Grand jury probes Utahn's wilds program for teens

Lisa Riley Roche

The Deseret News

A father who claims his teenage son was abused in a wilderness treatment program in Samoa said he has testified twice before a federal grand jury about the program, which involved Utahn Steve Cartisano.

Robert DeLancy, an Arizona mortgage banker, said authorities are basing their investigation on a videotape he took at the failed Pacific Coast Rehabilitation Academy on the South Pacific island nation.

"It was a nightmare," DeLancy said of the facility for troubled youths where his then 15-year-old son, Jeff, spent about six months in 2001. "It was really a teenage prisoner-of-war camp. . . . It was absolutely horrific."

Allegations of sexual, physical and mental abuse reported to the U.S. Embassy in Samoa led to some 23 American and Canadian teenagers being removed from the facility in July 2001.

James A. Derrick, the charge d'affaires at the embassy, told the Associated Press then that the allegations "were very serious and were coherent, credible and consistent" and would be passed along to authorities.

DeLancy said he testified before a federal grand jury in California on May 29 and July 31 about the conditions he found when he arrived to take his son out of the program. He said he has been told that indictments may be coming early next year.

The Justice Department routinely will neither confirm nor deny who it has under investigation. Although it is against the law for federal officials to talk about grand jury investigations, witnesses are free to discuss their testimony.

Cartisano's attorney in California, Robert Amidon, was in court Tuesday and was not available for comment. The Samoa Observer has reported that Cartisano is one of the people behind the program.

Cartisano was banned from operating similar treatment programs in Utah after the 1990 death of a girl in his care at the Challenger Foundation, an adolescent wilderness therapy program. Kristen Chase, 16, died of heat exhaustion while on a forced hike in Kane County.

DeLancy said the videotape featured interviews with participants in the Samoan program describing instances of abuse. "A lot of these kids opened up about some of these things that had been happening to them . . . all kinds of nasty things," he said.

The tape was turned over to federal authorities by the U.S. Embassy, DeLancy said. He said he gave the tape to the embassy for safekeeping after he and his family were stopped at the airport when they attempted to leave.

DeLancy said he paid $2,000 a month for his son to participate in the program. He said the program was described as a "tropical Boy Scout camp" that featured sailboats and horses in its promotional material.

The family became concerned, DeLancy said, when the parent of another teenager in the program contacted him. DeLancy said he was told that his son was being abused by other participants in the program

DeLancy said parents of participants also have a civil suit pending against the program.

E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com