More altar boy troubles:
€ R.L. Measures
Diocese sued by siblings
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Two brothers, including one who cut off his hand to "ensure his entrance
into heaven," sued the Catholic church in Oakland on Wednesday for
allegedly allowing a Fremont priest to molest them as altar boys.
The lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court seeks unspecified damages
against the Diocese of Oakland for abuse allegedly committed more than two
decades ago by the late Rev. James Clark, the former pastor of Corpus
Christi Church in Fremont.
Clark, who worked as a priest in the East Bay from 1965 to 1984, died in
the summer of 1989.
The suit was filed under a new state law that gives abuse victims a one-
year window to file civil lawsuits in abuse cases that were once barred
because the statute of limitations had expired. That window of opportunity
expires on Dec. 31.
The brothers, now aged 45 and 44, are not identified in the lawsuit, which
refers them as John A. Doe and John B. Doe.
But the younger brother agreed to speak to The Chronicle yesterday if his
name was not released.
"I've been in therapy for this since I was in my 30s," he said.
He said his molestation had occurred in the rectory of Corpus Christi
Church in 1971, when he was 12 years old.
It followed "an insidious grooming process" over several months, when
Clark would admire the young boy's developing body, urging him to take off
his shirt.
"It began with him touching my chest and then went onto him fondling my
penis," the man said. "I said, 'This scares me. This is wrong.' "
At that point, he said, Clark apologized and told him, 'If I ever do that
again, I want you to punch me in the stomach."
The younger brother said he only realized his older sibling had also been
molested after the older brother severed his left hand with a fishing
knife in 1980.
When Clark walked into his room at Washington Hospital in Fremont, he
said, his injured brother "began to thrash around" in bed.
"That's when it occurred to me that my brother had also been molested," he
said. "When I asked him why he cut off his hand, he said, 'If thy hand
offends thee, cut it off.' "
Doctors were able to reconnect the severed hand, but the older brother has
suffered years of emotional trouble, the suit says.
"He is considered a schizophrenic," his brother said. "He'd hear
judgmental voices in his head. Medication has helped, but he's still in a
board and care home."
The older brother later revealed molestations similar to that inflicted on
him, the younger brother said.
According to the lawsuit, the abuse against the self-mutilating brother
continued until 1980 and "hastened a chronic, life-threatening mental
illness."
Sister Barbara Flannery, the chancellor of the Diocese of Oakland, said
the church had first heard of the allegation against the deceased priest
when the younger brother contacted her last December.
Flannery said Clark had "a sterling record," and there are no allegations
in his file about child abuse or sexual improprieties.
"He did have a problem with alcohol," she added.
The lawsuit, which names the diocese and retired Bishop John Cummins as
defendants, claims negligence and intentional infliction of emotional
distress.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle
--
€ R.L. Measures, 805-386-3734, www.somis.org. + in adr = spam trap
TDP
wrote:
Knock it OFF!!!!!!!!!!
Baptist Youth Pastor Gets 135 Years For Sex Cases
A judge tells Randy Lee Morrow he wishes the sentence could be
longer.
By William Levesque
LARGO, Fl. -- Youth pastor Randy Lee Morrow lied all the time to the
teenagers he says looked up to him as a father figure. He admits it.
Lies about being in a biker gang. Lies about serving prison time. Lies
about having terminal cancer.
"I lied a lot more than I should have," he says.
But Morrow says he is telling the truth when he insists he did not
have sex with three teenage boys he pastored at Countryside Baptist
Church in Clearwater.
A Pinellas-Pasco jury deliberated for two hours on Thursday before
deciding that was a lie, too. Jurors found Morrow, 42, guilty of nine
charges involving allegations he had sex with three teens, ages 13 to
15, while he was their youth pastor.
Circuit Judge Phil Federico immediately sentenced Morrow to 135 years
in prison for charges that ranged from sexual activity with a minor to
lewd and lascivious behavior and contributing to the delinquency of a
minor.
"If I could give you more (time), I would," the judge said.
Federico said Morrow's was one of the worst cases of trust betrayed
that he had ever seen in 19 years as a prosecutor and a judge.
Morrow, who had been free on bail, showed no emotion as the verdict
and sentence were announced. He declined to address the court and
avoided looking at the victims or their families as bailiffs led him
off to jail.
"I just want everyone to realize what a sick and twisted individual
Randy Morrow is," said one of the teenage boys, who now is 17. The
three teens are not named because of the nature of the charges. "I
just want everyone to realize that now."
Prosecutor Tim Hessinger told jurors that Morrow lured the three
victims with cigarettes and alcohol, getting them drunk so he could
take advantage of them by having sex in his RV, the church and local
parks.
Morrow, who lived in Palm Harbor with his parents, told Pinellas
sheriff's detective Matt Miller the day of his arrest, "I had
bull-crapped (the teens) for a year . . . I had made up this other
person that wasn't even me."
Morrow took the stand in his own defense and explained some of the
lies as a result of him simply trying to make himself look cooler to
the teens.
