Kids were sexually abused and forced to fight at rehab facility for years, lawsuit says
Former patients of an Arkansas rehabilitation facility have filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse during their stay when they were children.
Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative Ranch, located in Benton, is a for-profit facility that offers inpatient treatment for children and adults with brain injuries and neurological challenges, according to its website. The company says it is “one of the largest pediatric brain injury facilities in the country.”
Eight people who stayed at Timber Ridge between 1996 and 2023 claim they were sexually abused there, according to the complaint filed Jan. 9 in the Circuit Court of Saline County.
Their ages at the time of the alleged abuse ranged from 5 to 15 years old, documents show.
According to the lawsuit, the victims were admitted to Timber Ridge for treatment for a variety of concerns, including traumatic brain injury, autism and “neurological and behavioral disorders.”
In addition to allegations against multiple staff members for “inappropriate and illegal sexual conduct and deviant sexual acts with patients,” including rape, some children were forced to fight each other while staff bet on the outcome, the lawsuit says.
“I was forced into bloody fights with other patients for the amusement of the staff members,” plaintiff Luke Hudson said in a Jan. 9 news conference announcing the lawsuit.
“You lost my (expletive) money. You’re going to have to make that back for me,” a staff member told another patient who was forced to fight and lost, according to the complaint.
Patients were prevented from communicating with or seeing their families as retaliation for attempting to report misconduct, the lawsuit says.
“Whenever I tried to report the abuse and seek help, I was ignored, dismissed and punished,” Hudson said. “I was told that I was lying or exaggerating, or imagining things. I was threatened, intimidated, and isolated, and I was physically tortured.”
The lawsuit, filed by Stinar Law PLLC, Onder Law and Paul Byrd Law Firm, says Timber Ridge management and administration acted in “willful violation of the law” and ignored their obligation to investigate reports of misconduct.
“The lawsuit alleges that Timber Ridge Ranch knew of and enabled the sexual abuse of the 8 plaintiffs. ... We intend to hold Timber Ridge accountable for placing profits over team, and exposing the truth of decades of institutional failures,” attorney Parker Stinar of Stinar Law PLLC told McClatchy News.
In addition to demanding a jury trial, the lawsuit says the survivors are entitled to compensatory damages for past and future medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity, emotional distress and loss of normal life.
McClatchy News reached out to NeuroRestorative for comment Jan. 10 but did not receive an immediate response.
Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative issued a statement in response to the complaint, saying it is “currently reviewing the information in the filing,” according to KARK.
Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative is part of the MENTOR network of nation-wide health care providers.
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Kids were sexually abused and forced to fight at rehab facility for years, lawsuit says."
