Staff of Ranch for Delinquent Youth Recounts Working With Nathan Rich

As a staff member of the Mace Kingsley Ranch, Jennifer worked to rehabilitate “tough” youth who needed a hand up in life, including Nathan Rich.

TRANSCRIPT:

At the Mace Kingsley Ranch where I was staff, myself and many of the other staff members that I worked with, were there because we really loved and cared about the kids.

We knew that the program was valuable enough that it could actually help rehabilitate someone who, you know, was a juvenile delinquent or wasn’t doing well in life, and get them back winning in life, and get them back being productive as an individual so they could actually go out and pursue their own, you know, their goals and dreams that they had. And I think that, I would say for myself, especially, I wanted that for all the kids that were there, no matter how tough they were.

So, the first time that I met Nathan was here in Clearwater, Florida. I was asked to assist in his transportation to the MK Ranch School. And I met Nathan and his mom, Julie, and his grandmother at his house. And we basically, sort of, all sat down and talked with Nathan, and let him know that he was going to be going to the MK Ranch School because his other alternative, at that point, was either that or to go to jail. So it was—there weren’t a lot of choices.

And he basically, like—picture Marilyn Manson, circa late 1990s, that’s what Nathan looked like. He was dressed head-to-toe black. He had on the black platform combat boots that sort of went up almost to his knee, with his pants tucked in, chains, spikes, you know. I think he may have had the dark, you know, eyeliner or, you know, eye shadow underneath the eyes. He looked—he was basically into Marilyn Manson and looked like someone who followed Marilyn Manson.

And it was about that time that he took two bracelets that he had on his shelf and put them on that were basically full of spikes, like sharp thumbtack type spikes. Definitely not—they were pointy, they were not dull. And at this point, this is when he started to become a little agitated and wasn’t really willing to go with us. And there was another staff member from the school with me. And when he said, “Okay, we’re ready to go. Let’s go,” that’s when Nathan became aggressive and belligerent. And he actually wound up fighting physically with the other staff member to try to, basically, grab his things and get out of the house and just take off. And during that interchange, the male staff member got, you know, cut up from the bracelets that Nathan had put on. And there was—and Nathan pushed him with his body back into a shelf. And an actual shelf in the house got broken as we were heading out the front door. So, it just was, like, he was not willing to go. And he was just going to take his stuff, and he was just going to take off. That was sort of his attitude at the time.

When Nathan was first at the Ranch, he was kind of a little black cloud—like, he was just very dark. He really just—he was kind of a loner, and didn’t want to participate. He didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want to be in communication. He was not very outgoing. And it took us a bit of time to actually get him to become just involved in the day-to-day activities that went on.

And quite often, there were many times where Nathan used to come talk to me in my office, ’cause I kind of had an open door policy where at any point if the kids wanted to come in and talk to me about something, it was totally okay for them to do that. And they could talk to me about anything.

One of the things that I know that Nathan and I had talked about, was that it was important for him that he had a good relationship with his family. I know that he really wanted that. And part of the issue there was that he had—he had broken the bond of trust with his family many times before in the past. And here they were paying for him to do this program because they really wanted to—they wanted for him to be worthy of giving, of them giving their trust to him.

And he, at the time that I left the Ranch, he was doing very well. He was an in-charge of a team, and he was being a leader, and he was really happy about that. And I mean, I used to call and check to see how the kids were doing. And I think one time he got on the phone with me and he told me how well he was doing. And it made me really happy because I really wanted him to do well. And I think it was going better with his family, and they were in much better communication. And, you know, I was excited and happy for him that he was just—he sort of was finding his way, you know.

And people did want to believe in him. I wanted to believe in him, you know. He was one of—he was one of my kids that I actually really liked. Sometimes the tougher they were, the more, you know, I loved them because I could see so much potential that was there, you know. And Nathan was one of those kids for me.

You know, it’s just really unfortunate. It’s like, you know, when you see the good in someone and you really hope that they’re going to make it? And to see them make a different choice for themselves, it’s kind of hard. And it’s just—it’s sad that he’s just never been able to really see how much love he actually had.