Caught on camera: Shocking abuse at California boot camp under 'sergeant' who 'posed as police officer to kidnap children'

Blog author note:
Where in the world was CPS?! This is totally sick!



By Paul Bentley

Shocking videos have emerged showing horrific abuse suffered by children at a boot camp in California, under a 'sergeant' who has since been arrested for posing as a police officer to kidnap a minor.
Kelvin 'Sergeant Mac' McFarland was arrested in May after he allegedly kidnapped a 14-year-old schoolgirl while pretending to be a police officer, before demanding money from her parents in exchange for her return.

Videos which have been leaked since his arrest appear to show instructors at his 'boot camp' abusing children - intimidating them by screaming abuse inches from their faces before heckling them as they vomit due to exhaustion.

In one of the videos a young boy starts to collapse after lugging around a car tire.

He is then set upon by a team on instructors, screaming abuse centimetres from his face.
One raises his arm at one moment before the boy starts retching and collapses to the ground.
In another video a group of teens appear to be forced to drink large bottles of water in one gulp.
One by one they vomit on the floor as the instructors continue to shout at them to carry on drinking.
Camera phones can be seen thrust into the children's faces as they keel over.

The videos, obtained by the Pasadena Star-News, come after Kelvin McFarland was arrested on May 27 under charges of 'kidnapping, child abuse, false imprisonment, extortion and unlawful use of a badge'.
According to officials, he posed as a police officer and handcuffed a 14-year-old girl who was playing truant from school.

He is then alleged to have held her captive while demanding money from her parents to fund his boot camp.

Some of McFarland's clients have, however, come to his defence since the release of the videos, saying his boot camp programme changed their children's lives for the better.

McFarland served in the military before leaving to set up the Family First Growth Camp in Pasadena.

Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054919/California-boot-camp-child-abuse-Kelvin-Sergeant-Mac-McFarland-caught-camera.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Judge: DHS didn't tell of murderer's record

A Philadelphia Family Court judge says child welfare workers didn't inform him the woman he was granting custody of her young niece had once been convicted of murder.

The now 19-year-old girl is back under Judge Kevin Dougherty's supervision after the arrest of four people charged with kidnapping four mentally disabled adults and keeping them locked in a basement.

A court spokesman said Thursday that Dougherty doesn't recall the city's Department of Human Services or the girl's mother telling him that Linda Ann Weston had been convicted of murder in the starving death of a man she kept locked in a closet.

Authorities took eight children and four young adults into protective custody after Weston and three alleged accomplices were charged October 15. The niece, Beatrice Weston, was one of them. Police say she had suffered horrific abuse.

A spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter declined comment on behalf of DHS, citing confidentiality laws.

Source http://www.timesonline.com/news/state/judge-dhs-didn-t-tell-of-murderer-s-record/article_a29223f5-3a96-575f-b525-eb1917b6a4b2.html