July 17. 2004 12:00AM

Parents file complaint against boys' school

Alleged punishment amounts to child abuse, mothers say
By RACHEL LEONARD The Dispatch

The Davidson County Sheriff's Office is investigating the Abounding Grace School for Boys in Arcadia amid allegations from parents that their teenage children were physically abused while living at the Christian boarding school.

The complaints - which stem from the teenagers themselves - were filed this week with the sheriff's office from parents in South Carolina and Tennessee. One mother, Bridgit Wingert of Goose Creek, S.C., filed a complaint on behalf of her son, Rex Blevins, 17. Blevins lived at the school for 22 months before coming home July 13.

Among other allegations, the teenager said he was struck 50 times with a wooden paddle while two boys held him to a bed. He also told his mother boys were forced to rapidly scarf down food, even if they became sick. If they vomited, they had to eat the vomit and were paddled, he said.

Blevins also told his mother boys were not allowed to use the bathroom for several hours after waking up in the morning, forcing many to soil themselves, according to sheriff's office reports. They were then paddled and not allowed to clean themselves until their assigned bathroom time, he said.

Another punishment was solitary confinement in a shower stall, Blevins told his mother. He also told her a boy was paddled until the paddle broke and the boy bled.

Stan Mitchell, founder and director of school, vehemently denied those allegations in an interview Friday.

"I don't know where that's coming from, because none of that is true," he said.

The school, based at Believer's Baptist Church on Highway 150 North, provides Christian-based education and strict discipline, including corporal punishment, for 10 to 12 troubled teens and is funded by churches, donations and student fees. County officials expressed concern about the school's use of corporal punishment when the school first moved into a metal storage building behind the church in late 2000, but social services officials found the school's practices were lawful at the time.

"The Department of Social Services knows all about that because when we very first moved to that area there they checked on us about our punishment and everything," Mitchell noted. "All that was cleared, in other words."

Mitchell said boys are neither excessively paddled while confined to beds nor denied regular bathroom use. "Every morning, first thing they do is go to the restroom," he said. Boys are only placed in solitary confinement when they become extremely unruly, he said.

All paddling is carried out within the law, Mitchell said. "The Bible states how we should discipline our children and that's what we do, by the guidelines by the word of God," he said.

In an interview Friday, Wingert said her son lost 55 pounds at the school and must now see a medical specialist for problems related to not being able to use the bathroom.

While visiting the school, Wingert said she witnessed a boy who obviously needed to use the restroom but was scared to ask. When others asked on his behalf, the request was denied, she said.

"These boys are in this home, and God know what's happening to them on a daily basis," she said. "... The God I know is a loving god, and I just can't see how this man thinks this stuff is right."

A sheriff's deputy also spoke this week with Tara Wilborn, a Morristown, Tenn., resident whose son, Jeremy Wilborn, 16, attended the school for more than two years. Tara Wilborn confronted her son after Wingert, whom she had met at family meetings hosted by the school, told her what her son had said.

Jeremy Wilborn didn't deny the allegations and said he'd only talk about the matter should it go to court, his mother said in an interview Friday. "He said, 'You found out without me telling you anything,'" she said.

Tara Wilborn said she knows at least three other boys who attended the school and reported similar allegations.

Mitchell, on the other hand, said the boys are likely lying in order to convince their parents not to send them back at the end of the summer. "In my experience, parents will believe their child before they'll believe authority," he noted.

Tara Wilborn disagreed. "I believe all the boys," she said. Her son will not return to Abounding Grace.

Wingert said she believes her son, who will not return to the school, wholeheartedly. "If he really wanted to make up stuff he could make up a lot worse," she said.

Sheriff David Grice declined to comment on the complaint, noting detectives haven't yet been able to interview the alleged victims because they live out-of-state. "It's under investigation, and it's probably going to be the latter part of next week before we can make any comment," he said.

Deputies notified county DSS officials of the complaint, but DSS Director Catherine Lambeth said Friday she could not comment on whether social workers are investigating the reports due to a state law prohibiting such disclosure.

Rachel Leonard may be reached at 249-3981, ext. 228, or at rachel.leonard@the-dispatch.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 23. 2004 12:00AM

Boys' school director charged with abuse

Investigation isn't over, authorities say
By RACHEL LEONARD The Dispatch

The director of a local Christian boarding school under investigation on allegations of abusing teenage boys was arrested Thursday on a charge of misdemeanor child abuse.

