Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / PRICEY BOARDING SCHOOL ABUSES KIDS, SAYS PARIS HILTON - VICTIMS TALK TO NANCY

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PRICEY BOARDING SCHOOL ABUSES KIDS, SAYS PARIS HILTON - VICTIMS TALK TO NANCY · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Everybody has heard the name
0:14
Speaker 1: Paris Hilton, descendant of the famous Conrad Hilton, the founder
0:19
Speaker 1: of Hilton Hotels. Maybe you've heard of her, not necessarily
0:23
Speaker 1: because of Hilton Hotels, but from various debacles in the press.
0:29
Speaker 1: But seemingly Paris Hilton has turned the corner, just recently
0:35
Speaker 1: engaged a bright life in front of her. But now
0:39
Speaker 1: we are hearing what she says is the truth about
0:44
Speaker 1: being abused and tortured. She's not the only one claiming
0:51
Speaker 1: this is their strength in numbers. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
1:15
Speaker 1: By now you probably think you've seen everything from and
1:19
Speaker 1: about Paris Hilton. You know, the socialite who made a
1:23
Speaker 1: career out of being a dumb blonde, a reality TV star,
1:28
Speaker 1: famous for being famous, a Barbie doll voice with nothing
1:35
Speaker 1: to say. That persona, she now says, was all in
1:41
Speaker 1: act stuff. It's like, what do you think the difference
1:47
Speaker 1: is between that character that you created and the real Paris.
1:51
Speaker 1: There's so many differences with the character. It's mostly kind
1:55
Speaker 1: of this blonde, bubbly, kind of Barbie airhead, and in
2:00
Speaker 1: real life I'm the exact opposite. You know, the same
2:04
Speaker 1: thing has been said about female stars since the beginning
2:11
Speaker 1: of Female Stars. I mean, look back for Pete's sake,
2:15
Speaker 1: how Marilyn Monroe was mocked as being an airhead Britney
2:21
Speaker 1: spears it just I mean, you can name them off
2:24
Speaker 1: the top of your head, Pam Anderson, it goes on
2:27
Speaker 1: and on and on. Well, while everyone is hating on them,
2:31
Speaker 1: their laugh and all the way to the bank. But
2:35
Speaker 1: Paris Hilton has shown a very different side in a
2:39
Speaker 1: very disturbing context. Take a listen to Tracy Smith again
2:44
Speaker 1: at CBS Sunday morning. When I got out, I was
2:47
Speaker 1: just so grateful and so happy to be free that
2:50
Speaker 1: I just didn't even want to bring it up. It
2:52
Speaker 1: was like, I'd rather, you know, and just never talk
2:54
Speaker 1: about this, just don't think about it. And from the
2:57
Speaker 1: moment I stepped out of that building is when I decided,
3:01
Speaker 1: I'm never telling the story to anyone ever. You thought
3:04
Speaker 1: you'd never tell it, No, And I didn't think they
3:06
Speaker 1: would believe me, because even hearing myself talk about it,
3:11
Speaker 1: it sounds impossible to believe. After she left the school,
3:16
Speaker 1: Paris Hilton says she tried her best to forget it.
3:21
Speaker 1: She was a fixture at every high profile event, and
3:24
Speaker 1: she got famous for all the wrong reasons, like a
3:27
Speaker 1: two thousand and three sex tape scandal that made headlines.
3:32
Speaker 1: You know, can't we have one report about a woman
3:34
Speaker 1: and not bring up her sex history, just just once?
3:37
Speaker 1: Surprise me. You know, when you talk about men, you
3:41
Speaker 1: don't really hear about their sex history, or if you do,
3:44
Speaker 1: they're playing the field. Never miss a chance to bring
3:49
Speaker 1: up something that can embarrass a woman. You know what,
3:52
Speaker 1: That's a whole nother can of worms. What I want
3:54
Speaker 1: to talk about is the Provo Canyon School. And before
3:59
Speaker 1: you judge Paris Hilton, there are other people coming forward
4:03
Speaker 1: about not only this school, but other schools all across
4:07
Speaker 1: the country, a multi million dollar industry making their millions
4:13
Speaker 1: of troubled teens with me an all star panel. First
4:19
Speaker 1: of all, Jeremy Whitely a victim who actually attended Provoking
4:26
Speaker 1: in School. Chris Hooker. He is the father of Trevor Hooker,
4:31
Speaker 1: who died of suicide shortly after leaving Provoking in School summer.
4:38
Speaker 1: Dalmada a victim who attended Provo Canyon School. Dominate Romano,
4:44
Speaker 1: New York lawyer entertainment specialists. You can find him at
4:48
Speaker 1: Romano Law dot com. Thank you for joining us from
4:52
Speaker 1: New York, joining us from Las Psycho Analysts to the Stars.
4:56
Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany Marshall, star of a new Netflix Netflix Hick
5:01
Speaker 1: Blaying Empire, and you can find her at Bethenny Marshall,
5:04
Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. Dan Scott former La County
5:09
Speaker 1: Share Sergeant twenty six years Special Victims Bureau specializing and
5:14
Speaker 1: abuse on teens and children. But first to Connor Richards,
5:19
Speaker 1: reporter Provo Daily, Harold Connor, what is happening? Don't people
5:23
Speaker 1: spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get their children
5:27
Speaker 1: their teens in too Provo Canyon? Yeah, and Nancy, they do.
5:31
Speaker 1: Utah was definitely known for this, for these residential treatment centers.
5:36
Speaker 1: It's a very lucrative and high demand industry within the state.
