Another Memphis family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump over alleged abuse at Youth Villages.

Latrice and Lawrence Johnson, 19-year-old twins, appeared with Crump at a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 13, and said they were abused at a Memphis group home operated by Youth Villages.

The mother of another victim, resulting in a conviction of a counselor, spoke Wednesday as well, saying her son was diagnosed with HIV after being at Youth Villages.

Family of Youth Villages teen who died after ‘medical emergency’ hires Crump

The new allegations by the Johnsons follow those made by the family of 17-year-old Alegend Jones. During a press conference Nov. 29, Crump along with the family of Jones and activists, said Jones died of a brain bleed, according to an unidentified neurologist, after allegedly being assaulted by Youth Villages staffers.

A statement from Youth Villages said earlier that Jones was not abused and that comments made about the case were false. 

As for Wednesday’s new allegations, Youth Villages officials issued a statement saying child abuse and neglect are not tolerated in any facility and that some of what has been said is “inaccurate and misleading.”

“We have been deeply saddened and alarmed by all allegations of inappropriate conduct and abusive behavior at Youth Villages facilities,” the statement reads. “Allegations of abuse or injury are taken very seriously and reported directly to Child Protective Services. Any allegation is thoroughly investigated by third parties.”

The statement also said strict hiring practices require background checks.

The twin Johnson siblings, both now 19 and in college, are from Chicago but spent time in and out of Youth Villages facilities as foster children from the time they were 12 years old.

“I was refused my meals at nighttime,” Latrice Johnson said. “You’re supposed to be able to get up every morning, wash your face, brush your teeth. They will send us to school without doing any of that. I was smacked in the face by a staff member. I was beat up by staff.”

Latrice said staff members would twist people’s wrists and turn their arms around.

She said if they tried to report was happening or file a Child Protective Services report, the staff would be gone for two or three days before returning.

Second inmate death lawsuit filed against Bonner, chief jailer and county

“They would always come back like, ‘Ha, ha, you thought you got me,’ ” Latrice Johnson said. “We experienced so much while being there, me and my brother.”

Lawrence Johnson spoke after his sister about his time in a Level Four facility with Youth Villages due to suicidal ideation.

“I was really going through a lot of PTSD, stress disorder, and I thought things would get better. I’ll be eligible for my 18th birthday in a few months,” Lawrence Johnson said, referring to the fact that he will leave the facility as he becomes a legal adult.

“Everything that transpired, I never could have thought of. I was beaten, knocked unconscious, sent to the hospital after being knocked unconscious and not being able to say why. I recall when I was at the hospital ... being told I fell off the tables, being very delinquent.”

Johnson said he never got to tell his side of his story and that he was frequently put into holds and his wrist was broken.

“Thousands of kids,” Johnson said. “Not just me.”

Alegend Jones

Regarding the earlier case involving Jones, Crump said Wednesday that the family is still awaiting the autopsy report and samples to conduct an independent autopsy.

The assault on Jones allegedly occurred following an altercation at the Shelby County Health Department with two male Youth Village counselors.

Jones’ mother, Shona Garner, said earlier that Jones was “assaulted and battered” by “over a dozen” Youth Village staffers.

“I think they need to be defunded, shut down,” she said Wednesday. “Because no child should be institutionally abused, institutionally raped or institutionally murdered.”

The facility has denied any claims of abuse.

Family of inmate fatally stabbed in court retains Ben Crump

In the statement issues Wednesday, Youth Villages said of the Jones case: 

“We continue to work closely and transparently with all relevant public safety and health authorities in response to the incident that occurred on Nov. 16 and are awaiting the official medical reports. We are also fully cooperating with the official investigations. This has included providing surveillance camera footage of the incident to all relevant public safety and health authorities.”

Garner said earlier that Youth Villages counselors sent Jones to the health department Nov. 16, but she doesn’t know the cause of the visit. She said Jones had a pelvic exam in June.

While there, she said an altercation occurred between Jones and two male Youth Village counselors. Garner said the altercation started because Jones was allegedly asked to remove her clothing in front of the counselors. 

She said this was “inappropriate” given her daughter’s history of sexual assault.

Youth Villages begins annual Holiday Heroes drive

Garner said the two Youth Village counselors, at some point, “body slammed” Jones, and health department officials called police. 

In an earlier statement, Youth Villages said Jones was brought to the health department by two female staff members from the facility and was never asked to disrobe in front of any male staff or spent any time alone with any.

It’s unclear what happened next, but according to Garner, Jones was then taken back to Youth Villages. 

That’s when she was “assaulted and battered,” Garner said.

By the time Jones arrived at the hospital, she had been without oxygen for 95 minutes, Garner said.

Family of slain inmate wants DOJ involvement at 201 Poplar

Pictures of Jones displayed Wednesday showed her in the hospital with a breathing tube in her mouth. Signs of trauma were not visible, but Garner said her head was swollen and bruised.

In a statement posted on its website, Youth Villages says Jones experienced a “medical emergency,” the cause of which was unknown. 

Jones was then taken to the hospital, where she died, according to the statement. 

Garner said during the Wednesday press conference the family has been unable to reach Youth Villages since the last press conference.

Another family

Also at Wednesday’s press conference, Erica White spoke about what happened to her son after she sent him to Youth Villages while he going was through problems, expecting things to get better. She said her son ultimately came home diagnosed with HIV.

“I sent them my healthy child, who I thought I was helping with suggestions of the Shelby County Juvenile Court. … It was suggested that this would help (my son),” White said. “How do you go in healthy and come out with HIV?”

White said the man who raped her son wasn’t given enough punishment for what he did.

That man, Deniro Smith, was in the news in 2016 for his actions involving White’s son while Smith was a counselor at the Youth Villages Bartlett campus. He was given a plea deal under then-District Attorney Amy Weirich, which was then taken off the table due to the victim not agreeing to it.

He was sentenced to spend three years in prison for rape and was placed on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry for 10 years following his sentence. He now lives out of state, according to the registry.

Next steps

Crump said his team intends to continue to gather as much evidence as possible in the cases, asking former employees and children who resided there to come forward.

“We hope that Child Protective Services of Tennessee will open an investigation into all these other children,” Crump said. “They say if it happened one time, it’s an incident. They say it happened a second time, it’s a coincidence. It happens a third time, and a fourth time and a fifth time. There’s a pattern.”

Crump said no video has been received from Youth Villages from the alleged incident involving Alegend Jones. 

Garner said she is speaking with an MPD detective Thursday, Dec. 14.

Bonner beefs up security in jail, courts after fatal stabbing

Former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer spoke during the press conference, saying she has received several complaints about the facilities and cited the amount of funding that is received by Youth Villages at the state and local level.

“We’re entering budget season after the holiday for Shelby County, for the city of Memphis, the city of Bartlett and for the state of Tennessee and Youth Villages, also known as Memphis Allies,” Sawyer said. “It’s a lot of money.”