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When he ran in 2012, he was accused by his Mexican lover of threatening to have him deported, an explosive tale first reported in New Times. The Republican sheriff ultimately couldn’t escape the heat of the scandal and pulled himself out of the Congressional race in May, 2012 and focused on his reelection as sheriff.
But in a family videotape from Christmas, 1999, that was obtained by Biscobing and aired last week, Babeu can be heard discussing the same measures found to have put the about 60 DeSisto students at risk, in addition to being “excessively punitive.” As the video makes clear, Babeu not only knew about the practices — he appears to have liked them.
The video, however, shows in dramatic fashion exactly what Babeu knew about the twisted practices at DeSisto. His response to that knowledge is well-established: Babeu took no action to stop “cornering,” sending students to the “the farm” or other cult-like abuses.
Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu Praises Abuses At Massachusetts School He Ran In Video
Phoenix New Times
By Ray Stern
A family video of Paul Babeu soon after he became headmaster at a boarding school for troubled teens proves he knew of the perverse and abusive discipline at the school.
Babeu, a former Chandler police officer and the sheriff of Pinal County since getting elected in 2008, is running for Congress for the second time. When he ran in 2012, he was accused by his Mexican lover of threatening to have him deported, an explosive tale first reported in New Times. The Republican sheriff ultimately couldn’t escape the heat of the scandal and pulled himself out of the Congressional race in May, 2012 and focused on his reelection as sheriff.
The story about the boarding school was first reported by ABC-15 News, (KNXV-TV), in February of 2012, about a month after the story about Babeu’s lover. As reporter David Biscobing detailed, the DeSisto School in Massachusetts, which shut down in 2004 after failing to comply with state standards. Babeu worked there as headmaster and executive director from 1999 to 2001, during a time when the abuses documented by the state of Massachusetts were taking place. Babeu denied that he knew about practices discovered in an investigation of the school.
But in a family videotape from Christmas, 1999, that was obtained by Biscobing and aired last week, Babeu can be heard discussing the same measures found to have put the about 60 DeSisto students at risk, in addition to being “excessively punitive.” As the video makes clear, Babeu not only knew about the practices — he appears to have liked them.
Sitting at a dining-room table in a relaxed setting, Babeu explains to family members the harsh methods used by the boarding school, made up of about 40 percent special-needs children. Babeu gloats about how students were forced into “Dickies”-type farming outfits and sent to perform manual labor, were forced to hold hands and made to sit in a corner every day for “weeks.”
The video was released by Babeu’s sister, Lucy Babeu, a longtime enemy of her brother’s. Babeu writes her off as “mentally unstable” in a statement he gave Biscobing. As New Times also detailed in 2012, Lucy Babeu accuses her brother of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old DeSisto student. Sheriff Babeu denies the allegation, but former students interviewed by New Times writer Monica Alonzo in 2012 said there was no doubt the headmaster and student spent a lot of time together.
“Systematic psychological or physical abuse of defenseless children is reprehensible,” Babeu’s Congressional opponent, Democrat Tom O’Halleran, said in a statement. “Parents entrusted their children in the care of the school, and Paul Babeu was the headmaster. His responsibility was to protect those in his care and not look the other way while they were harmed, and as reported by the State of Massachusetts, dehumanized.”
Biscobing’s damning report also notes that while Babeu’s campaign website touts Babeu’s “effectiveness in personnel management” at DeSisto, Massachusetts investigators found no evidence that background checks were completed of 17 of 27 staff members.
The video, however, shows in dramatic fashion exactly what Babeu knew about the twisted practices at DeSisto. His response to that knowledge is well-established: Babeu took no action to stop “cornering,” sending students to the “the farm” or other cult-like abuses.