5:41
Speaker 1: So you know, kids will come from all out of
5:44
Speaker 1: state or from states from all around the country. And
5:48
Speaker 1: so Paris Hilton when she put out a documentary last year,
5:51
Speaker 1: she brought a lot of attention to this. She also
5:54
Speaker 1: formed a protest in Provo last year to protests of
5:58
Speaker 1: school and so that really you know, got it tention
6:00
Speaker 1: of local media. And then also it seemed to enable
6:04
Speaker 1: or encourage a lot of people to come forward with
6:06
Speaker 1: their own stories, and so it really by her speaking
6:09
Speaker 1: up on this, it really allowed people to come out
6:12
Speaker 1: and brought attention to see, how, you know, kind of
6:15
Speaker 1: systemic or widespread this really is? Well, what is it
6:19
Speaker 1: about provoking in school that has Paris Hilton and others complaining?
6:26
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at CBS Sunday Morning.
6:29
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, then seventeen year old Paris wound
6:33
Speaker 1: up at the Provo Canyon School in Utah, a place
6:36
Speaker 1: for treatment of young people with mental and behavioral challenges.
6:41
Speaker 1: There's no getting out of there. But in her film
6:44
Speaker 1: This Is Paris, she describes the place as more of
6:46
Speaker 1: a prison camp with solitary confinement and physical abuse. So
6:52
Speaker 1: they made an example of you, and they would choke
6:55
Speaker 1: you no and hit you. Yes. It's so weird to
7:03
Speaker 1: think now because I buried this for so long with
7:06
Speaker 1: my emotions, so now to think about it, what happened,
7:11
Speaker 1: It's so weird for me to even be like, how
7:13
Speaker 1: is this really real? Before I go on with victims
7:21
Speaker 1: and family members to doctor Bethany Marshall, psychoanalysts joining us
7:27
Speaker 1: doctor Bethany, I'm just a tryal lawyer. You're the shrink.
7:32
Speaker 1: But I have dealt with so many rape victims, sodomy victims,
7:37
Speaker 1: abuse victims, beating victims that really do not want to
7:44
Speaker 1: talk about it. And I don't necessarily want to dredge
7:47
Speaker 1: this up, but I remember after my fiance's murder, I
7:51
Speaker 1: did not want to talk about it. I still don't
7:53
Speaker 1: like talking about it. I don't I just don't want
7:57
Speaker 1: to talk about it. I don't want to relive it.
7:59
Speaker 1: So this is not uncommon. No, because Nancy being a
8:03
Speaker 1: victim is associated usually with incredible feelings of shame. Most
8:10
Speaker 1: victims cannot distinguish the fact that it was all of
8:14
Speaker 1: the perpetrator's fault. Victims tend to take all of the
8:18
Speaker 1: wrongdoings of the perpetrator into the self and to blame themselves.
8:22
Speaker 1: They tell themselves things like, if I wasn't in that
8:26
Speaker 1: one place, this wouldn't have happened. If I wasn't nice
8:29
Speaker 1: to that guy, he wouldn't have raped me. Well, I
8:32
Speaker 1: did stay on the phone with him fifteen minutes longer,
8:35
Speaker 1: so you know, maybe I let him on. You know,
8:38
Speaker 1: from the time we're little and our parents maybe have
8:41
Speaker 1: a bad day, and we never say to ourselves, oh,
8:45
Speaker 1: mommy had a bad day. We say, well, what's wrong
8:48
Speaker 1: with us? That's mommy's mad? What's wrong with me? And
8:52
Speaker 1: victims do that on steroids, what's wrong with me? That
8:55
Speaker 1: this bad thing happened. So, of course they do not
8:58
Speaker 1: want to come forward, usually an act of extreme bravery
9:02
Speaker 1: when they tell their story. I want to go out
9:05
Speaker 1: to some very special guests. In addition to Connor Richards,
9:09
Speaker 1: Dan Scott, Bethany Marshall, and Dominic Romano, I want to
9:13
Speaker 1: go first to Jeremy Whitley, victim who attended Provo Canyon. Jeremy,
9:20
Speaker 1: I still don't understand what's happening behind those closed walls
9:27
Speaker 1: at Provo Canyon A lot. And you know, in my case,
9:32
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't. I was fifteen, I wasn't getting
9:37
Speaker 1: along with my parents. I went to send me to
9:39
Speaker 1: a therapist, and a therapist suggested I go to this
9:42
Speaker 1: boarding school. And to me, I always showing advertisements for it,
9:46
Speaker 1: a VHS video, a brochure and other played tons of
9:51
Speaker 1: fun and I could do. I could do all this
9:54
Speaker 1: fun stuff in Utah, all the outdoor recreation, and so
9:58
Speaker 1: I wanted to go. I asked parents to send me there.
10:02
Speaker 1: I mean, who who what fifteen year old wouldn't want
10:04
Speaker 1: to get away from their parents and for a while
10:07
Speaker 1: and go to boarding school. So I went and quickly
10:12
Speaker 1: when I got there, it was not It was nothing
10:15
Speaker 1: like these brochures described it. I mean, there was so
10:18
Speaker 1: much abuse. I wrote my parents and I wrote them letters,
10:23
Speaker 1: and you know, after Paris's documentary aired, I finally talked
10:29
Speaker 1: to them about it, and I found out they never
10:30
Speaker 1: even got my letters. There was no way for any
10:33
Speaker 1: of us students there to reach out to law enforcement,
10:38
Speaker 1: just social workers, or to anyone to tell them to
10:41
Speaker 1: talk about the abuse that we witnessed. You know, I
10:44
Speaker 1: saw three hundred pounds tackling, you know, kids away, you know,
10:48
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty pounds. You know, it's it was
10:53
Speaker 1: very frustrating, and we couldn't speak out, and if we
10:56
Speaker 1: did speak out, we got a lot of trouble for it.
10:59
Speaker 1: So we just, you know, kept their silence. There is
11:03
Speaker 1: really nothing that we can do, and there is no
11:06
Speaker 1: laws in Utah that protect us. Time Stories with Nancy
11:24
Speaker 1: Grace Paris Hilton, one of the heirs to the Hilton legacy,
11:30
Speaker 1: as in Hilton Hotels, and so much more is coming
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Speaker 1: forward about what she says was playing out abuse at
11:38
Speaker 1: a really fancy, very expensive boarding school called Provo Canyon.
