Eight former residents of a youth treatment center that was run by an Arkansas man have filed a lawsuit claiming they were victims of “systematic and widespread” abuse at the now closed facility.
The youth center Lord’s Ranch closed in 2016 after owner Ted Suhl was convicted in a federal bribery scheme, in which his conviction was commuted by Trump. “Men and women who owned, operated, and staffed the facility preyed on and abused the children housed on the remote facility in Warm Springs, Arkansas, routinely and systematically,” the lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court said. The lawsuit against Suhl and others claims the unnamed residents were victims of recurring sexual abuse and rape by the facility’s employee.
A federal jury in 2016 found Suhl guilty of charges related to paying up to $20,000 in cash bribes over four years to a state health official in hopes of receiving inside information to benefit his businesses. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released after Trump commuted his sentence to time served. Suhl’s clemency request had been supported by Mike Huckabee, the former governor. The White House in 2019 called Suhl “a pillar of his community before his prosecution and a generous contributor to several charities” in its statement announcing Trump’s commutation.
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