After nearly 40 years of operation on the banks of Seneca Lake, Freedom Village USA, the controversial campus for troubled teenagers, is officially closed.

Officials with the state Office of Children and Family Services, or OCFS, confirm that the remaining few students at the campus have returned to their homes. And documents from South Carolina, where Freedom Village officials hoped to move, show that "there are not any children in the care of Freedom Village (in New York) at this time."

"All children were dismissed from the program," states a letter to South Carolina officials about the closure. "OCFS was informed of the program shutting down at the end of August."

Freedom Village had relied on an evangelical regimen and curriculum and had been hounded by allegations of fiscal mismanagement and the misuse of millions of dollars of donations.

This year, Freedom Village USA was buffeted from many sides: It was more than $3 million in debt, but a bankruptcy judge rejected its plans for protection from creditors; it then planned a move to South Carolina to partner with another nonprofit, and the proposal sparked renewed media interest in the Village's history; and former residents mounted strong opposition in South Carolina, prompting officials there to question whether to accept the newly planned campus.

Freedom Village is selling its properties to try to pay the debts it owes, including money owed to the family of a teenager sexually abused on the organization's campus by a convicted sex offender.

Last month, the Democrat and Chronicle published a story about Freedom Village USA's past bankruptcies — it declared bankruptcy twice before the latest failed attempt — and some opponents of the South Carolina move circulated the coverage to officials there.

More importantly, the opposition from some former Freedom Village students prompted questions about the operation's discipline — moving wood for hours for mild infractions — and the insular world it created that made many residents fearful of the world beyond the campus.

In South Carolina, Freedom Village planned to partner with the non-profit Hannah Grace Homes, which has provided housing and counseling for foster children.

Amid the opposition from former Freedom Village students, Hannah Grace opted not to go forward with the project and will no longer open a facility in the state.

For months beforehand, Pastor Fletcher Brothers, the founder of Freedom Village, raised money for the South Carolina move. Hannah Grace officials say those funds will go to a state-licensed facility for at-risk youth.

GCRAIG@Gannett.com

Background to closure:Millions in debt, pursued by creditors, Freedom Village is moving to South Carolina

Opposition to move:Freedom Village's proposed move to South Carolina facing opposition