11:44
Speaker 1: Now many people just are chalking it off as another
11:47
Speaker 1: publicity stunt. Oh, not so sure. In fact, I'm not
11:53
Speaker 1: sure at all. With me is Jeremy Whiteley, who also
11:57
Speaker 1: attended Provo Canyon, who's detailing abuse he suffered. Their letters
12:03
Speaker 1: he wrote to his parents begging for help that they
12:06
Speaker 1: say they never got. Who am I'm not going to
12:08
Speaker 1: believe Jeremy Whiteley plus his parents, plus Paris Hilton. Are
12:13
Speaker 1: they all lying to me? That's really hard for me
12:15
Speaker 1: to believe. Chris Hook or the father of Trevor who
12:19
Speaker 1: committed suicide after Provo and Summer Dalmata Provo Canyon, Bethanie,
12:27
Speaker 1: I think you want an end jump in. Yes, here's
12:29
Speaker 1: what happens with these schools. A lot of times, these children,
12:34
Speaker 1: young people who are sent to these schools have some
12:37
Speaker 1: mild behavioral problem in high school, and the deans or
12:43
Speaker 1: the principles of their school label them as schizophrenic or
12:47
Speaker 1: bipolar or troubled, and the school doesn't want to deal
12:51
Speaker 1: with it, so they say that the parents, you better
12:54
Speaker 1: send your child to the special camp. Once the child
12:58
Speaker 1: is sent to a school away from the parents and
13:00
Speaker 1: they're cut off from support, they're labeled with very serious
13:05
Speaker 1: psychiatric issues. And that's how the staff at these abuse
13:09
Speaker 1: of schools begins to drive a wedge between the students
13:13
Speaker 1: who have enrolled in these abusive institutions and the families
13:16
Speaker 1: who love and support their kids. So if, for instance,
13:20
Speaker 1: Jeremy might have got got in the hold of his
13:23
Speaker 1: parents and said, you know, I don't like the way
13:26
Speaker 1: my staff is treating me, then the staff calls and says, well,
13:30
Speaker 1: you know, he has behavioral problems. So the child can't win.
13:33
Speaker 1: I see, I want to go to Summer. Dalmata also
13:40
Speaker 1: a student at Provoking School Summer. What happened? So? I
13:44
Speaker 1: was at Provo when I was thirteen. I was the
13:47
Speaker 1: youngest girl there. I was having actually young to me. Yeah,
13:53
Speaker 1: I mean we didn't have the money for boarding school
13:55
Speaker 1: number one. But I can't imagine my twins summer are
14:00
Speaker 1: just turned thirteen. I can't imagine them growing up without
14:04
Speaker 1: me there to help them. I mean, maybe I'm overestimating
14:07
Speaker 1: helping them. But why were you sent away at age thirteen.
14:13
Speaker 1: I was definitely having some behavioral issues. I was very
14:18
Speaker 1: defiant when it came to my mom's roles. I was
14:22
Speaker 1: struggling with anxiety and depression, and you know, I feel
14:26
Speaker 1: like at that time that wasn't really something that people
14:28
Speaker 1: talked about. No one really talked about mental health back then,
14:32
Speaker 1: and I just didn't really know what was going on
14:35
Speaker 1: with me. And I just kind of always felt this
14:37
Speaker 1: need to be doing something, to be out, to be
14:41
Speaker 1: around someone. I couldn't just be at home by myself,
14:44
Speaker 1: and I was running away, and you know, of course
14:47
Speaker 1: those things were scaring my mom to death, and she
14:50
Speaker 1: didn't know what to do. And she was either told
14:54
Speaker 1: about or found out about Provolcnian School, and very similar
14:59
Speaker 1: to what Jared he said, I was showed a pamphlet
15:02
Speaker 1: and to me it looked like, you know, a boarding
15:05
Speaker 1: school where you were getting therapy and doing outdoor activities
15:09
Speaker 1: and going at this great school. And um, yeah, I
15:14
Speaker 1: learned very very fast that that was not going to
15:18
Speaker 1: be how this is going to go. What happened when
15:20
Speaker 1: you got there when I got there, So I was
15:24
Speaker 1: driven from California to Utah in the middle of the
15:27
Speaker 1: night by two strangers and strangers. How did that happened?
15:33
Speaker 1: So my mom did let me know that there were
15:35
Speaker 1: going to be transporters that were going to be taken
15:38
Speaker 1: me taking me. Um, so she was there. They put
15:41
Speaker 1: me in the car and they took me off to
15:44
Speaker 1: Utah and um, they brought me to the lobby and
15:47
Speaker 1: I just remember I was greeted by a male staff
15:50
Speaker 1: named Danny, and he took me up to the top
15:54
Speaker 1: floor and the first thing that they said to me
15:58
Speaker 1: was you're going to need to be strips. And so
16:02
Speaker 1: they took me to this room and it was a
16:06
Speaker 1: room filled with about five or six staff from there
16:10
Speaker 1: and um, yeah, I had to remove all my clothes
16:15
Speaker 1: and I thought that that was just kind of going
16:16
Speaker 1: to be it, but um, they were female staff, but
16:22
Speaker 1: they were and I don't know why there were so
16:26
Speaker 1: many of them in there for one person. Um, they
16:30
Speaker 1: had to thoroughly examine my body. They asked me to
16:37
Speaker 1: sorry to do very strange things. Um, while I was naked,
16:41
Speaker 1: they asked me to bend over, touch my toes, I
16:46
Speaker 1: had to spread everything apart. Um. I was told to
16:52
Speaker 1: squat and to cough, and they had me do that
16:55
Speaker 1: repeatedly for a few minutes while the staff members laughed
16:59
Speaker 1: and made jokes. Um. So yeah, that was my my welcome,
17:04
Speaker 1: my welcoming experience. And so this is at age thirteen. Yes,
17:09
Speaker 1: I just turned thirteen about two months before decancy. Go ahead, yancy.
