In order to qualify for Lakeside rather than be sent to a correctional facility, potential residents are first recommended by the courts, then interviewed by Lakeside Executive Director Travis Faulds and Director of Support Services Thom Lattig. If an offender seems legitimately welcome to the opportunity of turning his life around, seems willing to follow the rules and programs at Lakeside, and there is room at the academy, he then qualifies for acceptance.
Residents then begin the process of retraining themselves. Anger management, peer pressure and decision-making are all part of the process.
Sometimes the psychosocial environment at Lakeside was not so healthy:
-------------- • -------------- • --------------
Kalamazoo GazetteYouth counselor charged in alleged assault at LakesideFriday, May 22, 2009
KalamazooBY REX HALL JR. AND JULIE MACK
KALAMAZOO -- A former employee at a home for troubled youths has been charged with sexually assaulting one of its residents, authorities said Thursday.
Kimeon Tyrone Bolden, 27, who was a youth counselor at Lakeside Academy at 3921 Oakland Drive, was arraigned April 28 in Kalamazoo County District Court on three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a court official said.
Police did not release information about the case until Thursday.
Investigators allege that Bolden sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy from the Detroit area who was a resident at the facility, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Fink said.
Lakeside is a residential facility that serves about 72 boys, ages 12 to 18, who have been placed there by the courts for antisocial behaviors. The teen was a resident of Lakeside's unit for young sexual offenders.
Don Nitz, Lakeside's executive director, said the fact that the alleged offenses occurred in the sexual-offender unit makes the scenario even more "painful'' because it was perpetuating behavior that Lakeside is trying to address.
"We're trying to help kids, and then to have a staff member take advantage of a child, it's awful,'' Nitz said. "We take it very seriously.''
Three incidents involving sexual penetration between Bolden and the boy are alleged to have occurred from March 13 to March 15, Fink said.
The boy reported the incidents to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety on March 15, and investigators submitted the case to Fink's office in April.
Detective Sgt. Karianne Thomas declined to release any details Thursday about the allegations in the case but did confirm the allegations involve oral sex.
Fink said his office authorized a warrant April 21 charging Bolden with the three counts of criminal sexual conduct.
Bolden, whose bond was set at $10,000 cash/surety following his arraignment in front of District Judge Richard A. Santoni, was released from the Kalamazoo County Jail on May 1 after posting the necessary 10 percent of the bond.
He is scheduled to be back in district court June 3 for a hearing on evidence against him in the case.
Andis Svikis, Bolden's court-appointed attorney, said he had no comment about the case when reached Thursday afternoon by the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Thomas said the teen has been transferred from Lakeside to a different facility on the east side of the state since the incident was reported.
The boy's family has hired a lawyer, Steven L. Schwartz, of Farmington Hills, who is planning to file a lawsuit against Lakeside on the boy's behalf.
"It's a family's worse nightmare,'' Schwartz said the alleged assault. "It's going to affect the family for years to come.''
However, Schwartz did praise the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety for its investigation. "The investigators did a wonderful job,'' Schwartz said.
Lakeside's responseNitz said the investigation had the full cooperation of Lakeside staff, who promptly contacted police after the boy told a staff member about the alleged assault.
Bolden was immediately suspended and was fired once the police investigation appeared to confirm the allegations, Nitz said.
Investigators found that no other students appeared to have been assaulted, Nitz said.
"This was an isolated incident involving one student,'' Nitz said. "I can state that as fact.''
Bolden had been working for Lakeside for about a year as a youth counselor, which is the term that Lakeside uses for its direct-care staff members.
Nitz said that Lakeside conducts state and national background checks on its employees before they are hired, including checking their names against a central registry for adults who have had inappropriate contact or behavior with youths. Nitz said there were "no red flags'' involving Bolden.
In the wake of the alleged assault, Nitz said, Lakeside is installing more security cameras and is increasing the number of staff during the evenings and overnight, so that there is not a lone staff member overseeing a unit alone.
Troubled historyThe charges against Bolden come at a time when Lakeside appeared to have regained its footing after several years of turmoil.
Founded as an orphanage in 1907, the residential facility switched its focus to caring for abused and neglected children in the 1950s.
By 2004, the facility was licensed to care for both boys and girls who came for a variety of reasons, including youths with mental-health issues, those abandoned or neglected by their parents, and juvenile delinquents.
Staff had difficulty dealing with the range of problems among their clients, and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety was being constantly called to the facility because residents were hurting themselves or others.
A report released in May 2004 by the Michigan Family Independence Agency detailed a chaotic environment where residents were "out of control'' and residents and staff had been injured. There was a 40-hour riot at the facility in April 2003. After the 2004 report, the state shut down Lakeside and moved its residents to other facilities.
Lakeside reopened six months later with a new program model and staff. Nitz, retired superintendent of the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, became executive director in February 2006. The facility closed again in August 2006 so the board could "refocus its mission and identify sustainable sources of funding.''
In July 2007, Lakeside reopened once again. This time, the board decided to stick to a specific type of client: boys who need residential treatment for antisocial behavior. Lakeside's board also signed a contract with Sequel Youth and Family Services, a private company that runs similar facilities in Iowa, Arizona and Wyoming, to use Sequel's program model and manage the facility. Bolden was a Sequel employee, although Lakeside's board retains oversight over the facility, Nitz said.
Nitz said the facility has improved considerably under the new management.
"Everything has been running swell, except for this incident,'' Nitz said. "My guess is that courts are placing kids here because they like what they see.''
In the wake of the alleged assault, Nitz said, the judges who place youths at Lakeside "have been extremely supportive, and they understand that these incidents can happen.''
Unlike 2004, when police were being constantly called to Lakeside, "now the police contact us to see if we're still open,'' Nitz said. "It's been a true turnaround.''
© 2009 Michigan Live LLC.