and students have recounted stories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse they say were inflicted by staff and fellow students.
Rep. Keri Ingle, who is co-sponsoring a bill that would for the first time implement some regulations on the schools, said Friday evening that she wasn’t surprised that law enforcement was now involved.
In recent months, she has spoken to about a dozen former Agape students — more than from any other school in the state — who shared their experiences, which included severe physical abuse over a span of many years.
“I just wish it hadn’t taken this long,” said Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit. “I think we just cracked it open.”
Cedar County Sheriff James “Jim Bob” McCrary could not be reached for comment late Friday afternoon. A dispatcher said he was no longer at the office.
Agape opened in Missouri in 1996 after leaving two other states where it was scrutinized or investigated, The Star’s investigation revealed. Former students said the owners were attracted to Missouri because of its lack of oversight and regulations.
The Star reported in November that two county deputies, including Robert Graves — son-in-law of Agape owner James Clemensen — have worked at the school, and other part-time and full-time sheriff’s employees have close ties to Agape.
Over the years, former students said, they tried to get local authorities’ attention. Several times, boys said they ran away to get help from the sheriff’s department, only to be driven right back to the school.
In the fall, McCrary told The Star he was aware of the connections his employees have to Agape but said they haven’t influenced the department’s investigations.
He added that if a possible conflict arose, he would pass the case to another agency to follow up.
This isn’t the first Cedar County boarding school to come under investigation. In August, authorities removed 25 girls from Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch outside of Humansville after an investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect. The Attorney General’s office is now helping the Cedar County prosecutor in the criminal investigation.
Former Agape students, others close to the school and at least one mental health professional have reported concerns to law enforcement and the state about possible abuse, The Star’s investigation found. But it’s not clear what, if anything, was done after any of those complaints were lodged.
At a legislative hearing earlier this month on the measure to implement oversight of the schools, two former students from Agape testified. Both Allen Knoll of Seattle and Colton Schrag of New Mexico urged lawmakers to take action to help those students still at the school in southwest Missouri.
“I’ve seen kids put through walls; I’ve been put through a wall,” said Schrag, who was at Agape from 2006 to 2010. “Kids getting slammed on tile, concrete and asphalt. I’m here to ask for your support on this bill and to help save kids in our country, starting in Missouri.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 7:40 PM.
