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U.S.
Federal Probe of WWASP Requested
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net
U.S. Representative George Millar, Senior Democrat
on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent
a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday
requesting a federal investigation into allegations
of abuse by the WorldWide Association of Specialty
Programs (WWASP).
One of Rep. Millar's congressional aids had told The
Tico Times in September that the U.S. lawmaker was
preparing to request a federal probe following the
closure of Costa Rica's WWASP-affiliated Dundee Ranch
Academy and allegations of abuse at other WWASP facilities
in the United States, Jamaica and Mexico (TT, Sept.
12).
WWASP is the umbrella organization under which Dundee
Ranch Academy, a behavior-modification program for
troubled teens, operated here, before being closed
last May following government interventions to investigate
allegations of rights abuse (TT, May 23).
"I am requesting, in my capacity as Senior Democratic
Member, that you initiate a formal investigation into
allegations of child abuse, human rights violations,
fraudulent and deceptive advertising, fraud and unjust
enrichment under the Internal Revenue Code, and violations
of other Federal civil or criminal laws by [WWASP]
and its founders," reads the congressman's letter
to Ashcroft.
Dundee Ranch was one of 11 WWASP programs in the United
States and abroad. An estimated 2,200 children were
enrolled in the residential programs, including 200
in Dundee Ranch.
"There have been serious allegations that hundreds
of children have been mistreated or neglected and that
their legal rights have been regularly flaunted. There
are also hundreds of parents who assert that they were
drawn into the program by misleading advertising. We
believe that the Department of Justice should investigate
whether federal laws concerning child abuse and neglect,
interstate commerce or unfair or deceptive advertising
have been broken by WWASPS or those operating these
facilities," the letter reads.
The letter to Ashcroft mentions that "Dundee
Ranch was closed after Costa Rican authorities charged
the facility with violating children's civil rights," and
quotes testimony of abuse by former Dundee Ranch director
Amberley Knight, who first told The Tico Times last
March that the academy "is poorly managed, takes
financial advantage of parents in crisis, and puts
teens in physical and emotional risk " (TT, March
14).
The letter concludes by asking Ashcroft to "please
provide by Nov. 17, 2003, a written report on steps
you have taken to initiate an investigation of all
allegations."
This
article was reprinted with permission from
The Tico Times; www.ticotimes.net
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