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Ex-Ivy Ridge student slams ‘laughable’ lawsuit from executive Narvin Lichfield suing Netflix over The Program doc claims
The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping became a global success on Netflix when it first aired in March
A LAWSUIT filed by a troubled teen executive with ties to the Academy at Ivy Ridge has been branded as laughable and frivolous by a former student of the now-infamous school.
Narvin Lichfield filed a civil lawsuit in Utah's US District Court on Tuesday against Netflix and Katherine Kubler, the director of the docuseries The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping, claiming defamation and "egregious conduct."
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The three-part series aired in March and exposed years of alleged child abuse on campus at the since-shuttered Academy of Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, New York.
Ivy Ridge was run in affiliation with the controversial and scandal-ridden organization World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, which was founded by Narvin Lichfield's brother Robert in the 1980s.
Narvin, 63, has denied ever working at Ivy Ridge but he was involved with the operation of two affiliate WWASPS camps in South Carolina and Costa Rica.
In the series, Narvin was labeled a clownish but menacing figure who allegedly profited off the mistreatment of children sent to his facilities between 1998 and 2009.
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He was called the family's "weak link," described as the "punchline" to a joke and a "villain," and his own son appeared in the series to call him an "a**hole."
The Program racked up 22.7 million viewing hours within its first five days of release, shooting to number 1 in the streaming platform's Top 10.
Lichfield took to Facebook within days of the release to deny the accusations made about him and other WWASPS facilities in The Program.
In a lengthy post, he claimed his schools only did "good" for those who attended and accused the ex-students featured in Kubler's documentary of having a personal vendetta against him.
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He also dismissed his son's testimony, claiming he was not fit to be interviewed because of apparent mental health issues.
The statement drew sharp rebuke at the time from a cohort of former students at Ivy Ridge and other WWASPS facilities who accused Lichfield of lying.
Ivy Ridge Academy Reunion
But Lichfield has now doubled down on his allegations against Netflix, Kubler, and the rest of the team behind The Program, insisting their "malicious campaign" has had a "devastating impact" on his life and livelihood.
'FRIVOLOUS CLAIMS'
In a copy of the lawsuit obtained by The U.S. Sun, Lichfield accuses Netflix and Kubler of defaming him and invading his privacy with "knowingly false statements and attributions."
"This complaint seeks to hold Defendants accountable for their egregious conduct and to restore Plaintiff’s reputation and peace of mind," reads the filing.
"The facts in this complaint will demonstrate the extent
of Defendants' malicious campaign and its devastating impact on Plaintiff’s life and livelihood.
"The false accusations made and disseminated by Defendants have immensely harmed Plaintiff financially, mentally, and reputationally.
"Through this action, Plaintiff seeks not only to vindicate his rights but to send a clear message that such vicious and baseless attacks will not be tolerated in a just society."
Lichfield is seeking a jury trial and monetary damages – including punitive damages — and is asking a judge to order that “all defamatory and disparaging” media content be removed from Netflix's platforms.
Eddie Curley, who attended Ivy Ridge for nine months in the early 2000s, called Lichfield's suit "frivolous."
"The news of the lawsuit recently filed by narcissistic Narvin is laughable at best," blasted Curley to The U.S. Sun.
"The claim that the documentary created anxiety in him shows a complete lack of empathy for the tens of thousands of children he helped traumatize through WWASP.
"A three-hour documentary was the catalyst for him yet he takes no responsibility for the children housed in these warehouses of neglect, many of which have long-term mental health issues directly stemming from WWASP programs.
"We look forward to the discovery process during this frivolous lawsuit, where his secrets will be further exposed, this is a can of worms I'm not sure he knows that he opened.
"We'd happily parade thousands of WWASP survivors to attest to the accuracy of the documentary if this lawsuit ever made it to an actual courtroom."
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DOUBLING DOWN
Attorneys for Lichfield have not yet returned a request for comment regarding the suit and Curley's comments.
Kubler and Netflix have also both been contacted without reply.
Lichfield claims the allegation made against him in the show has caused him anxiety and has had a “negative impact” on his quality of life.
