A FORMER Academy of Ivy Ridge teacher has been spotted after being accused of grooming and sexual abuse by five ex-students at the now-defunct and highly controversial troubled teen facility.
Amy Ritchie, the former director of the girl's program at Ivy Ridge, was first sighted by The U.S. Sun returning home in Ogdensburg, New York, on Thursday evening.
The 52-year-old stepped out of her car sporting sunglasses and a blue hooded sweatshirt with the words "Life is Good" emblazoned across the front.
In reality, the last few weeks have proved anything but positive for Ritchie, who has been under mounting scrutiny since the release of a shocking Netflix docuseries about Ivy Ridge, The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnappings, which aired on March 5.
In the documentary, Ritchie was accused of engaging in and enabling countless instances of physical and emotional abuse against young girls placed in her care.
Within days she was put on leave from her job at a local psychiatric center where she works as a mental health therapy aid while an internal investigation is carried out.
In The Program, former students also referred to an unnamed female staff member whom they accused of serial sexual abuse and designated a pedophile.
Five Ivy Ridge alumni named that alleged abuser as Ritchie in an exclusive investigation published by The U.S. Sun on Saturday.
Ritchie has not been charged with nor accused by law enforcement of committing any crimes. However, at least three of The U.S. Sun's sources named in that investigation say they have recently reported Ritchie to the District Attorney's office for sexual abuse.
The St. Lawrence District Attorney, Gary M. Pasqua, confirmed his office is investigating dozens of historic physical and sexual abuse claims at Ivy Ridge but declined to confirm if any alleged victims had named Ritchie in their complaints.
Ritchie was sighted again on Friday mulling around Ogdensburg in cargo pants and a hoodie.
One of her neighbors approached The U.S. Sun and bemoaned that everyone in the area "knows who she is" and "what she has done" and they've "had enough of her."
Requests for comment sent to Ritchie by The U.S. Sun have gone unanswered.
A male voice was heard answering a phone registered to Ritchie's home address on Friday and calling out, "It's a reporter." A female voice responded, "I know," before the line cut off.
Ritchie worked at Ivy Ridge from 2001 until 2008, leaving just months before the Ogdensburg, New York, campus shut its doors permanently in 2009 after being denied accreditation by the state's education department, which caused enrollment numbers to plummet.
The facility, which billed itself as a disciplinarian boarding school, was operated in association with the controversial international organization, the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), founded by Robert Lichfield.
At one time, WWASPS had 11 troubled teen facilities across the US and abroad, but all of them have since shuttered.
After leaving Ivy Ridge, Ritchie joined the team at another WWASPS facility on the California-Mexico border, the Sunset Bay Academy, which also has been subject to allegations of child abuse and mistreatment.
She then returned to Ogdensburg, New York, to work in psychiatric care and now lives just a short drive from Ivy Ridge's ditched campus.
All seven of the ex-students interviewed for The U.S. Sun's exposé about Ritchie said they want her to face criminal charges for the abuse she stands accused of.
They also all voiced concern that Ritchie had been allowed to work at another WWASPS facility, and more recently at a psychiatric center, exposing her to even more vulnerable individuals.
Four of the students alleged in separate interviews that they were groomed and molested by Ritchie over several months while attending Ivy Ridge as teens in the mid-2000s.
A fifth former student recalled how she was instructed to escort another underage classmate to Ritchie's room after hours.
She then detailed how she sat in the same room while the alleged abuse took place – saying it dawned on her years later how "f**ked up" it was.
Two other students independently verified claims about Ritchie's grooming pattern and the reported culture of fear she instilled within the school.
Even after almost two decades, one of Ritchie's accusers, Alexa Brand, who appeared in The Program, said she still feels scared about how Ritchie might react to her telling her story.
"Even today, coming forward, I worry about hurting her feelings or her being mad at me for telling the truth," she said.
Alexa has accused Ritchie of repeated sexual abuse throughout her two years at Ivy Ridge and even after she graduated.
She says Ritchie first used the "love bombing" tactic to gain her victims' trust, showering them with affection and physical touch, and becoming a much-needed maternal figure for them in an otherwise loveless place.
Thinking about her just makes my skin crawl.
Cynthia Lane
Ivy Ridge ran on a points system. Students gained points to ascend levels in the program, which would then afford them more freedom to do things like socialize and wear their hair down, as well as food benefits and more private dorms.
Ritchie usually paid the most attention to female students who had higher points, Alexa said.
Those closest to Ritchie were made to feel special and secure and were given preferential treatment, said Alexa, but they needed to "work the program" to stay in her good graces.
Oftentimes, Ritchie would suddenly give certain members of her clique the cold shoulder and deprive them of most of their points, which would knock them down to the lower levels of the program.
Recounting her own experience, Alexa remembered how Ritchie's abandonment of her provoked overwhelming feelings of desperation and grief.
She then spent the next few weeks regaining her lost points to garner Ritchie's approval again.
After rising back up the ranks, Alexa claims Ritchie started pushing boundaries involving physical touch that then turned into sexual contact.
