Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — A Utah teen who died on a Montrose-based wilderness outing was delirious and in evident pain for days prior, recently unsealed documents indicate.

Caleb Jensen, 15, died of a staph infection while participating in an Alternative Youth Adventures Colorado program in Montrose County May 2, 2007. Indictments alleging child abuse, negligent homicide and manslaughter were handed down against two companies and three men this July.

In court Monday, Colleen Scissors, attorney for Community Education Centers, called for grand jury testimony to be released, in addition to other discovery already available.

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“The heart of the case is the grand jury testimony and that’s what we’re waiting for,” Colleen Scissors said.

The state of Colorado contends the infection that killed Jensen produced observable symptoms which AYA and its staff failed to treat. It suspended AYA’s license.

Representatives for New Jersey-based Community Education Centers Inc., which does business under the name AYA, said previously the underlying cause of Jensen’s death was undetectable.

The company, with AYA Colorado Inc., Dr. Keith Hooker and James Omer, were indicted on felony child abuse resulting in death and criminally negligent homicide. A third man, AYA wilderness EMT Ben Askins, was indicted on felony child abuse resulting in death and manslaughter.

Scissors said Monday that CEC’s Alternative Youth Adventures is distinct from the registered corporation, Alternative Youth Adventures of Colorado Inc., owned by Omer.

Community Education Centers does business as Alternative Youth Adventures, Scissors said, but it was AYA Colorado Inc., not her client’s dba of a similar same name, that was indicted by a grand jury in Jensen’s death.

Scissors said she didn’t want to create a situation in which her client’s corporate officers could be accused of failing to appear on AYA Colorado’s case.

“All I know is he’s dead and I’m waiting for justice to happen,” Caleb’s father, Joel Jensen, of Glenwood Springs, told the Daily Press after court Monday. “He died under bad circumstances.”

According to Askins’ indictment, Caleb was not sick before participating in the program’s outing on Little Red Mountain.

He noted a small blister on his ankle April 23, 2007. Within a day, he wrote in a journal that he was “burning up, vomiting and having trouble hiking.”

The pain spread to his knee and hip, but when Askins examined him April 26, vital signs weren’t taken, the indictment alleged. Caleb received Ibuprofin and Askins then returned to base camp, according to the document.

The situation turned dire the following day, when Caleb could no longer control his bodily functions.

The indictment states AYA considered Caleb a “defiant” group member and separated him from the others, while also placing him on suicide watch.

“Staff felt that Caleb was faking his discomfort,” the indictment said.

For the next few days, other clients in the program expressed concern for Caleb’s condition, stating that he hadn’t moved from his sleeping area and was “going really crazy.”

“Several students felt Caleb should have been seen by a doctor,” the document stated.

He continued to receive Ibuprofin and an over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medicine.

Staffers noted he was talking to people who weren’t there April 29, the same day that he laid out in the sun most of the day, despite the availability of shade.

On May 1, 2007, a staffer noted Caleb hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. She helped him drink some water.

“Several calls were made to the base camp during the time period of April 29 - May 2, reporting Caleb Jensen’s condition to EMT Ben Askins, Jim Omer and other AYA staff; no staff from base camp responded and no additional medication was sent or authorized for Caleb Jensen,” the indictment read.

Staff found him unresponsive the afternoon of May 2, 2007; they called for Life Flight. Caleb was pronounced dead at the scene of what was later determined to be disseminated methicillin-resistant staph infection. Symptoms include joint swelling, delirium, loss of appetite, fever and loose stools.

Joel Jensen said he’d had little contact with Caleb in the years preceding the teen’s death. He said he learned of the incident when his sister called him.

“When I found out, it just really tore me up,” Jensen said.

Jensen said Caleb told AYA counselors he was sick, but they didn’t believe him. “They basically said he was whining and trying to get out of the program. Ten minutes later, he was dead.”

He said he was not impressed with what he understood about wilderness therapy programs. “They (parents) think they’re giving their kids some help, and it (serious incidents) happens all the time. If we don’t speak up against it, it’s never going to stop,” Jensen said.

Jensen said he plans to attend all court hearings, even if it means moving to Montrose.

The district attorney’s office was given 20 days to respond to motions filed by Scissors and the hearings for CEC and AYA Colorado were re-set to Sept. 29.

Askins is also set for Sept. 29 and Hooker is due in court Oct. 6.

The Montrose Combined Courts did not have a date listed for Omer.

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