Abuse claims against Missouri reform school settled

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Four civil lawsuits alleging sexual and physical assault by the owners of a southwest Missouri reform school have been settled.

An attorney for four former Circle of Hope Girls Ranch students told The Kansas City Star that the settlement amounts are confidential. About two dozen girls were removed from the Christian boarding school last year during an investigation into abuse allegations.

Boyd and Stephanie Householder own the school. They now face 100 criminal charges including statutory rape, sodomy, physical abuse and neglect. The plaintiffs in the civil suits allege they were raped, thrown against walls and starved.

Previous stories: After abuse claims, Parson OKs Missouri boarding school law

Alleged victims relieved to see charges filed against Circle of Hope owners

Circle of Hope owners speak out, close doors, amid state level investigation

Search warrant served at Circle of Hope Girl’s Ranch

Jim Bakker, his church settle lawsuit over COVID-19 claims

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) – Jim Bakker and his southwestern Missouri church will pay restitution of $156,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses the TV pastor of falsely claiming a health supplement could cure COVID-19.

Missouri court records show that a settlement agreement was filed Tuesday. It calls for refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain a product known as Silver Solution in the early days of the pandemic.

The settlement also prohibits Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. from advertising or selling Silver Solution “to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure any disease or illness.” Bakker, in the agreement, does not admit wrongdoing.

Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside in March 2020. Schmitt sought an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for COVID-19 on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show. The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March of 2020.

Schmitt said in a news release on Wednesday that Bakker has already made restitution to many consumers, and must pay back another $90,000 to others.

The hour-long Jim Bakker Show is filmed in southwestern Missouri. The consent agreement notes that during the program, Silver Solution was offered to those who agreed to contribute $80 to $125.

Baker’s attorneys – Derek Ankrom and former Democratic Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon – said in a joint statement that Bakker and Morningside Church Productions are pleased to put the matter behind them so they can “continue the important work of Morningside Church.” They noted that the agreement includes “no findings whatsoever that our clients violated any laws or misled” consumers.

Nixon had previously claimed that Bakker was being unfairly targeted “by those who want to crush his ministry and force his Christian television program off the air,” and that Bakker did not claim that Silver Solution was a cure for COVID-19.

The lawsuit cited a discussion on the program on Feb. 12, 2020, in which Bakker spoke with Sherrill Sellman, referring to her as a “naturopathic doctor” and a “natural health expert.”

“This influenza that is now circling the globe, you’re saying that Silver Solution would be effective?” Bakker asks. Sellman, according to the lawsuit, replies: “Well, let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it has been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours.”

“Yeah,” Bakker says.

“Totally eliminate it, kills it. Deactivates it,” Sellman replies, according to the lawsuit.

Also in March 2020, U.S. regulators warned Bakker’s company and six others to stop selling items using what the government called false claims that they could treat the coronavirus or keep people from catching it. Letters sent jointly by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission warned the companies that their products for treating COVID-19 were fraudulent, “pose significant risks to patient health and violate federal law.”

Silver Solution, a form of colloidal silver, consists of silver particles suspended in a liquid. The solution is often described by manufacturers as having the power to boost the immune system and cure diseases. But it has no known benefit in the body when ingested, according to officials with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a federal scientific research agency.

Experts say ingesting colloidal silver can have serious side effects. The NCCIH says it can turn skin blue when silver builds up in the body’s tissue.

Nixon, who served two terms as governor from 2009 to 2017 and is now a partner at the Dowd Bennett law firm in St. Louis, said Bakker immediately complied with orders to stop offering Silver Solution on his show and ministry website after receiving the warning letters from the FDA and FTC.

Meanwhile, Arkansas’ attorney general filed a lawsuit similar to Missouri’s in June 2020. That case is still pending.

News to Know (4/1/2021)

ATLANTA, Ga – With the U.S. well above 30 million confirmed COVID-19 cases so far, the nation is bracing for what health experts fear could become a fourth wave. New data from the CDC shows the highest number of cases per capita now concentrated in Michigan and parts of the northeast.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The state of Missouri looks to vaccinate up to ten-thousand residents at a “mega” vaccine site in Springfield. It will be held at the Hammond Student Center at Missouri State University. It’s a two-day clinic next Thursday, April 8 and the following Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both days. The clinic will use the one-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. You must register in advance.

MCDONALD COUNTY, Mo. – Authorities in McDonald County, Missouri make a breakthrough in a cold case. For 30 years investigators worked off this rendering as they tried to identify a woman only known as “Grace Doe”. Investigators had been referring to the woman as “Grace” as they tried to uncover her identity because they thought, only through the grace of God would they figure out who she was. Now DNA evidence has revealed who she really is, Shawna Beth Garber. Garber was found dead in 1990 on Oscar Talley Road in McDonald County. Lieutenant Hall with the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office says the case is far from closed.

PITTSBURG, Kan. – A multi-million dollar tax settlement involving Pittsburg native and entrepreneur Gene Bicknell has been overturned by the Kansas Court of Appeals. In a two to three decision, the court ruled that the district court of Crawford County improperly put the burden of proving that Bicknell lived in Kansas on the Kansas Department of Revenue. Bicknell’s legal fight with the state centered on whether he lived in Kansas or Florida when he sold his company, NPC International in 2006.