by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Gov. Sarah Sanders on Thursday (Feb. 29) joined the call from others for Arkansas Board of Corrections member Alonzo Jiles to resign after it was revealed he faces lawsuits alleging that he helped cover up decades of sexual abuse at the Lord’s Ranch.

The Lord’s Ranch Church Camp was located in Warm Springs, Ark., and was open between 1976 and 2016. The facility in 2014 was suspended by the Arkansas Department of Human Services, and then the license was revoked by the department’s Child Welfare Agency.

“The accusations against Alonza Jiles are concerning and a distraction from his work and the work of the Board of Corrections. I am calling on Mr. Jiles to resign from his post and allow our state to fully focus on improving community safety and ending the revolving door in our prisons,” Sanders said in a statement issued Thursday.

Gov. Sanders calls on Jiles to resign from Board of Corrections

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

Another lawsuit has been filed against a former Arkansas religious boarding school accused of allowing and fostering sexual and physical abuse.

The Lord's Ranch was a therapeutic facility in Warm Springs, near the Missouri border. The school operated from 1976 to 2016 by family members Ted and Shirley Suhl. They are named as defendants in the lawsuit along with Emmet Alden Presley, a counselor who was the Director of Social Services at The Lords Ranch.

The camp claimed to provide services to students with emotional and behavioral problems. Their website when they were operational said “The Lord's Ranch provides a therapeutic treatment plan tailored to meet the needs of each resident.” It went on to talk about the importance of the Bible in their curriculum.

Second lawsuit filed against former Arkansas religious boarding school