As for the cancer lie, Morrow said he told that one because he was
tired and wanted to leave the youth ministry. He said he thought
telling the boys he had cancer was a way to ease the pain of him
leaving to become a pastor for the homeless.
"That's a real nice letdown," Hessinger told jurors during closing
arguments.
Morrow had been a drug addict when he was younger. He got in trouble
with the law by writing bad checks. But Morrow testified that he
turned his life around and found success in several lines of work,
including a job driving a taxi.
But he said he gave everything up for God and sold many of his
belongings so he could devote his life to the church, eventually
joining Countryside Baptist.
Morrow said he devoted almost all his time to teens after he became
youth pastor. He denied allegations by the three boys that he gave
them cigarettes and alcohol.
Morrow said that medication he took earlier in his life for asthma has
left him impotent, making the boys' allegations impossible.
But Hessinger noted that police tests found Morrow's sperm on a church
couch. Morrow, who described himself as a shy man, testified that he
sometimes slept naked and alone on the couch.
Defense attorneys Larry Hoffman and Melissa Sharpsteen said the teens
made up stories about Morrow because they were mad at his lies and
angry he was leaving the church to begin a new ministry for the
homeless.
The teens acknowledged that they tried to extort $1,000 from Morrow,
threatening to report him to police if he didn't pay. He didn't pay.
But neither did he call police.
In October 2000, one of the teens' mothers called the Sheriff's
Office. A detective set up a taped telephone call between one of the
youths and the pastor.
In the call, Morrow repeatedly apologized for his behavior, telling
one of the boys, "I betrayed some people I consider the most-important
people of my life and I have to live with that every day."
Later, he told a detective the allegations against him were
unbelieveable.
"This is stuff you read about in the news," Morrow said
Baptist Youth Leader is sentenced for 33 acts of indecent liberties
involving girls
ADAM L. CATALDO
GASTONIA - A former Baptist youth leader was sentenced Monday to up to
10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 33 counts of taking
indecent liberties with minors.
Marty Eugene Meadows, 34, of Bessemer City, engaged in sexual activity
with seven girls aged 12 to 15 years between May 2001 and May 2002,
said Gaston County Assistant District Attorney Mikko Red Arrow.
Meadows met his victims through a youth praise team he led at Sunset
Lane Baptist Church in Bessemer City where he was a youth minister,
Red Arrow said.
On about 10 occasions, Meadows tried to broadcast games of sexual
truth or dare with up to five of the girls on the Internet using a Web
cam in his home, Red Arrow said.
The games involved oral sex and other physical acts, Red Arrow said,
and dares came from visitors to an Internet chat room.
It is unclear whether anyone was able to view those sessions, he said.
During Meadow's sentencing Monday, Gaston County Superior Court Judge
Jesse Caldwell said the man's behavior demonstrated "a new low in our
society."
"A man who was given a position of trust by parents, who want nothing
but the best for their children, abused that trust in a shameful and
wretched way," Caldwell said. "This is just despicable."
David Grigg, chairman of the church's deacon board, said Meadows was
not a youth minister but an unpaid volunteer with the church's youth
department. He declined further comment.
One of the victims' mothers said Edwards invited youth who enjoyed
singing from West Fifth Avenue Free Will Baptist Church in Gastonia
and South Point Free Will Baptist Church to join the praise team at
Sunset Baptist. The group planned to perform at local churches but has
since dissolved, she said.
"He's one of those people who give Christians and Christianity a bad
name," she said. "They use God to do things like this."
Even before the nationwide sexual-abuse crisis shocked the Roman
Catholic Church, congregations of all sizes and denominations faced
problems ensuring the safety of their children.
Many Carolinas houses of worship now regularly conduct criminal
background checks on prospective employees and volunteers who work
with youth. There are new guidelines forbidding adults from being
alone with children; prevention workshops for staff; and efforts to
encourage members to report reasonable suspicions of abuse to church
or civic authorities.
While the full extent of the problem isn't known, a 2000 survey of
1,394 U.S. churches found that 3 percent indicated they had responded
in the past year to an allegation of sexual misconduct involving
children.
No one knows exactly how many crimes never get reported: the U.S.
Justice Department reports that cases of sexual assault are reported
only 30 percent of the time.
The mother of the first victim to report Meadow's behavior said her
daughter waited a few days before talking about her attack because she
feared no one would believe her.
"I'm very proud of her for coming out with this," the mother said.
"There's no telling how long this would've gone on and how many other
girls would've been affected by this man."
Meadows lived at 2013 Puetts Chapel Road in Bessemer City when he was
first arrested in June and charged with three counts of taking
indecent liberties with a minor, according to court records. He was
released after posting $3,000 bond.
When he failed to appear in court in July, Meadows was arrested again.
A Gaston County Police investigation led to 40 additional charges of
sexual misconduct. Those charges included two counts of first-degree
statutory sex offense and eight counts of statutory sex offense.
The statutory sex offense charges were dismissed in exchange for
Meadows' guilty plea, Red Arrow said.
On Monday, some of Meadows' victims and their families filled one side
of the courtroom, with Meadows' family and friends on the other.
