After reports of runaways and maltreatment at a remote Missouri Christian boys' boarding school, its founder and wife were charged with first-degree kidnapping.
According to a Wayne County Sheriff's Department news release, Larry Charles Musgraves Jr., 57, and Carmen Grizel Musgraves, 64, were arrested Friday.
The Piedmont sheriff's department stated both worked at ABM Ministries Lighthouse Christian Academy, a private Christian boarding school for boys aged 10–13. LinkedIn says Musgraves founded and pastored ABM Ministries.
The academy's website describes its 250-acre, 25,000-square-foot property near the Ozarks as a particular campus for problematic or “learning impaired” youngsters. Piedmont is a rural city 130 miles south of St. Louis in southeastern Missouri with 1,900 residents.
The announcement stated that the sheriff's department launched an inquiry into the boarding school several months ago after receiving several reports concerning “runaways” from the facility. A week after The Kansas City Star reported that numerous boys had fled the boarding school since Jan. 13, the arrests occurred. Finch interviewed the victim in Albertville, Alabama, when a former pupil contacted him. Finch met additional former pupils, and “interviews are forth coming.”The State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control interrogated the 19 boys at the boarding school on Friday, according to the sheriff's department.
The announcement said Larry Musgraves was arrested at his camper on the site. After visiting her husband at the sheriff's station, his wife was arrested hours later.
According to Finch, the boys indicated they were made to run and stand against a wall but didn't say anything unlawful. But he said the kids were "scared" and that officers realized they were told that ABM Ministries officials were law enforcement allies.
"They pretty well instilled in the kids that law enforcement is their friend ... and law enforcement is not going to believe anything the kids say because there’s a reason they’re there to begin with," said Finch. “Sheriff Finch will interview all child victims. We know the residents are anxious that nothing is being done, but we can't disclose our case work," the news release read, requesting patience. Musgraves and his wife are in Greenville's Wayne County Jail without bond. It was unclear if they hired lawyers.
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