A 12 year-old boy died within hours of being taken to Trails Carolina's wilderness camp in North Carolina, his body was reportedly found with his underwear removed, and local authorities complained the company was trying to prevent them investigating the child's death. Now they might have their license revoked, and have been fined $18,000 for the "Harm, Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation" involved, which remains under criminal investigation.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services sent letters Thursday notifying Trails Carolina's executive director that the camp in Lake Toxaway had violated several state regulations, including one requiring mental health facilities to protect clients from abuse. The department did not provide additional details about the violations, which were documented during an investigation that was completed this month.
Trails Carolina did what they could to prevent anyone knowing what happened to the child that died at their backwoods kiddie prison—and it's not the first time. They face slow-moving bureacratic due process, trivial fines and lots of rhetorical questions.
My favorite of them is "why do media keep using stock art photos of beatiful Lake Toxaway from Trails Carolina's public relations literature when the camp is in fact no-where near it?" Look on the bright side: at least we won't have to dredge the lake.