"I just want him to know, for another man to do this to children,
whatever his punishment is, I can't believe an adult would do this to
a child," said one victim's father before sentencing. "I was baptized
as a Baptist and now I have my doubts."
Later, the mother of the victim who first reported Meadows to police
said her family is trying to forgive the man they once believed was a
Christian role model.
"People like that need a lot of prayer," she said. "We definitely
don't blame God for this. You just have to go on and have faith."
Meadows apologized to his family in court Monday.
Baptist Pastor in three-way sex with Wife
BARTOW,FL. -- The Rev. Kenneth Baxley, a Lakeland minister accused of
having sex with a teenager in his care, agreed to a plea deal Friday
that would carry a 30-month prison term, but would drop similar
charges against his wife.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 11.
Baxley, 38, who resigned in February as pastor of Central Baptist
Community Ministries in North Lakeland, will likely serve only eight
or nine months of the sentence.
That's because the plea accepted by Circuit Judge Ralph Artigliere
gives Baxley credit for jail time served on an unrelated charge of
failing to register as a sex offender.
Baxley has been in the Polk County Jail since May of last year, when
he was sentenced to two years.
In his Friday plea, Baxley also agreed to two years of house arrest
and 10 years' probation. He must be supervised while in the company of
his two children from his previous marriage.
Baxley said little in court, except to acknowledge the plea.
Attorney John Kirkland of Bartow, who represents Baxley and his wife,
Amanda, 23, said the plea was not an admission of Kenneth Baxley's
guilt.
Rather, Kirkland said his client was not inclined to risk the
consequences of a jury trial.
If convicted of all charges, Baxley faced a maximum prison sentence of
150 years, or 30 years for each of three counts of sexual activity
with a child. Baxley originally faced five counts, but the state
dropped two in its plea bargain.
Kirkland said Baxley also was swayed by the state's offer to drop the
charge against his wife, who is taking care of his children.
"Had she been convicted, she'd have faced 30 years," Kirkland said.
Amanda Baxley spoke briefly with her attorney after the hearing, but
declined to talk with a reporter.
In May 2001, Kenneth Baxley was sentenced to two years for failing to
register his address, which is required of convicted sex offenders.
He'd fought the charge on grounds that he had successfully completed
probation for a 1983 offense and had not been informed of the law
requiring sex offenders to register their address each time they move.
Just weeks before Baxley was sentenced on the failure to register
charge, he was arrested on charges of having sex with the then
17-year-old niece of his deceased first wife.
The teen told authorities she'd had an ongoing sexual relationship
with Kenneth Baxley and that she'd had three-way sexual contact with
Baxley and his wife, according to court documents
The Southern Baptist Sexual Cover Up
Dan Earl Allmond, Youth Pastor of Tampa Baptist Church, Tampa, a
Southern Baptist Church, and a married man, suddenly resigned on
December 9, 1998 and disappeared off the scene when the police were
called in concerning a complaint made by a female high school student
that she was having sex with the pastor as a minor.
Senior Pastor McCormick of Tampa Baptist Church denied all knowledge
about the sexual activities and ordered the staff of Tampa Baptist
Academy to stay silent on the whole matter and not to discuss Dan's
previous sexual escapades with no one! McCormick's own daughter was
sexually promiscuous and had to leave school for a while for fear of
being pregnant.
The bible states that a Senior Pastor must be one who rules his own
house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for
if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take
care of the church of God?). Hence Senior Pastor McCormick resigned as
pastor in the spring of the next year when he sought to divorce his
wife.
Dan Earl Allmond faced two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a
minor. Police said that the youth pastor had sexual relations with the
girl on church property and at his home on W Paris Street. The sexual
relations occurred between August and October, Cole said according to
jail records reported the Tampa Tribune.
Allmond is a Sex Offender under Florida law and now the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement's Sexual Offender/Predator Unit has his
picture pasted on the web at
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/sexual_predators/OffenderFlyer.asp?keys=26812
Most Southern Baptist pastors and preachers are hypocrites in that
they don't practice what they preach. Take the case of the Rev. Jerry
Falwell, a Southern Baptist and religious right fundamentalist, who
jumped on the media bandwagon about Roman Catholic pedophile priests
and stated:
It is time for the Catholic Church to get serious about protecting
children.
The fact is, any cleric - Catholic or Protestant - who molests a child
to satisfy his own dark urges should be immediately dismissed and
severely punished. Period.
However, church leaders have gone blind to their responsibilities.
Revelations that top U.S. clergy protected pedophiles and failed to
prevent them from interacting with credulous children is simply
unforgivable. It is criminal! This is not the time for compromise,
settlement or bargain. It is time for the church to attend to ridding
itself of pedophiles and painstakingly ensuring that virtuous and
honorable men are recruited to replace them.
President Bush has stated that any nation that harbors terrorists is
guilty of terrorism. Similarly, any church leader who provides safe
haven for a pedophile priest, pastor or rabbi is just as guilty. It is
unthinkable that men who have yielded their lives to ministry would
descend to such depths that they would sexually abuse little children.