He claims to have been subjected to dozens of anonymous online threats of violence, group harassment campaigns, and “being the victim of specific death threats across varying degrees of credibility and concern.”
Lichfield accused the series of making representations of him that would leave the average viewer to deduce he had either directly facilitated and covered up or outright committed child abuse and even murder.
The suit points to two instances in particular for the latter claim.
The first is a statement uttered by Kubler when she encounters Lichfield in person, stating it's surreal to see him "[k]nowing everything [Kubler] knew about [Plaintiff], the children he abused, the parents he conned, all the crimes he’s gotten away with” and stating he had “gotten away with this for so long."
Lichfield also took issue with his photo being displayed prominently next to a newspaper clipping from The Salt Lake Tribune with a headline about a child’s death in a local wilderness program.
His attorneys wrote that Lichfield has no affiliations with the program in question and took issue with Kubler's narration, in which she stated "higher ups" in WWASPS "seem to get away with murder."
Lichfield further alleges that Netflix falsely presented The Program as an "objective" work of journalism, and presented him "in a false light with half-truths, outright lies, and deceptive editing practices."
“To this end of presenting itself as an objective documentary,” the lawsuit reads, “the Production focused on the most troubled and disenchanted former students of Ivy Ridge and then presented these students’ attitudes and exaggerated experiences as a universal experience for all past students who have attended programs Narvin was involved with, when none of the students depicted had ever attended a program Narvin supervised, chose staffing for, or directed.”
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Additionally, Lichfield accused the documentary of withholding the relevant abuse and suicide claim statistics of the number of children attending Ivy Ridge and other similar programs that the show prominently highlighted.
Lichfield claimed that more than 40,000 children attended WWASPS facilities, and had "less than the average rate of suicides for Americans being observed among this set of children and with a negligible percentage of these children ever claiming abuse occurred."
He said that over the course of his 25-year career working in troubled youth programs, he has "helped" more than 36,000 children, with a "remarkedly low percentage" of those children claiming abuse or attempting suicide.
He was arrested in Costa Rica in 2003 amid accusations that enrolees of the WWASPS Dundee Ranch program had been deprived of civil liberties.
Lichfield was later found innocent of the abuse charges in that case.
The Tico Times, a local publication, reported at the time that a three-judge found that while children at the facility were abused, the evidence and testimony in the case didn't show that Lichfield orchestrated the abuse.
Lichfield accused Netflix and Kubler of obfuscating the truth of his arrest.
The suit reads, "The Production highlighted a 2003 newspaper article about Narvin’s false arrest in Costa Rica on abuse charges without disclosing that he was exonerated, and all charges dismissed at the prosecutor's request to obfuscate the truth and lend false credibility to the abuse allegations and further defame Narvin and the program.
"The Production intentionally ignored the fact that Narvin’s Costa Rican arrest was on charges that were voluntarily dropped by the public prosecutor — a nearly unprecedented outcome given the severity of the underlying allegations advanced by the government — and thus proved those charges leading to the arrest were unsubstantiated, with the Production being carefully crafted in this manner to suggest the opposite of the truth of the criminal matter in Cost Rica."
TROUBLE FOR TROUBLED TEEN SCHOOL
Lichfield's Carolina Springs Academy, in South Carolina about 40 miles east of the Georgia border, was blighted with allegations of abuse and other issues until its license was revoked in 2009.
In 2003, he was banned by state officials from CSA due to the allegations of abuse at Dundee Ranch.
The Costa Rica school was shut down by child welfare authorities the same year.
Lichfield, a member of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, attempted to reopen CSA as a Christian boarding school but failed to secure adequate investment.
Timeline of events: Academy at Ivy Ridge
- 2001: Academy at Ivy Ridge is opened by Jason Finlinson in Ogdensburg, New York.
- 2003: Congressman Rep. George Miller urges the US Attorney General to investigate Ivy Ridge and the 10 other WWASP facilities in the US and aboard over allegations of "an ongoing practice of physical and emotional abuse of children."