Stan Mitchell, 43, is accused of beating a 15-year-old student at the Abounding Grace School for Boys until the boy bled, causing bruising, said Capt. Tony Roberson with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office. Roberson declined to disclose details about the incident but confirmed the charge is connected to earlier allegations that boys at the Arcadia school were severely paddled with a wooden paddle as punishment.

"There was some bruising - I've seen the photographs - on certain parts of his body," he said.

Mitchell was released from custody Thursday under a $5,000 bond. He was ordered not to engage in any physical or verbal contact with any boys at the school as a condition of his release.

The Dispatch does not print the names of juvenile victims, but Roberson said the boy is a current student who came to the school from Michigan. He was interviewed this week by sheriff's deputies and officials with the Davidson County Department of Social Services, which is assisting in the investigation.

The alleged offense occurred sometime between July 12 and 22, according to court papers.

Abounding Grace, based at Believer's Baptist Church on Highway 150 North, provides Christian education for about a dozen troubled teenagers. The investigation into possible abuse at the school began earlier this month after mothers of two students home from the school on vacation accused Mitchell of abusing their children.

The allegations included that boys were paddled up to 50 times in a single incident, that boys were forced to eat their food quickly and made to eat their vomit if they became sick, and that boys were not allowed to use the bathroom for hours at a time.

Neither Mitchell nor his attorney, Joe Floyd Sr. of High Point, could be reached for comment this morning. In an interview earlier this month, Mitchell defended the school's use of corporal punishment and said the punishment was within the bounds of the law.

The investigation into the school is ongoing, Roberson said this morning. Detectives plan to interview at least one mother from out of state today, he said, and social services officials are contacting more parents of current Abounding Grace students.

"More charges could be possible depending on the outcome of the investigation," Roberson said.

The line between proper punishment and child abuse can be a fine one at times, Roberson said. Some indicators that a parent or guardian may have crossed that line are signs of bruising and bleeding, like in the case of the 15-year-old, he noted.

"There's not clear-cut criteria ... it's really just you taking it case by case," he said. Mitchell is scheduled to appear in Lexington District Court Aug. 31.

Rachel Leonard may be reached at 249-3981, ext. 228, or at rachel.leonard@the-dispatch.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School leader faces charge

Boys at boarding school complain of treatment

By Laura Giovanelli JOURNAL REPORTER

Saturday, July 24, 2004 LEXINGTON

The director of a Christian boys boarding school in Arcadia was arrested Thursday and charged with one misdemeanor count of child abuse after at least two parents told Davidson County investigators that their sons were beaten and physically injured while in the school's care.

Earl Stanley Mitchell, 43, of 7720 N.C. Highway 150 North, the director of Abounding Grace School for Boys, located at the same address, was arrested about 6 p.m., according to court documents. The arrest was the result of a monthlong investigation by the Davidson County Sheriff's Office and the county's Department of Social Services.

Mitchell was released from jail yesterday after posting a $5,000 bond. A condition of his release was that he not contact any of his school's students, Detective Geanine Pregel said.

Bridgit Wingert, 35, of Goose Creek, S.C., called investigators after her son complained about his treatment at the school four days after she picked him up for vacation on June 13. According to the complaint, her son, Stevin Blevins, 17, told her that a standard punishment at the school was four licks with a wooden paddle. Blevins said he was held down on a bed and beaten with a paddle at least 50 times.

The complaint said that Blevins also told his mother that students were made to eat all their food - even if they were sick - and if they vomited, they were forced to eat their vomit. Students were also not allowed to use the bathroom in the morning for several hours after they awoke, the complaint said. And if they had soiled themselves, they were not allowed to clean up.

Another parent, Tara Wilborn of Morristown, Tenn., spoke to investigators about her son. Wilborn told investigators that her son didn't deny anything Blevins said, but also told her that he didn't want to talk about it because he didn't want to testify in court.

Sheriff David Grice said that the complaint prompted the investigation. The abuse charge resulted from speaking with another boy who was interviewed by investigators after they began talking to students, Grice said. There was also physical evidence that the boy had been abused, Pregel said. But the investigation is not over - Wingert drove from South Carolina yesterday and said she was meeting with investigators so that her son could give a statement.