It is just as unthinkable that a church leader would protect these
men.
( Catholic Church leadership must expel pedophiles By Rev. Jerry
Falwell Worldnetdaily April 27, 2002)
But according to Southern Baptists own statistics and reports most of
their pastors are sexual perverts and reality shows their church
leaders protects their pastors and not the sheep.
Just as a hidden iceberg destroyed the Titanic after the crew had
ignored multiple warnings, lives and ministries of pastors and other
church staff are being destroyed at a remarkable rate by sexual
infidelity, the president of the Southern Baptist North American
Mission Board warned a group of pastors, missionaries and other
denominational leaders.
Robert E. Reccord cautioned pastors, missionaries and other
denominational leaders attending the April 10-13 Connection 2002
conference in Ontario, California, about avoiding temptations that
lead to sexual infidelity.
Reccord cited survey statistics from the book "Men's Secret Wars" by
Patrick Means that indicated 64 percent of pastors or church staff
struggled with sexual addiction or compulsion. Twenty-five percent
admitted to having sexual intercourse with someone besides their wife
while married, and after they had accepted Christ. Another 14 percent
admitted some form of sexual contact short of intercourse.
Reccord also noted the importance of every Christian leader having
someone to whom he is accountable, someone who will ask him the hard
questions about his personal life and thoughts. He noted research
which found little in common among more than 200 fallen ministers
except two things: all no longer had a regular quiet time in
fellowship with God, and none had made themselves accountable to a
person or group.
Ann Graham Lotz, the second daughter of Southern Baptist Evangelist
Billy Graham, stated in Tampa, Florida in April 2002, ``I'm not
accountable to my critics, I'm only accountable to God.'' And her
father Billy Graham had tried to avoid accountability for his
criticism of Jews that was caught on tape decades ago on his age and
forgetfulness. The "I don't recall" technique was used often by former
president Bill Clinton to avoid accountability concerning his sexual
liaison with Monica Lewinsky in the White House.
Sexual involvement by Baptist leaders with others is a real problem in
North America. A 1991 national survey of mainly Protestant pastors by
a group at the Center for Ethics and Social Policy, Graduate
Theological Union, in Berkeley, California -- described by its
researchers as "small and not scientifically controlled" -- uncovered
similar findings: About 10 percent of those surveyed had been sexually
involved with a parishioner. Another study published in the winter
1993 Journal of Pastoral Care found that only 6.1 percent of Southern
Baptist pastor respondents admitted to having sexual contact with a
person either currently or formerly affiliated with their church.
Surveys of ministers reveal the existence of a growing moral breakdown
in pastors' lives. Almost one in four pastors answered yes to the
question, "Since you've been in local church ministry, have you ever
done anything with someone (not your spouse) that you feel was
sexually inappropriate?" One in five pastors confessed to sexual
misconduct of some kind, with one in eight admitting adultery, and
only 4 in 100 were found out by their local church. (1988 survey in
Leadership magazine).
On April 8, 2002 the Christian Science Monitor reported that 'Despite
headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in the Roman
Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child
sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged
abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers. These are
findings from national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR),
a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000
congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide.
The CMR findings also reveal:
- Most church child-sexual-abuse cases involve a single victim.
- Law suits or out-of-court settlements were a result in 21 percent of
the allegations reported in the 2000 survey.
- Volunteers are more likely than clergy or paid staff to be abusers.
Perhaps more startling, children at churches are accused of sexual
abuse as often as are clergy and staff. In 1999, for example, 42
percent of alleged child abusers were volunteers - about 25 percent
were paid staff members (including clergy) and 25 percent were other
children.
On March 25, 2002 the LA Times in an article by TERESA WATANABE, Times
Staff Writer Sex Abuse by Clerics-a Crisis of Many Faiths wrote
The wave of clergy sex scandals now engulfing the Roman Catholic
Church has battered other denominations as well, producing an uneven
record of response that ranges from the Episcopal Church's aggressive
and detailed policies to the Southern Baptist Convention's widespread
lack of written standards.
Similar charges have been leveled against the Southern Baptist
Convention, the largest of the Baptist bodies in the United States.
Dee Ann Miller, a victim's advocate and author of books about the
topic, said she had received complaints from victims in 30 states,
half of them involving minors. She said church officials have not been
responsive.
When she first told church officials about her own sexual assault by a
Southern Baptist missionary in Africa several years ago, Miller said,
she was told by two leaders that it was at least partly her fault.
In a 1993 survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care, 14% of Southern
Baptist ministers surveyed said they had engaged in inappropriate
sexual behavior, 70% said they knew a minister who had and 80% said
they lacked written guidelines.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist ethics committee, said
the convention's churches are fully autonomous and probably did not
adopt written policies because it was obvious that sexual misconduct
was wrong. He said training about sexual misconduct is conducted at
Southern Baptist seminaries, which produce about half of the
convention's clergy, and that the cases he knows about led to swift
removal or resignation of the guilty party.
"Most Baptist ministers know sexual misconduct is a career-ending
move," he said.
