Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nye County police converge on youth facility after abuse allegations surface

A youth residential behavioral and psychiatric facility in Amargosa Valley is under investigation for allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and staff is accused of not reporting the claims within the mandated 24 hours, according to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.

Furthermore, when they served a search warrant at the Never Give Up Youth and Healing Center on Monday, deputies arrested a staff member on a count of obstructing a public officer, the sheriff’s office said. Patients and staff members were interviewed.

The arrested staffer wasn’t connected to the abuse allegations, a facility spokeswoman said.

The facility contends it investigates all allegations and complies with its self-reporting requirements — “(going) through great lengths to ensure transparency and cooperation with local and state authorities” — when they’re alleged, it said in a statement.

Details on the allegations and whom they were leveled against weren’t released by authorities, who noted they’d been reported to the sheriff’s office, although it wasn’t clear by whom.

The sheriff’s office said more arrests were possible.

In an interview, Matthew Cox, the founder of the facility, denounced the sheriff’s office for how it handled the warrant search, especially in front of tense staff and youth already in a vulnerable state of mind.

“Although this appeared to be due to a miscommunication within the sheriff’s office, Never Give Up staff were threatened and physically prevented from providing necessary treatment, medication, security and comfort to our residents during the nearly 12-hour-long search,” the statement said.

Cox said he believed the allegations investigated by the officers were already reported by the facility’s staffers to state regulatory bodies, though it wasn’t clear if those reports had made it to the sheriff’s office or if they’d done so in a timely manner.

The arrested staffer, Raymond Lomeli, 21, was taken into custody after he’d asked to see the warrant, which deputies supposedly refused to show, and after he went to retrieve something from his cellphone case, Cox said.

While our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our residents, we are not immune to allegations of wrongdoing as are made against any other youth psychiatric facility,” the facility said in a statement.

Cox noted the center regularly deals with multiple state and local agencies, including the sheriff’s office, in which they’ve discussed best communication practices.  

On Wednesday, Cox said the inpatient facility — which houses children ages 8 to 17 years old who receive “therapeutic, academic and social support” — was operating regularly, noting the children were safe, and that staff had been in contact with the legal guardians of the young patients.

The statement said the facility was collaborating with law enforcement.

The facility, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, used to house Northwest Academy, a behavioral boarding school.  The academy recently shuttered following allegations of abuse and unsafe water.

“We believe our presence in the former location of a facility notorious for its quality of care issues lends instant credibility to any allegation against us, even before an investigation has begun,” Never Give Up said in the statement.

“Since taking over operations earlier this year, Never Give Up has provided desperately needed behavioral and mental health services to hundreds of Nevada’s most complex and fragile youth," the statement said.