Season 1 Episode 14: Roderick Shy (Former Staff) Artwork

What Really Happened at The Lord's Ranch?

Two former residents of The Lord's Ranch go back over 40 years and interview various generations of former residents, staff members, local towns people, and a local award-winning investigative journalist about a religious-based adolescent treatment facility in Warm Springs, Arkansas. The Lord's Ranch was founded by a financial felon from California; named Bud Suhl. After his time incarcerated, Suhl proclaimed he had turned his life around when he found Jesus. He left California and moved to Randolph County, Arkansas with his new wife Shirley. Bud Suhl opened up inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities for troubled youth. The newly found inpatient facility was in a small town of fewer than 300 residents and has since been the subject of numerous investigations that go as high up as the FBI. The Lord’s Ranch even briefly lost their license three years into business due to numerous complaints of abuse. These investigations ultimately made Bud's son, Ted a felon as well. In 2016, around 50 years after Bud’s conviction, Ted was convicted of bribery and fraud. Ted got out of prison about 4 1/2 years early when Suhl's family friend, Mike Huckabee convinced President Donald Trump to commute his seven-year sentence. As it stands right now, nobody has been able to find any documentation indicating how long Bud spent in prison. At any rate, since Ted had his sentence commuted rather than being fully pardoned, he remains a felon for financial crimes committed when his business hit a low point-- just like his father. With allegations of mental, physical, and sexual abuse at The Lord's Ranch, Sammi and Ryan decided to do a deep dive into the matter. Whether it was good, bad, or ugly, they searched for the full truth. The statements in this podcast may sound one-sided but nearly everybody who felt compelled to defend the ranch was unwilling to be interviewed on the podcast. We even offered to let defensive staff members speak while we asked zero questions and agreed to offer no rebuttals to anything the guest said. It would essentially have been a speech in defense of The Lord's Ranch. But unfortunately, most preferred to type words, rather than speaking on the phone. Some have also tried their best to prevent people from coming onto our podcast to share their story. For somebody claiming innocence, that seems rather suspect. At any rate, we continued asking anybody with any kind of experiece with The Lord's Ranch what it was like. These are their stories.WARNNG: Some of the details spoken in this podcast are disturbing. Listen at your own risk.

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What Really Happened at The Lord's Ranch?

Season 1 Episode 14: Roderick Shy (Former Staff)

November 10, 2022 • Ryan & Sammi • Season 1 • Episode 14

Roderick is the first staff member who is willing to come on the show while stating that he feels The Lord's Ranch was a good place. I found this quite admirable.

For those who listen to this podcast, I want you to remember that we're all humans and we all make mistakes; and most importantly we all have our low points in life.

I enjoyed talking to Roderick and I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

I'd like to apologize ahead of time for some of the communication issues Roderick and I had while we spoke over the phone. I believe there's about an eight-minute stretch of buzzing noises and the audio kind of cuts high and low. I'm not sure if that stems from the battery issue on Roderick's iPhone or something on my side but I want you to know that I'm aware of it and I'll see there if there's any way to fix it and upload an improved file. I think I should be able to figure it out.

Thank you for your support for all of the victims who have shown the courage to come forward with their stories.

And a special thanks to Roderick Shy for having the courage to come on and have a conversation. He took time out of his day to do that interview and that was very kind of him.

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