In this post, we will go over the testimony of another female witness who was a student of Midwest Academy. She did have a friendship with the sexual abuse victim as much as one can in Midwest Academy since they were only allowed to speak to each other for 30 minutes a day during tutoring. As with all the other posts, we will disseminate interesting points here and link the full testimony before.
The witness testified that when she arrived at Midwest Academy, Ben was waiting for her out in front of the building. The staff took her to OSS, had all her items searched and the procedure was to delouse all students just like they entering prison.
A. Well, it was late. We got there later than expected. Mr. Ben, he was in the front of the building waiting for us. And when I got in, we walked down this corridor with all the pictures of graduates. I was brought to the OSS room. All my items were searched through. I was–then the rover staffing OSS at that time brought me into the bathroom. I was deloused, basically. I had to wash my hair with lice shampoo and take a bath and a shower, and I had to strip down all my clothes to my bra and underwear before getting in the shower and then take them off in there to shower. Then I was–I got out and I had to get dressed and then we marked all my items with my initials. And then it was really late so they basically just sent me to bed, and I had no clue of the rules or anything.
The witness describes what it was like to be a new student and how she was so terrified to be there that she urinated in the bed. Instead of being understanding or compassionate, she was shamed in front of her peers by the staff.
Q. Did you spend the next couple of days learning the rules and trying to figure out how everything went there?
A. Yeah. I had a really hard transition. I had a hope buddy, which was a buddy that was assigned to you, normally an upper level, before you were–that you were on for three days where you couldn’t get consequences, and you were allowed to talk to the hope buddy, and my hope buddy’s name was Axxxxx. And she would just basically just tell me all the rules. If I had questions, I could ask her. I believe it was my second or third night, I was too scared to get up from bed and ended up wetting myself in the bed, yeah.
Q. What do you mean you were too scared to get up and out of bed?
A. You weren’t allowed to get out of bed at night or it was a shutdown consequence. And I was brand new, so I was really intimidated. You had to wake up your bunk buddy underneath you to go to
the bathroom. So you had to wake somebody up, and I was just really nervous to do that. And I was just worried, like, what would happen, like, was I going to get a consequence for going? And I was literally just petrified and I ended up just wetting myself.
Q. Did you get in trouble for wetting the bed?
A. Yes. It was pretty embarrassing. They basically, you know, told everyone that I wet the bed, you know. And I got to, you know, strip my sheets in front of everyone and, you know, yeah.
It took the witness a long time to get off level 1. The reason she gives is that she didn’t want the responsibility of punishing the other students which is what happened when you raised through the levels. As many WWASP survivors can attest, the administration of these types of programs build the level system like this so the student becomes culpable in the crime and to pass their guilt on to the victims.
Q. It took you a long time to get off of Level 1; is that right?
A. Yeah. I didn’t want to get off Level 1, because I didn’t want the responsibilities of being a bunk leader or a Level 3 because I didn’t want to give any of the other girls their consequences. I just didn’t have it in me to, you know, take away other girls’ points that were going to get them home.
The witness went into Midwest Academy with anxiety problems and PTSD. Unfortunately, instead of finding a nurturing environment that would help give her the tools to cope, she was punished for things she couldn’t control such as her panic attacks.
Q. Was that stressful for you being there with all those rules and expectations?
A. I had very bad anxiety before going, and I also had PTSD. I went right after a very traumatic incident. So the rules were really hard for me because, you know, I don’t like people behind me and I get very anxious. And the rules were set up where if I looked behind me in line structure, I would get a consequence. Or, you know, if somebody dropped something next to me and I looked in line structure, I’d get a consequence. And I would have panic attacks, and the staff made up a few consequences of breathing too heavily because I would start hyperventilating in class and get nervous.
One of the hardest parts of Midwest Academy for this witness was the fact that she couldn’t talk to anyone. When she or others were struggling, they often couldn’t talk to each other or staff to help them cope. Remember: Midwest Academy was advertised as a therapeutic boarding school but, as many witnesses attest, most of the time they found there was no one to talk to or help them through a bad day.
Q. No, you’re fine. I wanted to hear that. We’re not going to go into a lot of the other detail about that. But was there a particular rule that you yourself just hated the most?
A. I hated talking without permission, because at Midwest you weren’t allowed to talk unless you raised your hand and asked to speak. You had to raise your hand and ask the staff to speak to a level–and they had to be appropriate levels. So if you were struggling with something like a letter from home or, you know, anything, you couldn’t talk to somebody. And I would constantly, like, blurt out and get those consequences, and I would end up trending on them, which is when you get three in a week, which takes away an extra amount of points. So I would have a lot of hard times with that rule.
