Warning about Content: This post contains references to sexual violence and assault that may cause some readers to feel uncomfortable. There are resources at the end of this article.
Two California men have come forward to claim they believe Bradley Earl Reger — one of the men that who the FBI suspects of molesting dozens, if not thousands of children over a span of time — was a victim children during visits for a trip to the Julyau’s Echo Ranch Bible Camp when they were kids.
FBI charges document refer to Reger having boys go on “camping trips that he organized throughout Alaska,” and Reger is well-documented and has a long relationship with the camp. Men’s stories are the first to claim that there was abuse in the camps.
In the past month earlier this month, an ex- Juneau residence Troy Wilson, who says that Reger had a problem with him during trips to California, revealed to KTOO that Reger utilized the camp as an “mechanism” -an opportunity to gain the trust of families, so it was possible to later travel along with the children of their parents. However, Wilson stated that he did not know whether Reger has ever been a victim of abuse in the camps.
Zack Winfrey, who was at Echo Ranch from 2003 until 2006, claims that he was there.
“I was certainly victimized by the staff at Echo Ranch,” he stated to KTOO on a radio interview this week.
Winfrey’s account is backed by a second California person, Derrick Fox, who had a stay on Echo Ranch during the same period of time and also claimed that Reger had abused him.
The two men described a trusted prominent church member who was operating without supervision. They allege Reger was abusive to them for several years and that his visits in the Echo Ranch gave him access to children who had little or any supervision from adults. It’s not known if there was any guidelines to keep children in a safe environment.
After KTOO reached out to the camp director to inquire about Winfrey’s and account of Fox’s, camp responded by releasing a statement that said it would take these allegations very seriously.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We have recently discovered that allegations of abuse could be taking place in the ERBC,” the statement read. “As as a consequence, Avant Ministries immediately contacted police agencies in line the organisation’s Child Safety Protection Policies and Procedures .”
“He did what he wanted to do”
Federal authorities arrested Reger on July 6, and accused him of “engaging in sexually illicit activities in another country, transporting an adult with the intention of engaging in sexually illicit activities and coercion and instigation.” They asserted that Reger was a victim of abuse for several dozen children as well as young males, frequently in the name of medical treatment. However, federal investigators believe that Reger could have many victims as the Sacramento Bee reported in July.
Winfrey is among witnesses who are cooperating with FBI in their probe into Reger. He also shared a few of his communications with the FBI along with KTOO and also photos which show him in the camp. Winfrey recalls Fox from his Alaska trips. Fox also shared KTOO the correspondence he had with investigators regarding the investigation.
Winfrey added that he remembered Mio Rhein, an former Echo Ranch staff member who currently lives in Ketchikan. Rhein talked to KTOO to verify certain details regarding Reger’s travels to Alaska.
Winfrey claimed he was 10 years old at the time Reger first began to abuse his son under the guise of a physical test. Winfrey’s family was members of at the Susanville Church of the Nazarene. Reger directed the youth program of the church which included a group named SuzNaz Youth. Winfrey was a part of the group.
Winfrey stated his experience with him that trips to Alaska began a few years later, in 2003.
Winfrey as well as Fox both revealed to KTOO that Reger would bring about twelve participants from SuzNaz Youth to Alaska, and the trip would run for some time. For Juneau in the summer, they will visit Echo Ranch Bible Camp and the group would stay in a house that is located within the grounds that belong to Auke Bay Bible Church.
They also travelled around Southeast. Winfrey remembers trips to kayak and also hiking through the Chilkoot Trail. His pictures from these excursions are typical snapshotskayaks parked on a beach, kids walking through the forest, and Southeast landmarks such as that of Mendenhall Glacier and Main Street in Skagway. The photos also feature iconic scenes that are from Echo Ranch, like the beach crossing which is still displayed on the Echo Ranch Facebook page.
Both men mentioned that Reger often brought them on trips to Echo Ranch when other groups were not there. While they were there, Winfrey said they would help in the construction of cabins as well as do maintenance on the camp.
Winfrey claimed Reger was a bully several times during the first visit -in the campers’ cabins as well as at the nurse’s station.
Fox was also at Echo Ranch for the first time in 2003. Similar to Winfrey, Fox said Reger was abusive to him on numerous occasions but always under the pretense of medical attention.
“span” style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”The incident was extremely brief in its duration in the majority of cases,” Fox said. “But it was almost always there — for example, many times per trip.”
Winfrey as well as Fox both claimed that other adults would wander into and out of excursions, but no one would stay for the entire duration. They said that often, Reger wasn’t the sole person present.
Between the work at the camp and the activities in the forests, Fox said there were always injuries and illnesses Reger could be able to use as a reason to spend time with children. There were no rules in the camp that would prevent this.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”There wasn’t anyone who ever would have told you, ‘Hey, I don’t have to take this kid to the clinic”” Fox said. “He did what he was told to do. .”
