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Boy found dead at Draper group home
June 30, 2007
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- A southern California boy died at a group home in
Draper, apparently in his sleep.
The 14-year-old boy awoke early
Thursday complaining of stomach and bowel problems, was placed in a
separate room from other kids and found dead the next morning, said
Carol Sisco, spokeswoman for Utah Department of Human Services.
"We are interviewing everyone
involved who was in the unit at the time," Draper police Sgt. Gerald
Allred said.
Allred and other police officials
were unavailable Friday to comment on whether an autopsy had
revealed a cause of death for the boy, who entered the group home in
February. His name was not released.
The boy died of a "medical
condition," Trina Packard, executive director of the Youth Care &
Pine Ridge Academy, said in a statement issued Friday. Packard
didn't specify the medical condition or say why she was certain he
died of it, and she didn't return a message left by The Associated
Press.
"We are extremely saddened" by the
boy's death, she said, pledging to cooperate with authorities. "We
are providing therapeutic services to the boy's family, as well as
counseling services for our own staff and students."
The state division that licenses
the group home will inspect the facility after police are finished,
Sisco said.
Among things inspectors will look
at is whether the group home had adequate staff on duty, she said.
The group home is operated by
Cerritos, Calif-based Aspen Education Group, a division of CRC
Health Group that runs boarding schools, outdoor education programs,
weight-loss camps and "weight-loss residential high schools,"
according to its Web site.
Corporate officials didn't return
telephone and e-mail messages left Friday by the AP.
"It sounds like he woke in the
night and was having diarrhea and vomiting," Sisco said. "They took
him into a separate room, and within a few minutes he went asleep.
They checked on him a couple of times, but he was dead by the
morning."
The group home takes troubled
children 11 to 17 years old sent voluntarily by their parents, Sisco
said.
It does not take any court-assigned
children, she said.
"The program notified us (of the
death) within 24 hours as they are required to do. We'll be looking
at reports from the program, law enforcement, the medical examiner
and then going out and checking the program physically to see if
there is anything they could have done differently," Sisco said.
Teen boy with flu-like symptoms
dies at Draper facility
June 28, 2007
By Nathan C. Gonzalez
Draper police are investigating the
Thursday morning death of a 14-year-old resident of a local center
for troubled teens, said Sgt. Gerald Allred, a police spokesman.
About 3 a.m., the boy fell ill and
complained about having stomach and bowel problems, Allred said.
Center staff then placed the teen in a separate room to prevent
other children from getting sick.
Staff tried to wake the boy around
7 a.m. and found him dead. "We are interviewing everyone involved
and that was in the unit at the time," Allred said. "We are not
ruling out anything at this point."
Police are awaiting an autopsy. In
February, the boy entered at the private facility that counsel teens
needing special attention or help with learning and personality
issues, Allred said. "
(Teens) are put in there by their
parents, to teach them the extra skills they need," Allred said. The
Division of Child and Family Services licenses the facility but will
not review the case until after the police investigation is
concluded, said division spokeswoman Carol Sisco.
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