This is a staff list for High Top Ranch in Richfield (or Koosharem), UT
(a.k.a. Sorenson's Ranch, Sorenson's Ranch School (still open), High Top Ranch School)
THIS PROGRAM IS CLOSED. IT DISSOLVED IN 2017.
(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 High Top Ranch. 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 High Top Ranch, you have the right to take action.
If you were harmed (family or survivor) by High Top Ranch, 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 High Top Ranch and rescue them if they are there now.
|
Name |
Unit/Position |
Additional Information |
| Chad Sorenson | Founder | Sorenson is also the founder of confirmedly abusive Sorenson's Ranch School in UT. Sorenson reportedly no longer works directly with this program. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| (Dr.) Ell B. Sorenson | Owner/Director | Sorenson reportedly no longer works as director at this facility but continues to take kids off site for work projects. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Nancy Brindley | Teacher | Brindley reportedly no longer works for this program. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Michael Congdon | Teacher | |
| Connie Douglas | Teacher | Douglas reportedly no longer works for this program (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Tad Draper | Counselor | |
| Cassie Sorenson | Tutor | |
| Justin Sorenson | Business Mgmt. | Currently co-owns the boys ranch with Todd Sorenson. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Kari Allen Sorenson | Computer Tech. | Sorenson reportedly no longer works for this program. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| La June Sorenson | Librarian | |
| Lucinda Sorenson | Tutor | Sorenson reportedly no longer works for this program. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Milton Chad Sorenson | Teacher | Sorenson reportedly no longer works for this program. (survivor e-mail April 8th, 2015) |
| Todd Sorenson | Tutor | |
| Wendi Sorenson | Instructor | |
| Larry (Last?) | Weekend Staff | |
| Angie (Last?) | Weekend Staff | |
| OTHER | OTHER | In 1958 a group of young men started the first private boys' summer camp in Utah at Koosharem, Utah. Koos Kamp, as it was later called, became the window through which Sorensons’ Ranch School and High Top Ranch School became realities. Sorensons’ Ranch School emerged as a residential school and behavioral treatment center in 1986. High Top Ranch School was started in 1998. Today the school is totally owned by members of the Sorenson family who have lived in the valley since the l800s. |
| High Top Ranch uses the same Positive Control Systems' methods as Eagle Ranch Academy and WWASPS. | ||
| High Top Ranch is a Sorenson's program. HEAL has received over 60 complaints by e-mail and telephone regarding abuse at Sorenson's programs. We have posted the complaints we have permission to post on our website, click here for more information. | ||
| Ex-instructor at Utah ranch for troubled teens pleads ‘no contest’ to charges of sex with minor By Liesl Nielsen, KSL.com | Posted Aug 2nd, 2017 @ 9:07pm 17 KOOSHAREM, Sevier County — A former instructor at a Utah ranch for troubled teens plead “no contest” to multiple counts of molestation at a court in California, according to the Visalia Times-Delta. Utah resident Wendi Sorenson, 37, was charged with multiple counts of having sex with a minor in December 2015. She recently plead “no contest” to at least three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 18, four counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, contact with a minor for sexual offense, meeting with a minor for lewd purposes and arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purposes. Prosecutors believe the abuse began in June 2015 while Sorenson was an instructor at High Top Boys Ranch in Koosharem. The ranch for troubled youth was owned and operated by Sorenson and her husband, the Visalia Times reported. The school has since closed. Sorenson’s husband reported the abuse to child protective services when he noticed Sorenson was “very close” to one of the boys at the school, the Visalia Times reported. The teenager was then removed from the school and went back to California. A week before Thanksgiving 2015, Sorenson flew from Utah to California. Authorities in Utah alerted police in California and warned them that Sorenson had left the state, likely to visit the same boy. When detectives contacted the boy, he told police that he and Sorenson had sex at two hotels in California for several days, the Visalia Times reported. Authorities also uncovered more than 12,000 sexually explicit text messages between Sorenson and the boy. The messages also placed Sorenson at the hotels. After Sorenson plead no contest, the judge allowed her to return to Utah while she waits to be sentenced. The maximum sentence Sorenson may serve in prison is 13 years and eight months, according to the Visalia Times. Sorenson will be sentenced Sept. 7 and will likely be placed into custody at that time, according to the Visalia Times. Source: https://www.ksl.com/?sid=45266815&nid=148 | ||
| External Link: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2017/09/07/12-000-sexual-messages-help-put-utah-woman-behind-bars/643759001/ | ||
High Top Ranch is closed. Source:
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ut/4832431-0160  |
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*(High Top Ranch, 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.)
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