The witness was placed in OSS for having flashbacks and panic attacks – something that is associated with PTSD and that she could not have possibly controlled. Instead of being cared for, she was punished for something she could not have possibly controlled.
Q. Did you ever spend time in OSS?
A. Multiple times.
Q. What types of things would get you
in OSS?
A. Really bad panic attacks where I wasn’t following the rules. And I would have, like, flashbacks and stuff and I would have to be removed from the classroom. And I would refuse to go anywhere, so I would just sit in a corner and cry. Then I would be brought to OSS for not cooperating and disrupting the family.
The witness turned 18 while in the program. While she could have checked herself out of the school at any time, she was told by Midwest Academy and her family that she would be homeless if she left. This is typical of WWASP programs and, despite claims by Ben Trane that this wasn’t a WWASP facility, he still used the same methods and terminology that WWASP used. You can read more about exit plans here at Fornits on their Wiki about WWASP.
Q. So before I go on, tell me about that. You were 18 and you chose to stay?
A. Yes. It wasn’t really a choice. My family–I tried to take my exit plan probably about three times before I actually finally took my exit plan. But every time I did, I was put in OSS to take my exit plan and I had to sit there. And then they’d call my family and get my brother on the phone, and he would ask, like, why are you leaving, why are you destroying our family? And I would basically have to talk to all three of my family members and be told me that I’m ruining their lives and my life. And also the fact that my birthday was in January didn’t help, because when you take your exit plan you are homeless. There was no point–I was not going home. If I took my exit plan, there was no me going right home. So I was going to be dropped off and basically be homeless, and I couldn’t do that in Iowa in January.
Q. You didn’t have anywhere to go?
A. No, I didn’t. I didn’t actually know my parents’ address because they had moved from XXXX, to XXXX, while I was at the school.
The witness did testify to seeing Ben Trane give the victim special attention. He would buy her more things and higher quality things than other girls. She also testifies that the sexual abuse victim did disclose to her that Ben had her go over to his house alone. She testified that she saw Ben pull her out of class without a second adult or student coming along with them which was unusual for Midwest Academy. She also describes seeing Ben plan a hand on her shoulder at one point.
Q. Did you ever see the Defendant and [sexual abuse victim] spending time together?
A. Yeah. He would pull her out of gym and classes, and he would just do that kind of stuff. And when he came into the gym, he would pull her aside and that kind of stuff. And while I was tutoring her one day, she actually mentioned that she had just gone to his house before.
Q. So when you were tutoring, she had said, I–
A. That I went to Mr. Ben’s house. She didn’t tell me anything else.
Q. Did you ever see things that the Defendant purchased for [sexual abuse victim]?
A. Lotions, shampoos, that kind of stuff. He would just–I didn’t see anything more than just like–more items that we weren’t getting. Like the rest of the girls got Dollar Tree products, and they were given them once a month, and Mr. Ben was buying her lotions and shampoos not on that day of the month where we got our supplies.
Q. So normal hygiene things, but maybe better than what some of the other girls were getting?
A. Nicer products. We got VO5, which is this lovely brand from Dollar Tree, you know, and other kinds of very cheap products.
Q. Other than seeing Mr. Trane maybe pull [sexual abuse victim] aside from class or maybe taking her outside of the classroom, did you ever see them alone together?
A. By definition I couldn’t have seen them alone together.
Q. I mean alone as in not in a group?
A. He would take her from the classroom alone, and if any other staff was taking a child without a second child going, they had to have another adult accompany.
Q. But my question was, did you ever see them, just the two of them, without other people around?
A. I was getting to that. He would– instead of having a second come, like an adult second come with him, or taking a student, he would just take her alone from the classroom.
Q. But you don’t know where they went?
A. No. I know at one point that she did tell me that–while I was tutoring her that she did go to his house alone.
Q. And it’s your testimony that [sexual abuse victim] told you that she went with Mr. Ben to his house, the two of them?
A. I don’t know if his kids were there or whatever, but she said that he went– she went to Mr. Ben’s house. We didn’t talk much on it. She didn’t really–we were tutoring, and I didn’t want to get an off-task consequence.
Q. Right. But I thought you said they went alone.
A. She told me that she went to his house without another student. I don’t know if his kids were there or someone else was there, but she told me she went without other students. All she said was she went to his house so–you know, I don’t–she didn’t talk to me much on it. We were tutoring. I only had fifteen minutes with each person I tutored.
Q. During the time that you would have seen Ben and [sexual abuse victim] talking, kind of just the two of them, did you ever see him do anything that you thought was inappropriate?
