EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A nonprofit program that took high school students, mostly girls, on trips out West for education and adventure has shut down after allegations of inappropriate behavior by its leader, Target 8 has learned.
Summer Journeys had taken more than 500 high school students on trips over the last decade, according to its founder and director David Buth.
Two former chaperones and two girls have alleged that Buth, 44, of East Grand Rapids, exposed himself and saw girls unclothed on trips last summer.
Buth denied the allegations, but said he won't operate Summer Journeys this summer.
The allegations have led to two separate police reports at the Kent County Sheriff's Department and in East Grand Rapids, but no criminal charges. In the reports, obtained by Target 8 through the Freedom of Information Act, police said they couldn't pursue the investigation because the allegations came from outside their jurisdiction.
"It was determined that no crime occurred in Kent County," the sheriff's report states.
Nicole Mathiasz, a former program chaperone, said Summer Journeys was once what its name suggests.
"We climb mountains, we may whitewater raft, it's a lot of hiking and backpacking excursions," Mathiasz said.
They traveled to places like California, the state of Wyoming, the Smokey Mountains and the Upper Peninsula for up to three weeks at a time, punctuated by visits with authors or wolf experts.
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