First accused of manure abuse on trial

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- The punishment for misbehaving at Heartland Christian Academy was cleaning out manure pits. Authorities called it felony child abuse.

The first of Heartland's staffers charged in the case -- grandson of the millionaire founder of the place for troubled young people -- is to go on trial today.

Charles Robert Patchin, 34, of Newark, faces seven felony charges that he "knowingly inflicted cruel and inhuman punishment" on five minors at the academy, including two incidents involving the same children, by forcing them to stand in manure pits.

The concrete-lined pits were knee-to-waist-deep with manure, urine, cattle afterbirths and corn stalks. Patchin and other defendants said the children were made to shovel waste for brief periods as punishment for misbehaving.

Patchin's grandfather, Heartland founder Charles N. Sharpe, has vehemently denied the child abuse allegations while acknowledging that the school employs tough discipline to help young people with behavior and substance abuse problems. Patchin is also a member of Heartland's board of directors.

Heartland doesn't deny that the children were made to work in the manure pits during March and April of 2001, a practice Sharpe said was discarded as discipline because the young people were engaging in horseplay instead of working.

Change of venue

The trial was moved from Lewis County in northeast Missouri to Pulaski County in south-central Missouri because the defense wanted a new judge.

Sharpe, who made millions as owned of Ozark National Life Insurance of Kansas City, Mo., has said he was called by God to found Heartland.

He has pledged to use every dime of his fortune "and every drop of blood in my body" to fight the abuse charges. Sharpe has hired a battery of attorneys and a public relations firm, and he purchased chunks of television time in northeast Missouri to tell his side.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jules DeCoster has been criticized by Sharpe for pursuing the abuse cases. But DeCoster has said Heartland is trying to intimidate local officials.

DeCoster cited actions such as Sharpe's decision to move several million dollars worth of farming equipment and a new dairy processing plant out of Lewis County to take the items off the Lewis County tax rolls.

Heartland includes a Christian school, a nondenominational church, two restaurants, a convenience store, and a dairy, beef and land operation sprawling across three counties in northeast Missouri. Students work at the various Heartland businesses.

Heartland's attorneys have gone to federal court to assert that the ministry is being harassed by local officials.