KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Agape Boarding School’s longtime director won’t be placed on Missouri’s child abuse and neglect registry any time soon, a judge ruled Wednesday, despite several findings that he harmed students.
Cole County Judge Brian Stumpe said that Bryan Clemensen should not be on the registry while he appeals the findings of the Department of Social Services for a second time. Now, Clemensen faces what’s called a “de novo” judicial review, where he will have the opportunity to present testimony and subpoena witnesses in a full trial setting. That proceeding has not yet been scheduled.
“Respondent (DSS) shall be and hereby is preliminarily restrained, enjoined, and prohibited from listing Petitioner on the Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry until after final Judgment in this case has been entered, or until further Order of this Court,” Stumpe said in Wednesday’s ruling.
Clemensen filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against DSS in Cole County Circuit Court last month to keep his name off the registry. The judge granted it the next day.
During a court hearing last week on whether to extend that order and make it a preliminary injunction, the state said it had substantiated four preponderance of evidence findings of physical abuse against Clemensen and one finding of neglect. At the hearing, Clemensen argued that placing his name on the registry would hurt his family, his business and his reputation, according to a report in the Missouri Independent.
In Wednesday’s order granting the preliminary injunction, Stumpe noted that “some witnesses who initially offered evidence to the initial investigation have since recanted their testimony.” And, Stumpe said, putting Clemensen on the registry before the “de novo” hearing would likely “result in significant damage to (his) reputation and directly interfere with (his) employment.”
“It would cause immediate and irreparable injury, loss and/or damage” to Clemensen, the judge said.
The Kansas City Star learned last month that Clemensen was no longer Agape’s director. According to Stumpe’s order on Wednesday, Clemensen can continue to work at the school during his appeal.
The Star has been investigating Missouri’s unlicensed boarding schools for the past two years, with students recounting stories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse they say were inflicted on them by staff and fellow students.
Some said Clemensen became known for his “Jurassic elbow,” a tactic he would use to deliver a powerful blow to the back of the head or between the shoulders — places that don’t bruise easily. Clemensen has denied abusing students.
Missouri’s Central Registry contains the names of people who, through a DSS investigation, have been determined “to be perpetrators of child abuse and/or neglect,” according to the state’s child welfare agency. People are put on the registry for findings of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, or educational and medical neglect.
Earlier this year, the Star learned that DSS had substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect against Clemensen and two other current Agape employees. Clemensen appealed, and an administrative hearing was held on Nov. 17. As a result of that hearing, according to Clemensen’s court filings, the Child Abuse/Neglect Review Board upheld DSS’s initial findings from May 19.
If an appeal is denied, the finding becomes final and the person is placed on the state’s Central Registry. Missouri law prohibits someone from working at a residential care facility if the person has a substantiated finding of child abuse or neglect or is placed on the registry.
Missouri law also says that an alleged perpetrator may seek “de novo” judicial review of a decision from the Child Abuse/Neglect Review Board. The request must be made within 60 days of the board’s decision. In reviewing a decision, the law says, the circuit court must give the alleged perpetrator the opportunity to appear and present testimony and subpoena witnesses except the alleged victim or the person who reported the incident.
Clemensen filed a petition for such a review, saying that DSS’ action to place him on the Central Registry “is erroneous, improper, unconstitutional, and violates the law.”
The Star reported in September that DSS had confirmed 10 other findings of physical abuse involving Agape staff. Those findings were final dispositions, and the workers involved were placed on the state’s Central Registry and do not currently work at any boarding schools in Missouri, DSS officials said.
Those 10 represent the number of abuse findings, DSS said, not necessarily the number of people investigated. In other words, one person could have multiple findings. Another Agape employee was added to the Central Registry soon after that, bringing to 11 the number of substantiated findings related to the Cedar County boys boarding school.
As of Dec. 9, Agape had a total of 13 findings on the registry, DSS told the Star.
Clemensen’s appeals are just a part of the ongoing legal maneuverings involving the embattled Christian boarding school. In September, the Missouri attorney general’s office filed an injunction to close Agape, saying current students’ safety was in jeopardy. The case has been tied up in court ever since.
A year earlier, five Agape staffers were charged with low-level felonies for allegedly assaulting students. At a Dec. 8 preliminary hearing for three of the staff members, Scott Dumar, the school’s medical coordinator, and Everett Graves pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanors and received two years’ probation. The case against Christopher McElroy was dismissed when his alleged victim did not show up to testify.
And last week, Seth Duncan pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor and also received two years’ probation. The case against former staffer Trent Hartman is set for a hearing on Jan. 9.
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