Students at the small boarding school usually come from out of state, Grice said. Children at the school may or may not have problems at home, Pregel said. Families sent their sons to the school to get a Christian education, Pregel said, and "they trusted the Mitchells would do that."

Mitchell and his wife run the school, Pregel said. Another employee, a teacher, has been investigated but has not been charged, Pregel said. She would not say if she expected the teacher to be charged.

Grice said that investigators took eight boys, ages 14 to 17, who were still at the school yesterday and turned them over to social-services workers. One boy, who was over 18, was left at the school because he did not want to leave, Grice said.

A phone call to Catherine Lambeth, the director of the county's social-services department, was not immediately returned yesterday.

Mitchell did not return a call for comment.

He is scheduled to be in court Aug. 31.

Laura Giovanelli can be reached in Lexington at (336) 248-2074 or at lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dispatch Reports:
September 14. 2004 12:00AM

Lives destroyed

Tara Wilborn Morristown

Editor: In reference to the letters sent to the editor on July 30 and Aug. 9 concerning Stan Mitchell at Abounding Grace School for Boys, I would like to say that the press is not the one feeding on destroying people's lives. Stan Mitchell has already done that successfully to some of these boys.

These families have suffered tremendously. Though some parents claim to have seen good come out of their sons, what about the others who could not overcome what was done to them? Does it make it right because the abuse did not affect all? The fact is Social Services DID find evidence.

As for a good godly man, I have had church experiences with those who claim to be "men of God." They preach hard against sin and yet they are the ones who may end up falling. Then they do whatever is necessary to cover it up. Christians, and especially Christian leaders, are good about putting on a front to make themselves look good. I don't want to put down Christians, because I am a Christian myself, but people like Stan Mitchell need to quit hiding behind God.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 07. 2004 12:00AM

Boys' school abuse charge dismissed

By RACHEL LEONARD The Dispatch

A charge of misdemeanor child abuse against a former Christian boarding school director was dismissed Monday in Lexington District Court, but prosecutors say the case isn't over yet.

Stan Mitchell, 43, was charged in July as part of a Davidson County Sheriff's Office investigation into alleged abuse at the Abounding Grace School for Boys in Arcadia. That charge stemmed from an incident in which detectives said Mitchell beat a 15-year-old boy until he bled, causing bruising. The boy was returned to his home in Michigan after Mitchell's arrest.

Reached by phone Monday, Mitchell said he was glad the charge was dismissed. He could not say whether the church will reopen the school.

"We don't have any plans, none at all," he said. "I'm just happy for this to be put behind us." Mitchell's case had been continued multiple times until Monday, when miscommunication between prosecutors and defense attorneys over Mitchell's court date led the district attorney's office to dismiss the sole count when a request for another continuance was denied. But District Attorney Garry Frank called the possibility of bring future charges "highly likely."

"Everybody knows this is not the end of the case," Frank said this morning. "We just took a dismissal yesterday because of the snafu."

The school, based at Believer's Baptist Church on Highway 150 North, provided Christian-based education and strict discipline, including corporal punishment, for 10 to 12 troubled teenage boys. The investigation into possible abuse at Abounding Grace began in July after mothers of two students filed complaints with the sheriff's office alleging physical abuse at the school. One teenager told his mother some boys were held down and paddled up to 50 times and forced to eat their own vomit.

The case was forwarded to the Davidson County Department of Social Services and the sheriff's office criminal investigations division, where detectives eventually charged Mitchell with one count of misdemeanor abuse. The school closed after Mitchell was arrested and ordered not to have contact with the boys as a bond condition.

Mitchell has maintained his innocence and said the punishments were legal and that the allegations of abuse were fabricated. He is still a member of Believer's Baptist, which has supported him throughout the past six months, he said.

Capt. Tony Roberson with the sheriff's office on Monday referred all questions about the Abounding Grace investigation to the district attorney's office. Frank said the investigation is ongoing and that he plans to meet in the near future with parents of former Abounding Grace students and law enforcement officers to decide what action to take.

Rachel Leonard can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 228, or at rachel.leonard@the-dispatch.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dispatch Reports:
December 28. 2004 12:00AM

Get the truth out

Bridget Wingert Goose Creek, S.C.

