LEBANON, Ind. (WRTV) — 35 women have filed an amended lawsuit alleging they were abused at Central Indiana Teen Challenge, now operating as Refuge Girls Academy, a faith-based residential program for teen girls in Lebanon.
The new complaint, filed June 16 in federal court, adds 26 new alleged victims to the lawsuit which Indiana’s I-Team reported on in April.
Among the allegations:
- Some women were denied access to a locked restroom for hours at a time. When staff ignored their pleas to use the bathroom, girls allegedly urinated into the sink.
- Using the bathroom, showering, eating, sleeping, making eye contact or talking, were considered “privileges” that could be taken away by staff at any time. Plaintiff Sukanya Harbin was forbidden from talking for nine months, according to the amended complaint.
- Makayla Launius was allegedly taken from her bedroom in Missouri in the middle of the night, transported to Central Indiana Teen Challenge, and forced to wear weighted shoes and a leash during the trip, according to the amended complaint.
- E.A., then only 12 or 13 years old, was allegedly taken late at night to a church where a priest performed something akin to an exorcism by forcing her to kneel and repeatedly dunking her head into buckets of water. The new complaint alleges she coughed, choked, vomited and was left with visible bruises on her neck.
- Resident Hannah Scragg was allegedly forced to exercise in extreme heat after vomiting so severely she was bringing up bile, the complaint alleges.
- Chelsie Turlich was allegedly forced to run in the heat for hours without water breaks, the complaint alleges.
- Another resident allegedly was forced to run and wear a backpack containing approximately 60 pounds of canned food for about a month.
The allegations of abuse now range from 2011 to 2024, according to attorney Andrea Simmons with CohenMalad, LLP.
“These girls were all abused, and whenever someone is abused, we try to get justice for them whenever we can,” said Simmons. “This is not just something that has happened at this one facility under for a very short period of time with one bad actor. This is systemic. It's long term. It's been going on for decades and Teen Challenge actually has facilities all over the country.”
Teen Challenge USA is a missionary department of the Assemblies of God U.S. Missions.
“It has tentacles in every state, and they deliberately move girls around away from their homes, so that it's harder for them to run away, it's harder for them to have contact with their loved ones, and that sort of thing,” said Simmons. “So, it's an important topic of conversation. It's awful, and it needs to be rectified.”
Simmons said they’ve interviewed more than 100 people since Indiana’s I-Team first reported on this in April.
PREVIOUS | Woman shares story of Lebanon faith-based program
“We've been doing it pretty much nonstop,” said Simmons. “All of these young women tell the same horror stories. They all experienced exactly the same thing, in terms of isolation, in terms of not being allowed to speak for weeks, or sometimes more than a month at a time, and in terms of the food being unsafe and dangerous for them to consume, and then the hard labor, hours and hours and hours of hard labor.”
Indiana’s I-Team has contacted attorneys for Central Indiana Teen Challenge/Refuge Girls Academy and we are waiting to hear back.
The initial lawsuit, filed on April 8 in federal court, alleged the girls were subjected to forced isolation, including being placed in a “safe room” for extended periods, sometimes up to 30 days, without human contact.
In their lawsuit the women claim they were forced to eat under extreme conditions, including being required to continue eating even while vomiting, and being served moldy, stale and outdated food.
CITC is part of the larger troubled teen industry, which is a nationwide network of purported therapeutic programs marketed to so-called “troubled teens,” read the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also describes religious coercion as a method of control.
CohenMalad, LLP said their clients were told their suffering was “God’s will,” and that questioning the program meant questioning God itself.
Below is a statement from Attorney Jeffrey Roberts for Indiana Teen Challenge:
“We have been expecting an amended pleading, as the media coverage stemming from the initial lawsuit filing seems to have prompted several more former Teen Challenge clients to join the lawsuit with the same attorneys in an attempt to get money.
We were preparing to file a motion to dismiss the first lawsuit, but the amended pleading was filed before our timeframe was ripe to make the dismissal filing.
While we are still reviewing the amended lawsuit, at this point, our defense plan remains the same. Otherwise, we would refer you to our previous statements concerning the lawsuit and our inability, during pending litigation, to discuss any further the facts, allegations, or our defenses.”
