Newly released documents from the Port St. Lucie Police Department and DCF officials offer a glimpse into the operation of the boot-camp-style all-boys boarding school, as well as the recent controversy involving a teen who was shackled for 12 days.
They also reveal different levels of concerns over the activities there that DCF officials describe as "bizarre."
Hundreds of pages of investigations into the school were released Friday, with some reading like a mix of locker-room antics and others detailing the consequences strictly parceled out to disruptive children.
The scrutiny comes after the privately run Victory Forge faced allegations of child abuse after a 16-year-old cadet was found wearing ankle shackles in April.
Port St. Lucie police determined that the allegations were unfounded, falling in line with a ruling by the state attorney's office that they didn't meet the criteria to pursue criminal charges.
But DCF officials said they found evidence that boys were subjected to "bizarre" punishment and faced harmful threats.
Police got involved after checking in on a Port St. Lucie teen who had run away from the school on April 6. When he was caught hours later, an officer saw the boy wearing shackles and handcuffs.
"Please take me to jail, I don't want to go back," the boy, nearly in tears, told the officer.
When police questioned whether Victory Forge had the right to use the restraints, school administrator Alan Weierman "became irate," according to police records, and shouted, "You're wasting my time, call the (expletive) chief."
A sergeant arrived on the scene, police records show, and explained that he was concerned about the school's use of shackles.
"If you had a black kid like that, you would put him in handcuffs also," Weierman reportedly replied.
What came next was weeks' worth of investigations by police and the DCF, which initially wouldn't release its findings because they were confidential.
A DCF report summarizing the case was made public Friday after The Palm Beach Post and Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers filed a joint lawsuit petitioning to make it public.
Included were the details of the Port St. Lucie teen's allegations and other reports of abuse made by Victory Forge cadets.
The Port St. Lucie boy said he was kept in leg shackles for 12 days and shackled and handcuffed when he went to bed. He told DCF officials he was choked twice by school personnel and had to put up with racial slurs and jokes from the staff.
According to its report, DCF officials found enough evidence to determine that the boy had been choked and subjected to bizarre punishment and mental injury, and that other boys had been threatened with harm. As a result, they stated the risk to children at the school was "high."
"The staff in this facility are using extreme forms of physical discipline and verbal abuse that would pose risk to children," the summary states.
Because the school is private, the state DCF has no power to regulate its operation. But police asked the agency to investigate the shackling incident to determine whether abuse had occurred.
Weierman declined to comment Friday, saying he had not read the reports.
Cadets told police the teen had been "thrown around a little bit" and once was "grabbed by staff" because he was fighting with another student. They said they had never witnessed any cadet being kicked or punched by staff.
Students also recalled that the teen was called racial slurs, but said that all students openly called each other names. One boy told police that because of his nationality, one staff member called him "carpet head" and "camel rider."
According to police records released Friday, students also complained that as punishment the school would sometimes feed them meals called "stuff" - a hodgepodge of tomatoes, cabbage, vinegar and other spices.
Students said the Port St. Lucie teen found shackled was "cocky," picked on other boys and did not like staying at the boarding school-type facility, according to the police investigation.
Several boys told police the teen would openly talk about running away and often bragged that "black people are better than white people."
The police report also indicated that the shackled teen picked on smaller boys, made racial comments and often hit other students' genitals. School officials earlier said he was a runaway risk.
Most of the boys said they never saw school personnel choke kids. One boy said "maybe" one staffer did, but then did not clarify the remark, a police report shows.
Police concluded the allegations did not point to abuse.
After the Port St. Lucie teen's mother called to complain about her son being called racial slurs, Weierman said he instructed staff to stop, police said.
Police say the leg shackles were not used as punishment but were intended to restrict the teen's movement. They did not cause him harm.
Even so, a detective noted, when the boy ran away the last time, he was still able to cover a significant distance - more than 2 miles - and cross Florida's Turnpike.
"The Victory Forge Military Academy is a boot camp program that is very regimented and strict," the detective wrote.
Parents are provided a contract and manual indicating their child will be subjected to corporal punishment, he wrote.
"The staff's use of corporal punishment may be seen as excessive, however, the staff has remained within their rights to physically handle its students without causing bodily harm and/or permanent disfigurement."
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