It's amazing that no one is alarmed that the survey reported that "14%
of Southern Baptist ministers surveyed said they had engaged in
inappropriate sexual behavior." But because Southern Baptist churches
and Assembly of God Churches are fully autonomous it's very easy and
convenient for these churches to bury a scandal as was done with Tampa
Baptist Academy?
TDP
wrote:
>Thursday, December 11, 2003 (SF Chronicle)
Here's another one MORON!
Minister who videotaped himself molesting children gets 60 years
By JENNIFER HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
GREENWOOD, S.C. (AP) -- A minister and former elementary school aide
who videotaped himself molesting children was sentenced to 60 years in
prison Monday after pleading guilty to attacks on victims as young as
5.
The Rev. Fernando Garcia quietly said, "Yes sir, I did," after Cicuit
Judge Joe Wilson read the names of each victim on 47 counts: 32 of
performing lewd acts and 15 of various degrees of criminal sexual
conduct.
After his plea, the 42-year-old Baptist minister stared at the
courtroom floor while the mother of two of the victims, boys ages 10
and 12, called Garcia "this evil incarnate" and said her family would
never be the same. There were a total of 23 victims between the ages
of 5 and 13.
Garcia, who grew up in Mexico, said that as a boy he was abused by a
Roman Catholic priest and he asked that his victims get counseling to
stop the cycle of abuse.
"Your kids need special counseling. I don't know what I can do to
help," he said. "What you are seeing here is the result of somebody
who never took the chance to be counseled."
The case came to light in May after an 8-year-old boy told his mother
that he had been molested by Garcia.
In Garcia's office at the Baptist association, police found 26
videotapes of him sexually abusing children. The encounters took place
at Garcia's office and at East End Elementary School where he was a
library aide.
Some of the children of investigators on the case served with Garcia's
two teen-age children as ushers at Abbeville Memorial Baptist Church.
Police also found a list of 145 names indicating Garcia may have
molested more children and young men, some of them in two other
states.
The 23 Greenwood victims were on the list, with dates and ages from 5
to 22 next to each name, prosecutor Townes Jones said. He would not
discuss details. Greenwood Police Chief Gerald Brooks said the
videotapes also showed at least two other victims, one each from
Georgia and Nevada.
However, Brooks said he doubted charges would be filed in those cases
because investigators could not pinpoint where and when they took
place.
The local school district and church said nothing turned up in their
background checks before Garcia was hired and police and prosecutors
said Garcia did not have a criminal record.
Garcia came strongly recommended from his previous ministry in Carson
City, Nev., when came here in 1998 to work with the Abbeville Baptist
Association. The umbrella group for local churches was looking for a
minister to serve the growing Hispanic population in this textile town
of 20,000 people.
He held Sunday night services in Spanish at a local church, performed
counseling and was kept busy speaking at local Kiwanis and Lions clubs
and rotating his visits to area churches.
"He could speak English and Spanish. He was gifted in music and
preaching," said Wallace Hughes, the Baptist association's director of
missions.
TDP
wrote:
>Thursday, December 11, 2003 (SF Chronicle)
Here's another one...Want to see more...We are sick of it. It's not
just Priest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Police say fugitive child molester is a threat
Churches warned to watch for man who fled from trial
LOUISA, Ky. As jurors deliberated his fate on child molestation
charges, Truman Evans stepped outside the courthouse of this small
Appalachian town for what he told family members was a breath of fresh
air.
But in the short 30 minutes it took the jury to convict the former
Baptist minister, Evans went on the lam, slipping quietly away in a
car rented a day before his trial and parked near the two-story
Lawrence County Courthouse.
Evans, 57, hasn't been seen since he fled July 1, and authorities are
cautioning church communities to be on the lookout for a man they say
will manipulate people and is a potential threat to their children.
"If he surfaces, I believe it's going to be in a church environment,"
said Detective Rob Garnes, lead investigator for the Kentucky State
Police. "He knows how to use churches."
Deputy Sheriff Rick May said that while everyone else was
concentrating on the two-day trial, Evans, who was free on $50,000
bond, was biding his time and waiting to execute a plan designed to
keep him from going to prison, where he had worked as a guard.
Evans had taken the stand earlier in the day, claiming his two young
accusers made up the stories about being molested because he had
spanked them. In case jurors didn't buy his story, May said, Evans had
rented a bronze 2003 Buick Century at a Kenova, W.Va., airport the day
before his trial began and parked it near the courthouse.
May theorized that Evans, who arrived each day in another car, planned
to sit through the trial, then drive away in the rental car while the
jury deliberated. That way, May said, he could return and face
misdemeanor bail-jumping charges if he was acquitted of the sodomy
charges or not return at all if he was convicted.
"He may have even left the country," May said. "We really don't know."
Jurors convicted Evans of first-degree sodomy and criminal attempt to
commit first-degree sodomy for forcing the two children to perform
oral sex on him. They recommended a life sentence, plus 20 years.
Authorities are investigating tips that Evans may now be using a
stolen identity and an altered appearance. His car, which was due back
July 3, has not been located.