Editor: I am sick to death of seeing my son suffer as a result of Stan and Leigh Mitchell. They abused my child physically, mentally and emotionally. Some believe and refer to Stan as a man of God. Would God abuse children?

I challenge the Mitchells to let the people decide. Let's go to court, or better yet, take a polygraph. If they are so innocent then what do they have to lose? As God is my witness, I will fight to protect other children and their families from ever enduring what I am witnessing my son and family go through. If I have to take this to every government official, news media and spend every dime I have, whatever it takes, I will fight for the helpless victims.

Some people already know the truth and do not want to get involved. Many have witnessed and are afraid to come forward. Many have witnessed certain things and chose to ignore it. Many have wondered if it were possible. Do we really know people like we think we do?

I will protect the innocent. For all those who do not believe the Mitchells are guilty, ask yourself this: Have you been around them 24/7 to know? If you have not, then how do you have any business commenting on the situation? This has traumatized my son and my family. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

Have you heard the victims' (our innocent children) side of what happened? I believe if you ever did you would be mortified that a so-called man of God could use such horrific abusive corporal punishment. Stan has maintained that he does use corporal punishment. People have different opinions. What is your idea of corporal punishment vs. the Mitchells' idea?

Let's go to court. Let the people decide. Take a polygraph test. There is so much I could say about my son and what he is going through right now. There is so much I could say about the facts surrounding the malicious abuse. I know in my heart that my son and the other boys are telling the truth.

The public has a right to know the truth about how these boys were treated. The public has a right to protect their children. Just for the record, none of the family members or the victims knew about the court date until after the fact. If we had, we all would have been present.

I would also like to ask the public to come forward, whether you have information pertaining to the Abounding Grace School for Boys or you would like to know the truth and see the Mitchells in court for a jury to decide.

Please pray for our children and the truth to be revealed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dispatch Reports:
May 24. 2005 6:45PM

New charges filed in boys school abuse case

From staff reports

Allegations of physical abuse at a Christian boarding school in Arcadia are back in court following the arrests last week of the schools former director and his wife on charges of felony child abuse.

Stanley Earl Mitchell, 43, of North Highway 150, faces two counts of felony child abuse involving two teenage boys, both students at the school. Lucinda Mitchell, 36, was charged with felony child abuse involving one student.

According to the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, the Mitchells turned themselves in to authorities on May 18. They were released from custody the same day after posting bonds of $5,000 each.

Stan Mitchell is the founder of Abounding Grace School for Boys, which closed after he was charged in July 2004 with one count of misdemeanor child abuse. Prosecutors dismissed that charge in December due to what District Attorney Garry Frank then called a miscommunication between prosecutors and defense attorneys over a court date.

Abounding Grace was affiliated with Believer's Baptist Church and located on church property. According to the Mitchells, the boarding school provided Christian-based education and strict discipline, including corporal punishment, for about a dozen troubled teen boys.

According to the latest criminal charges, the Mitchells beat one teenage boy so severely as to cause serious injury to the buttocks and bruising. They are also accused of forcing the boy to overeat and vomit, leading to gastrointestinal problems, according to the sheriff's office. Stan Mitchell is also accused of seriously injuring another boy by beating him until open sores formed, resulting in permanent scars.

Reached Tuesday afternoon, Stan Mitchell maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Directors of private school in Davidson County accused of child abuse

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEXINGTON

The directors of a Davidson County private school for boys have been charged with felonious child abuse, authorities said.

The sheriff's office said Stanley Earl Mitchell, 43, and Lucinda Mitchell, 36, were both indicted by a Davidson County grand jury earlier this month.

Stanley Mitchell was indicted on two counts of felonious child abuse, while Lucinda Mitchell faces one count.

The two operated Abounding Grace School for Boys on N.C. 150 in Lexington. Stanley Mitchell was charged with misdemeanor child abuse in July after allegations of abuse arose from one student.

According to a report from the sheriff's office, the recent indictments arose from allegations that the couple "intentionally assaulted these victims while they were providing care and supervision."

