The weight of Hilton’s and others testimony on the Provo Canyon School baffled lawmakers meeting in Salt Lake City, leaving some incredulous as to how such "disgusting" abuse of children had persisted for decades.
By Morgan Gstalter - 02/09/21 01:36 PM EST
Paris Hilton on Monday testified before Utah lawmakers in favor of a bill that would regulate residential treatment centers for troubled teens and recalled her “traumatizing” experience at such a facility in the 1990s.
Hilton first disclosed her experience at Utah’s Provo Canyon School in her 2020 documentary “This is Paris.” This week, the hotel heiress and reality TV star testified before Utah’s Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee about her experience, according to local outlet Deseret News.
The socialite said her parents, Ricky and Kathy Hilton, had sent her to several boarding schools claiming to focus on behavioral and mental development after a wave of rebellious behavior in her teenage years. Provo Canyon reportedly was her third school.
Former students at Utah troubled-teen centers say their reports of sex abuse were ignored
Tribune analysis identifies youth treatment centers with higher rates of reported sexual abuse.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cedar Ridge Academy has a new owner as of February and a new name as the Makana Leadership Academy, Dec. 16, 2020. Cedar Ridge had a history of reports of sexual abuse. | Updated: March 8, 2021, 11:52 p.m.
Roosevelt • Police had uncovered a pattern of abuse at Cedar Ridge Academy.
A staffer, one who had worked with kids daily for 10 years at the “troubled-teen” facility, had made sexually charged comments to the boys. He had groped some of them during unapproved medical procedures in a small room after covering the only window with butcher paper so no one could see. He gave kids medications they weren’t prescribed so often, a lawsuit later alleged, they called him “the candy man.”