Wyoming troubled teen ranch settles suit for $2.3 million after forced labor accusations

A federal judge last week approved the settlement against Trinity Teen Solutions in Wyoming, ending four years of litigation over allegations of forced labor.

A federal judge last week approved a $2.3 million settlement in a class action lawsuit against a small program for troubled teens in Wyoming, ending four years of litigation over allegations of forced labor.

Trinity Teen Solutions promised to help girls with mental health and behavioral problems, but a group of women who’d been placed there as teens by their parents accused the now-defunct ranch of forcing them to perform manual labor. Tasks included repairing barbed wire fences, castrating animals and laying irrigation pipes, the suit alleges. Injuries were disregarded, it states, and the girls were subjected to humiliating punishments if they did not do the work as ordered.

Attorneys for Trinity Teen Solutions declined to comment. The settlement stipulates that Trinity Teen Solutions and its owners are not admitting wrongdoing. In previous court filings, the ranch said it did not violate the law and that “chores and physical exercise were part of its program.”

An NBC News investigation in 2022 revealed that the former clients had tried to report their concerns about Trinity Teen Solutions to state officials and law enforcement, and described them on social media and business review websites like Yelp. State officials allowed Trinity Teen Solutions to keep its license, and its owners were never charged with a crime. A Wyoming Department of Family Services senior administrator told NBC News at the time that the state was hesitant to shut down youth facilities unless children were in danger.

Participants lift lumber at Trinity Teen Solutions in 2011.Courtesy Kelsie VanMeverenTrinity Teen Solutions also sued three women who’d criticized the ranch online in 2016 for defamation, in a case that settled without details being made public.