A telephone number previously listed as the Abounding Grace Boys Home is now listed as the Believers Baptist Church Youth Center. There was no answer at that number Tuesday. Mitchell and his wife turned themselves in on May 18 and were each released on $5,000 secured bonds.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


May 25. 2005 12:00AM

New charges are filed in boy's school abuse case

By RACHEL LEONARD The Dispatch

Allegations of physical abuse at a Christian boarding school in Arcadia are back in court following the arrests last week of the school's former director and his wife on charges they excessively beat two teenage boys, leaving one former student with permanent scars.

Stan Mitchell, 43, of Highway 150 North, faces two counts of felony child abuse. Lucinda Mitchell, 36, was charged with one count of felony child abuse. The directors of the now-defunct Abounding Grace School for Boys were indicted by a grand jury during the May 16 session of Davidson County Superior Court and turned themselves in to authorities two days later.

The Mitchells were released from custody the same day after posting bonds of $5,000 each.

Reached Tuesday afternoon, Stan Mitchell, maintained his innocence.

"I'm not guilty, and you have to consider the source," he said.

Stan Mitchell has previously accused the boys of lying and said Tuesday the mother of one of the boys only wants money from the school.

Abounding Grace, an affiliate of Believer's Baptist Church, closed after Stan Mitchell was charged with misdemeanor child abuse July 2004. Prosecutors dismissed that charge in December due to what District Attorney Garry Frank then called a miscommunication between prosecutors and defense attorneys over a court date. Frank vowed to continue the investigation.

The boarding school was located on church property and promoted itself as providing Christian-based education and strict discipline, including corporal punishment, for about a dozen troubled teenage boys. But some, including Davidson County sheriff's deputies, say that punishment went too far.

Detective Geanine Pregel, who investigates abuse allegations for the sheriff's office, said students were paddled with what they described as a small, wooden boat oar. One boy involved in the current charges is the same student Stan Mitchell was charged with beating in 2004, when the boy was 15. He now lives in Michigan, his home state, and has permanent scarring from being paddled on the buttocks by Stan Mitchell until he bled, Pregel said.

Both Stan and Lucinda Mitchell are charged with abusing a former student, now 18, between late 2001 to 2003. Pregel said the boy was paddled more than 50 times on one occasion and routinely forced to overeat, causing him to vomit. The boy also said the Mitchells made him eat his own vomit.

"He has gastrointestinal problems that are deemed permanent by a physician," Pregel said. "He's been suffering from what the doctor described as post-traumatic stress disorder because of being beaten and threatened."

The boy has returned home to South Carolina, where he lives with his mother. Reached at her workplace Tuesday, the mother said she was pleased by the new charges.

"I'm relieved," she said. "I'm just really ready for it to come to light and get in the court system and justice to be served and the public to know, for the mere fact that this doesn't happen to children ever again."

Her son, who graduates from high school this weekend, suffers from severe depression due to his experiences at Abounding Grace, she said. "I don't know that he'll ever be completely over it," she said. "How can you ever be completely over something like that?"

The investigation into claims of abuse at Abounding Grace continued after the first charge was dismissed, Frank said Tuesday. This time, harsher charges were pursued because the district attorney's office and detectives determined the boys sustained severe bodily injury, a key element in the felony charge.

"The felony charges are being pursued based on all of the information that we were able to secure, both including some information available when the misdemeanor charges were taken out and some additional information that was obtained after the misdemeanor charge was taken care of," Frank said. There is no statute of limitations on felony charges in North Carolina.

Rachel Leonard can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 228, or at http://us.f352.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=rachel.leonard@the-dispatch.com.a
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Abuse case goes ahead

Boarding school for boys closed after first charges made

By Patrick Wilson JOURNAL REPORTER

LEXINGTON - It's been 10 months since a Christian boarding school for boys in Davidson County closed after the director was charged with abusing a boy there.

The misdemeanor charge was dropped in December when the boy didn't show up for court because of miscommunication between the district attorney's office and witnesses. But several boys who lived at the school claimed that they were beaten, put in isolation and forced to eat their own vomit.

Detective Geanine Pregel of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office continued investigating Earl Stanley Mitchell, 43, who ran the Abounding Grace School for Boys with his wife, Lucinda Mitchell, 36.

The Mitchells are now scheduled for a preliminary court appearance June 6 on new charges. He was indicted by a grand jury May 16 on two counts of felony child abuse, and she was indicted on one count of the same charge.

