CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After finding serious violations at a wilderness therapy camp where a 12-year-old camper died in February, North Carolina regulators have told the program that they intend to revoke its license, state documents show.

The state Department of Health and Human Services also fined Trails Carolina $18,000 due to violations of medication requirements and its failure to protect clients from “harm, abuse, neglect or exploitation,” according to a March 28 letter from a top DHHS official to Trails Carolina executive director Jeremy Whitworth.

“The documented violations indicate that conditions in the facility are found to be detrimental to the health and safety of the clients,” another letter from DHHS states.

State regulators are giving Trails Carolina an opportunity to correct violations and show that they are complying with the law. The agency will review any written statement and documents submitted by the the program before making a final decision to revoke its license.

Trails Carolina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move to threaten the program’s license comes seven days after a state inspection — and eight weeks after a boy from New York was found dead at a camp cabin in Lake Toxaway, 140 miles west of Charlotte. The boy had arrived at the program less than 24 hours earlier.

How he died has not yet been determined, authorities say. But his death appeared “suspicious,” according to a Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office news release. A forensic pathologist told investigators that the death did not appear to be natural, the sheriff’s office said.

Trails Carolina has disputed that characterization, contending that there is no evidence of “criminal conduct or suspicious acts” and that preliminary reports indicate the boy’s death was “accidental.”

The boy who died reportedly experienced a panic attack the night he arrived and was found cold, stiff and frothing at the mouth the next morning, search warrants show.

While it’s unclear what caused the boy’s mouth to froth, that “could’ve indicated that he ingested some sort of poison,” according to an affidavit from a detective who obtained the search warrant.

A camp counselor told investigators that the boy was required to sleep on the floor inside a sleeping bag, which in turn was inside a small tent called a bivy bag.

The counselor said the boy was checked at 12 a.m., 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Feb. 3, and was found dead at 7:45 a.m. that day. But when investigators arrived that morning, the boy’s body was stiff and “cold to the touch,” the search warrants said.

On its website, Trails Carolina says it was founded in 2008, largely on the belief that a wilderness setting enhances the benefits of therapy. Participants in the for-profit program typically enroll for 85 days, the program’s website says, and tuition is $675 to $715 per day.

Trails Carolina takes children ages 10 to 17 on wilderness expeditions, and its therapists meet with children on a weekly basis, the website says. The program helps minors with a variety of conditions, including depression, anxiety and anger management problems, it says.

Concerns about Trails Carolina have been voiced for years. In 2014, 17-year-old Alec Lansing died after running away from the program. DHHS, which regulates therapeutic programs, has cited the program with multiple deficiencies in recent years.

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