17:15
Speaker 1: The same thing happened to me. I mean, and and
17:19
Speaker 1: all the other stories I hear from survivors since my
17:22
Speaker 1: time there. Um, it seems to me, like, you know,
17:26
Speaker 1: it's just it's gotten worse and worse, and all their
17:29
Speaker 1: stories are very similar. And this is going over decades,
17:33
Speaker 1: not just from when I left or from when Paris
17:37
Speaker 1: is there. It just seems like it's it's I hear
17:39
Speaker 1: the stories of students that have been in the last
17:43
Speaker 1: five to ten years, and it's much worse than what
17:46
Speaker 1: I personally experienced from my time there. And it's very sad. Yeah. Uh,
17:55
Speaker 1: this is a Sergeant Scott retired Sergeant Scott us more
18:00
Speaker 1: like a juvenile hall than a boarding school. These kids
18:05
Speaker 1: are treated as if they're going into jail. I mean, yes,
18:09
Speaker 1: they have to do strip searches in jail, but these
18:12
Speaker 1: are a thirteen year old girl at a boarding school.
18:17
Speaker 1: And then they all have troubles and the most troubled
18:22
Speaker 1: kids are labeled as liars. We run into this in
18:26
Speaker 1: abuse cases all the time, where abuse carries on for years,
18:30
Speaker 1: the kids start acting out, getting into trouble, using drugs,
18:34
Speaker 1: running away, and then when they finally disclose, nobody believes them.
18:39
Speaker 1: Here we have multiple victims coming forward and reporting this.
18:45
Speaker 1: There's obviously a lack of professional supervision going on. I
18:50
Speaker 1: know they're going to say, Dan Scott, Yeah, it's twenty
18:53
Speaker 1: six years Special Victims Bureau specializing and teen and child abuse.
18:57
Speaker 1: The school would say that that was their way of
19:02
Speaker 1: making sure the students, the incoming students, weren't secreting in
19:08
Speaker 1: drugs by sticking them in a body cavity. That's what
19:14
Speaker 1: they're going to say. Do I agree with No, Because
19:18
Speaker 1: even in jailhouse situations, you don't have a peanut gallery
19:21
Speaker 1: standing around when a thirteen year old girl strips down
19:24
Speaker 1: a squats all right, that's not the way it works
19:26
Speaker 1: that I know of crime stories with Nancy Grace to
19:45
Speaker 1: Chris Hooker joining us, the father of Trevor Hooker. Trevor
19:49
Speaker 1: passed away shortly after leaving Prevo king to school. Mister Hooker.
19:55
Speaker 1: First of all, you know, I thought I knew it
19:58
Speaker 1: all about suffering after my fiance was murdered. But now
20:02
Speaker 1: that I have John, David and Lucy, my thirteen year olds,
20:07
Speaker 1: I just admire you so much getting through what happened
20:12
Speaker 1: with Trevor and now getting the strength, summoning the strength
20:17
Speaker 1: to speak out. I want to hear your thoughts on
20:20
Speaker 1: this controversy. Well, when when you know Trevor had been
20:25
Speaker 1: there one time, he'd he said it was a bad experience.
20:32
Speaker 1: He had been there forty five days. They they released him.
20:35
Speaker 1: He came home to what I thought was a better state,
20:40
Speaker 1: and things started happening at home, different behaviors than he
20:43
Speaker 1: ever had before. Some stuff happened at the house and
20:48
Speaker 1: he couldn't be there because the behavioral issues, and they
20:52
Speaker 1: couldn't get him in anywhere. And we were told that,
20:55
Speaker 1: you know, their counselor here in Montana wouldn't recommend Provocanyon
21:00
Speaker 1: again because they thought that we were trying to just
21:02
Speaker 1: get rid of them. His mother's maternal mother actually had
21:07
Speaker 1: stopped by Provo on a on a Disneyland vacation because
21:10
Speaker 1: he was sitting in a juvenile hall of the Great Falls,
21:12
Speaker 1: Montana and talked to him and they took him, They
21:16
Speaker 1: took him in. He was there for a year and
21:18
Speaker 1: a half. The last time when Trevor was there, he
21:23
Speaker 1: constantly reported that he was left in a room for
21:25
Speaker 1: days with UM. Basically they just would leave him, feed him,
21:31
Speaker 1: let him out, made him pee and a jug tackled
21:38
Speaker 1: by staff constantly, which was always denied. It was always
21:41
Speaker 1: his fault. UM. I asked them to view cameras. Every
21:45
Speaker 1: time it happened, it was somewhere where there wasn't cameras.
21:49
Speaker 1: And then when he came out of there, we and
21:53
Speaker 1: when we would be talking to him, there'd be kids
21:57
Speaker 1: getting threat threatening him while he was talking on the phone.
22:00
Speaker 1: They wouldn't do anything about that. We actually heard staff
22:06
Speaker 1: threatening kids one time, called up the supervisor took like
22:11
Speaker 1: three days to do anything, you know, to get back
22:15
Speaker 1: with us and said that he didn't think his staff
22:17
Speaker 1: was capable of that. He was medicated and UM put
22:22
Speaker 1: in confinement, which is which is wasn't part of his
22:25
Speaker 1: I believed contract and we were never aware of it
22:30
Speaker 1: until we found out about it and confronted them. Then
22:32
Speaker 1: they admitted, yeah, I don't know how it slipped through
22:34
Speaker 1: the cracks that we medicated him when Trevor went there.
