EXCLUSIVE: 'It's an abusive lockdown facility!' Man who was sent to Utah school for wayward teens where Paris Hilton says she was assaulted claims he was raped multiple times at 13, forced to give staff oral sex, drugged and thrown in solitary confinement
A 13-year-old was allegedly raped multiple times at a Utah school for wayward teens where Paris Hilton also testified she was abused and sexually assaulted.
In an exclusive interview , Aaron Ross, 33, claimed he was forced to give a staff member oral sex when he was 13, was heavily drugged, denied food and locked in a 6ft-square cement 'isolation room' for days on end at Provo Canyon School, south of Salt Lake City, Utah.
DailyMailTV has also obtained a 2013 police report detailing Ross' claims, and data of 911 calls obtained via the Freedom of Information Act which reveal dozens of child abuse and sexual assault reports at the school's two campuses from 2012 to 2019.
The teen treatment center, where a 12-month stay reportedly costs up to $300,000, has faced previous accusations of beating, drugging and sexually abusing its clients.
Hilton, 39, slammed the institution in her 2020 documentary This Is Paris, and this month gave tearful testimony to Utah lawmakers that she was 'verbally, mentally, and physically abused on a daily basis' there aged 16.
Aaron Ross, 33, attended Provo Canyon school in Salt Lake City, Utah as a teen and claimed he was forced to give a staff member oral sex, he tells DailyMailTV
Paris Hilton attended the Provo Canyon School as a teen and said she was verbally, physically and mentally abused on a daily basis
The teen treatment center, where a 12-month stay costs up to $300,000, has faced previous accusations of beating, drugging and sexually abusing its clients
Ross, 33, says he was 13 when he was sent by his parents to the Orem campus of Provo Canyon School for two years in 2001.
'The school markets itself very deceptively as a place where kids will go to heal and get better,' he told DailyMailTV.
Ross is pictured at age 13 -two months before he was sent to Provo Canyon. 'The school markets itself very deceptively as a place where kids will go to heal and get better,' Ross told DailyMailTV. 'But it's an abusive locked-down facility'
'But it was an abusive locked-down facility where children are routinely thrown in solitary confinement, deliberately over-medicated, physically beaten and in many cases sexually assaulted.'
Ross said he repeatedly tried to get his alleged abuse investigated but was 'cut off' by the school's staff and therapist, and was told by law enforcement in 2004 there was not enough evidence to pursue his claims.
After suffering nightmares from his experiences as a child, he filed a second police report with Orem Police Department in 2013.
'I was raped by one of the staff,' he wrote in the report. 'I was in a room called observation. It is a roughly 6 by 6 foot isolation cement room where I was basically kept for many days at a time. Sometimes only getting out to use the bathroom or to sleep on a matress [sic].
'This is where he forced me to undress and give him a b***job. He would pull down his pants and I had to suck his p**** while he sat on his chair. This happened several times.
'It was vey [sic] disgusting and I felt hopeless. I had no choice. If I did not do it, he would not give me breakfast or lunch or not even let me sleep if he was working the night shift.
'I could be kept awake until 4 in the morning in the observation room. I would be sleep deprived because then I would have to wake up at 6 every morning.'
Ross claimed he was drugged in 'extremely high doses' to keep him compliant.
'I remember being in a constant state of sleepiness because all the drugs I was put on. On top of that I was held down and given an injection of [redacted] a few times during the course of my 2 year stay,' the report said.
The police report paints a picture of a nightmarish 'prison', where Ross went months without breathing outside air, and every contact with the outside world was monitored and policed.
After suffering nightmares from his experiences as a child, Ross filed a police report with Orem Police Department in 2013 - which was shared with DailyMail.com. He detailed his experience
'There were many days or weeks in a row when I had to sit on a desk and face the wall. No exercise. Just get up to go to the bathroom and go to bed. That's it,' he wrote.
'When I tried to tell my therapist [redacted], she did not care to listen to me. She wouldn't believe me. I also told a supervisor… She did not take me very seriously either.
'I could not tell anybody. My phone calls were monitered [sic] by [the school's therapist] so I could not have a personal conversation with my parents.'
Ross wrote that he had been in anguish over reporting the alleged rape and child abuse, fearing he would not be believed by law enforcement and would affect his parents' health.
'I don't want my parents to know even to this day because my mom has multiple sclerosis and my parents have a lot of stress as it is,' the police report said.
'Also I have been terrified of going back… I didn't think anyone would believe me anyways. What pushed me over the edge to report this is my constant nightmares at night and traumatic memories I get from time to time.'
The case was investigated at the time by Sergeant B.J. Robinson of Orem Police Department. But when Ross' therapist and a member of Orem Department of Public Safety denied Ross' claims, the officer told the alleged victim 'this case was his word against [their] word' and closed the file.
It wasn't until October 2020, when Hilton's documentary prompted new allegations of widespread abuse at the school, that the case was reopened.
A 'supplemental report' on Ross' file shows a new detective is now investigating the case after discovering that 'several cases are coming up with the school.'
'Into my teenage years and my 20s I suffered post traumatic stress disorder,' Ross told DailyMailTV. 'It inhibited my ability to communicate and relate to other people. It had a profound effect on me for many years. Even today it's difficult for me to talk about.
'But I feel it's important for me talk about it because I'm very concerned for the children who are still there today.'
