Who remembers?
“The Child Catcher”
The Child Catcher in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”:
The character is known for his distinctive appearance, including a black top hat and an elongated nose.
This fictional character is a villain in the film and stage musical adaptation of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.
He works for the Baron and Baroness Bomburst, capturing children and imprisoning them.
He is described as creepy, evil, and devious, with a “stranger danger” vibe.
He is portrayed as cold-hearted, cruel, and uncaring, and uses trickery to lure children into his clutches.
This character most accurately depicts the Troubled Teen Industry transport agents who take unwilling teens to Troubled Teen Industry torture facilities all around the country and globe. These transport agents are often retired or active police, FBI, and other LEOs looking to make some quick cash. This means they are often above most people’s scrutiny and able to commit crimes against children with impunity.
My father, Bill Harper, started Touchdown Inc, a transport business that he, a parole and probation officer or PO, ran with the aid of my mother. They hired off duty cops, sometimes active police and FBI to help them move unwilling teens to boarding schools, rehabs, wilderness camps, and more. They were in the “tough love” business you could say, of shipping kids like packages across the US in vans, on airplanes, in rental cars.
Now I know what you are thinking, some kids need help right? But often, the wrong help is worse than no help at all. Here are what some people have said about being “transported” to Trouble Teen Industry facilities and how its affected them sometimes many years later or to this day.
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/432/
“Strangers come into a child’s room in the middle of the night, drag her kicking and screaming into a van, apply handcuffs, and drive her to a behavior modification facility at a distant location. What sounds like a clear-cut case of kidnapping is complicated by the fact that the child’s parents not only authorized this intervention, but also paid for it. This scarcely publicized practice-known as the youth-transportation industry-operates on the fringes of existing law. The law generally presumes that parents have almost unlimited authority over their children, but the youth-transportation industry has never been closely examined regarding exactly what the transportation process entails or whether it is in fact legal. The companies provide a service to parents who want to send their children to behavior-modification facilities, including boot camps and other residential reform schools, but who are unable or unwilling to deliver the children themselves. A transportation company contracts with the parents to arrange for pickup and conveyance; the parents delegate rights over their children to the company, usually by signing a power of attorney. Due to the circumstances in which these transports typically take place, however, this delegation of rights has far greater implications than simply authorizing the transportation of a child from point A to point B. After suffering the emotional trauma of being taken from their parents, children may suffer physical abuse as well, as the companies often use force in the form of handcuffs and other restraints. This Article examines the details of the transport process and raises legal questions about the disciplinary authority that parents possess, including the extent to which they can grant this authority to a third party.”
“You have a host of jurisdictional issues,” McKell said. “You pick up a kid in California and he ends up in Missouri. If there is a problem or abuse, where does jurisdiction lie? This is an issue that squarely deals with interstate commerce. I do think we need a federal solution.”
“Teens who resist are often told, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” They might be restrained with handcuffs or zip ties. They could be blindfolded or hooded. Though a secure transport company operator was indicted last month, criminal charges are rare because the little-known industry is virtually unregulated. In fact, the indictment was for violating a restraining order, not for the transport itself.
“Some of these stories are almost out of a Charles Dickens novel,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who is pushing for federal regulation of the secure transport industry.
Thousands of American teenagers end up annually in some form of congregate care facility or program aimed at dealing with issues ranging from behavioral problems to drug or alcohol abuse and crime.
In Missouri alone, more than 100 Christian boarding schools promise hope for wayward teens. In Utah, wilderness programs use a back-to-nature approach to try and help young people turn around their lives. Other kids end up in foster homes or treatment centers.
In many cases, the children don’t want to leave home and won’t go along with their parents. That’s where secure transport companies come in.
At a cost often reaching thousands of dollars, parents hire one of the many companies specializing in transporting children to congregate care. Many have websites touting their approaches.
Sandoval, 41, and the mother of a California teenager were indicted by a federal grand jury in August. The indictment said workers for Sandoval’s company handcuffed the teenager at a store in Fresno, California, and drove him to the Agape Boarding School in Stockton, Missouri. The boy allegedly remained restrained for the entire 27-hour ride. Sandoval and the mother are accused of violating the boy’s restraining order against her.
Sandoval was formerly a dean at Agape and now works at another Christian boarding school in Missouri, in addition to operating the transport company. Phone and email messages left with his company and Sandoval’s lawyer weren’t returned.
The secure transport industry is regulated in just one state — Oregon. That law, implemented in 2021, prohibits the use of hoods, blindfolds and handcuffs, among other things.
Other states may follow suit. Utah state Sen. Mike McKell, a Republican, and Missouri state Rep. Keri Ingle, a Democrat, plan to introduce legislation next session regulating the secure transport industry in their states. But advocates say that because so many children are picked up in one state and taken to another, federal legislation is vital.
Currently, there are no federal laws regulating transportation companies.
“You have a host of jurisdictional issues,” McKell said. “You pick up a kid in California and he ends up in Missouri. If there is a problem or abuse, where does jurisdiction lie? This is an issue that squarely deals with interstate commerce. I do think we need a federal solution.”
Khanna is formulating the “Accountability for Congregate Care Act,” which would provide protections at youth facilities such as prohibiting solitary confinement and the use of chemical or physical restraints. His proposal also would provide for the regulation of transport companies.
“I think people didn’t realize the kind of trauma and abuse that was going on,” Khanna said. “There was a sense they’re going to be sent to be reformed, they’re going to get tough love.
“But they didn’t realize there was actually emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse taking place and they didn’t realize the trauma of kids being tricked into going there. What we end up doing is just creating more trauma for these kids.””
My father, Bill Harper, hired Julio Sandoval. He was one of the people who transported some students who went to Agape Boarding School, where I was abused along with thousands of other young boys over several decades. It is my pleasure to report that after dozens of us young men came forward about the abuse we suffered and witnessed Agape Boarding School is closed but many institutions like it still remain especially in deeply red states like Missouri. The law we passed in 2021 with the help of Sen Gelser shutdown my dads teen transport business Touchdown Inc and he died last year. However many teen transport companies are operating without a license and behind the back of the law. Due to loopholes and lack of enforcement by the Oregon legislature and police and or authorities in charge or enforcing the law. The fight continues to protect kids from this predatory and unsafe practice of transporting kids from states where we have stricter rules and regulations regarding child abuse to ones that do not.
I made this petition years ago to “ban gooning”
https://www.change.org/p/ban-gooning-aka-teen-transports-to-troubled-teen-industry-facilities
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