This the History of and Reporting Guide for Masters Ranch in Couch, MO
(a.k.a. Masters Ranch and Christian Academy, second location (temporarily closed) in Prescott, WA known as Masters Ranch West)
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Name |
Unit/Position |
Additional Information |
| David Bosley | Owner/Director | |
| Tresa Bosley | Owner | Wife of David Bosley |
| Adam Walters | Direct Care/Program Director | Only "qualification" is having "graduated" the program at Masters' Ranch. |
| Bill Dunleavy | Staff | Former prison guard, reportedly very abusive. (Source: survivor e-mail dated February 12th, 2012) |
| Jacob Dostler | Staff | Friend of Bosley, other job is working at a saw mill. Weekend staff at ranch only. |
| Robert Belilos | Staff | Only "qualification" is having "graduated" the program at Masters' Ranch. |
| Jimmy Saddler | Staff | Son-in-law of Bosley. |
| Jessica Saddler | Staff | daughter of Bosley. |
| Josh Morgan | Staff | Friend of Bosley, no other known qualifications. |
| Russell Cookston | Staff | Formerly with Genesis by the Sea, a program shut down in Mexico. Cookston also formerly worked for Palmer at Victory Christian Academy. |
| Kim Cookston | School | |
| Kevin Pratt | Staff | Pratt was reportedly fired. |
| Audrey Walters | Direct Care/Program Director | |
| Dawn Chapman | BB Ranch Staff | |
| Jen Mitcham | BB Ranch Staff | |
| Jared Vernon | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Tania Vernon | KK Ranch Staff/Kitchen Staff | |
| Billy Edwards | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Micaiah McRae | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Steve Walton | KK Ranch Staff | |
| David Lockerby | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Kirk Lewis | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Jeff Tombley | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Brandon Vernon | KK Ranch Staff | |
| Lisa Agregaard | Office Staff | |
| Tom Peavyhouse | Transportation | |
| Betty Peavyhouse | Transportation | |
| Robert Lemon | Transportation | |
| Lynn Raby | School | |
| Chet Walters | School | |
| Brenda Johnson | Kitchen Staff | |
| Charley Haskins | CEO (as of 2021) | |
| Ken Tombley | Staff | |
| Ian Quarles | Staff | |
| Candice Quarles | Staff | |
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REPORTING GUIDE FOR VICTIMS, SURVIVORS, AND WHISTLEBLOWERS: In Missouri, the criminal statutes of limitation are 1 year on misdemeanors and 3-5 years on most felonies, no statute of limitation on felonies including rape, sodomy, sexual offense where a child under 18 years of age is the victim, and murder (no statutes of limitation on any Class A Felonies). For civil suits in Missouri, the statute of limitations is 5 years depending on cause of action. Here are your options: 1. Report crimes such as fraud, assault, battery, false imprisonment, rape, labor trafficking, and child abuse to law enforcement in Missouri. You can call the Oregon County Sheriff at (417) 778-6611 or e-mail info@oregoncountysheriff.org to inquire about filing an official complaint which when filed may provide the probable cause needed to get a warrant for investigation and/or prosecution. 2. File a consumer complaint with your home state's attorney general against Masters Ranch and include your request for a refund/compensation for any harm done to you. If your home state is Missouri or you'd like to file with the Missouri State Attorney General as a non-resident, here is that link and form: https://ago.mo.gov/app/consumercomplaint 3. If you do not wish to file a consumer complaint, you can contact a private personal injury attorney and look into suing in tort/civil court. However, if you can't afford the retainer, you should expect to settle out of court with a non-disclosure agreement which may bar you from speaking publicly about the incident because you've agreed (even if with a grumbling assent) to the terms of the settlement. 4. You may send a new e-mail to rev@cope.church with subject "Post My Feedback" and we will post your feedback (e-mail printed to .pdf disclosing your name and e-mail address and any information in your e-mail with that subject) to https://www.cope.church/feedback.htm and add a direct link to those .pdf files to this page . 5. You may also wish to provide a guest sermon. Guest sermons are posted at https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm , under Progress Reports/Guest Sermons at https://www.cope.church/conversion.htm where appropriate, and on program info pages when applicable. So, one provided by you on your program would also be placed on this page . Guest sermons should be written into the body of an e-mail and sent to rev@cope.church . Your first and last name will be disclosed (contact info will not be unless you expressly request disclosure). For sermons available on our site see https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm (and sermon archives linked on that page). If you have questions about this option, please contact rev@cope.church. Please see https://www.cope.church/givetoday.pdf to get an idea what your sermon may be worth. |
