LITTLE ROCK — Documents contained in an Arkansas State Police report show that Gov. Mike Huckabee was briefed as early as August 1997 of reports of abuse at the Youth Services Division's Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock.
But Huckabee said Thursday that he would swear "under oath" that he didn't know of specific allegations of abuse until eight months later. He maintained the state police report confirms what he has said all along: that he didn't have specific information of the abuse.
The report details who in the Department of Human Services -- the division's parent agency -- knew about allegations of abuse of juveniles and when, and what they did about it. The report didn't assign blame nor did it exonerate anyone by name. State police spokesman Bill Sadler said it merely lays out the facts as they were gathered.
The phrase "specific information" is key in Huckabee's explanation.
Huckabee said he was given "general information that something was being investigated and reported on by Mary Hargrove, but no details, and that it was all being taken care of by DHS."
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette began a six-part series June 14 about the division's problems, including the physical abuse of delinquents in state custody. Boys have alleged that they were beaten or sexually assaulted at the center or other youth services facilities.
On April 24, Huckabee announced at a press conference that he had discovered specific reports of abuse and mistreatment of juveniles, and that he was taking steps to remedy the problem. Since then, eight Youth Services Division employees have lost their jobs, a new division director has been named, and Human Services Department Director Lee Frazier has tendered his resignation as of July 1.
On May 26, Jonann Coniglio, chief counsel for the department, requested a comprehensive state police investigation into the department "to ascertain who knew what, when and who acted/failed to act." The state police report was delivered to Coniglio on June 19.
The report includes a summary of an interview with Sandra Winston, Huckabee's liaison to the Human Services Department. It states that on Aug. 11, 1997, Winston and Larry Toller, a former department liaison to the governor, had been briefed by then-Youth Services Division Director Ruth Whitney and former division operations Director Lloyd Warford.
The report stated Whitney and Warford "informed them that incidents of abuse had been documented at the Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock and that actions were being taken to correct that situation."
"[Winston] stated that she did not recall discussing specific cases of abuse with them," the report continued.
In a group of weekly liaison reports to Huckabee, one of which bears his mark acknowledging he had received them, Winston stated, "There is a situation brewing with the Youth Services Division. ... There are founded cases of abuse and mistreatment of clients at that facility. ... Ruth has taken corrective actions and is in the process of preparing a briefing for the Governor."
Huckabee said, "I don't recall ever have receiving that briefing. All I ever recall was, Ruth was taking corrective actions, things are taken care of, problems were being fixed and have been fixed."
Huckabee said he didn't recall ever doing any follow-up to see if the corrective measures had in fact been put in place, or whether the abuse had stopped.
Huckabee said he wasn't initially alarmed at Winston's use of the word "abuse."
"Abuse can mean anything from there was a child who didn't have his dinner last night to the kinds of things we later found out were going on," he said. "I never, ever, and this I would state under oath, no one ever discussed the details of the kinds of specific things that I first learned on the 23rd of April this year."
"It's absolutely unfair to try to make the case that there was information given when it wasn't given," he added. "I'm convinced Sandra didn't have it. I know I didn't have it. Why we didn't have it, that's the question I cannot answer."
Winston also included in her Aug. 13 report that the media had "reported on one young man that was allegedly raped at that facility."
Huckabee said he doesn't remember that news story, but an allegation without supporting evidence would not have immediately spurred him into action.
"From our standpoint, I'll tell you what that triggers. It triggers that somebody made an allegation. The news media is probably going to report it, but it's being dealt with and corrected, and we'll let you know what's taking place," he said. "That's what you have if you'll read it for what it says."
Toller told state police that Winston had tried to arrange a meeting with Huckabee after the August briefing, but the meeting never took place.
Winston declined to comment on the report Thursday, directing all questions to the governor's office.
Winston was not the only person in the governor's office to hear of problems within the Youth Services Division, the report shows.
Warford sent a memorandum to Bud Cummins, the governor's former legal counsel, in February saying he needed help in cleaning up the division. His memo said, "The number one problem I face is the inability to hold staff accountable for policy violations and/or the failure to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner."
The state's personnel policies and grievance procedure were primarily to blame, Warford wrote to Cummins. He also said that he believed Frazier was not supporting Whitney and Warford. He said Frazier threatened to fire him if Warford talked to anyone in the governor's office. Frazier said he would handle all communications with the governor's office regarding the Youth Services Division.
Cummins declined to comment Thursday on the memo or what he might have done with the information.
The state police report also contains summaries of interviews investigators conducted with several high-ranking Human Services Department officials or former officials.
Both Frazier and former department director Tom Dalton told investigators that they were briefed on the problems within the Youth Services Division, but both stated they didn't pass the information on to a higher level because they thought Whitney had the situation under control.
Frazier told state police Whitney had tried to give him a report on her findings from the Observation and Assessment Center, but he had refused to accept any documents from her. The state police summary didn't explain why he refused her report.
Whitney "never mentioned anything about overcrowding, body fluids being cleaned up by students or raw sewage being cleaned up by students at O&A," Frazier told investigators.
Frazier also told investigators he felt he was "deceived and somewhat set-up" by Whitney and Warford. He later acknowledged that he should have taken swifter actions "because he is supposed to know," the report stated.
Whitney told investigators she had made several changes at the center, but that some changes couldn't be made "because of resources not being made available."
She gave the investigators a time line showing the actions she took "to identify, report and correct allegations of maltreatment within the Division" from November 1996 to March 1998.