The two boys involved were both under 16 when they lived at Abounding Grace, which was at 7720 N.C. 150 in the Arcadia area of Davidson County.

The case was time consuming to investigate, Pregel said.

She spent months interviewing witnesses, traveling to West Virginia to talk to one witness, and waiting for medical reports on the boys. She took all the evidence before a Davidson County grand jury earlier this month.

"All these children had to be assessed by psychologists and things like that because they're all having some problems due to the abuse that they endured while they were there," Pregel said.
Most victims have not wanted to testify, she said. Another boy who reported being abused, Timothy Donovant of Bassett, Va., was killed in a car wreck in June.

"There are still other victims. There still possibly could be more indictments," Pregel said.
Many of the boys who went to the school came from out of state.

Eight boys were still at the school on July 22, 2004, when Earl Mitchell, who goes by Stan, was originally arrested.

They were put in the custody of Davidson County Social Services until their parents could pick them up.

One boy told his mother that the boys at the school were beaten with a wooden paddle as punishment.

He also said that students were made to eat food even if they were sick, and to eat their own vomit if they threw up, according to investigative reports.

His mother, Bridget Wingert, called authorities after she picked her son up for a vacation in June 2004 and he told her about the complaints.

Wingert, who lives in South Carolina, said she did not want to talk about details of the case yesterday because it was going to court.

But she said she was relieved that felony charges were brought.

"I'm glad that it's being brought to light, the wrongs that they have done to our children, and I just really can't wait for it to get into our court system," she said. "I don't want them to ever be able to move to another state and start another home. I couldn't live with myself if they ever hurt another child again."

The Mitchells turned themselves in on May 18 and have each been freed after posting bonds of $5,000.

They could not be reached for comment yesterday.

• Patrick Wilson can be reached at 727-7286 or at pwilson@wsjournal.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winston-Salem Journal Reports:
August 31, 2005

Man, wife who ran school get 1 more count of abuse

LEXINGTON - The couple who ran a private school for boys in Davidson County were indicted yesterday on one additional charge each of felony child abuse.

Earl Stanley Mitchell, 44, was indicted last month on two counts of child abuse, and his wife, Lucinda Mitchell, 36, was indicted on one count.

A grand jury handed down the additional charges yesterday, according to the Davidson County clerk of court.

The Mitchells ran a school called Abounding Grace School for Boys on N.C. 150. The school closed in July 2004 after Earl Mitchell was charged with a misdemeanor that was later dropped.

The Mitchells' next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 3.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Abounding Grace School's owners to answer charges

Punishment turned into abuse, boys say

By Jessica Guenzel JOURNAL REPORTER

LEXINGTON - When he started the Abounding Grace School for Boys in 1995, Stan Mitchell knew little about running a boarding school, but he knew a lot about troubled boys.

After all, he had been one.

With only their religious faith and a strict code of discipline, Mitchell and his wife, Lee, opened the school 10 years ago. They say they wanted to give boys a safe place to learn new ways.

But some of the boys tell a different story: They say the couple subjected them to a level of punishment that crossed the line to physical abuse.

The school stopped enrolling students a year ago after the Davidson County Department of Social Services charged the Mitchells with child abuse and removed all but one of the boys, who was 18 and chose to stay.

They say they are innocent, but they've closed the school for good. On Monday, the Mitchells are scheduled to be arraigned in Davidson County Superior Court on charges of felony child abuse inflicting serious injury.

The parents of their accusers want to make sure they will never again run such a school.

"This is a place I thought they were going to give him love," said Bridgit Wingert, who sent her son, Rex Blevins, to Abounding Grace. "Bottom line is that we don't want the Mitchells to ever be able to take care of children again."

Drawn to troubled youth

Though they have only a limited education - Stan Mitchell has a GED and Lee Mitchell didn't finish high school - they say they felt a calling to educate troubled youth. Stan Mitchell says he wanted them to avoid making some of the mistakes he had made.

His criminal record includes several driving offenses and charges of drug possession and breaking-and-entering. He once spent a year in jail.

"I was a hellion," said Stan Mitchell, 44. "I can't tell you how many times I had been to jail as a teenager. But God saved me and turned me around, and I wanted to save the youth from the mess I had to go through as a kid."

Within a year of the school's opening, nine students were enrolled and the Mitchells built a house in Caswell County and moved there.