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THE TRUTH: All segregated congregate care providers, including those on our watch-list, are welcome to contact us to correct any information or provide additional data that may assist with delivering the whole truth to the public. The HEAL Mission of COPE (HEAL) found in many cases where this offer has been abused or resulted in revealing additional basis for our concerns. For some examples see feedback. Now, we are willing to look at the facts and may have questions or require documentation backing up any claims. We do verify licensing, academic backgrounds, and other qualifications when investigating and researching programs on our watch-lis/enrolled in the Conversion Program to assist consumers seeking additional information on such programs or victims requiring assistance with getting corroborating evidence of their claims. We do that in order to make sure the information we provide is accurate and verified and cite our sources. In the event any information we've posted is in error, we're happy to make a correction. HEAL does not support segregated congregate care for many reasons which include that many such facilities are abusive, exploitative, fraudulent, and lack effective oversight often as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation coupled with the ignorance of those seeking to enroll loved ones in such facilities, programs, schools, or centers without a valid court order and involuntarily. In the United States such involuntary placements done without a court order are apparently illegal as they either violate the Americans with Disabilities Act community integration requirement or due process rights of those involuntarily placed. Now, in regards to parents, in the United States parents have the right to waive their own rights, but, not the rights of their minor children. See https://www.cope.church/legalarguments.htm for more information. Now, most facilities on our watch list include waivers, indemnity clauses, and sworn statements legal guardians must sign assuring the program that the parents/legal guardians have the right to make the placement involuntarily and without due process in a segregated congregate care environment, however, California and federal prosecutors as well as settled law appears to suggest that is not the case. In fact, in the David Taylor case found at https://www.cope.church/provocases.htm , Taylor sued Provo Canyon School and his mother as co-defendants. His mother was found liable for 75% of the damages awarded to Taylor as a result of multiple complaints including false imprisonment, while the program was found only 25% liable because the mother owed a duty of due diligence to investigate anyone to which she would entrust care of her child and she failed to do so. Now, HEAL opposes segregated congregate care and we find most placements are happening illegally in the USA which if the youth understood their rights would result in unfortunate outcomes for the parents, particularly when they don't exercise good judgment and support the fraud and abuse rather than their own children when they need remedy and justice. And, HEAL supports all victims of fraud and abuse in seeking remedies at law for any crimes or torts committed against them. And, that's true whether or not the program or victims are in the USA. HEAL has a 5 point argument against segregated congregate care we'd like you to consider: a. Segregated care is unconstitutional and a civil rights violation. It is only permissible if a person is unable to survive independent of an institutional environment. For more on this, watch the HEAL Report at https://youtu.be/C4NzhZc4P0A. Or, see: http://www.ada.gov/olmstead/ which includes in part: "United States v. Florida – 1:12-cv-60460 – (S.D. Fla.) – On April 7, 2016, the United States filed an Opposition to the State of Florida’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. In the Motion, the State had asked the Court to rule, on a variety of grounds, that the United States could not recover damages for unnecessarily institutionalized children to whom the State had been deliberately indifferent." b. Institutionalization is always dehumanizing and coercive. Institutionalization always harms the institutionalized and deprives them of protected civil rights. Dr. David Straker, Psychiatry Professor at Columbia University's School of Medicine (Ivy League) explains this in detail at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sociology/articles/institutionalization.htm. "Many institutions, from prisons to monasteries to asylums, deliberately want to control and manage their inmates such that they conform and do not cause problems. Even in less harsh environments, many of the institutionalization methods may be found, albeit in more moderated form (although the psychological effect can be equally devastating)." (See website linked in this paragraph for more info.) c. Institutionalization is not in the best interest of