Evans, who retired from his job at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional
Complex shortly after he was indicted, has been a member of First
Baptist Church in Louisa for the past five years.
Garnes said Evans' ministry at Bradley Gap Free Will Baptist Church
ended amid allegations of an adulterous relationship and drunkenness.
Testimony about those allegations was not permitted in the trial.
Garnes said Evans will likely prey on other children if he has an
opportunity. The next victims, Garnes said, could be anywhere in the
country if he's not captured. "If I had to guess, I would say he has
left the area," Garnes said. "He's a convicted child molester. I would
say he's a danger to others."
John David Preston, the Paintsville attorney who represented Evans in
the trial, said Garnes holds an opinion that isn't shared by everyone.
Preston said the evidence presented in the trial was "hotly contested"
and that he believes the conviction could be overturned on appeal.
The Rev. Ric Frazier, pastor at First Baptist, said he and members of
his congregation were surprised when Evans was charged in 2001 with
molesting children.
"I'm sure folks feel a little blind-sided by this," Frazier said. "He
was a very affable fellow."
Tony Skeans, the prosecutor on the case, described Evans as a
self-centered man who abused the children with no concern for anything
other than his own sexual gratification.
"I've tried a lot of these cases," he said. "This one, there's no
doubt that he's guilty."
TDP
wrote:
>Thursday, December 11, 2003 (SF Chronicle)
Now take your CRAP and get OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eddie Thomas, pastor of St. Luke Baptist Church in Ringgold, LA., is
arrested and charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile,
aggravated incest and pornography involving a juvenile. (the
Shreveport Times, July 17, 2003)
Police seize videotape alleged to show sex with child
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEWARK, N.J. A convicted sex offender who was named pastor of a city
church several weeks ago has been removed from the post. Shiloh
Baptist Church leaders had hired the Rev. Chavalis T. Williams in
mid-March, even though they knew he had pleaded guilty in Florida to
charges of child abuse and using children in a sexual performance.
(Newsday, May 7, 2003)
Convicted sex offender removed as pastor of Newark church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tinley Park, IL. For the second time in two weeks, a Baptist pastor
from New Lenox has been charged with molesting a child ? and
prosecutors said they are looking for more victims. Dennis Larry Shaw,
53, of the 2100 block of Sanford Drive, New Lenox, was charged Monday
with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl, according
to the Will County state's attorney's office. On Jan. 31, Shaw was
arrested on similar charges after a parishioner's 12-year-old daughter
alleged she was fondled by the pastor inside the church between
October and December, prosecutors said. (Daily Southtown, February 11,
2003)
Minister again charged with molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lyons, NY. Former Lyons Minister Sentenced to 1 1/3 -3 years in State
Prison. The retired minister of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Lyons
was sen-tenced to 1 1/3 to 3 years in state prisonon Tuesday (1/14).
Grady O. KempSr., age 65, ofWadley, Georgia, pled guilty to a reduced
crime of Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the 2nd Degree-a
Class D Felony on December 12, 2002, sparing the step-daughter from
testifying. Kemp, when completing his prison term, must regis-ter as a
sexual predator. He had been indicted by a Wayne County Grand Jury in
July of last year, for one count of Sexual Mischief in the 1st Degree,
4 counts of Rape in the 2nd Degree, 2 counts of Rape in the 3rd
Degree, 4 counts of Sex Abuse in the 2nd Degree, 2 counts of Sex Abuse
in the 3rd Degree and one count of Sodomy in the 2nd Degree, involving
a step daughter. Grady had been arrested on July 31, 2002. It is
alleged that the sexual activity with a step daughter began when the
girl was 9 years old and continued until she was 14. "He had sexual
contact with the girl hundreds of times," said Wayne County District
Attorney, Rick Healy. The incidents came to light when the girl, now
16 years old, began fidgeting and praying. The next day the girlbegan
crying and screaming at a family gathering and said she could not hold
it back any longer. The girl's mother and Kemp's former wife, Lynda
Kemp, said she and her daughter now live in Panama City, Florida.
According to Healy, Grady had served as pastor of the church for
almost 20 years. "He just retired last year and moved to Georgia,"
said Healy. Grady still owned a house at 122 Ford Street in Newark,
where the alleged crimes took place. (Times of Wayne County, Jan. 27,
2003)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fort Pierce, FL. Pastor Kenneth Johnson, recently convicted of having
sex with a minor, and Friendship Missionary Baptist Church -- where he
reportedly continues to minister -- were named in a sex-abuse lawsuit
filed Tuesday. Johnson, 39, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday on one
count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. He faces up to 15
years on the second-degree felony. (The Tribune, January 22, 2003) .
