Statement of Gloria Allred Re Hannah Archuleta 02-24-21

Contact: Gloria Allred
Phone: 323-653-6530
Email: [email protected]
STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GLORIA ALLRED
Today we have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hannah Archuleta against Turn-

About Ranch in Garfield County, Utah.
On October 22, 2019, Hannah was 17 years old. She appeared in person on
the Dr. Phil show on that date and immediately after that she was transported
from the studio to Turn-About Ranch by an entity called Safe Interventions. In
Hannah’s lawsuit, which we filed today along with our Utah co-counsel, April
Hollingsworth, Hannah alleges that she was sexually assaulted by a male staff
member approximately one and a half weeks after she arrived at Turn-About
Ranch when she was alone there in a Ranch kitchen, in a building known as
“Roundy.” At the time, Hannah did not report the alleged assault because she
was in fear of what might happen to her if she did.
In late November or early December 2019, Hannah alleges in her lawsuit

that the same male staff member assaulted her again in a kitchen in a building
named the “Barn” at Turn-About Ranch.
Within 24 hours of the second assault, Hannah reported the incident to

Turn-About Ranch staff. She alleges that she was instructed to write a detailed
1|Page
letter to Ranch management describing the assaults. One staff member to whom
she had reported the assaults allegedly responded to Hannah that she was lying
“because you’re crying so much,” adding “only liars cry.” Despite this and despite
Hannah’s fear of further humiliation, she wrote the letter describing the alleged
assaults and delivered it to a member of the Ranch’s management. In addition,
she orally recounted what had happened to her.
Instead of taking remedial or meaningful disciplinary action against the

male staff member that Hannah had accused, Hannah alleges that she was
retaliated against and punished for reporting the sexual assaults. The lawsuit
alleges that her punishment included giving Hannah additional “reflection” time,
which consisted of picking up horse manure for hours, walking in circles around a
horse coral for hours, and/or being placed at a desk facing a wall for hours;
assigning Hannah additional forced walks in the Ranch corral, up to six or more
hours a day; screaming at Hannah for reading a poster that explained how to file a
complaint; refusing Hannah access to the bathroom; forcing Hannah to sleep on a
wooden plank with no pillow; giving Hannah additional forced labor in extreme
temperatures, and leaving her outside in below-freezing temperatures; verbally
abusing Hannah, including by telling her that she was stupid, fat, a bad person,
pathetic, manipulative, weak, pretending to have anxiety; publicly humiliating
Hannah, including criticizing, degrading, and embarrassing her in group meetings;
threatening Hannah with physical violence; and, depriving Hannah of sleep.
To make matters worse, the male staff member that she accused was
permitted to remain on the job, and the lawsuit alleges that females who were
2|Page
minors at the school were not warned about him and the danger that Hannah
believed that he presented.
Our lawsuit also alleges that the Ranch failed to inform law enforcement
officials that Hannah, a 17-year-old minor, had reported that she had been
assaulted by a male staff member. We think it is long overdue for Turn-About
Ranch to be held accountable for what happened to Hannah when she was there.
For this reason, we have filed her lawsuit today, alleging Negligent Hiring and
Supervision, Assault, Battery, and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. We
are seeking compensatory and punitive damages according to proof at trial.
There appears to be a major problem in Utah at some residential facilities

which have developed programs that have been marketed as programs which
help troubled teens by providing them education and therapy. Recently Paris
Hilton spoke out about what she alleges that she suffered when she attended a
similar program in Utah when she was a teenager. Hannah has been inspired by
Paris Hilton’s courage in speaking out and that is why Hannah is here today and is
willing to speak out about what she alleges is her experience at Turn-About
Ranch.
In addition, Hannah, her father and I would like to announce our support
for the bill in Utah, S.B. 127, which will be voted upon by Utah legislators this
week. This bill will address some of the abuses suffered by children at these
troubled teen facilities. We urge the legislators to vote for it and for the Governor
of Utah to sign it in order that children who are sent to these facilities will be
3|Page
protected from abuse rather than being subjected to what many have called
torture, humiliation, degradation, and in some cases sexual abuse, which goes
unreported because victims are sometimes not believed or because a school
would like to preserve its reputation to the outside world.
Hannah is very brave and we are looking forward to justice for her. We also
hope that our lawsuit will inspire other teenagers to assert their rights if they
believe that their rights have been violated in similar programs for “troubled
teens” in Utah and in other states across the nation.
GLORIA ALLRED
ATTORNEY REPRESENTING HANNAH ARCHULETA
FEBRUARY 24, 2021
Note:
The judge who will hear this case is the Honorable Marvin D. Bagley,
Green Filing: ID 7208811, case number: 210600004 - HANNAH ARCHULETA vs.
TURN-ABOUT RANCH
4|Page

Statement of Gloria Allred Re Hannah Archuleta 02-24-21

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Statement of Gloria Allred Re Hannah Archuleta 02-24-21

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Contact: Gloria Allred

STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GLORIA ALLRED

Today we have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hannah Archuleta against Turn-

In late November or early December 2019, Hannah alleges in her lawsuit

Within 24 hours of the second assault, Hannah reported the incident to

Instead of taking remedial or meaningful disciplinary action against the

There appears to be a major problem in Utah at some residential facilities

You might also like