The head of a tough-love boot camp for children near Buckeye was arrested last week in connection with the July 1 death of 14-year-old Anthony Haynes. Charles Long II, 56, was arrested Feb. 15 on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and eight counts of child abuse. A camp supervisor, 39-year-old Raymond Burr Anderson, also was arrested on child abuse charges. Long and other camp staff members allegedly forced children to stand in extreme heat in black clothing with no water or shade for hours on end, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office investigators said. On the day Haynes died, he reportedly was hallucinating and refusing water before camp supervisors took him to a nearby motel and left him in a tub with the shower running. They returned to find the boy face down in the water and that he had vomited mud, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in July. They returned him to the camp at Long’s direction. When he arrived he wasn’t breathing, and supervisors called 911. The boy was pronounced dead later that night. The aggravated assault charge is for allegedly brandishing a knife to an 18-year-old camp participant on June 26. Anderson is charged with seven counts of child abuse for allegedly spanking, stomping, beating and whipping more than 14 children, a Sheriff’s Office press release said. Long also is charged with possession of marijuana, which was found in a safe in his bedroom during a search of his home in July. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Christopher Markham can be reached by e-mail at cmarkham@westvalleyview.com.