Midwest Academy Closed By Authorities

Image Credit: WGEM TV, Iowa


Midwest Academy has been closed Friday after authorities raided the school in Keokuk, Iowa and a related site in nearby Montrose, while investigating into alleged sexual abuse of children at the school by staff. According to local TV station KHQA, authorities ordered the school closed and began contacting parents to come pick up their children. Parents were reportedly given 24 hours to collect their children or risk having them placed into foster care.
In the meantime, the investigating agencies are appealing to the public for any information. In an interview with KHQA reporter Michael Polarchy, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Gabriel Poling stated,”Perhaps you thought about calling but you thought your information wasn’t important enough, we want to hear from you.” Anyone with any information about sexual abuse or any other form of abuse occurring at the school is encouraged to contact Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations Special Agent Richard Rahn to call 800-225-5324.
No charges have been filed or arrests made at this time, but officials emphasized that the investigation is continuing and is being taken very seriously by the officers and agents involved. Iowa DCI Special Agent Rahn pointed out that evidence was collected in the Thursday searches and added, “Those items are going to be analyzed by experts to conclude our DCI criminalistics laboratory as well as our ICAC unit which is the internet crimes against children.”
There is no word on whether the closure is permanent. A change.org petition started by supporters of the school to pressure the authorities to drop the investigation received lackluster support, while a petition in support of the investigation and closure quickly received over twice as many signatures. A Gofundme page was also set up soliciting donations “help MWA overcome these obstacles”, but was quickly shut down by the site after being repeatedly reported for violating the site’s terms of service, which were recently changed to prohibit funds from being used in the legal defense of those accused of criminal acts.
As this story develops, we will continue to provide updates as they become available.
Read more about Midwest Academy here.