Citing ‘very troubling allegations of misconduct’ Suffolk judge releases young men placed at Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch in Riverhead

A Suffolk County Supreme Court justice has ordered that the young men he previously placed at Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch in Riverhead are no longer mandated to reside there.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho, who presides over Suffolk County Supreme Court Felony Youth Part, issued the ruling on Monday, “after being informed of a number of issues highlighting some very troubling allegations of misconduct and the general conditions at the group home,” a court spokesperson told RiverheadLOCAL today.

“In addition, the Administrative Judge for the Judicial District covering Suffolk County has made a referral to law enforcement regarding the allegations,” said Lucian Chalfen, director of public information for the N.Y. Unified Court System.

“Alternate accommodations were made for those who chose to be moved to another facility,” Chalfen said.

He did not elaborate on the nature of the “very troubling allegations of misconduct” or the “general conditions” at the facility that led to Camacho’s ruling. He also did not say how many youth were affected by the order.

Camacho mandates young men ages 17-24 who are convicted of felony offenses in Youth Part to reside in “transitional housing” at Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch as an alternative to incarceration. It is a 12-18 month program.

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch executive director Thaddeus Hill said in a phone interview today the ranch “had a few young people who were released yesterday.” Hill said he did not know precisely how many young men were affected by the judge’s ruling, but he thought it was “about five or six.”

The ranch houses 17- to 24-year-old males mandated by the court in “multiple homes around town,” Hill said.

The program is separate from the group home program run by the ranch for hard-to-place foster care youth, both boys and girls, ages 10 to 17. Boys in the group home program are housed at the ranch’s main campus on Middle Road. Girls are housed in a separate home off-campus.

Hill said he had not heard about the judge’s order before being asked about it today by RiverheadLOCAL.

“I don’t know how much of it is last week,” Hill said, referring to a lawsuit filed against the organization in connection with a an alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old resident in 1995.

The complaint in the lawsuit was filed Sept. 20 by a 36-year-old man pursuant to the Child Victims Act, a state law that took effect in August that revives sexual abuse actions previously time-barred under New York law. The plaintiff in that case accuses staff at the ranch of mounting a “victim-blaming cover-up,” disposing physical evidence of a rape and convincing the child that the abuse was “a justified punishment from God for which he had to accept some responsibility.”

Hill said the timing of the judge’s action, on the heels of the lawsuit, is “concerning.”

“It’s obviously disappointing to me,” he said. “This is dealing with the core of what we do.”

Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch was founded in 1976 by Hill’s parent, the Rev. Jerrell Hill and Fern Hill, in memory of their late son, Timothy, who was struck by a car and killed while riding a bicycle in Riverhead. Jerrell Hill is a Christian minister and the mission of the ranch is stated as using “Christ-centered values” to restore “abused and neglected boys.”