children. Institutions are not ever better for a child than living with a loving family. Source: http://www.unicef.org/cambodia/12681_23295.html d. Reform schools, residential treatment programs, and other segregated congregate care settings have been shown to be ineffective and harmful. Best source on this currently is: https://www.acgov.org/probation/documents/EndoftheReformSchoolbyVinny.doc e. Boarding Schools, even the "good ones", result in a form of social death, isolation, and cause both anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is clearly not in the best interest of the youth subjected to those environments. Sources: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/08/boarding-school-syndrome-joy-schaverien-review and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/11662001/The-truth-about-boarding-school-syndrome.html Beyond the above arguments against segregated congregate care, we have reports from the NIH, Surgeon General, Yale University Studies, and much more showing the methodologies of behavior modification are damaging, harmful, and ineffective. You can request these documents via e-mail. In addition, for such programs offering academic services or claiming to offer diplomas, certifications, or the like, it is important to check to see if it is a diploma mill with no accredited academic services. Please see article: "Avoiding Scams: What You Need To Know" for important information on how to avoid education/training scams. If you'd like to see what HEAL suggests rather than segregated congregate care (i.e. committing a crime or tort against your child if done against their will without a court order), please see articles: "Fix Your Family, Help Your Teen" and "Emancipation Guide". |
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| 7/14/21: COPE Conversion Program Progress Report: Masters Ranch | ||
| External Link: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article242845771.html | ||
| The Master’s Ranch-West ... exclusive Prescott boys' home faces closure amid abuse allegations By EMILY THORNTON of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Emily Thornton Author email May 20, 2020 May 20, 2020 Updated 4 hrs ago 2 min to read Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email The Master’s Ranch-West dining facility in Prescott. Courtesy photo Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Save A boys’ ranch in Prescott has temporarily closed while authorities investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office said this morning. Master’s Ranch West, formerly Jubilee Youth Ranch, closed its doors Tuesday afternoon, though leaders at the home have retained an attorney to fight the closure, according to Jonathan Alsup, a program director there. The small, private, Christian academy has been the source of service calls on average of every other day for about two weeks, culminating Tuesday with a threatening protest by students, 9-17 years old, armed with shovels, the Sheriff’s Office said. The kids had reportedly been upset over the removal of their peers by Child Protective Services on Monday. Posts on the operation’s social media accounts have characterized visits to the site as unfounded “raids.” This morning’s statement by the Sheriff’s Office defended them as standard site visits “common after multiple allegations” of abuse or neglect from students and ex-employees. Founder and director David Bosley, a Baptist pastor, could not be reached for comment by deadline. At least one parent has described the transition in recent days as chaos. Jeff Fletcher said Tuesday he dropped off his 15-year-old at the ranch about a week ago, after a long drive from their home in Utah. “It was an extremely hard decision to make,” he said. “But honestly, when we got there it was so relieving to see all the boys, smiling, looking normal.” But on Monday afternoon, Fletcher said a ranch employee called to say several of the boys were being interviewed by CPS regarding potential abuse, and not to worry too much about it because it was standard if there were any such allegations. He was told two employees recently were fired and they had alleged abuse by others at the ranch. At about 10:30 p.m. Monday, Fletcher said he received a call from state Department of Children, Youth & Families worker Kim Duckworth, who said his son was among eight removed from the ranch to an undisclosed location for their safety. His son was taken to a dormitory somewhere, he said. “I just wish I knew where my kid was,” Fletcher said. Fletcher said numerous calls were made to Duckworth and the teen’s caseworker, Carlos Renteria, to finally learn about the dormitory. Attempts by the U-B to reach them were not successful. Fletcher still has questions, such as how his son is being cared for. He worries his son will flee and find himself in trouble. “I just hope they’re not putting him in any danger,” Fletcher said. “He’s extremely vulnerable right now.” Deputies responded to the ranch seven times in the last 13 days, the announcement from the Sheriff’s Office said. That