Alabama man facing 215 child porn charges once worked at Missouri boarding school
An Alabama man who was charged last week with 215 counts of possession of child pornography once worked at Agape Boarding School in southwest Missouri, former students say.
Steve Wukmer, 66, was arrested by Rainsville police on Nov. 14 at his place of employment in Fort Payne, Alabama, according to a department news release. Police said the investigation began earlier in the month after the department’s criminal investigations division received a tip about Wukmer.
The investigation found that Wukmer had been a children’s minister in Ohio. Police said it wasn’t clear if there had been any misconduct by Wukmer in that state.
Wukmer is being held in Alabama’s DeKalb County Jail on $6.45 million bond, a jail employee said Tuesday.
Three people who attended Agape in Cedar County said Wukmer worked there. And an online records site shows he once lived in Stockton listing the same address as Agape.
“This guy was a full-time staff member at Agape when I was first there,” said Colton Schrag, who did two stints at the school from 2004 to 2010. “He was pretty friendly to boys at Agape. He was over the 14 and younger boys in school. He always treated us better than most staff but seeing the charges it makes sense now.
“The further we dig into the school, the more and more disgusting Agape is becoming and the type of people they had working for the them.”
Agape attorney John Schultz sent The Star a statement in response to an inquiry about Wukmer’s charges.
“Agape can confirm that Mr. Wukmer and his wife worked at Agape from April 2005 to February 2006,” Schultz said. “His resignation letter stated he was leaving to take an Assistant Director’s position at a small boarding school in Ohio. Mr. Wukmer worked mainly in the classroom at Agape where many other staff were present at all times. Agape is not aware of any complaints made about Mr. Wukmer during the time he worked at Agape.”
Amanda Householder, the estranged daughter of Boyd and Stephanie Householder, who ran Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County until shutting it down in September 2020 amid abuse allegations, said Wukmer worked at a Florida boarding school with her parents before they moved to Missouri.
“At that (Florida) place, we had to call everyone aunt and uncle,” Amanda said. “So I grew up calling this man my uncle from the age of 5. When we left for Agape, he did follow and become staff at Agape.”
She said Wukmer eventually adopted a student from Agape.
The Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama aided in the investigation, conducting forensic downloads of electronic devices seized during the execution of search warrants at Wukmer’s residence, police said.
“I am disgusted that someone could be doing this sort of thing here in Rainsville, but unfortunately, I’m also not surprised,” said Police Chief Michael Edmondso. “We in law enforcement are seeing more and more of this terrible act, even locally.”
Agape Boarding School has been consumed by abuse allegations from former and current students for the past two years. In September, the Missouri attorney general and the Department of Social Services filed an injunction in Cedar County saying the students’ safety was in jeopardy and the school should close.
That case is still playing out in court.
Many men who attended the school in their youth and have spoken with The Star since the fall of 2020 said they were subjected to physical restraints, extreme workouts, long days of manual labor, and food and water withheld as punishment.
And, they said, students suffered constant berating and mind games, and some were physically and sexually abused by staff and other youth.
Five staffers, including one who still works there, were charged last year with physically assaulting students. They all face court hearings in the next month.
David Smock, a Stockton doctor who for many years treated students at Agape, was charged last year with more than a dozen child sex crimes in two counties. He remains in custody and those cases are still in court.