The boys followed a highly structured routine that included an enforced period of silence each morning. They were required to go to church and do chores and schoolwork. They ate meals together and worked on a buddy system. Breaking the rules brought swats - or "licks" - with a paddle.

When the school moved from Yanceyville to Lexington in 2000, to be affiliated with Believer's Baptist Church, the Mitchells registered Abounding Grace as a boarding school with the Division of Non-Public Education. The school was free until 2002, when they began charging $400 a month for the 18-month program; church donations also helped pay the school's bills. Most of the boys came to the school at age 14 or 15; none stayed long enough to finish high school there. About 100 have attended Abounding Grace since it started as a home school in Greensboro.

Only a handful - about six of the state's 600 private schools - operate as family-run boarding schools with strict rules such as those at Abounding Grace, said Rod Helder, the division director. The school complied with all the requirements for nonpublic education, but the department has little oversight of how the individual schools are run and offers little protection when accusations of abuse are made, Helder said.

"That's something that goes with the turf when you start a school that deals with at-risk or out-of-control kids like this," he said.

Parents desperate for change

Most of the parents who sent their boys there were desperate for change. "We knew he needed something, a structured environment where he would have to mind someone else's rules," said Phillip Boseman, whose son, Phillip, attended Abounding Grace. "It was getting rough. He was on probation. I took him there and left him and said 'if you don't ever speak to me again, at least I know I could have saved your life.'"

The Mitchells weren't in the dark about the boys' family relationships and backgrounds, and they knew they were taking a risk with the school. Parents knew that their children would be punished for misbehaving.

A code of conduct made it clear that for each violation of the rules, a boy could get up to five licks with a paddle. Corporal punishment is legal in North Carolina schools, but the law leaves it up to the administrator to decide what is reasonable, Helder said.

Everyone - the boys, their parents and the Mitchells - was required to sign off on the rules.

But how far did the school go in enforcing the rules? Documents from Caswell and Davidson counties show that complaints were made about conditions at Abounding Grace years before the current allegations of abuse were made.

According to letters from both counties' social-service departments to Helder's division, Caswell County investigated four reports about the school between April 1997 and February 1999. Three reports of neglect were unsubstantiated, and the other investigation "did not reveal any information to suggest that the boys are used for labor, inappropriately disciplined, 'afraid of you' or not being home schooled within the appropriate guidelines," according to letters from Caswell County to the Mitchells.

In 2001, Davidson County social workers also investigated the school after getting a report about unsafe living conditions there. What they found during that investigation raised concerns about excessive punishment.

Officials with the Davidson County Department of Social Services did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The N.C. Division of Social Services declined to comment on specifics of the case.

In a May 7, 2001, letter to Charles Harris, then the chief of the children's-services section of the state division of social services, Davidson County social workers laid out the details of the investigation and their concerns about the school.

The converted storage building had no sprinkler system or smoke detectors, and had only one exit, down a wooden staircase, the letter said. The school was later brought up to code, according to county officials.

But questions about physical abuse lingered. Two of the boys told social workers that they had been hit 200 times with a paddle that the workers described as a "typical school paddle" - about 18 inches long and more than an inch thick. One of the boys said he had bruises on his buttocks, but refused to show them to the social worker. All of the boys said that they were not allowed to speak until lunchtime every day and that they were silenced for the first week after arriving at the school. One child told social workers that he was silenced for a month after he spoke when he wasn't supposed to.

Parents told social workers that they thought the strict rules at Abounding Grace were appropriate for their children. They knew that their children were getting licks and that "Brother Mitchell" administered four licks for each act of insubordination.

The letter ended with a request that the state look into the school while the local agency continued its investigation.

Reports of abuse in July 2004

County social workers didn't contact the school again until July 21, 2004, when they came to investigate reports of abuse that led to the current charges.

This time, the reports came from the parents of two boys who hadn't returned to school after summer vacation.

The Mitchells later learned that the parents called social services with allegations that the boys had been beaten with boat paddles and subjected to long periods of solitary confinement. They also said that boys were sometimes forced to eat their own vomit after becoming sick at the school.

"What they've done is taken truths and stretched them beyond all limits, making them into extremes," Mitchell said.