Johnson to be sentenced Friday on 1 count of unlawful sexual activity
with minor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bryan, TX. A pastor was arrested and released from jail Monday night
after he was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Ford
was indicted earlier this month based on an allegation he had sexually
assaulted a teenage boy who went on a trip with the pastor to the
Texas Panhandle more than two years ago. Ford was pastor from the New
Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Bryan where he had served for 17
years. (Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dec. 24, 2002)
pastor accused of assaulting Bryan boy arrested
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TEMECULA, CA. Six years ago, Becky J.'s life revolved around Temecula
Valley Baptist Church. She worshipped there, went to school there, and
even worked after hours two days a week at the school to earn pocket
money. That's where she met 40-year-old Pastor Kerry Clyde Martin. But
at 14, Becky didn't understand the concept of street smarts, she said.
She didn't know when the man befriended her what the future held. "He
listened to my problems and would tell me how right I was if I had a
fight with my parents," she said. "I always thought he meant it in a
pastor way, or like a father." Little did Becky know that as a cleric
at two previous churches -- one in Maryland and one in Orange County
-- Martin had already been accused of sexually molesting at least
three other girls, all 14. Little did she know the friendly,
charismatic minister was taking the first steps that would culminate
in his repeatedly raping the girl over the next two years. (The
Californian, Dec. 8, 2002)
Child sex abuse reaches far beyond Catholic Church, experts say.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANDERSON, S.C. Youth Minister William Bell of Mount Tabor Baptist
Church pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a
minor 2nd degree, four counts of lewd acts upon a child under sixteen
and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. An
investigation revealed two male victims, the youngest was 10 years
old. (WASV TC, Nov. 14, 2002)
Youth Minister Pleads Guilty To Sexual Conduct With Minors
Man Had Illegal Contact With Boys At Anderson Church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DETROIT, MI. A minister at an east side Detroit church admitted Friday
that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl, leading to her pregnancy.
Prosecutors accused Delton Benson of having sex with the unnamed girl
in August 2000. A warrant was issued for his arrest last March
charging the 32-year-old minister at Straight Street Baptist Church
with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
(sexcriminals.com, Nov. 1, 2002)
Minister arrested
Detroit Pastor Has Dropped Out Of Sight
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
First Baptist is a congregation that reveres its pastor. And so a
dozen church elders decided unanimously that pastor Rev. Lawrence
French, who says he is innocent, should remain as pastor. Convinced
that the 72-year-old pastor could not have committed the alleged
offenses, they also concluded that it would be unfair to French to
notify other members of the church about the allegations. (The Boston
Globe, November 1, 2002)
Paster Convicted by Synod, but Congregation doesn't believe Pastor is
guilty
Congration wants Paster to Remain
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OLNEY, Ill. If things had gone as planned, 35-year-old Leslie Mason
would have preached the keynote sermon at this year's annual meeting
of the Illinois Baptist State Association Nov. 7. Instead the former
pastor of Olney Southern Baptist Church faces 10 counts of criminal
sexual assault involving two teenage girls who attended his
southeastern Illinois congregation. (October 24, 2002, ABP)
Baptist Pastor charged with criminal sexual assault of two teenagers
http://www.baptiststoday.org/btns11_8b.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lawrenceville, GA. A Brookwood High School junior says her youth
minister touched her sexually two years ago when she was 14. He
insists he didn't. Now a Gwinnett County jury must decide whether
Shannon Rhodes, 33, is guilty of child molestation while he worked as
youth minister at Sunrise Baptist Church in Lawrenceville. The girl
detailed her relationship with Rhodes during more than two hours on
the witness stand Tuesday. She said there were three separate
incidents during which he exposed himself to her, tried to French kiss
her and placed her hand to fondle him. (The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, 10-23-2002)
Grand jury hears molestation case against ex-youth minister
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Austin, TX. A former youth minister faces up to 20 years in prison
after he was convicted of nine counts of child sexual abuse. Charles
Richard Willits, Jr., 44, a former youth minister at Great Hills
Baptist Church, was convicted Saturday. Sentencing was scheduled for
Monday. (October 18, 2002; Abilene Reporter-News)
Youth Paster Convicted in Criminal Court
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fresno, CA. A southwest Fresno pastor has been arrested on suspicion
he had a four-year sexual relationship with a teenage boy nearly 20
years ago, Fresno police confirmed Monday. Calvin Eugene Moore, 45, a
pastor at King Solomon Baptist Church, was arrested for an alleged
sexual relationship he had with the boy, police said. Moore remains in
the Fresno County Jail in lieu of $550,000 bail. (The Fresno Bee;
October 16, 2002)
Paster Arrested
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HENRYETTA, OK. -- A former Dewar First Baptist Church music director
worked briefly at another Baptist church before his arrest on sexual
battery complaints last week. Aaron M. McDonald, 23, was hired in June
at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sulphur, said the Rev. Brent Parsons.
Asked if the hiring came after June 11, Parsons said, "Yes." McDonald
is accused of touching the genitals of a 15-year-old boy who, with
another friend, was staying the night at McDonald's mobile home in
Henryetta on June 11, according to an affidavit for McDonald's arrest.
(Tulsa World, 08/03/2002)
Accused Dewar minister had been hired in Sulphur
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Walker County, AL. John Anderson, a Carbon Hill First Baptist preacher
charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of juveniles
under the age of 12, pleaded guilty to all charges in a Walker County
court. Earlier the same day Anderson also entered a "best interest"
guilty plea in another court on charges stemming from that area.
