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NEW YORK
November 24, 1998
A U.S. couple who have been accused in the Czech Republic in connection with the dubious Morava Academy teenager correctional facility, seek permission to return home, the Utah newspaper Deseret News reported on its website today, referring to the KBRE radio seated in Cedar City.
Glenda and Steven Roaches, members of the Teen Help company which ran Morava Academy, have been accused of maltreatment and limitation of freedom of U.S. children in Hotel Jelenice near the Brno dam.
Teen Help, which controls several educational facilities for problem youth all over the world, has also been accused on two points in the USA.
Glenda Roach, who recently underwent a back surgery, has been allowed to leave the Czech Republic for health reasons.
However, the U.S. Embassy in Prague has been unable to arrange for the departure of her husband, who has reportedly to give a bail of $6,600 , the paper quotes the radio as saying.
The Roaches come from St.George, Utah.
They have been accused in the Czech Republic together with other two Czech citizens, Deseret News said, adding that J.Ralph Atkin, a prosecutor from St George, was a co-owner of Morava Academy.
The paper also quoted Karr Farnsworth, head of a company representing Morava Academy as saying that the accusations levelled in the Czech Republic were absurd. They have been raised by some dissatisfied former employees who had also made the teenagers complain of the staff, Farnworth says on Deseret News's website.
Czech authorities have asked the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to help them gather basic information about the academy's teenagers.
A total of 57 "problem children" had been held in the academy since April, after their parents signed them up for "behaviour modification."
The children, predominantly American, say they were sometimes placed in solitary confinement, tied up, given half-rations of food and water and prevented from going to the toilet as part of a strict punishment regime.