A. At one point I did see him place his hand on her shoulder.
Q. Over her clothes?
A. Over her clothes, yes. She was wearing clothes because we were in a public place.
According to the witness, everyone wanted to talk to Ben because they knew he could get them stuff but there were consequences given out to students who tried to approach him without permission. Ben would speak to who he wanted to. Ben never came to see the witness while she was in OSS even though it was really hard for her to be in that room with the mental issues she had.
A. Everyone wanted to talk to Mr. Ben because he could get you things. He could, you know, help you if you were having an issue in the program with a staff. You could talk to him about it and, you know, hopefully get that resolved.
Q. But there was rules about–you know, everybody couldn’t just run up whenever they felt like?
A. Mr. Ben– Yeah, he had to come up to you, or you had to raise your hand, and if he picked on you and gave you permission to speak then you wouldn’t get a consequence. But if a staff member thought you were at all trying to–like, if you went like this (indicating) to Mr. Ben, you got a consequence anyway. You had to raise your hand and not flop it around.
Q. So the Defendant, Mr. Ben, chose who to speak with?
A. Yes.
Q. Would he come see you when you were in OSS?
A. He didn’t really come see me in OSS at all. I was–when I got in OSS, I immediately tried to get out, because being in that room made my mental issues really, really hard for me. And I would have really bad struggles while in there that made things really bad for me. So I immediately tried to get out and rejoin the family, because I was alone with my thoughts.
The witness also participated in the “body image class.” Ben Trane told her she could get naked if she wanted to in the room but she chose not to since she felt that there were hidden cameras in the room. After she left the room with the mirror, she identified her body type. Ben told her that she was wrong and picked out a different body type for her in front of all her peers.
Q. Did you do a body image class?
A. Yes.
Q. Tell us about that?
A. Mr. Ben came down to the gym one day, and he basically said he was doing a body image seminar. And he mentioned that we were going to be able to see ourselves. I had been there for a year and a bit at that point, and I hadn’t seen myself once since entering the academy because there were no mirrors at all. And I was very interested, because I went from a size 17 to a size 11, so I wanted to know what I looked like. And so I went with him and probably like 8 or 9 other girls. I’m not 100 percent sure. We were brought up the stairs to the second level where the uniform room was. And he said he had a mirror in there, and that we could go in, get naked if we wanted to, and just look at ourselves and just see what we thought our body shape was. Do you want me to–
Q. You’re fine. Did you do that?
A. I didn’t get naked. I felt–there were cameras in every room of the facility that we knew of besides the dorms and the bathrooms, so I thought the uniform room was a very sketchy place, and I didn’t want to take my clothes off in there.
Q. You were uncomfortable?
A. I was very uncomfortable.
Q. Did you go in and look in the mirror at all?
A. Yeah. I spent a good ten minutes just looking at myself.
Q. When you came out, did the Defendant speak with you about your body type?
A. He had all these–there was a little table outside, and he had probably like four–I don’t know how many body types there are–but he had every type of body type laid out on a table with a little stack of each. And he basically was, like, what do you think your body type is? And there was like a pear shape and a few others, and I picked up one and he told me it wasn’t the right one, and I went with another one. And they had different diets that you could do and exercises for your specific body type.
Q. Who told you that you didn’t pick the right body type?
A. Mr. Ben.
Q. What did he tell you you were?
A. I don’t remember. I think I picked up a different–I think I’m pear shaped, apparently. I think that’s the one he handed me. I don’t remember what one I picked up, but it was the one that I thought resembled my body.
Q. Is this somewhat what happened with the other girls there when you all were there?
A. Yes.
The witness described seeing girls coming back from shopping trips to Victoria Secret with Ben Trane.
Q. Did you ever go to Victoria’s Secret with Mr. Ben?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Did you see any other girls come back from trips with Mr. Ben with Victoria’s Secret things?
A. When they came back, they all had– the upper levels that he took had Victoria’s Secret bags, and they were all excited. And he–you know, I know one, XXXXX for sure was part of that, and I know she had some really nice Victoria’s Secret stuff, and if anyone has been there, you know what they sell, nice looking bras and lingerie. And only upper levels were allowed to have those colored bras. Level 1s and 2s only had white and beige options.
The witness ended up taking her “exit plan” in the end because conditions were so horrible at the school that she could not bear it for one more day. She actually chose to be homeless over being at Midwest Academy.
A. For my exit–I tried to take my exit plan multiple times. So on each time they would have my parents call me, and on the last time I just didn’t listen because I had been through something very traumatic for me right before I took my exit plan, and I just couldn’t handle being at the school anymore, and I would have rather been homeless than stay at the school one more day.
