Whistleblower Expresses Frustration at Lack of Accountability in China Spring Youth Camp Sexual Misconduct Case
Nearly three years after the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported an arrest with charges alleging sexual misconduct involving a former China Spring Youth Camp employee, Daryan Benka, involving two 17-year-old young men under her supervision, a whistleblower remains alarmed at how the case has been handled from even before the charges were handed down to now after these were downgraded.
A new trial on reduced charges has yet to begin, while the whistleblower Lesley Keith believes she was let go from her job for asking for the investigation to be taken much more seriously sooner.
Benka, a former China Spring Youth Camp case manager and counselor from 2020 to October 2023, currently faces a reported seven felony counts of lewdness involving the two Washoe County residents, who were underage at the time of the allegations. The whistleblower says there was a third alleged victim who passed away, which we will look into in future reporting.
A trial for Benka is reported scheduled for January 2027, but the whistleblower who worked 20 years at the youth camp wouldn’t be surprised if there were more delays.
Keith says her title was Youth Counselor Supervisor until she was reclassified to Training and Development Manager in 2015. She says Douglas County identified that position as “no longer essential” and eliminated the Field Training Program in 2024 amid financial difficulties. Her dismissal came after she repeatedly expressed concerns and filed reports about Benka, feeling these urgent notices were not being taken seriously enough through the entire Douglas County chain of command.
The China Spring Youth Camp is a regional residential facility for court-ordered treatment and rehabilitation of children. It is part of Nevada’s juvenile justice system located about six miles south of Gardnerville.
“Two of the males assigned to Benka’s case load were 17 year old males who Benka engaged in sexual conduct with at various times during 2023,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office wrote at the time of the arrest on December 14th 2023, while subsequent reporting indicated alleged wrongdoing began in 2022 and that one of the boys was still 16.
Benka, who has denied the charges, was 25 at the time of the arrest. She had been previously let go from the China Spring Youth Camp in October 2023 following a DUI charge in Sparks the previous month.
The initial charges against Benka were for allegedly engaging in sexual acts with children under the care, custody and control of supervision of the camp.
Her bail was sent at over $20,000 and she was released after posting bail on December 15th 2023. The initial court appearance was scheduled for January 8th 2024 with the alleged crimes listed as “category C felonies punishable by up to five years in prison for each offense and fines up to $10,000. “
The case then encountered significant delays and for many a surprise ruling. On November 3, 2025, Senior Judge Bill Maddox dismissed the initial charges agreeing with the defense that the camp was not an entity providing services to children, because the Nevada Legislature never included the state’s youth camps within the legal definition of NRS 201.555. This statute makes it unlawful for certain adults in positions of authority to engage in sexual conduct with a minor under the care, custody, control or supervision of a child-serving entity.
Maddox wrote that the alleged conduct could potentially support different charges, including contributing to the delinquency of minors.
“The court finds that NRS 201.555 does not apply to the China Spring Youth Center and this matter is remanded back to the East Fork Justice Court for further proceedings,” Maddox wrote. “It would appear that, at a minimum, the defendant contributed to the delinquency of the young people involved in this case and the State of Nevada can amend pleadings in that court to account for the defendant’s alleged misbehavior.”
The Douglas County District Attorney's Office appealed the dismissal to the Nevada Supreme Court, with the appeal still seemingly pending to this date.
Former Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty is now handling the district court proceedings after both Douglas County district judges recused themselves, due to having previously been involved with the China Spring Youth Camp.
According to the whistleblower’s timeline and supporting correspondence, concerns were formally raised on March 1st 2023, when she recommended placing Benka under an investigation under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. “I was also a Department of Justice PREA Auditor for nine years, including during the time of these reports and corresponded with other DOJ Auditors who received similar alarming reports from the China Spring Administration,” she wrote to Our Town Reno.
Keith says that Benka had already been placed in remedial training and closer supervision for approximately 60 days following complaints from residents and staff about alleged inappropriate behavior and excessive time spent alone with particular residents.
Keith says she kept warning then Director Wendy Garrison something wasn’t right. “[Garrison] allowed … Benka to come into the facility on her day off to watch the Super Bowl in Feb. 2023 with the male residents,” Keith alleges in an email to Our Town Reno. “Director Garrison directly asked me if I thought there was something wrong with Daryan Benka. My response: “No young girl wants to report to work on her day off. She is either interested in a staff member, or worse, a kid.””
Keith says Garrison eventually took over the investigation, working with District Judge Tod Young, but with no immediate movement on an arrest despite mounting allegations. Garrison ended up retiring from her position just a few days before Benka’s arrest, receiving public praise from Young.
Between March 1st, Garrison's retirement and the arrest, many reports were made against Benka. Keith says, by camp residents, juvenile probation offices, and a half dozen employees.
One from June 2023 reported to a China Spring supervisor alleged seeing a youth camp staff member with a name sounding like “Bangkok” or “Banker” in bed and in the bathroom together with a China Spring juvenile at a party at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Sparks.
Amid all this, Keith said she started feeling pressure to quit, leading her to set up a meeting with a Douglas County Human Resources employee, who later became the director of that division in 2025, Christine Vido.
Meanwhile she says Douglas County Manager Jen Davidson signed a contract with Reno Workplace Investigations to investigate the facility and all of the complaints submitted by whistleblowers and those forwarded through email.
Keith says her efforts for others to face repercussions have so far gone nowhere. In June 2024, she says the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reviewed the case and provided a “Right to Sue” letter, however, Keith says that suing leads to settlements. She told Our Town Reno, she doesn’t want money, she wants accountability.
“After enduring a ten-month-long internal investigation with Douglas County from June 2023 to March 2024 as a whistleblower, waiting 892 days from the Attorney General’s office/CSU (Constituent Services Division) division that my March 5, 2024 complaint against Douglas County Manager’s Office, and 9th Judicial Judge Nathan Tod Young’s complaint was referred to the Judicial Commission on Discipline, and to be told by the Judicial Commission that the complaints 2026-047 and 2026-139 against the Judge were dismissed at an Administrative screening level October 28, 2026 - Here I am!” Keith wrote to Our Town Reno initially to take a closer look into these developments and what she sees as a serious lack of institutional accountability following the alleged abuse against minors.
Keith says that she has navigated “an extensive chain of reporting mechanisms, administrative processes, investigative channels, and government oversight agencies to obtain accountability. Enough is enough,” she writes.
“Children placed in county and state custody are among the system’s most vulnerable,” she concluded in her messages to Our Town Reno. “Rehabilitation requires accountability at all levels not just for the youth.”
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