includes May 7, when five boys ran away and were found in a stolen vehicle from Vista Hermosa in Prescott. The five allegedly shoplifted from Walmart in College Place just prior to that and were booked into the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla. Another incident included two boys who ran away and were later found and returned May 10. On May 12, a report of abuse and/or excessive force from a staff member against an 11-year-old boy was made. On May 13, a junior employee, Maxwell Shelton, was arrested for alleged third-degree child molestation and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. On Monday, the site visit by the Sheriff’s Office and CPS resulted in the eight children being taken into custody. The boys were taken to Walla Walla to be “cared for and returned to their parents,” the release stated. By the time of the latest call Tuesday, authorities were responding to what was “building toward a riot,” the announcement this morning described. Law enforcement and CPS responded, and the owner said the ranch was shutting down and about 30 students were taken by parents or CPS workers. Several investigations are underway, according to the release. “Our main concern is the well-being of every child and the thorough investigation of all allegations,” the Sheriff’s Office announcement said. “We understand this is a very concerning situation for parents, students and staff alike. We ask for cooperation as we work to determine the extent and validity of every allegation.” Those with questions regarding their children can contact CPS/DCYF worker Debra Johnson at 306-789-7926. Those with any information relating to criminal investigations in Walla Walla County, can contact WESCOM at 509-527-3265 or the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office at 509-524-5400 and request to speak to a WWSO detective. Source: https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/courts_and_crime/prescott-boys-home-faces-closure-amid-abuse-allegations/article_46bc3eba-ffd1-5d48-b7fc-97f275566864.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share | ||
| External Link: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=788410201898535&id=227456212176&sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e (Shows Russell Cookston continues to work for Masters Ranch even though it had been reported or rumored he was fired. He is still working for the program according to the above as of August 12th, 2020.) | ||
| Owner of Missouri reform schools faces sex abuse allegations in Washington lawsuit BY LAURA BAUER AND JUDY L. THOMAS FEBRUARY 10, 2021 05:00 AM, UPDATED FEBRUARY 10, 2021 11:36 AM STEVE WILSON SWILSON@STAR-TELEGRAM.COM A man who runs three Christian reform schools in Missouri is the subject of a lawsuit in Washington that accuses two churches where he was the pastor of failing to protect sisters who say he molested them. The civil suit, filed in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, alleges that the churches knew their pastor, David Bosley, was grooming and then sexually abusing the three sisters for several years beginning as early as 1996 but did nothing to stop it or protect future victims. “Each defendant had a duty to warn or protect foreseeable victims including plaintiffs,” the lawsuit says. “Each defendant breached both the statutorily prescribed duty and the common law duty of reasonable care by failing to report its knowledge of Bosley’s sexual abuse of children to authorities.” TBosley, 57, came to Missouri from Washington and opened his first boarding school for boys in 2007, according to corporation documents. He now operates three Master’s Ranch Christian Academy sites in Oregon County in far southern Missouri, including one he opened last September in Thayer for girls ages 9 to 17. Bosley said he was “appalled” and “shocked” after reading the lawsuit on Tuesday. “I categorically deny the truth of those things,” he said. The Washington lawsuit comes as Missouri legislators consider implementing state oversight of unlicensed schools like Bosley’s. The Show-Me State is one of just two — South Carolina is the other — that allows a religious exemption from licensing without any further regulations. On Wednesday, members of the House Children and Families Committee will hear testimony in Jefferson City on bills that would, for the first time, require these facilities to adhere to certain safety and fire codes, conduct background checks on employees and notify the state of Missouri of their existence. The hearing — and the legislation — follows reporting by The Star over the past several months that showed the unlicensed schools have flourished in Missouri because of its lack of oversight. The state’s failure to track or regulate these schools has allowed decades of abuse and neglect to stay hidden, child advocates, former students and parents have said. Bosley also operated a Master’s Ranch West boarding school in Prescott, Washington, but it was closed last May after state child welfare workers investigated allegations of child