The state of Missouri has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at Agapé Boarding School, which NBC News reported earlier this month, a state highway patrol spokesman confirmed Friday.
Agapé, a Christian boarding school in southwest Missouri, advertises itself as a ‘turnaround boys’ facility. More than a dozen alumni and former staff members had earlier told NBC News that Agapé employees had regularly assaulted the boys in their care, and that the school had censored students’ communication with their parents.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Friday that its drug and crime control division is conducting an investigation into Agapé “at the request of the sheriff in Cedar County and the Missouri children’s division.”
A Highway Patrol spokesman declined to say what prompted the criminal investigation or when it was launched. The development comes two weeks after NBC News and “Dateline” published an investigation into Agapé over abuse allegations. The Kansas City Star has published similar articles over the past few months.
The Missouri Department of Social Services declined to comment on the Agapé investigation, citing confidentiality rules surrounding child abuse investigations, but said these investigations are “regularly reviewed with local law enforcement.” Cedar County Sheriff James McCrary did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Agapé.
Agapé’s leaders have not previously responded to requests to comment on allegations of abuse. The school says on its website that it has housed more than 4,000 students aged 12 to 17 over the past three decades. Agapé also says that boys ‘will find every excuse to give their parents why they should not stay here’, and if the school is closed, the students will end up in jail.
Missouri is one of 17 states that exempt religious residences from licensing and supervision by government agencies for child welfare and education, an NBC News investigation found earlier. At least 23 states, including Missouri, do not even require religious residences to tell their state education department that they exist.
After hearing witnesses from alumni of religious residences, including Agapé, earlier this month, a Missouri House committee passed dual legislation to require these schools to register with the state. The legislation also gives the Department of Social Services the power to close the facilities following suspected abuse.