Reger’s connection to Echo Ranch remains unclear
Avant Ministries, the camp’s parent company, has said to KTOO that Reger did not work for the camp, but that he worked at the camp “in the 1970’s and intermittently throughout the years.” However, the 2014 history that the camp wrote to mark the 50th anniversary of the camp, describes Reger as a “camp patron” and outlines his involvement that stretched across several decades.
Reger is described by describing himself as “a previous camper” with a history of “volunteered for a position as the boy’s guide for a number of times” throughout the 1970s. The 1985 book tells of Reger as bringing the California young people’s group into camp to assist in the “build the bathhouse, leach field, and septic tank.” field.”
Winfrey, Fox and Rhein -the former employee all claimed Reger was frequenting Echo Ranch regularly in the early 2000s.
Winfrey stated that Reger often paid for parents’ excursions or paid for them completely. Reger said that his parents paid about $150 on the initial tripand then nothing for any subsequent trips.
The style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Obviously there were the majority of people couldn’t afford to fly to Alaska and then stay there for a few months,” he said. “He offered a deal to every kid in the youth group. .”
Rhein claimed he was the manager of the horse program at the camp between 1996 and the year 2006. He recalls Reger’s excursions in the summer with SuzNaz Youth. He also mentioned that he remembered Reger being the camp’s nurse for a portion of a summer, a story that was shared by other sources.
Rhein describes Reger as a charitable donor who provided medical equipment as well as an ambulance for the camp.
“Brad is a contributor and was recognized as a significant contributor,” the donor said.
This is consistent with the way that the camp’s history explains Reger. The book cites the “donation of a huge truck to camp member Brad Reger” from the late 1990s. It states that “Brad donated from the funds of his Emergency Medical Services Company, an old ambulance with a 4-wheel drive .”
Rhein stated that he was looking to share what he had learned about Reger as the man believes Christian organisations have a tradition of not denying the past damage that occurred in Alaska.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Accountability is crucial,” he said. “We haven’t done a great job of being open about the negative events that took place within the Church .”
Camp director Randy Alderfer, who has been at Echo Ranch since the year 2009 stated on Friday that he was unable to verify any specifics regarding Reger’s experience in the camp at Echo Ranch, or whether there were any donations from him. Also, Brynden Wiens the Echo Ranch’s camp director said to KTOO via email that Echo Ranch did not have any comment on Reger as a potential donor.
“ As it is a matter of policy we cannot divulge the details of the individual (private) donations to our charity,” Wiens wrote.
Alderfer said that adults weren’t allowed to be separated from children in The camp. However, he didn’t explain when the policy went into in. Wiens’s letter outlined child safety rules which are in effect today however, he was unable to provide information on the policies in place at the time Winfrey and Fox visited the camp.
Echo Ranch has now updated their website with an explanation of Reger and an link on the website of FBI to report potential abuse by Reger.
“The same thing since the beginning”
Winfrey stated she was told that Reger kept abusing her for a long time, up to the time he turned 20. Fox stated that at the age of 17, the exam was given by Reger who pushed him to question the nature of what was going on. Fox described it as “the very first time that I realised that something was extremely, horribly wrong.”
Fox claimed he spoke to his parents about it, but they remained hopeful that the treatment he described was genuine medical treatment.
Both men said they knew Reger as a revered and well-known person in the church. However, both men remember Reger acting inappropriately in public during the travels such as wearing only his underwear, or going into hotels with children without warning.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”There were always humorous moments,” Fox said. “Maybe everyone was not happy around Brad .”>
There were also allegations of abuse throughout the time. Reger was initially investigated by the state of California in 1986, for child sexual abuse, later three times in 2003 in 2006, 2007, and 2003. None of these investigations led to arrests.
The Susanville Church of the Nazarene has not responded to KTOO’s inquiries regarding Reger’s position in the church, or any contributions he may had made.
When federal authorities detained Reger on July 1, Winfrey became one witnesses who testified in support of Reger should be held up to his hearing.
The style=”font-weight: 400″ style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I’ve been sleeping very uneasy for the past decade, in the knowledge that Brad was in the open, in the open, free to do what he wanted to do at any time he wanted to do it.” Winfrey wrote in a statement to the FBI. “I’d wish to hear at last, for the very first time in my experience, that the person who destroyed my life is now in a position that he isn’t able to hurt anyone other than himself. .”
Winfrey has said that he’s been in contact with others who claim Reger was abusive to them — at a minimum one person from each decade that goes back to the 1970s. The accounts starting with Troy Wilson’s very similar in that they all involve being friends with boys between the ages that of 11 or 10 years old, travelling with them without supervision and figuring out ways to keep the boys in the family until they entered young adulthood.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”It seems that we could come up with the same pattern -” Brad pretty much did the same thing from the starting,” Winfrey said. “He has just become more sophisticated in his approach .”
The FBI has an online form available to those who wish to file a claim that they or a minor dependentcould have been harmed through Bradley Reger.
In Juneau, victims of sexual assault can contact AWARE at 907-586-1090 and find ways to help. There’s also a national 24 hour online chat and telephone hotline, which offers counselling and assistance.
