Logan River Academy Lacked Toilet Paper, State Report Says
Violation Was Among 10 Others Found By Recent Inspectors
Logan River Academy (L.R.A.), a βtroubled-teen industryβ program in Logan, Utah, lacked toilet paper in its schoolhouse and insurance for one of its vans, failed to report an βincidentβ to state authorities, failed to complete or properly file education and suicide-prevention forms and illegitimately placed cameras in bedrooms, according to recent state inspection reports.
Though the state inspected L.R.A. as if it did not treat substance abuse, L.R.A.βs website indicates the opposite. In any event, Utah found 11 violations at L.R.A. in the last year. No fines were issued and no licensing actions were taken.
The state inspection reports may be downloaded from Utah or directly below.
L.R.A. and the Provo Canyon School
L.R.A. was founded by Jeff Smith and Larry Carter. Robert Crist was its medical director. All three had worked at the Provo Canyon School (P.C.S.).
P.C.S., in turn, is one of the oldest βtroubled-teen industryβ programs still operating today. Decades of former students, who commonly call themselves βsurvivors,β allege physical and sexual abuse, chemical restraints, solitary confinement and neglect. In 1980 a federal court issued a permanent injunction against P.C.S. and Crist in particular. But the abuse allegations continue. A petition to shutdown P.C.S. has collected over 200,000 signatures.
L.R.A., βdevoβ and βobservationβ
For over a decade, students widely reported two L.R.A. practices with steadfast consistency: βdevoβ and βobservation.β
βDevo,β the former students alleged, was a form of coercive group indoctrination. There students reportedly had to sit silently, their backs straight, their legs and feet squarely under their desks, for hours on end with only propaganda available for reading or listening material. Laughter was said to have been punished with more βdevoβ hours. One student was said to have been punished with a thousand hours of βdevoβ for a single purported infraction.
An autistic student was repeatedly put in βdevoβ for asking for his mother.
When βdevoβ failed to spur conformity, L.R.A. reportedly placed students in βobservation.β There, the students said they were stripped to their underwear and held in isolation for days to weeks.
Meanwhile L.R.A. charged parents and public school districts up to $6,500 a month per student, claiming that its practices were therapeutic.
One fatherβs fight to keep his son out of L.R.A.
In 2010, a Miami-Dade divorce-court judge ordered Dan Rotta to enroll his son at L.R.A. Rotta brought the 16-year-old to Las Vegas, where he signed the necessary parental consent for him to marry the daughter of Rottaβs housekeeper, an 18-year-old Columbian national.
The marriage legally emancipated the teen. Neither Rotta nor the court could have enrolled him against his will, and L.R.A. said it would refuse to take him.
The judge charged Dan Rotta with contempt of court and sentenced him to 180 days in a Florida jail.
βIt was one mistake after another through the system,β Rottaβs attorney said, regarding the courtβs interventions. βTo the detriment of the child, it was not working out the way it should have.β
Asked if the marriage was a sham, Rottaβs son replied: βItβs not. Weβve known each other for eight years.β
Rotta is not the only one.
In at least two other cases, family members interceded to remove children from L.R.A. An uncle took custody of his nephew and unenrolled him. In another, an attorney drafted a suit for the adult older sister of an L.R.A. student to take custody of her brother. She emailed it to her parents and other family members, telling them it would be filed the next Monday if her brother were not removed from L.R.A. He was withdrawn that Sunday.
#ShutLoganRiver
In 2013, when Smith, Carter and Crist all worked at L.R.A., #ShutLoganRiver debuted on Twitter. It quickly became one of the top hashtags worldwide.
Primarily at issue were βdevoβ and βobservation.β
The F.B.I. refused to investigate L.R.A. or its staffers for healthcare or education fraud and civil rights violations.
Under new ownership
For years after #ShutLoganRiver, Google automatically suggested adding βabuseβ to searches for βLogan River.β Former students said that L.R.A.βs enrollment abruptly dropped in #ShutLoganRiverβs wake. (L.R.A. nevertheless denied that #ShutLoganRiver led to a single studentβs removal from the program.)
By 2016, L.R.A. was under new ownership by the Pharos Capital Group. L.R.A. was said to have claimed it no longer used βdevoβ and that it had hired Ph.D.-level counselors.
Allegations and problems persist.
Students and at least one staffer who left L.R.A. after the buyout continue to allege mismanagement and abuse. L.R.A. nevertheless continues to break state law without official sanction, as noted by Utahβs inspectors.
Martin MartyG Gottesfeld never attended L.R.A. He worked to remove students from L.R.A. and is co-founder of Shutdown Logan River Academy. The Justice Department accused Gottesfeld, without formally charging him, of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) disruptions against L.R.A. and organizations that supported L.R.A. in 2013β2014. This post draws from his personal knowledge. He wishes to note that, though he readily discloses his relevant involvement against L.R.A., L.R.A. routinely touts anonymous βtestimonialsβ that parents and prospective parents of L.R.A. attendees can not readily verify.