What Really Happened at The Lord's Ranch?
What Really Happened at The Lord's Ranch?
Ryan & Sammi
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.
Season 1 Episode 32: Child Molestation and Production of Child Pornography (Part 2)
*WARNING* Listener discretion is advised. This episode may be difficult for some people to listen to as it contains sexually explicit descriptions involving one or more minors and one or more adults. This is Part Two of two episodes. Should you choose to hear this interview, listen to this episode AFTER listening to Part One of the interview. Picking up where we left off in Part One, this episode further delves into alleged abhorrent behavior by former staff members at The Lord's...
Jul 23, 2023
3 hr 7 min
Season 1 Episode 31: Child Molestation and Production of Child Pornography (Part 1)
*WARNING* Listener discretion is advised. This episode may be difficult for some people to listen to as it contains sexually explicit descriptions involving one or more minors and one or more adults. This is Part One of two episodes. Should you choose to hear this interview, listen to this episode BEFORE listening to Part Two. A former resident of The Lord's Ranch goes into graphic detail of what I believe to be the most disturbing interview ever shared on this podcast. Due to the length o...
Jul 23, 2023
2 hr 34 min
Season 1 Episode 30: Nathan Harmon Talks Gary Jackson and More
Nathan Harmon went to The Lord's Ranch for two years in the 90's. In this emotionally charged episode, we discuss his experience-- including stories about former staff who are still affiliated with industries involving children. This included Emmett Presley, Gary Jackson, and several others. The music composed for this podcast came from Blaq2ba. You can contact him at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199500549 You can contact us at our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanHobbsan...
Jul 10, 2023
1 hr 29 min
Season 1 Episode 29: Michael Robinson Tells What He Knows About Sexual Abuse at TLR.
Michael Robinson went to The Lord's Ranch in the late 90's/early 2000's. If you've been listening to previous episodes, you've heard his name mentioned more than once. Michael Robinson is now the first person to go on record about an elderly male counselor who allegedly routinely pursued sexual intercourse with young black residents. Mike goes into detail about where and what his counselor allegedly attempted to do. He also goes into detail about his counselor apologizing profusely wh...
Jul 4, 2023
1 hr 55 min
Season 1 Episode 28: Alex Smith (Part 3)
In our third and final installment of our interview with Alex Smith, we expound on what was previously spoken about in the previous episodes and Alex shares new memories of what he saw and experienced at The Lord's Ranch. The music composed for this podcast came from Blaq2ba. You can contact him at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199500549 You can contact us at our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanHobbsandtheLordsRanch/
Jun 25, 2023
3 hr 6 min
Season 1 Episode 28: Alex Smith (Part 2)
In Part 2 of this interview, Alex delves into physical abuse for refusing to say he was a Christian. He also discusses multiple instances of sexual misconduct, and he shares a very personal story that will quite possibly bring you to tears. This was a very heartbreaking episode and while interviewing, I personally had trouble maintaining my emotional composure. The music composed for this podcast came from Blaq2ba. You can contact him at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199500549 ...
May 13, 2023
2 hr 39 min
Season 1 Episode 27: Alex Smith (Part 1)
This is the first of a series of interview segments in what turned out to be the longest podcast we've done to date. It's a roller coaster of emotions, violence, sexual abuse, and more. There will be more episodes to come until this entire interview is concluded. The music composed for this podcast came from Blaq2ba. You can contact him at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199500549 You can contact us at our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanHobbsandtheLordsRanch/
May 10, 2023
2 hr 15 min
Season 1 Episode 26: Former Clinician Who Worked at Ted Suhl's Outpatient Therapy Offices
Kelly Green worked at one of Ted Suhl's numerous Arkansas outpatient facilities as a clinician. She volunteered to share her time with us and told us about multiple ethically questionable business tactics utilized by Ted Suhl. They had marketers planted at schools and courthouses who were incentivized to bring kids into The Lord's Ranch and/or Arkansas Counseling Associates. (This was the name of their outpatient treatment offices spread throughout the state.) This conversation provid...
Apr 7, 2023
2 hr 30 min
Season 1 Episode 25: The Brother of the Boy Who Died Trying to Escape The Lord’s Ranch.
On February 13, 1995, Robert Westerhoff and Christopher Chandler escaped The Lord’s Ranch in a staff vehicle after a staff member left their keys out. Robert was known for being an escape artist from facilities and he took advantage of the keys being left behind. After driving 100 miles, he fell asleep at the wheel and drove off into a large ravine. Robert died in that accident and Chris was airlifted to a hospital with a ruptured spleen. Terry Westerhoff was Roberts's younger brother. ...
Feb 13, 2023
3 hr 40 min
Season 1 Episode 24: Sammi & Ryan Late Night Chat🌙
Sammi & Ryan had a late-night chat about some of their podcast controversies and various topics that dip in and out of the history of The Lord's Ranch. The music composed for this podcast came from Blaq2ba. You can contact him at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199500549 You can contact us at our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanHobbsandtheLordsRanch/
Jan 15, 2023
2 hr 3 min
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