Changes made at Fear Farm haunted house after girl claims she was groped

PHOENIX - Fear Farm managers are making changes after a 16-year-old girl says she was groped inside one of their venues located at  99th Avenue and McDowell Road.

The incident happened Saturday night, and the girl says a man touched her backside and then ran off.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident.

Managers at Fear Farm tell us they've told their staff to start taking a look at the groups that they are letting into the haunted houses.

They will be looking at gender and age and separating people when appropriate, and the courtyard will also be limited to just paying customers. Before, the courtyard was open to everyone.

Organizers are hoping this will deter people who are not coming to enjoy the event.

Fear Farm employs their own private security. In addition, they have uniformed MCSO Sheriff Deputies and posse volunteers on staff.

Security is at every entrance and exit to the haunted homes, and also patrols the corn field and the courtyard area.
Statement from Fear Farm:

It is our intent to provide the safest environment possible to all who enter our facility. We work very closely with the police and fire agencies in the surrounding municipalities to make sure that we provide the highest levels of security to prevent any possible incident. We review our security policies all the time to make sure that we are continually improving our process. This year we have made multiple upgrades to our policy and facility to protect the public from any harm. It is our opinion that this is an isolated incident and we will strive to continue to improve our security measures in order to be proactive against any type of incident. Fear Farm has been in operation for 13 years and is dedicated to providing a safe and entertaining event.

The operators of Fear Farm have over thirteen years of experience in the industry and have a strict no-touch policy of customers, actors and props, which is posted prominently at the entrance to each attraction and taken very seriously by us and our staff. On the night in question, Friday, September 28, there was onsite staff security on duty at the attractions as well as general staff members who were easily identified by their orange vests, as well as off duty law enforcement officials. The alleged incident was reported to a Maricopa county Sheriff's Deputy who investigated and concluded the alleged incident involved another patron.