She alleged that it was clear to her that resisting Ritchie's advances would see her demoted again and thwart her chances of graduating, forcing her to comply.
Alexa alleges that she was abused more than a dozen times by Ritchie throughout the 23 months she spent at the school.
Alexa further alleges that not only was she abused on campus, but she was also sexually abused by Ritchie on at least three occasions at her family home after departing from Ivy Ridge.
According to Alexa, Ritchie would ask her parents to come and stay with them periodically to maintain her and Alexa's "special relationship." (Alexa's parents were unaware of the alleged abuse, Alexa said.)
The described behavior pattern reflects what six other sources told The U.S. Sun about Ritchie, whether experienced first-hand or observed from afar.
Cynthia Lane and Kristin Schwab were both sent to Ivy Ridge by their parents after experiencing trauma that led them down dark paths.
Cynthia was 14 when she was forced to go to the school by her mother in September 2004, having already attempted to take her life twice.
After losing her father in 2001, Cynthia became depressed. Her deeply religious mother blamed her for her father's death, claiming he was punished because she wasn't a true believer.
For Kristin, her mental health declined drastically when she was raped in the summer between 10th and 11th grade.
She began self-harming and attempted suicide twice before her parents decided to enroll her at 17 years old at Ivy Ridge in September 2005.
According to Cynthia, school administrators thoroughly documented her and her mother's strained relationship in her enrollment file.
In an interview with The U.S. Sun, Cynthia accused Ritchie of "feeding" off the fact that she didn't have a maternal figure in her life, using her trauma to groom and later allegedly sexually abuse her.
Cynthia, a PTSD sufferer, alleges she was sexually abused by Ritchie at least five or six times during her year at the school.
Because of her condition, Cynthia says she has blind spots in her memory when it comes to the traumatic encounters.
If you weren't in her little group of people hanging all over her lap and whatnot, she would make your life hell.
Kristin Schwab
"There are some parts of my memory I don't have, it's completely blank, and I'm working with a therapist to recover them," she claimed.
"I have a couple of memories, one in intervention, where everything suddenly goes blank. I remember I was having a breakdown, and another staff member pulled me into Amy's office and closed the door behind me.
"I remember [Amy] was sitting on her stupid wooden desk, and she was talking to me with such kindness, telling me she was here for me and everything was going to be okay.
"And I remember feeling at the time, 'Thank God for Miss Amy. Thank God she's on my side because I don't feel like I have anyone else.'
"And then she put her hand on my shoulder and it goes black.
"I can't see it, but I remember the sensations, I remember the sounds, I remember the smells, I remember it feeling like a dream or a nightmare.
"Thinking about her just makes my skin crawl."
For Kirstin Schwab, it was the opposite. From day one, she said Ritchie "had it out" for her.
Every morning for her first few weeks at Ivy Ridge, Kristin had to go to Ritchie's office to show Ritchie her arms and legs and prove that she hadn't suffered any new self-harm.
Kristin claimed she had to remove the majority of her clothing during the encounters but was allowed to keep her underwear on.
Ivy Ridge's rules stated that at least three people had to be present in any encounter between a student and staff; either two staff members and one student, or two students and one staff member.
When she was forced to strip down, Kristin said there was usually one of Ritchie's "favorite" students in the room with them.
"She had this group of favorites whom she would give special treatment to," said Kristin.
"And they'd be the ones sitting on her lap or cuddling with her. It was really weird.
"For most of the time I was there, she was very cold to me. If you weren't in her little group of people hanging all over her lap and whatnot, she would make your life hell."
Kristin said Ritchie never treated her with kindness, only cruelty.
Every morning, lower-level Ivy Ridge students were given just 15 minutes to wake up, get showered, get dressed, and line up in the hallway before class.
Conditions inside the school were dirty. Many of the girls had mold in their hair or had extreme cases of athlete's foot.
The vast majority of the girls also smelled – some worse than others.
Those deemed the worst offenders would be singled out by staff for designated showers during the school day, four of The U.S. Sun's sources recounted.
Kristin was part of those chosen.
She would tell me over and over again all these nasty things, that I'm dirty, that I was disgusting, that she had to do this, that nobody was ever going to love me.
Kristin Schwab
During the first encounter, Kristin claims she was pulled into the shower room by Ritchie and another female staff member, who told her to remove her clothes and that they were going to "teach" her how to wash herself.
"Once I got in, they grabbed my underwear and were passing it back and forth, sniffing it and making comments about the smell," alleged Kristin.
"And then they came into the shower with a washcloth to bathe me like a toddler."
Kristin claims she was sexually assaulted in this manner by Ritchie at least 10 times in the school's showers during following interactions.
Kristin said she doesn't recall Amy removing her clothes "but there were definitely multiple times where she came inside the shower and was touching me," she alleged.
"She has a washcloth in her hands but I don't think the washcloth ever touched me – it was her hands," she said.
"And she would tell me over and over again all these nasty things, that I'm dirty, that I was disgusting, that she had to do this, that nobody was ever going to love me.