abuse and neglect. Top headlines in your inbox Sign up for Morning Rush and get all the news you need to start your day. As that investigation was underway, Bosley opened Master’s Ranch at Belle Vie in Thayer, Missouri. The school took in its first student in September and now has more than a dozen girls in the program, according to photos on its Facebook page. The lawsuit against the Washington churches was filed on Feb. 4 on behalf of Jessica Evans Dudley, Ashleigh Evans Burchard and Shannon Evans, all of Idaho. It said the grooming of the three began when Dudley, the oldest sister, was 14. “My clients are incredibly brave women who have suffered in ways they didn’t even know they had suffered until recently,” attorney Melanie Baillie, who represents the sisters, told The Star. “And the churches failed to protect them from Bosley and now they feel like they need to stand up and they need to speak.” Baillie said it is “tragic” when institutions fail to report suspected child abuse because it “enables abusers to continue to violate.” The grooming led to the eventual sexual abuse of each sister, the lawsuit alleges. Bosley told the girls that he was their “daddy” and demeaned their biological father, who introduced the family to the pastor’s church, according to the lawsuit. Two of the girls said he gave them “promise rings” and told them to save themselves for marriage. The youngest girl was 12 when she said Bosley began grooming and molesting her, and it lasted until she was 19, the suit says. “I decided to come forward, because Bosley is still out there running children’s programs,” said Jessica Dudley, the oldest of the three sisters, in a news release about the lawsuit. “He needs to be stopped.” GROOMING THEN ALLEGED ABUSE The girls began attending First Bible Baptist Church in 1996 when Bosley was the pastor. The name of the church changed to Prairie Baptist three years later and then to Blessed Hope Baptist in 2001, more than two years after Bosley had left, according to the lawsuit. Bosley also ran the church’s school and was elected as the church board president. In approximately 1997, the suit says, Bosley started the school in his basement. The biological father of the sisters attended Bosley’s church and when the girls — ages 10, 12 and 14 — moved to the area in 1996 with their mother, the entire family began going as well. Soon after they got there, the girls and their mother moved into an apartment. Not long after, the lawsuit says, the Bosley family moved into the same complex. “Immediately after the plaintiffs met Pastor Bosley, he began to use his position in the church to insinuate himself to the plaintiffs’ family,” the suit says. The girls became involved in the church’s social activities and attended services on Sunday and Wednesday nights, including a youth group. Bosley was in charge of the activities, the lawsuit says. Later in 1996, Bosley arranged for his wife Tresa and the girls’ mother to travel out of state as part of a ministry, the suit says. And while they were gone, Bosley required the sisters to stay with him. He told them that he could be their father because their biological dad was “not really a father,” the lawsuit alleges. “Pastor Bosley became a ‘hero’ to plaintiffs, treating them like ‘daughters,’” the lawsuit says. “Pastor Bosley would emphasize that it was important to have a ‘close relationship’ with him as their ‘father.’” After the oldest sister had a brief stay in the hospital at the end of 1997, the Bosleys convinced the family — with the church’s knowledge and consent — to allow the daughter to recover at the pastor’s home, the suit says. The day after she got there, Tresa Bosley went out of town. Bosley told the teenager that she should not be afraid to change her clothes in front of him because she was “his little girl,” the lawsuit says. After a week or two, the sisters’ mother demanded her oldest daughter be returned home. He refused, the suit says, and the mother then called police and obtained their help in returning her daughter. Soon after, Bosley ordered church members to remove the teen and another sister from their mother. Church members then tried to wrestle the girls away from their mom in the parking lot of their townhouse, but eventually gave up and fled, the lawsuit says. Bosley continued to try to persuade them to live with him. “He told them to stay strong because it was Satan attacking and fighting to keep him from being their father,” the suit says. At one point — after involving the courts — the Bosleys obtained temporary custody, only for a judge to order the girls be returned to their mother. And then, months later with the support of church members, Bosley ended up getting all three of them, the suit says. The mom reached out to the former pastor of the church to seek his help in getting her girls back. “(That pastor) advised that what was happening with the plaintiffs had happened before,” according to the suit. The girls said their pastor would kiss them, put his hands down their pants and inside their shirts and would grab and