BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saying he is "deeply disturbed" by new information about the death of a teen-ager at an Arizona rehabilitation camp, the president of the agency that will soon be responsible for 20 Hamilton County teen-agers who stay at the camp has pledged to speed the process of bringing them home.
Jim Mason, president of Beech Acres, said his agency will meet as early as next week with the case managers and parents of the Hamilton County teens who are staying at the Arizona Boys Ranch so plans for alternative treatment can be made.
Mr. Mason decided Friday to speed up the process after reading testimony gathered by an Arizona sheriff's department investigating the March 2 death of a California youth staying at the ranch.
"What I've read tells me that it is not a healthy culture for kids to be in under any circumstances," he said. "There's almost a culture of abuse."
The Enquirer obtained a report issued by the Pinal County Sheriff's Department that contained the results of interviews with staff members and residents about the death of 16-year-old Nicholaus Contreraz. Some details:
Camp residents said the boy was repeatedly denied medical treatment and a chance to go to the bathroom despite numerous incidents of vomiting and defecating on himself.
Several teens told police that camp workers forced Mr. Contreraz to carry around a bucket containing his vomit and soiled clothing as punishment for defecating on himself. The teens said Mr. Contreraz was forced to do push-ups, placing his head inside the bucket on the way down, even though he told workers he was having trouble breathing. The teens said that staff thought the teen was faking, even though he once collapsed and was wheeled around in a wheelbarrow until he could do his work and exercises.
The teens told police other camp residents had been forced to carry similar buckets around when they defecated on themselves. They added that they were only permitted to go to the bathroom twice a day, after breakfast and before going to bed.
Mr. Contreraz, of Sacramento, Calif., died from complications of empyema, an accumulation of pus in his chest cavity, while exercising. The condition, a byproduct of pneumonia, bronchitis and other infections, cut off oxygen to his heart.
The ranch fired two employees and suspended four, including the nurse who treated Mr. Contreraz and sent him back to work. The report has been forwarded to the prosecutor's office in Pinal County, Ariz.
Mr. Mason said his staff members went to Arizona a few weeks ago to interview the Hamilton County youths who are there and did not hear serious reports of abuse.
"We didn't get a glowing report," he said. "It was lukewarm, but it was nothing that made me feel like we needed to pull them out right away."
The Hamilton County teens at the Arizona Boys Ranch are under the care of FCF Management Inc., a private agency hired to control the cost of treating the county's 300 most severely troubled children. FCF Management will become an extension of Beech Acres as soon as July 1, and Mr. Mason's agency will be responsible for those kids. Most of the parents of Hamilton County youths who are housed in Arizona say they are happy with the ranch.
The Arizona Boys Ranch, headquartered about 20 miles southeast of Mesa, is a boot-camp-style facility with eight campuses that contracts with states to house troubled young people. It houses about 500 youths from ages 8 to 18.
Since 1971, there have been four state investigations into abuse allegations, and the ranch's license to treat young people has been suspended three times.