- 2004: Attorney General declines to investigate WWASP, citing a lack of jurisdiction.
- 2005: Male students plan and carry out a riot at the school to protest inhumane living conditions; 12 were arrested and numerous others escaped but were later caught.
- 2006: New York's Education Department writes to Finlinson and voices concerns over "serious deficiencies" in Ivy Ridge's education practices and health and safety protocol.
- 2006: The state determined Ivy Ridge to be a behavior modification center, not a school, thus barring the facility from issuing student diplomas. The school was later fined.
- 2009: Ivy Ridge closes its doors for good, following years of bad press which caused enrollment numbers to plummet.
- 2024 (March 5): A three-part documentary series made by Ivy Ridge alumn Katherine Kubler is released on Netflix, exposing countless claims of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.
- 2024 (March 7): Jason Finlinson loses his job as a safety operations manager at a Utah-based construction facility.
- 2024 (March 9): Ivy Ridge's abandoned campus is listed for sale for $850,000.
- 2024 (March 11): St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary M. Pasqua announces dozens of physical and sexual abuse claims at Ivy Ridge are under investigation.
In the lawsuit, he attempted to distance himself from WWASPS, saying his affiliation with the organization was "essentially that of a franchisee" and that he paid dues to WWASPS for membership and did not receive a cut of WWASPS' profits.
He also reiterated denials he worked at Ivy Ridge, insisting he had no supervisory or executive control over the school Kubler attended.
The Academy at Ivy Ridge opened in 2001 and billed itself as a disciplinarian boarding school.
The school's brochure promised hiking, team sports, horseback riding, group-based learning, and a place for troubled children to ultimately thrive and reach their full potential – but the reality was allegedly much darker.
Ivy Ridge was one of 20 WWASPS schools across three countries, giving it an aura of international scholastic authority.
But in The Program, numerous former students claimed it was primarily a highly lucrative de facto prison where vicious abuse went unchecked.
At its peak, Ivy Ridge had 600 students all paying nearly $4,000 per month, raking in profits exceeding $20 million a year.
Children who attended Ivy Ridge were subject to crowded living quarters, physical restraint for minor infractions, solitary confinement, alleged brainwashing and, in some cases, physical, psychological, and even alleged sexual abuse.
The school also had a bizarre and convoluted points system designed to keep students in the program for as long as possible to ensure their parents kept shelling out tens of thousands of dollars a year in tuition.
However, many of the faculty members weren't even qualified to teach children, and the "diploma" that students received upon graduation from Ivy Ridge was worthless and not officially recognized by the state of New York.
ACCUSED PREDATOR
There was one female staff member in particular who was namelessly accused in The Program of particularly egregious behavior, with several female students claiming she groomed and sexually abused them for years.
The U.S. Sun conducted its own investigation to unmask the alleged abuser in question, and six former students named her as Amy Ritchie, the former director of the girls' program, in an exclusive report published in March.
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Four of the sources alleged in separate interviews that they were groomed and molested by Ritchie over several months in the mid-2000s.
The women claimed the abuse happened in the showers at the school, in their dorm rooms, in Ritchie's bed, in her office, and in some instances, even in their own homes.
A fifth former student described being tasked with secretly escorting another underage classmate to Ritchie's room after hours, sitting mere feet away from them while the alleged abuse unfolded.
Ritchie, 52, has not been charged nor accused by law enforcement of committing any crimes concerning the allegations made.
However, her name was reported several times to the local district attorney's office, which has pledged to fully investigate the claims.
Ritchie worked at Ivy Ridge from 2001 until 2008, a year before the Ogdensburg, New York, campus closed its doors for good after being denied accreditation by the state's education department, causing enrollment numbers to plummet.
After leaving Ivy Ridge, Ritchie moved to another WWASPS facility on the California-Mexico border, the Sunset Bay Academy, which itself has been subject to dozens of allegations of child abuse and mistreatment.
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Until recently, Ritchie had been working as a mental health therapy aid at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg.
She was placed on leave just days after The Program aired and her current employment status remains unclear.