This is a  staff list for Freedom Village in Lakemont, New York

(a/k/a Freedom Academy, The Gift of Life Home, Freedom Ranch, Camp Victory, Freedom Village of Canada (Separate Program in Ontario)) 

(we are working to acquire the complete records for ALL years)

 

We advise current and/or former staff to report any abuses you may have witnessed while working at Freedom Village.  For information on your rights and how to take action, visit www.heal-online.org/blowthewhistle.htm.  If you were fired or forced to resign because you opposed any illegal and/or unethical practices at Freedom Village, you have the right to take action. 

 

If you were harmed (family or survivor) by Freedom Village, please contact [email protected] if you remember the long-term employees and from which years.  This will help!   Also, if you recognize any of these staff as having worked at another program, please send in any information about their past or present employment at other facilities and/or cults.

 

Please don’t place your loved one in Freedom Village and rescue them if they are there now.

 

Name

Unit/Position

 Additional Information
Fletcher Brothers Pastor/Owner/Director  
Richard Siegfried Staff Reported by former staff.
Cheryl Siegfried Staff Wife of Richard above and reported by former staff.
Bernard Neu Staff Reported by former staff.
Roberta Neu Staff Wife of Bernard above and reported by former staff.
Lee Hardy Staff Reported by former staff.
Linda Hardy Staff Wife of Lee above and reported by former staff.
Jeremy Brothers Staff Son of Fletcher (owner) and reported by former staff.
Amy Brothers Staff Wife of Jeremy above and reported by former staff.
Matthew Camacho Staff Reported by former staff.
Danielle Camacho Staff Wife of Matthew above and reported by former staff.
Joel Cope Staff Joel is Sarah Cope's husband (below).  Cope is a former "resident" enrolled in the Freedom Village program who married in-house and stayed on as staff.
Sarah Cope Staff Sarah is daughter of Richard and Cheryl Siegfried (above).  Cope reportedly no longer works for Freedom Village.
Michael Rosenberger Staff Michael is married to Mary Rosenberger (below).  Rosenberger is also a former "resident"/program "graduate" who married in-house and stayed on as staff.
Mary Rosenberger Staff Mary is also the daughter of Richard and Chery Siegfried and sister to Sarah Cope (above).
James Camacho Accountant  
Robert Neu Staff Son of Bernard and Roberta Neu (above).
Chris Neu Staff Son of Bernard and Roberta Neu (above).
Darren Baker Fletcher's Bodyguard  
Margaret Baker Staff Wife of Darren Baker (above).
(Freedom Village, like many other programs in this industry, keeps a "tight lid" on any specific information regarding their staff, qualifications, and practices.  Please contact us with the names of any staff of which you have firsthand knowledge or experience.  Thank you for your help.)
External Link: http://againstbiblicalcounseling.blogspot.com/2009/05/links-to-freedom-village.html
External Link: http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/held-against-will-like-mcpherson.htm
External Link: http://www.rickross.com/reference/fundamentalists/fund90.html
HEAL is in the process of reviewing application/enrollment information for this program.  Thank you for your patience.

 
Money woes for
Yates County
ministry drag on
 
 
Freedom Village, a ministry in Yates County
for troubled teens, is trudging toward the
end of a two-decade $21 million
bankruptcy proceeding.
But, in keeping with the history of the
operation and its fundamentalist leader,
the Pastor Fletcher Brothers, the legal
brouhaha is still generating controversy.
In the past few months, the Freedom
Village board of trustees tried to oust
Brothers — the individual central to the
growth of the ministry — and pushed to
prevent him from accessing Freedom
Village funds. Brothers fired back with the
support of the Freedom Village board of
deacons — a separate group from the
trustees — with claims that the attempts to
force him out are based in part "on false
accusations."
Staff members have left the operation in
droves, owed more than $1 million in
unpaid wages, court papers allege. Among
those who left their jobs, citing "certain
behavior (by Brothers) that is deemed
unacceptable," were the chief financial
officer and public relations director,
records show.
Brothers, who has been dogged by past
allegations of financial mismanagement and
 
 
misuse, has answered that tough economic
times forced staff cutbacks and that those
challenging his leadership are disgruntled
former employees with no substance to
their allegations.
Meanwhile, the federal trustee for the
bankruptcy case filed papers seeking
almost $170,000 in unpaid fees from
Freedom Village.
"Obviously there's a lot of things going on
out there at Freedom Village that have to
be attended to," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
John Ninfo said in a recent hearing.
Rochester attorney David MacKnight, who
represents Freedom Village, said the funds
are available to pay creditors and, with an
extension into 2012, the trustee fees.
Disbursing the money to creditors has
grown more difficult as years have passed,
MacKnight said.
"After 21 years, people have died, moved,
you name it," he said.
 
