CHALLENGER IS CHARGED WITH NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE
Brent Israelsen
The Deseret News
The embattled Challenger Foundation, its president and his field director have been charged with negligent homicide in connection with the death of a teenage girl who suffered heatstroke while hiking in the wilderness therapy program.
Ever defiant Challenger President Steve Cartisano vowed Monday night to begin launching long and costly defensive and offensive strikes against what he says is a political attempt by Kane County to put him out of business.
Also named in a criminal complaint, filed Monday afternoon in 6th Circuit Court, is Cartisano's field director, Lance Jagger, also known as "Horsehair.''
In addition to negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, Challenger, Cartisano and Jagger are charged with five counts of child abuse, a class B misdemeanor.
Arraignment has been set for Sept. 13.
The homicide charge alleges the defendants were criminally negligent in their care of Kristen Chase, 16, Ponte Vedra, Fla., who collapsed about 4 p.m. June 27 while hiking with a Challenger group on the Kaiparowits Plateau near Lake Powell. It took two hours for medical help to reach the girl, according to sheriff's reports.
Chase had been with the program for only a few days and had not begun the first phase, said Cartisano, maintaining Monday that he and his company are innocent of any negligence and could not possibly have foreseen the girl's death.
"(The charges) prove what a personal vendetta this is'' on the part of Kane County Attorney Jim Scarth. "He's trying to make a name for himself.''
Scarth was out of town this week and unavailable for comment.
According to court documents filed earlier in support of a search warrant, Challenger personnel knew that Chase had been suffering from dizziness and heat exhaustion the day before the fatal hike. Chase had even talked of dying the night before, according to the documents, which also state Challenger had no plan to deal with medical emergencies.
But Cartisano said Chase had been checked by a doctor three days earlier and passed the physical. He noted that Utah Medical Examiner Todd Grey found during the autopsy that the girl had been generally healthy before her death.
Cartisano said he's going to engage Kane County in a lengthy court battle, not only in his defense but in a federal civil rights lawsuit he says he will file against Kane officials.
Cartisano said Challenger has been receiving numerous donations from supporters. "We have a war chest and we're ready to fight.''
The five child-abuse charges accuse the defendants of harming four Challenger students: Chase; another girl who was forced to hike while suffering symptoms of asthma, dyspnea and apnea, all breathing disorders; and two teenagers who suffered hypothermia while crossing a river and were not given proper medical care.
The homicide and abuse charges are not Cartisano's only troubles. He also faces a federal lawsuit filed by a South Carolina girl who claims Challenger counselors dragged her through the desert, kicked her and forced sand into her mouth in March 1989. Those allegations are being investigated by Garfield County authorities in light of new information uncovered by Kane County.
The Provo-based Challenger also is being investigated by the Utah County sheriff's office in connection with the company's insurance billing practices.
Last week, Challenger filed for bankruptcy protection in face of numerous creditors. Cartisano and his company owe the Internal Revenue Service $196,000, the State Tax Commission $65,000 and a California woman $44,000, according to court records.
And on Wednesday, the state will argue to a juvenile court judge in Kanab that two 15-year-old boys removed from the program by court order last Wednesday were severely abused and neglected by Challenger staff.
Kane Sheriff Max Jackson said his investigations are not a personal vendetta and that the charges have been well-documented.
"I have better things to do than make life difficult for Steve Cartisano,'' Jackson said.