"It was so degrading."
Kristin's allegations were independently confirmed by another student who claims she would often have to stand outside the shower stall while the alleged abuse took place.
The student, speaking on the condition of anonymity, will be referred to as "Jane" throughout this story.
Jane, who spent more than two years at Ivy Ridge, said Kristin was a walking target of Ritchie's.
Often, Jane would allegedly be called to the shower room to serve as the third present party for Kristin's shower sessions, she claimed.
"I remember she would make fun of Kristin [...] she would talk about the weight she'd put on, tell her that she was smelly and that nobody wanted to be around her, and she'd do it in front of anyone listening – it was just so cruel," recounted Jane, who was 15 at the time.
"But I knew I couldn't say anything or tell anyone because I got all these benefits because I was in Amy's good graces.
"I had to keep my mouth shut because I didn't want that happening to me."
Like Alexa and Cynthia, Jane claims she was groomed by the girls' dorm director for months.
"It started with candy bars," said Jane. "She'd give me a Hershey's bar and then it turned into special activities, like going outside and playing soccer or basketball and things like that."
One of the privileges afforded to Ritchie's favorite students, all of the women said, was fulfilling tasks away from their peers, like cleaning.
Eventually, Jane said that Ritchie asked her if she'd be willing to clean her personal quarters on campus, which she agreed to do.
It took me until my 20s to realize what was going on was f**king gross.
Felicia Sanger
"She told me to come and sit down next to her, and she started showing me these photos of her and her dog, telling me things about her personal life that I feigned interest in because I wanted to get away from my dorm," recounted Jane.
"And this continued for about six months, just spending more time with her, and eventually she started brushing my hair, massaging my shoulders, and so on, but I didn't think it was wrong because I saw her as a mom-type figure."
One night, Jane claims that Ritchie came to her room after curfew and started talking to her as she was lying in bed.
Ritchie then allegedly asked Jane if she could lie down next to her, to which the 15-year-old told her she could.
"She started talking and then pushed my hair behind my ear and started heavy-petting," Jane claimed.
"I remember it getting sexual in the bed, and I remember just laying there pretending I was asleep because I didn't know what to do.
"And then she got mad at me because I didn't react in the way that she wanted.
"She got so mad at me, that she told me she wasn't going to waste her time with me and stormed out of the room.
"The first thing I thought was, 'F**k, I f**ked up.'"
Jane claims that after that night, she was demoted down two levels in the program.
She spent the next weeks earning back the points, and after reviving her status, she claims to have caught Ritchie smirking at her in the hallway.
"I knew what that smirk meant," said Jane. "I knew what she wanted me to do, so I did it. That's how it all started.
"She came into my room or invited me into hers and I'd know what that meant.
"Amy made me feel like if I told anyone it would ruin our relationship. So I kept it close because I knew she was my only way out of there."
Two other students who attended Ivy Ridge between 2003 and 2006, Michelle Rue and Julie Peysakhova, claimed they'd both observe Ritchie coming into the girls' dorms at night.
Felicia Sanger, who attended Ivy Ridge between 2005 and 2007, claimed she'd often be told to secretly escort her roommate to Ritchie's quarters after hours.
Following the school's three-person rule, Felicia alleges Ritchie would distract her with TV or some other entertainment while Ritchie sexually abused her friend.
"I remember at some point looking over to see Amy – who was dressed in a red flannel button down – with her breasts and bra exposed, cuddling my roommate," alleged Felicia.
"It took me until my 20s to realize what was going on was f**king gross.
"And I felt terrible knowing that I'd kind of hand-delivered somebody I care about to a predator [...] that's been really hard to come to terms with."
After leaving Ivy Ridge, Alexa, Cynthia, Kristin, and Jane were contacted by Ritchie in some way.
The last time Felicia saw Ritchie was a week after graduation in March 2007, when she went to visit a friend from Ivy Ridge after a member of the friend's family died.
Felicia said she was surprised to find that Ritchie had also traveled to the girl's home for the funeral and had been invited by the friend's family to stay the night.
They all slept in the basement, and Felicia says Ritchie and Felicia's friend shared the same bed.
"[The friend's] parents thought they had a unique relationship. They thought they could trust Amy, and that the relationship was normal and healthy," claimed Felicia.
Eventually, Felicia's friend asked her parents to stop inviting Amy over, saying it "made her too uncomfortable."
Alexa also asked her parents to stop inviting Ritchie over.
She told The U.S. Sun even after her parents cut contact, Ritchie would continue to reach out to her occasionally on Facebook, attempting to reminisce about times at Ivy Ridge.
The St. Lawrence District Attorney and the New York State Office of Mental Health have been contacted for an updated comment in response to this story.
Last week, DA Gary M. Pasqua told The U.S. Sun that his office had been flooded with calls alleging physical and sexual abuse at the boarding school.
He urged any other potential victims to come forward and assured criminal charges would be filed for any alleged offenses that fall within the statute of limitations.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
