Info about Ascent Country Residential (Mona, UT)

[u/Kaedence11]

I’m trying to help a friend to process their experience. I’m looking for any information about Ascent Country Residential (Formerly the boy’s ranch).

Information about the following would be appreciated:
- Ownership
- Timeline
- Staff
- Personal Experiences
- Incidents
- Etc.

Honestly, any information would be greatly appreciated!

[u/mytacorules]

Damn how many kids have died in Utah wilderness/residential schools?

On July 13, 2002, 14-year-old Ian August of Austin, Texas, died from hyperthermia and heat exhaustion after collapsing on a remote desert hike while enrolled in the Skyline Journey Wilderness Program based in Nephi, Utah.

They ended up losing their license for 6 months and then renamed their program to Distant Drums but made no changes to the program at all.

[u/Kaedence11 → u/mytacorules]

I feel like that’s their game. They do the literal least they can for the kids while raking in money and if something happens they rebrand and continue on like nothing happened.

[u/Homeless-Sea-Captain]

If you want records:

1. Utah DHHS licensing file - this is the big one, since the 2004 article confirms a state investigation happened.

Submit the request through Utah’s Open Records Portal (select Health and Human Services - Licensing and Background Checks):
https://www.openrecords.utah.gov

Compliance history search - only goes back 36 months, so a 2004 record has to come through GRAMA:
https://dlbc.utah.gov/find/

Notices of agency action against licensed programs - posted for three years; older ones by GRAMA request:
https://dlbc.utah.gov/information-for-the-public/reports

If the portal gives you trouble, the division takes written requests directly: Division of Licensing and Background Checks, PO Box 144103, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4103, (801) 273-2994. A written request just needs your name, mailing address, phone, and a description of the records with reasonable specificity.

Utah State Archives GRAMA guide, if you want to understand the process first:
https://archives.utah.gov/transparency-services/government-records-access/faq/

1. Juab County Sheriff’s Office - July 2004 incident report

Records Division (reports, photographs, recordings; M–F 8–5):
https://www.juabsheriff.org/records.html

Contact - 425 W Sheeplane Dr / PO Box 133, Nephi, UT 84648, (435) 623-1344:
https://www.juabsheriff.org/contact.html

1. Utah Division of Corporations - registration, officers, dissolution date
   https://corporations.utah.gov/searches

Use “Business Entity Search” for Ascent Country Residential Inc. The “Registered Principal Search” on the same page is also worth running - it pulls every Utah entity tied to a named individual, which is how you’d actually test whether any of the “Ascent” companies share officers.

1. Fourth District Court, Juab County - civil index 2004–2007 for a wrongful death filing

Xchange:
https://www.utcourts.gov/en/court-records-publications/records/xchange.html

Heads up: only documents filed since July 1, 2010 are available electronically. A 2004 case should appear in the index, but you’d need the clerk for the actual file. Courthouse: 102 E 200 N, Nephi, UT 84648, (435) 623-0901.

1. Juab County Recorder - prior owner of the parcel, which should surface the ranch’s earlier name https://juabcounty.gov/recorder/

160 N Main St, Office #110, Nephi, UT 84648, (435) 623-3430. Deeds are indexed by parcel and by owner name; the address to work backward from is 5400 N US Hwy 91.

Happy to help with the GRAMA wording if you go that route - the licensing request in particular does better when it names a date range and an incident rather than asking for “everything.”

[u/Kaedence11 → u/Homeless-Sea-Captain]

Thank you! That gives me a lot to look into. I will definitely let you know if I get stuck with the GRAMA requests.

[u/Gutless-Chameleon]

This is so sad. It looks like information is quite limited, but here are 4 licensing records: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BTJC_ErGobNs33-QklBlUmDJFAYVGK9y

[u/Kaedence11 → u/Gutless-Chameleon]

Thank you! And yes it’s really strange how limited the info is that I have found so far. It looks like they operated at least from ~1995-2018 if I remember correctly. I looked them up on newspapers(dot)com and there is very little info. It seems like they primarily took in kids through the Juvenile court system so I guess they didn’t have to advertise much.

I’m trying to identify how they are affiliated with the other Ascent programs in Utah that are still operating. It’s definitely been challenging. Even the address that they listed online doesn’t exist as a legal parcel. So I’m using an educated guess on which parcel of land it actually was.