Lawsuit filed by Illinois men reveals shocking allegations of abuse at Arkansas religious camp

CHICAGO - A new lawsuit has been filed against a religious camp in Arkansas, and some of the people suing are from Illinois.

The eight plaintiffs from Illinois are now grown men, but were between the ages of seven and 17 when they were sent to the facility for troubled youth and say they were repeatedly abused by one of the camp's lead mental health counselors.

Before it closed back in 2016, the Lord's Ranch billed itself as a family-owned facility boasting 1100 acres of rolling hills, lakes, and trees, where children from troubled families or in the foster system could seek treatment and therapy. But, according to the lawsuit, it was there that the Illinois men were subjected to horrific sexual, psychological, and physical abuse. Their attorneys shared an audio clip of one of their clients who was a boy when he attended the camp in the 1990s.

"Some of the worst memories still bring back the old experiences as if they are current in my present life," said John Doe. "As a young boy, I was targeted by my pedophile psychiatrist based upon my experiences of sexual abuse as a child. And these experiences were used against me as a tool by him to sexually victimize me further."

The Lord's Ranch was owned by Ted Suhl, who in 2016 was convicted of gaming the Arkansas Medicaid system of millions of dollars and bribing state health officials.

"Every single time that one of these victims reported that they were being literally raped by this man, nothing was done. Not one staff member, not one member of the Suhl family ever once lifted a finger. Did a single thing to stop the abuse," said Josh Gillispie, attorney.

Three years into serving a seven-year sentence, the owner and executive director of the camp, Ted Suhl, had his sentence commuted by then-President Donald Trump.