22:38
Speaker 1: He had never had an issue of anything. And when
22:40
Speaker 1: he returned home about a week before they he returned home,
22:45
Speaker 1: they they told us that he had a bed wedding problem,
22:49
Speaker 1: which he never had before. So he was an adult
22:51
Speaker 1: diapers and blamed it on a medications. His maternal mother,
22:55
Speaker 1: as a nurse practitioner and deals with medications, is in
23:00
Speaker 1: the psychology part of it, looked up all of his
23:03
Speaker 1: um medications and none of them had a side effect
23:06
Speaker 1: of bad wedding. And you know, he used to When
23:10
Speaker 1: he got home, he told me, he told me that
23:14
Speaker 1: he has lots of nightmares about that place, about the
23:18
Speaker 1: way he was treated, how staff let kids pick on him,
23:21
Speaker 1: staff picked on him, and he got a new a
23:26
Speaker 1: little bit of trouble when he got home, nothing major,
23:28
Speaker 1: But a week later he took his life. I think
23:32
Speaker 1: he thought he was going to end up back there.
23:35
Speaker 1: It's just a really bad situation. I mean, and you know,
23:39
Speaker 1: some of the stuff that he that I heard, I
23:42
Speaker 1: thought that, you know, there was a good possibility that
23:44
Speaker 1: you know, like like said earlier, you know, is he
23:48
Speaker 1: making the stuff up to try to get out of there?
23:50
Speaker 1: And now I don't really think he was. I mean,
23:54
Speaker 1: some of the stuff I've read on this and that
23:56
Speaker 1: I've heard here, I really don't think there was anything
23:59
Speaker 1: ever going on like that at all, or I think
24:03
Speaker 1: that it was going on. I don't think he was
24:05
Speaker 1: trying to use excuses to get out of there. Mister Hooker,
24:09
Speaker 1: when you hear Jeremy Whiteley and Summer Dalmada, Paris Hilton
24:14
Speaker 1: and others speaking, what goes through your mind? My poor boy, Sorry,
24:22
Speaker 1: m my poor kid. I feel like I put him
24:27
Speaker 1: in hell and that's was the last year and a
24:30
Speaker 1: half of his life, or it was about a year
24:33
Speaker 1: and three months. Certain, I was about a year and
24:34
Speaker 1: a half that I put him somewhere where he was
24:37
Speaker 1: just treated inhumanely, and that's that's I feel like that's
24:48
Speaker 1: his last you know, his last two years. Eighteen months
24:53
Speaker 1: of that was because because I couldn't handle my kid.
24:58
Speaker 1: I feel like I just, you know, I doomed them.
25:01
Speaker 1: That's what I feel like. Every single mister Hooker, in
25:05
Speaker 1: those moments when you're not bedeviled with grief, you do
25:13
Speaker 1: know that you believed what was in the pamphlets. He
25:18
Speaker 1: believed the VHS video. You believed what they told you,
25:23
Speaker 1: and you were trying to the best of your ability
25:29
Speaker 1: to do what's right for your boy. You do know
25:32
Speaker 1: that in the moments when you're thinking clearly right, yeah, yeah, no,
25:38
Speaker 1: And I do know that I was trying to get him.
25:41
Speaker 1: You know, he had he was born with problems, and
25:46
Speaker 1: you know, we always did the best we could. I mean,
25:48
Speaker 1: I went through a lot of not being able to
25:51
Speaker 1: work and stuff because of his behavioral issues, and I
25:54
Speaker 1: always was steadfast through it. It just as he got older,
25:57
Speaker 1: it was harder to handle, you know, mister Hooker. When
26:02
Speaker 1: I talk to my children, you know, I think that
26:04
Speaker 1: I've done so much, do everything in my power to
26:09
Speaker 1: take care of them and make them happy and do
26:12
Speaker 1: what's best for them to hear them. Tell it, Mom,
26:14
Speaker 1: do you remember when you did this and you did that,
26:17
Speaker 1: and you said this, and you said and you know,
26:22
Speaker 1: it's just hard to look back and think that you've
26:25
Speaker 1: made a mistake. But you have to keep your compass
26:29
Speaker 1: on and know that you're doing everything you can to
26:34
Speaker 1: the best that you can. I mean to you. Dominant
26:37
Speaker 1: Romana who's waited so kindly. Renowned New York lawyer or
26:41
Speaker 1: entertainment attorney. You can find them at Romano law dot Com.
26:45
Speaker 1: How what can be done if this behavior is real
26:50
Speaker 1: at Provocanyon and they have denied it vehemently, and then
26:57
Speaker 1: you'd one statement after the next. But I'm hearing Jeremy,
27:01
Speaker 1: I'm hearing mister Hooker, I'm hearing Summer, I'm hearing Paris Hilton.
27:06
Speaker 1: If this is true, what can be done to stop it? Dominic?
27:11
Speaker 1: The allegations are just shocking. And if you look at
27:15
Speaker 1: the pattern in practice of these allegations, it's not just
27:17
Speaker 1: one two three, it's it's an army of students. And
27:21
Speaker 1: it's not just pro Vocanyon School. They're documented cases in
27:27
Speaker 1: Missouri and in other parts of the country at some
27:30
Speaker 1: of these alleged reform institutions. There are multiple allegations across
27:35
Speaker 1: the multiple states. There has to be oversight. You know,
27:39
Speaker 1: Paris Hilton testified at the Senate Committee in Utah recently
27:43
Speaker 1: about a week ago. There's an absence of government oversight
27:47
Speaker 1: here at some of these youth residential treatment centers and
27:50
Speaker 1: that has to stop. Hold on, I'm drinking on a fire,
27:53
Speaker 1: hidjant with you, Ramana. You said there's an absence of
27:57
Speaker 1: what oversight? Government oversight is that, I mean all schools
28:02
Speaker 1: are to be regulated by the government, right, unless you're
28:06
Speaker 1: being Even homeschooled children are supposed to be checked in
28:11
Speaker 1: on and there should be reports file regarding their progress.