DailyMail.com has obtained records of crimes reported at Provo Canyon via 911 calls. Two reports show there were a total 429 calls from 2012 through 2019 for alleged crimes at the school's Provo and Springville campuses
In a statement released Provo Canyon said it had changed its policies 'some time ago,' but added that it 'cannot comment on individual patient treatment, care or allegations due to HIPAA privacy laws'
DailyMail.com has obtained records of crimes reported at Provo Canyon via 911 calls.
Two reports show there were a total 429 calls from 2012 through 2019 for alleged crimes at the school's Provo and Springville campuses.
The reports include 17 alleged cases of child abuse, 46 reports of sex offenses, 5 sexual assaults and 73 assaults.
There were 182 calls from the Provo campus and 239 calls from the Springville campus during the eight-year period.
A sex offense was reported as recently as May 2019 on the Springville campus and August 2019 on the Provo campus, as well as a report of child abuse there in March 2019.
Ross says his alleged ordeal left him suffering from PTSD and got so frustrated feeling the authorities were not listening to his claims that he sent threats to two Utah legislators.
'I will strangle you with my bare hands,' Ross wrote in an email to Utah Representative Adam Robertson. 'I will tie your legs up with a metal weight. And I will sink your body to the bottom of Utah Lake. Nobody will be able to find you.'
Prosecutors charged him with two counts of second-degree felony terroristic threats in December.
'Ross made the threats when his demands that the legislators cause investigations, prosecutions or other legal action against Provo Canyon School did not occur,' the charging documents said.
Ross' attorney, Peter Gleason, told DailyMail.com that his alleged abuse 'impacted Aaron's perception of when or how to set boundaries' and that his threats to lawmakers were 'a direct result of the trauma he suffered while at the Provo Canyon School.'
'While some of the language Aaron used in his emails to Utah State Representatives Robertson and Ray may be shocking, it is pale in comparison to the abuse Aaron and numerous others have suffered and reported, while at the Provo Canyon School, only to be ignored,' Gleason said.
'After years of abuse he feels as though he is reliving that abuse by having his pleas for assistance ignored by the very entities designed to protect him.'
Hilton shared photos of herself as an 18-year-old after she had come home from Provo Canyon School She claims staff members would beat her, force her to take unknown pills, watch her shower and send her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment
Hilton also said that children in Provo Canyon School were 'restrained, thrown into walls, strangled, and sexually abused regularly'
Hilton opened up about the alleged abuse she experienced at Provo Canyon School in her documentary released last year
Gleason wrote to Utah Senator Mitt Romney, calling on him to have the senate investigate the school.
'I urge you to hold Senate hearings on this important matter where children from across the nation were apparently trafficked into this institution and systematically abused,' Gleason wrote.
Hilton testified to the Utah Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee two weeks ago about the 'traumatizing' abuse she says she suffered years ago at Provo Canyon School.
She gave her speech advocating for a bill that would require more government oversight of youth residential treatment centers and require them to document when they use restraints.
Gleason wrote to Utah Senator Mitt Romney, calling on him to have the senate investigate the school
The socialite and reality TV star was sent to the boarding school by her parents in an attempt to stop her from partying and teenage rebellion.
'Although Provo Canyon School marketed itself as a premier treatment center, it was as if hell itself was on Earth,' Hilton told the committee. 'I cried myself to sleep every single night, praying I would wake up from this nightmare.
'For the past 20 years, I have had a recurring nightmare where I'm kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, strip-searched, and locked in a facility. I wish I could tell you that this haunting nightmare was just a dream, but it is not.
'When I was 16, two transporters woke me up in the middle of the night with handcuffs,' she added. 'They asked me if I wanted to go the easy way or the hard way. They carried me out of my home as I screamed at the top of my lungs for my parents' help.'
Hilton claims staff members would beat her, force her to take unknown pills, watch her shower and send her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment.
'Without a diagnosis, I was forced to consume medication that made me feel numb and exhausted. I didn't breathe fresh air or see the sunlight for 11 months. There was zero privacy. Every time I would use the bathroom or take a shower, it was monitored,' she alleged.
'At 16 years old, as a child,I felt their piercing eyes staring at my naked body. I was just a kid and felt violated every single day.'
Hilton also said that children in Provo Canyon School were 'restrained, thrown into walls, strangled, and sexually abused regularly.'
She said one staff member would 'brag to other students that she was the one that broke Paris Hilton.'
'This woman was employed by UHS for 20 years. She was let go this October, only after my documentary premiered,' Hilton said.
The government oversight measure championed by Hilton passed out of the committee unanimously following her emotional testimony and accounts from several other survivors, and will now be heard on the Utah State Senate floor for a vote.
The socialite slammed the institution in her 2020 documentary This Is Paris, and gave tearful testimony to Utah lawmakers
In a statement released Provo Canyon said it supports the bill and that it had changed its policies 'some time ago', but added that it 'cannot comment on individual patient treatment, care or allegations due to HIPAA privacy laws.'
'Provo Canyon School does not use 'solitary confinement.' We have not used, and do not use, mechanical restraints. We eliminated the use of seclusion or isolation some time ago,' the statement said.
'Licensed physicians do not prescribe or use any drug or medication as a means of discipline.
'Leadership and staff are highly committed to providing effective treatment, compassionate care and a nurturing environment for the students and families we serve.'
Provo Canyon School originally opened in 1971. A statement on the school website says the previous owners sold the school in 2000.
The administration has previously said it can't comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton's time there.
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