He doesn't deny that there were paddlings at the school. He also doesn't deny that the boys were sometimes subjected to solitary confinement as an alternative to spanking.

And yes, the boys sometimes vomited. A few of them came into the school with weak stomachs, according to the paperwork submitted by their parents.

But the Mitchells deny ever issuing 200 paddle licks at a time, silencing students for a month, forcing them to ingest their own vomit or abusing them in any other way.

"If I really believed something like that that I heard from my son, I'd be driven like these mothers are," Mitchell said. He believes that the two boys conspired to make up stories of abuse when they found out their parents planned to send them back to the school. "For the life of me, I can't believe that these boys thought it would go this far," he said.

Several parents interviewed for this story said they don't believe the stories of abuse.

"I love the Mitchells," said Wanda Harris, whose son, Wayne Bland, attended Abounding Grace. "I'm disappointed in a couple of the boys because they not only ruined the Mitchells' lives, they've ruined the lives of these other children as well, who were getting the treatment that they needed," she said.

"I know deep in my heart that nothing happened," Harris said.

Since he left the school, Bland said, it's been hard to stay out of trouble. He said he sometimes turns to the Mitchells for advice.

Boseman said he thought the program was good for his son, too.

Mitchells charged with abuse

On July 22, 2004, the day after their initial visit, county social workers returned. They showed the Mitchells pictures of a student with marks and sores on his buttocks and took all the boys from the school.

Mitchell was arrested on one count of misdemeanor child abuse in connection to the marks on the boy, and had no more contact with the boys until the charge was dropped by the district attorney.

Then, on May 16, 2005, Mitchell was indicted on two counts of felony child abuse stemming from the same investigation. Lee Mitchell was also charged; she faces one count of felony child abuse.

District Attorney Garry Frank declined to discuss the case, because of the pending trial.

Mitchell said he feels betrayed. He and his family still live in the school, behind Believer's Baptist Church in Lexington. "When I get up early in the morning and go to church and two full pews ahead of me are empty, two whole pews that used to be filled with boys, empty. We've lost them and we can never gain that back," he said. "All we were trying to do is what the parents asked us to do, give the guys old-fashioned standards and make them act the way boys used to be."

Helder acknowledged that anyone who works with troubled youth is taking a risk. "I think they understand that those types of things can happen," he said. "If someone starts a school for these types of kids, you have to ask, 'Were these kids credible to start with?' It's basically, at this point, the Mitchells' word against the kids' word. It's up to the court to decide which is the more credible party."

• Jessica Guenzel can be reached in Lexington at (336) 248-2074 or at jguenzel@wsjournal.com

***********************************************************************************

***********************************************************************************

***********************************************************************************

**********************************************************************************

Below you will find the most recent article regarding the outcome of Stan and Leigh Mitchell's abuse at Abounding Grace School for Boys.

April 09. 2008 9:00AM

Former Christian school leaders receive probation

BY GLEN BAITY


The Dispatch

The former proprietors of a Christian boys' school accused of child abuse have signed a deferred prosecution agreement, bringing an end to a lengthy investigation process.

Earl Stanley Mitchell and Lucinda Mitchell, who ran the Abounding Grace School for Boys in Arcadia, will complete an 18-month supervised probation and a five-year unsupervised probation in lieu of active sentences.

District Attorney Garry Frank said the agreement was the best option "based on an evaluation of all the evidence and all the possibilities that might result from a jury trial."

During that time, they will be subject to a number of restrictions. The Mitchells will be prohibited from teaching or supervising a child under 18 in a residential setting; being employed by or volunteering in a facility where they would supervise or teach a person under the age of 18; or teaching or supervising anyone under age 18 in an educational nonresidential setting, unless pre-approved by the officials in charge of those activities.

The Mitchells signed the agreement Monday.

If either of the Mitchells violates the terms, Frank said, prosecution would move forward. Lucinda Mitchell would face two felony child abuse charges, and Earl Stanley Mitchell would face three felony child abuse counts. Each charge carries a maximum term of 98 months, or about 8 years, in prison.

Those charges stem from complaints filed against the couple in 2004 alleging abuse at Abounding Grace. Accusers said students at the school were paddled excessively and denied regular bathroom use, among other abuses.

The Mitchells have repeatedly denied those charges in the past.

Glen Baity can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or glen.baity@the-dispatch.com.