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Tim Smith
The Greenville News
August 21, 2003
The president of a children's home in Abbeville County asked by state officials to stay away until allegations concerning a children's home in Costa Rica are resolved said Thursday he's done nothing wrong and that he feels persecuted.
Narvin Lichfield, 42, told The Greenville News that the allegations that prompted authorities in Costa Rica to jail him for 30 hours in May are baseless and the result of a non-custodial parent's attempt to remove her child and overzealous prosecution.
He said that although the investigation remains open, he believes it will be closed by the end of the month without any charges. "I've had my name destroyed," said Lichfield during a telephone interview from Europe. "I've reviewed every document. There is no evidence."
Lichfield, who lives in Hodges, said he is one of the owners and is president of Carolina Springs Academy near Donalds.
In June, the state Department of Social Services asked that Lichfield be kept from Carolina Springs and out of its daily operations over allegations "surrounding his involvement" in a Costa Rica children's facility, according to a DSS letter to Carolina Springs.
DSS required that Lichfield be kept away from Carolina Springs as a condition for renewing that facility's license, according to the letters.
The general counsel for DSS said there is no attempt by the agency to persecute Carolina Springs, only an effort to make sure the operation meets state laws and regulations.
Lichfield said he is the owner of the Academy at Dundee Ranch in Orotina, Costa Rica, a youth behavioral management center.
He said the trouble with Costa Rican authorities began earlier this year as the result of a disgruntled non-custodial parent who wanted to remove her child.
He said she went from official to official and finally came upon a temporary local prosecutor, who went to the ranch in May and interviewed her daughter.
Lichfield said he was subsequently jailed for 30 hours and allowed to leave Costa Rica earlier this month.
He said he has reviewed every document in the case and "I'm not named personally in anything."
He said he plans to return to the Carolina Springs campus at the end of the month, when he said he thinks the Costa Rica matter will be closed. "At that point, I'm walking on the campus," he said. "I'd love for them to stop me on my own property. They're making an allegation that isn't true and they're putting punitive damages on me just like Costa Rica did."
Lichfield said while Carolina Springs wants to cooperate with DSS, he feels the home has been the victim of a "witch hunt" since it first arrived in the state in 1998.
He said the facility is actually a boarding school and he didn't believe it required a license as a children's home. He said because it was a different type of facility than South Carolina officials had seen before, some were fearful of how it would operate, spawning unfounded allegations.
In one six-monthspan, he said, officials investigated 21 allegations and none were founded. "We have just felt persecuted," he said. "There were certain people in the DSS who believed e-mail allegations written by child right's activists who have a vested interest. It's a war. I want to live in peace, run our business and be a benefit to the community.That's all we've ever wanted to do."
Virginia Williamson, general counsel for DSS, said, "It's just not accurate that there is any type of witch hunt going on by DSS toward Carolina Springs. All of our actions have been to do our job in making sure a facility is operating in compliance with what state laws and regulations say they need to do.
We have been working, really for the most part, with Carolina Springs' administration to achieve compliance."