By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A Christian reform school is alleging its rights were violated during a raid in 2001.
Heartland Academy filed suit in federal court today against the Missouri Department of Social Services. In 2001, the state removed all 115 student residents from Heartland Academy over concerns about child abuse.
Charles Sharpe, a millionaire insurance executive, built the sprawling 18,000 acre Heartland campus in the middle of cornfields in Lewis County in the late 1990s.
The school relies on a strict Christian doctrine and corporal punishment to try and turn around wayward children and teenagers in kindergarten through high school.