Suit: Missouri ranch for troubled boys covered up sex abuse

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LAMPE, Mo. (AP)   A lawsuit filed on behalf of three former residents at a southwest Missouri ranch for troubled boys accuses the ranch of covering up allegations of rapes and sexual assaults.

The lawsuit was filed in October and detailed Thursday in the Springfield News-Leader. It alleges that in 2009 and 2010, some older boys sexually assaulted younger boys at the Lives Under Construction ranch. It says the ranch ignored the abuse, delayed contacting authorities and even punished some boys for reporting it.

Lives Under Construction is a Christian residential facility in Lampe, near the Arkansas border. Some boys are sent there by their parents. Others are sent by the courts.

Ranch founder Ken Ortman denies the allegations. He says state investigators have never found a substantiated claim of neglect or abuse.

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