pinch their genitalia as they climbed into vehicles. When he snuck into the bathroom, using a hanger he kept in the hallway to unlock the door, he would “reach around the shower curtain and pinch their nipples while showering,” the suit says. Because of that, one sister “would not shower for weeks or even a month at a time.” And then she was teased and punished. In addition to the sexual abuse, which intensified over the years, the sisters said Bosley also physically hurt them, whipping them with a belt on numerous occasions, the suit says. The church board discharged Bosley from his duties as pastor in the spring of 1999, requiring him to vacate the church’s property, the lawsuit says. Bosley relocated to the Calvary Baptist Church of Prosser, Washington, where he was pastor and president of the board from 1999 until 2000. He also ran the church’s school in the church basement. The lawsuit alleges he continued to sexually abuse each of the sisters during that time. Within that first year, church members questioned him about his relationship with the sisters. “Pastor Bosley represented that he had adopted plaintiffs, and no one was allowed to ask the plaintiffs any questions about it,” the suit says. The lawsuit said he instructed and threatened the sisters to never speak of their biological parents to anyone and to say that he had adopted them as babies. Church officials confronted him and subsequently “discharged” him in 2000. “Each Defendant protected Bosley from being exposed for pedophilia, ephebophilia, and other wrongful conduct with plaintiffs, including failing to report each plaintiff’s child abuse to the proper authorities,” the suit says, “and enabling the perpetrator to continue to sexually harm plaintiffs.” Bosley started another church nearby, and it was dissolved in March 2004. He eventually came to Missouri, where he would open a religious boarding school for boys. TWO CHURCHES LEFT IN ‘SHOCK’ Noel Little, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Prosser, said that he was served a copy of the lawsuit at 6 a.m. Tuesday. “This is completely all new stuff to me,” Little told The Star. “When I started reading this, I told my wife it’s like reading a sexual novel. It’s kind of a shock to me. I know nothing about any of these accusations or anybody involved with it.” Little said he came to Calvary Baptist in 2003, long after Bosley left. “I knew that he (Bosley) was a previous pastor, but I never met him,” Little said. “He was just here for a couple of years. We’ve only got one member of the church that was here when he was a pastor.” Little said his church is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. “We’re a real small church, and when I say small, on Sunday morning I had eight people there,” he said. “We’re struggling like everybody else.” He said he wasn’t familiar with Blessed Hope Baptist in Tenino, about a four-hour drive away. At that church, Dawn Carrillo, wife of pastor Norman Carrillo, said Tuesday morning that they didn’t know anything about a lawsuit. They hadn’t been served. And she said she didn’t understand why their small church, which hasn’t had Bosley as its pastor in more than two decades, would be named as a defendant. They have nothing to do with it, she said. “This church is totally reorganized,” Dawn Carrillo told The Star. “We’re not those people. Our church members didn’t know those people. … This is the very first time in my time here that I have ever heard anything about this.” Dawn Carrillo said her husband Norman filled in at Prairie Baptist Church after Bosley left in 1999. He drove 2½ hours from their home to help out and preach each week in Tenino. Eventually, he became the full-time pastor and the church changed its name in 2001 to Blessed Hope Baptist. At some point after settling in, Dawn Carrillo said they realized that the church was in debt. Her husband took a full-time job to begin paying it off, she said, and then they learned of more debt left behind by Bosley. Tuesday’s news was devastating, she said. “All we’ve done is struggle all of these years because of his misdoings,” Dawn Carrillo said. “Now I have to look for a letter that we’re being sued because of him. We can’t afford to go to court. We can’t afford to go to a lawyer. … I’m in such shock right now.” The lawsuit says the three sisters have suffered extensive damages that include “physical and emotional injuries, pain and suffering, loss of faith/distrust of organized religion and interpersonal relationship problems.” Baillie, the sisters’ attorney, said the churches Bosley led were part of “a very small community in the state of Washington. And it would have been very easy to verify even the most basic information about Bosley and his inappropriate behavior and the red flags that were flying, and they didn’t. “They really failed these girls.” Allison Stormo of the Tri-City Herald in Washington contributed to this report. Source: https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article249120840.html | ||
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