Gary Wiggins

Overview

Gary Wiggins and his wife Meghann Wiggins operated a chain of religiously-motivated gay conversion-therapy camps for ‘troubled boys’ across Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. A Burnet County, Texas grand jury indicted the couple in August 2019 on first-degree felony human-trafficking charges.

Description

The Wigginses ran Joshua Home in Texas, Blessed Hope Boys Academy in Robertsdale, Alabama, and a similar facility in Missouri, all purporting to ‘cure’ LGBTQ teens through religious discipline. Following an extensive investigation, eight boys aged 10 to 17 were placed into temporary CPS custody under a search warrant. Before the Texas operation, Blessed Hope Boys Academy had been raided in 2016 after multiple boys escaped and reported being punished with forced exercise, solitary confinement, food deprivation, and beatings. One 20/20 interview subject said Gary Wiggins beat him while saying ‘I’m going to get the demon out of you and make you straight.’ The couple was charged with first-degree felony trafficking of persons under Texas Penal Code 20A.03(e).