28:15
Speaker 1: How come these expensive parents scraping together the money to
28:18
Speaker 1: send their children to a place like Provo Canyon. It's
28:22
Speaker 1: not regulated dominic. Well, look, what Paris is alleging is
28:27
Speaker 1: that she was given unprescribed medication. How does that happen,
28:32
Speaker 1: you know, even twenty years ago? How is that allowed
28:34
Speaker 1: to happen? In Jeremy's case, he spoke earlier, He said
28:38
Speaker 1: he wrote his parents multiple letters. They don't get the letters.
28:42
Speaker 1: How are parents prevented from communicating or receiving a communication
28:47
Speaker 1: of their children. What's going on? Yeah? I got a
28:50
Speaker 1: question that Jeremy Whitely. Did your parents come to visit you?
28:54
Speaker 1: Did you try to tell them while they were there
28:56
Speaker 1: visiting or were they disallowed to visit? Um? Well, I
29:00
Speaker 1: mean that's that's that's a very good point. Um. You know,
29:03
Speaker 1: my first three months there, you have to be you
29:06
Speaker 1: start out at a certain level and you over time
29:08
Speaker 1: you get more privileges and to get to lie for
29:12
Speaker 1: your parents to visit, you have to be doing good
29:14
Speaker 1: in the program. And you know I did. I did
29:22
Speaker 1: really well in the program of provoking in school, and
29:26
Speaker 1: so I got a lot of privileges very quickly that
29:30
Speaker 1: other students didn't get. UM. So my parents did come
29:35
Speaker 1: and visit, but I was I mean, I got punished
29:38
Speaker 1: so hard for writing my parents and telling them about
29:40
Speaker 1: this abuse. I mean, I had to stand up against
29:42
Speaker 1: a wall for almost two weeks, and I just never
29:46
Speaker 1: spoke of it. You know. I was just so grateful
29:48
Speaker 1: that my parents are coming to visit me. And the
29:50
Speaker 1: only way you could get out of there is by
29:52
Speaker 1: doing really well in the program. And I did really well,
29:56
Speaker 1: and for two weeks weeks. Yeah, they do these things
30:03
Speaker 1: called um ips and it hips and investments. It puts
30:09
Speaker 1: you in investment and you have and if you get
30:11
Speaker 1: in trouble, you know, you have to stand up against
30:14
Speaker 1: the wall. Um and I and I've heard from other
30:18
Speaker 1: students it's kind of teams since I've been there. Um yeah,
30:23
Speaker 1: So I never spoke of it, but I did so
30:25
Speaker 1: well that I was allowed to go back to a
30:26
Speaker 1: family reunion in New Hampshire. Um after being there for
30:31
Speaker 1: you know, almost ten months, and I just I never
30:37
Speaker 1: spoke of it. And other kids that have spoken out
30:39
Speaker 1: of it, spoken up or gone to law enforcement. You
30:43
Speaker 1: just law enforcement just turns the blind eye and seems
30:46
Speaker 1: to me that they students feel like somehow it's their fault,
30:52
Speaker 1: and like other victims, they don't speak about it. Guys,
30:55
Speaker 1: take a listen to l Thomas a KSTU speaking to
31:01
Speaker 1: another alarm of Provos Canyon Our Cut six A. For many,
31:06
Speaker 1: this is the first time hearing about Provo Canyon School.
31:09
Speaker 1: I'm realizing more and more that I'm confronted with it
31:11
Speaker 1: every day. For people like Paris and Jen Robinson, it's haunting.
31:15
Speaker 1: The issues that occurred women Paris and I were there
31:19
Speaker 1: are still occurring today. Jin was admitted to PCs in
31:23
Speaker 1: two thousand and three for childhood trauma. Basically, they brought
31:26
Speaker 1: me in, they strip searched me in a utility closet,
31:29
Speaker 1: and soon after they shaved my head, they gave me
31:31
Speaker 1: a number. Little did she know the facility would create
31:34
Speaker 1: trauma of its own. It's so abrupt and it's so
31:37
Speaker 1: frightening and it's so confusing that you're just like, well,
31:40
Speaker 1: this is my life now. Jin says she still has
31:42
Speaker 1: vivid memories of having to earn off campus. Visits, alleged
31:46
Speaker 1: verbal and physical abuse and isolation crime stories with Nancy
32:03
Speaker 1: Grace guys Parassulton is not just pulling a publicity stunt.
32:10
Speaker 1: She has actually gone to testify in front of Utah politicians.
32:15
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cuts. Seventeen sixteen children were restrained, hit,
32:21
Speaker 1: thrown into walls, strangled, and sexually abused regularly at PROVO.
32:27
Speaker 1: I could not report this because all communication with my
32:30
Speaker 1: family was monitored and censored. And what is disgusting is
32:35
Speaker 1: the program doesn't just censor communication with family, but also
32:38
Speaker 1: with the entire outside world, so there was no way
32:42
Speaker 1: we could call for help. I fell my story, not
32:45
Speaker 1: so that anyone feels bad for me, finalizing the reality
32:50
Speaker 1: of what happened. Then it is still happening now, people
32:55
Speaker 1: who work at Run and Fun these programs themselves. How
33:02
Speaker 1: people would themselves knowing us is happening. Talking about something
33:07
Speaker 1: so personal was and is still terrifying. I can always leave,
33:14
Speaker 1: and I'm knowing that there are children that are enduring
33:16
Speaker 1: the same use that I and so many others weren't through,
33:20
Speaker 1: and neither should you. I improved that money doesn't protective
33:25
Speaker 1: cost to use straight out to Connor Richardson reporter with
33:29
Speaker 1: a Provo daily Harold Connor. The so called troubled teen
33:35
Speaker 1: industry is a multi billion dollar industry. Why is it
33:42
Speaker 1: not being governed? Apparently in Utah. Yeah, well that's the
33:46
Speaker 1: same question that Utah lawmakers are asking right now. So
33:50
Speaker 1: in that committee meeting, everyone there seemed to find miss
33:54
Speaker 1: Hilton's testimony very compelling, And yeah, a lot of the
33:57
Speaker 1: lawmakers on the committee asked that very same thing. Why
34:00
Speaker 1: in the world are these regulations or oversights not in place?