 
 
 
 
Attorneys for Freedom Village are
scheduled to appear Thursday before
Ninfo — the last docketed case before
Ninfo, who retires at the end of this year.
There is a certain irony that this case,
which generated thousands of pages and
boxes of filings over its 21 years, would be
Ninfo's last. Bankruptcy files don't detail
the allegations against Brothers, and an
attorney for one of those who tried to
remove him — as well as some others
involved in the attempted ouster —
declined comment.

"After 31 years, especially in light of
present economic conditions and forecasts,
it became painfully obvious cuts were
needed," Brothers said in an email
response to questions. "In truth, a purging
of incompetence, laziness, bad attitudes
and those not here for the right reason (the
children) was needed and long overdue."
The cuts led to the claims of
mismanagement, Brothers said. "When
some found out it was coming a 'smoke
screen' was thrown up," Brothers wrote.
Ninfo ruled recently that the board of
trustees — which records show has rarely
met — existed before the bankruptcy
proceeding, so the question of whether
Brothers should be removed is not to be
decided in bankruptcy court. "Everybody
acknowledges that none of this has
anything to do with the (bankruptcy) plan,"
Ninfo said at the recent hearing.
An attorney for one of the trustees would
not answer whether action may be pursued
 
 
in state court. MacKnight said he had heard
no more about the push to remove
Brothers.
Freedom Village was the outgrowth of a
Rochester-based church — Gates
Community Chapel — that Brothers started
in the late 1970s.
Brothers built a following with strident
attacks on pornography, abortion and
homosexuality, and started Freedom
Village in Lakemont as a Christian-based
program.
Through a radio and television program,
Brothers pulled in literally millions of dollars
for the operation. He even initiated a loan
program, borrowing money from
supporters and claiming they could expect
returns as high as 14 percent.
But those who made loans found
themselves unable to get their money
returned, and in the early 1990s Freedom
Village declared bankruptcy.
 
 
 
 
The amount owed creditors reached nearly
$21 million, and the bankruptcy is
expected to be resolved with them
receiving 15 to 20 cents for each dollar
lost.
Syracuse resident Diane Knowlton, whose
late father was owed almost $150,000 by
Freedom Village, said Friday that she had
heard nothing for three years about the
status of the bankruptcy case.
"He tried to get the money back while he
was alive," she said of her father, Robert
Galster.
Her father did not discuss why he'd
supported Freedom Village, she said.
"I guess he thought he could help people,"
she said.
[email protected]
 
 
 
 

 
Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111220/NEWS01/112200332

 
Freedom Village Case Winding Down

by Gary Craig, Staff Writer (Democratandchronicle.com)

 

The two-decade $21 million bankruptcy case of a Yates County religious operation for troubled teens is over — almost.

 

Thursday, retiring U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Ninfo, handling his last docketed case, ordered that Freedom Village complete the bankruptcy plan with final payments to unsecured creditors. The ministry also owes about $170,000 in unpaid fees to the U.S. Trustee, which helps manage bankruptcy plans.

"It's been a long road," Ninfo said.

 

"Lots of things weren't done right. But in the end, creditors will get the distribution that was set out for them with the (bankruptcy) plan."

Headed by the evangelical Pastor Fletcher Brothers, Freedom Village pulled in millions of dollars in contributions and loans from supporters in the 1980s while the ministry swelled in size and mission.

However, as thousands of pages of bankruptcy filings detail, Freedom Village also plowed through far more money than it raised. Brothers was accused of living an extravagant lifestyle — with bodyguards and use of a private plane — that greatly contrasted with the ascetic accommodations for his staff.

Supporters who signed up for the loan program, which claimed at least a 14 percent return was likely, found themselves unable to recoup their money, and Freedom Village declared bankruptcy in 1990.

Freedom Village attorney David MacKnight contended in bankruptcy court Thursday that past Freedom Village financial managers, and not Brothers, had been at fault.

Their negligence, he alleged, led to a failure in recent years to make progress with the bankruptcy payments.

 

"Pastor Brothers relied too heavily on the financial management in which he had great confidence," MacKnight said.

Money was typically reinvested in programs for the teens at Freedom Village, MacKnight said.

 

"It's generally used for the church's charitable and religious enterprises," he said.

Through the years, some creditors have died. Others, still supportive of Freedom Village, decided the money owed them through the bankruptcy plan could instead be returned to the ministry.

Attorney C. Bruce Lawrence, who represents the agent handling disbursal of the bankruptcy funds, said there is about $800,000 now to be used for payments.

On Thursday, Ninfo gave Freedom Village until June 29 to complete payments.

 

Otherwise, the case would be dismissed, which could open Freedom Village to judgments that were outstanding two decades ago.

Creditors will receive between 15 and 20 cents for each dollar they lost.

 

Lawyers and courtroom observers applauded Ninfo as he left the bench Thursday, completing his final courtroom case.

[email protected]

Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111223/NEWS01/112230358

Former Victim of Freedom Village Commits Suicide in Jail--Aaron Shehu

 

 

 Last Updated: January 26th, 2012

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