More than 30 patients at ‘The Lord’s Ranch’ say they faced years of rape and physical abuse at center run by convicted felon who was granted clemency by Trump

More than 30 former patients at an Arkansas children’s hospital run by a convicted felon who was pardoned by Donald Trump say they were sexually abused there.

Children ages 10 to 17 were “regularly physically, psychologically and sexually abused” at the Lord’s Ranch in Warm Springs, according to a lawsuit against owner Ted Suhl and others.

Eight former residents have filed the complaint, but attorneys say more lawsuits are pending against more than 30 alleged victims.

They allege that patients at the facility were subjected to “premeditated sexual abuse and child rape, often under the threat of violence,” resulting in broken bones and children being placed in isolation lockers and straitjackets.

Former counsel Emmett Presley has been named as the perpetrator, while Suhl and “several” other unnamed staff members covered up the alleged abuse.

Suhl is a prominent local businessman who operated the facility until 2016, when it was closed following his conviction for bribing a state official to obtain Medicaid payments for his businesses.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison but was pardoned by Trump at the urging of former former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

The Lord’s Ranch was opened in 1976 in the remote Ozark foothills by Suhl’s father Bud Suhl.

It was founded as a faith-based medical and spiritual treatment center for boys aged seven to seventeen, many of whom had troubled or criminal histories.

But this closeness allowed staff to “tease” patients, one of the unnamed plaintiffs alleged.

“As a young boy, I was targeted by my pedophile psychiatrist based on my history of experiences with sexual abuse as a child,” he said. “These experiences were used by him against me as a tool to further sexually victimize me.”

He claimed that when he tried to speak out about the abuse, he was told to “stop lying” and “if you’re going to make an issue of this, you’re going to face serious consequences.”

Suhl, his wife Shirley and the Rev. Alonza Jiles, who now serves on the Arkansas Board of Corrections, were all named as defendants who covered up the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit against the facility’s owner and others, including then-administrator Alonza Jiles (pictured), alleges that children’s hospital staff deliberately turned a blind eye to the alleged abuse.

The trio was “fully aware that Emmett Presley habitually raped and sexually assaulted underage males” and “made a deliberate, fully conscious decision to allow Presley, their director of social services, to take male children into their care rape and sexually abuse,” according to the files.

The lawsuit adds that the defendants “never lifted a finger” to help the children in their care, but instead “used threats, intimidation and physical violence to harm the many children who have spoken out over the years and Presley to silence them.”

A second plaintiff, who lived between 1991 and 1996, also described how he reported alleged abuse by Presley to both Bud and Ted Suhl, but was told to “never repeat” what he had said or he would not be able to leave prison . Lord’s Ranch.

“All this has been a huge burden on my shoulders for the past 30 years,” he added. “I finally feel like this burden has taken away the shame.”

North Little Rock law firm Gillispie and Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, representing the plaintiffs, filed the lawsuit under the Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act of 2021.

The legislation allows victims of historic child abuse to file civil claims beginning February 1, 2022 and January 31, 2024.

Romanucci and Blandin claim the abusive staff acted with “impunity” because they knew about Suhl’s Medicaid fraud and wanted to keep the lucrative state contracts.

Suhl “lobbied heavily between 1996 and 2007 to keep state Medicaid dollars flowing to his residential care facilities,” the complaint said.

Eight former residents have filed a lawsuit alleging that children ages 10 to 17 were “regularly physically, psychologically and sexually abused,” but their attorneys say dozens more are ready to file a similar action.

Lawyers say he ‘gambled’ $125 million in Medicaid payments through the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

During this time, he was also appointed by former Governor Huckabee to the Arkansas Child Welfare Agency Review Board.

But in 2016, jurors convicted him of paying up to $20,000 in cash bribes over four years to a state health official in hopes of receiving inside information to benefit his companies.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $200,000, but Trump commuted his sentence to time served in 2019.

Former Governor Huckabee supported his clemency. In 2006, Suhl took Huckabee, his wife and daughter – current Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders – on a private plane to a Republican Party event in North Carolina. Arkansas Times reports.

Michael Scotti, an attorney for the Suhl family, told the Arkansas Times that the claims against his clients are without merit.

“So the record is clear: the Suhl family categorically denies any allegation of wrongful conduct contained in the indictment,” he said.

“The Lord’s Ranch and its employees strictly followed all applicable regulations designed to protect children in their care. The complaint will be vigorously defended in court and the Suhl’s are confident that all claims will be properly dismissed.”

Presley, who is in his early 90s, could not be reached for comment.

Jiles could not be reached directly, but DailyMail.com has reached out to the Arkansas Board of Corrections for a statement.