34:04
Speaker 1: And so, yeah, now they're considering to bill it sent
34:07
Speaker 1: it bill on one twenty seven, and it really would
34:10
Speaker 1: just put a lot more oversight over these things. So,
34:12
Speaker 1: for example, would prohibit these strip and body cavity searches
34:16
Speaker 1: that we've heard about. It would prohibit use of medical
34:20
Speaker 1: sedation and things like that. And it would also just
34:23
Speaker 1: give the Utah Licensing Office some more tools to go
34:28
Speaker 1: in and investigate these things and help parents get a
34:32
Speaker 1: better understanding of what's actually going on in these schools
34:34
Speaker 1: while their kids are there. I want to go straight out,
34:37
Speaker 1: who is that I believe that, Jeremy, Yeah, I mean
34:42
Speaker 1: people who have come forward, you know, over the years
34:47
Speaker 1: and It's just like Utah has a universal issue I
34:49
Speaker 1: pretending things don't happen, and then they try to erase them,
34:53
Speaker 1: and then they silence those who blow the whistle. I mean,
34:57
Speaker 1: people have been coming forward about these problems. You know,
35:01
Speaker 1: a pro Volcanian school since I left in nineteen ninety one,
35:05
Speaker 1: and further even back when a school is founded. And
35:09
Speaker 1: you know, Utah's lowmakers have not taken us seriously until
35:13
Speaker 1: Paris came forward. And I am so grateful to Paris
35:17
Speaker 1: and my classmates and and and all the other you know,
35:21
Speaker 1: people have volunteer their time with breaking code silence. Um,
35:26
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's about time they come forward and
35:30
Speaker 1: do something about it. And I also hope Romeo stuff
35:33
Speaker 1: up and make things right. I mean, you know what,
35:36
Speaker 1: waiting on politicians to act, I don't know how that's
35:39
Speaker 1: going to work out. I think there needs to be
35:42
Speaker 1: uh instead of hoping a politician will step in, as
35:45
Speaker 1: Jeremy is hoping that. That's why we have government officials.
35:51
Speaker 1: To you Dominate Romano and to Dan Scott Romano, that's
35:56
Speaker 1: why we pay taxes so things like this don't happen.
36:00
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it's not just Paris. It's
36:02
Speaker 1: not just Jeremy or mister Hooker or Summer dal Mada.
36:07
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut thirteen. Kat von Die
36:10
Speaker 1: the TV personality also went to provoking you listen to
36:14
Speaker 1: what she has to say. They did a strip search,
36:16
Speaker 1: which was completely degrading. I remember having to get naked
36:22
Speaker 1: in front of this person who I don't know if
36:24
Speaker 1: they had credentials. I don't. I had no idea who
36:26
Speaker 1: they were, and basically they were just just degrading me
36:31
Speaker 1: the whole entire time. And I you know, I was
36:35
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, I was still did and they put
36:40
Speaker 1: me into a like some hot pink sweats and gave
36:48
Speaker 1: me some sandals, and then they took me into another
36:52
Speaker 1: room and then shaved my head. Did that happen to
36:55
Speaker 1: Summer or dal Mada? Did girls have their heads shaved? Yep?
37:01
Speaker 1: I never did have my head shaved, but that seemed
37:04
Speaker 1: to be one of their favorite punishments there. I mean,
37:07
Speaker 1: a girl could speak out or maybe use a swear
37:11
Speaker 1: word and a teacher a lesson, they would go and
37:13
Speaker 1: shave her head and they would say guys and pique
37:17
Speaker 1: sweats too. I mean, if you threatened, if they had
37:20
Speaker 1: any reason to believe that you're going to run away
37:24
Speaker 1: or try and run away. They would put the guys
37:26
Speaker 1: in peaue sweats too. I mean, I got put at
37:28
Speaker 1: me sweats, Dan Scott, I don't get it. Why do
37:31
Speaker 1: we even have law enforcement if these allegations, if they're true,
37:38
Speaker 1: and the purps are hiding behind the walls of an
37:41
Speaker 1: exclusive facility, why is that happening? That's a great question.
37:47
Speaker 1: I don't know you to a law, but most states
37:50
Speaker 1: have laws that pretty much throw out the statute of
37:54
Speaker 1: limitations on child abuse, allowing law enforcement to go in
37:59
Speaker 1: and investigate cases that are twenty and thirty years old.
38:03
Speaker 1: I've done it many times. What we just saw it
38:06
Speaker 1: happen in a high profile case. R Kelly. Remember that
38:09
Speaker 1: that's something everybody can can recall. Dominic Romano, a New
38:14
Speaker 1: York lawyer. Why not? Why aren't those cases being reopened?
38:19
Speaker 1: Cases like Jeremy's, like summer Dale, Maida's and others. Well,
38:24
Speaker 1: I looked it up that the school has been the
38:26
Speaker 1: subject of litigation throughout the years against previous ownership, and
38:32
Speaker 1: sometimes it takes the spotlight, it takes the megaphone of celebrity.
38:38
Speaker 1: You know, Paris Jackson. Michael Jackson's daughter also says that
38:41
Speaker 1: she suffered similar experience to those of Paris Hulton at
38:44
Speaker 1: another boarding school. Sometimes it takes people, highly visible people
38:49
Speaker 1: to speak out and find these other stories and ultimately
38:53
Speaker 1: get law enforcement, get the politicians, get the investigators in there,
38:58
Speaker 1: and put a stop to this once and for all.
38:59
Speaker 1: I have two young daughters, and this is heartbreaking to hear.
39:02
Speaker 1: Can you even imagine and the parents think they're doing
39:05
Speaker 1: a good thing, helping their child, and then they find
39:09
Speaker 1: out this. Can you imagine the guilt the parents carry
39:12
Speaker 1: around for the rest of their lives. Guys, it's not
39:16
Speaker 1: just the victims you've met today. Take a listen to
39:20
Speaker 1: Jen and Cut fourteen. When I was fourteen, I was
39:24
Speaker 1: sent to a behavioral modification center in Utah. My parents
39:28
Speaker 1: were promised that I would be helped, but that's not
39:31
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. I was dripped of my clothes and
39:34
Speaker 1: the utility closet and given a number. My head was
39:37
Speaker 1: shaved and some of the stuff even such. They're calling
39:40
Speaker 1: me Ashwitz because of my pearance. I mean, the mistake
39:45
Speaker 1: one morning of saying that I didn't want to wake up.
39:47
Speaker 1: I was dragged out of the top bunk by staff
39:50
Speaker 1: and down a hallway by my feet. I was left
39:52
Speaker 1: in isolation cell to mister Hooker, they father of Trevor Hooker.
39:58
Speaker 1: Trevor passed away. He committed suicide after provoking in school.
40:04
Speaker 1: What's your message, mister Hooker? My massive dudes, I just
40:11
Speaker 1: I just think that, you know, they need to investigate this.
40:14
Speaker 1: I think that more people need to step forward. I
40:17
Speaker 1: think that this needs to stop happening to you know,
40:21
Speaker 1: these My son other kids were already already suffering going
40:28
Speaker 1: to a place like that. I mean, there was there
40:31
Speaker 1: was times where I didn't hear from Trevor for months,
40:34
Speaker 1: and they would tell me it was because of his behavior,
40:37
Speaker 1: I mean, and then he would tell me about in
40:39
Speaker 1: these experiences you know about basically getting tackled by three
40:44
Speaker 1: or four staff. Trevor had behavioral issues, but he didn't
40:48
Speaker 1: deserve any of that, you know, I mean, I mean,
40:52
Speaker 1: getting tackled by you know, three or four staff members.
40:55
Speaker 1: And mind, these staff members are are big and and
40:59
Speaker 1: if we talked to our parents, if you've got to
41:01
Speaker 1: talk to our parents, our therapist was listening into the
41:04
Speaker 1: phone call, and my entire time there, my therapist didn't
41:07
Speaker 1: has been more than fifteen minutes a week with me
41:10
Speaker 1: unless I had a phone call with my parents. Today
41:14
Speaker 1: would say something to jump in the calls. So for
41:19
Speaker 1: how it was for me, you would have like a
41:21
Speaker 1: family therapy session once a week. You would be in
41:25
Speaker 1: the office with your therapists and then with your parent
41:27
Speaker 1: on the phone, and then afterwards you would get a
41:30
Speaker 1: ten minute phone call alone with your parents. But you
41:33
Speaker 1: were always very strictly warned that the calls are recorded,
41:37
Speaker 1: and if you say anything, or you try to manipulate
41:40
Speaker 1: your parents, or you put the place down in any way,
41:42
Speaker 1: there's going to be serious consequences in your phone rights
41:45
Speaker 1: will be taken away. So it's like, I don't know,
41:49
Speaker 1: it was just very scary, you know, and toss having
41:51
Speaker 1: to talk to your parents and pretend that everything is
41:55
Speaker 1: totally fine and nothing bad is happening to you or
41:58
Speaker 1: anyone else, And it was very unfair. Guys, I want
42:02
Speaker 1: you to hear Spencer Joseph go ahead, dear you know.
42:05
Speaker 1: And like I asked my parents after Paris's documentary documentary Art,
42:10
Speaker 1: I'm like, what did the school tell you? I was there?
42:13
Speaker 1: And my mom said they were they were very vague.
42:17
Speaker 1: They would just say that I wasn't doing very well,
42:20
Speaker 1: and which was a total life. I mean, I I
42:25
Speaker 1: was almost at a four point ye where I was there,
42:28
Speaker 1: I had the most privileges, um you know, I was
42:32
Speaker 1: working off site at a hotel, you know, making extra money,
42:38
Speaker 1: you know, And they were telling my parents the entire
42:40
Speaker 1: time that I wasn't doing very well, and they were
42:43
Speaker 1: very vague. And when my mom started asking questions and
42:46
Speaker 1: asking for specifics, the school wouldn't tell him. And that's when,
42:50
Speaker 1: you know, after finally seventeen months, you know, they my
42:55
Speaker 1: mom and dad, we were so suspicious that they would
43:00
Speaker 1: when they asked for specific they wouldn't give them. So
43:02
Speaker 1: they pulled me out of there. And then they told
43:04
Speaker 1: them that I was going to be involved in drugs
43:06
Speaker 1: and alcohol. And I had no up to that point,
43:09
Speaker 1: I had no history of drugs alcohol And to this day,
43:11
Speaker 1: I don't have a drug or an alcohol problem. And
43:15
Speaker 1: it's and you know, I'm hearing about you know, I'm
43:20
Speaker 1: hearing his testimony from Chris, you know, about his son,
43:24
Speaker 1: and it's like he did everything he thought he was
43:27
Speaker 1: doing the right thing. And I really hope my biggest
43:30
Speaker 1: message to him, and is just you know, don't blame yourself.
43:34
Speaker 1: You did everything that you possibly could. And I know
43:39
Speaker 1: it must be so tortuous, mister Hooker to hear that
43:44
Speaker 1: the cycle seemingly is continuing. Guys, the school insists none
43:52
Speaker 1: of this is true. But as I closed to Connor
43:57
Speaker 1: Richardson joining me from prov daily Harold, as I have
44:01
Speaker 1: said many many times in the law, and it is
44:06
Speaker 1: peculiarly relative to you, Connor, the pen is mightier than
44:14
Speaker 1: the sword. We wait as just as unefalse Nancy Grace
44:21
Speaker 1: Crimes story signing off, goodbye friend,