During his tenure as a minister, he had also reportedly been a pulpit
preacher at Southside Baptist in Russellville, Natural Bridge Baptist,
West Blocton Baptist, Hartselle Baptist and other churches in
Mississippi. (Daily Mountain Eagle, Aug. 2, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COLUMBUS, GA. An associate pastor in Columbus has been sentenced to 10
years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of child
molestation and one count of aggravated child molestation. Michael
Krug, an associate pastor at Calvary Baptist, pleaded guilty to the
charges at the Muscogee Superior Court. (The Augusta Chronicle, July
28, 2002).
Minister gets 10 years for child molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Butler County, PA. A pastor faces charges for allegedly aiding and
abetting a parishioner accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old
Allegheny Township girl. Jeffery F. Cox, pastor of the Fellowship
Baptist Church in Allegheny Township, obtained airline tickets for
accused molester Jeremy James Whitmire, and helped Whitmire enroll in
a home for troubled young men in Texas, court documents said. (Butler
Eagle, 07/16/02)
Pastor charged with aiding abuser
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RALEIGH, N.C. A Southern Baptist missionary who was fired for abusing
children in Indonesia is working at a Raleigh church where the
minister knew of his past. (June 28, 2002; AP)
Molester Paster Knowingly Hired by another Church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gastonia, SC. A local youth minister has been charged with three
counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, police said
Thursday. Marty Eugene Meadows, 34, worked as a minister at the Sunset
Lane Baptist Church in Bessemer City, police said. Meadows appeared
before a magistrate and a judge Wednesday, and was released after
posting a $3,000 bond. "There are multiple victims," said Capt. Tony
Robinson, a spokesman with the Gaston County Police. "He was touching
them in an inappropriate manner." (June, 14, 2002, The Charlotte
Observer)
Youth minister faces sex charges
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/gaston/3466742.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gastonia, SC. On Wednesday, Lincoln County pastor Dewey "Eddie" White
was found guilty in district court of propositioning a 15-year-old
girl, prosecutors said. The charge was soliciting to commit a crime
against nature, said Kay Killian, a Lincoln County prosecutor.(June,
14, 2002, The Charlotte Observer)
Pastor of Heavenly View Full Gospel Baptist Church
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/gaston/3466742.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
JACKSONVILLE, FL. A businessman and deacon of First Baptist Church
already accused of molesting a minor was arrested Thursday on charges
he molested two other youths. Stephen Lee Edmonds, 44, was charged
with five counts of lewd and lascivious assault, said David Sembach,
Jacksonville police assistant chief of detectives. The victims were 14
and 15 years old, authorities said. He had been free on $50,000 bond
following an arrest April 15, when he was charged with molesting a
16-year-old and sending him Internet messages discussing sexual
practices. The 16-year-old alleged that Edmonds improperly touched him
twice in 2000. (Naples Daily News, April 26, 2002)
Former Jacksonville deacon facing multiple molestation charges
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A former Burlington pastor charged with sex crimes has left his
Danville, Va., church after reportedly admitting to deacons there that
he acted inappropriately with a child. Many members of the Danville
church pastored by the Rev. James Preston Tyndall were shocked Sunday
to learn that he had been charged with six felony sex crimes Thursday
and had resigned Friday evening. ?I would say our people were shocked.
But some of them had heard about his arrest on TV prior to the Sunday
service,? Bruce Hutcheson, chairman of the deacon board at Stokesland
Baptist Church, said Monday of Tyndall?s departure. Hutcheson and
other deacons who met with Tyndall after his release from the Alamance
County Jail have said that he admitted to them that he engaged in
inappropriate conduct with the child. Burlington authorities said the
girl, now 14, was 8 and 9 years old when the alleged offenses occurred
in Burlington. (4/10/2002, Alamance County Times-News)
http://www.thetimesnews.com/2000/00-04/00-04-11/news-1.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WEBSTER COUNTY, IL. Investigators with the Sheriff?s Department are
searching for a Baptist minister charged with five counts of statutory
rape. Officials say the Rev. Steven Rear, 40, pastor of Westport
Baptist Church in Springfield, has been on the run since the charges
were filed against him on Monday. Rear is charged with raping a girl
under 14 years old. According to court documents, the abuse allegedly
occurred throughout the 1990s. The victim, now 20, said Rear had
sexual intercourse with her ?about every other day? when she was
between the ages of 13 and 16. Members of Westport Baptist, where Rear
has preached for the past 10 years, refuse to believe the charges.
?The church is behind our pastor all the way,? said deacon Billy
Elliott of the 75-member congregation. (The Springfield News-Leader,
March 21, 2002)
Pastor of Springfield?s Westport Baptist Church accused of sex with
girl under age 14.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Syracuse, NY. David Gardiner, the Pastor of Liverpool Baptist Church,
was arraigned on sexual abuse charges on Wednesday. Gardiner, 43,
eluded a police swat team and dozens of sheriff?s deputies for more
than eight hours from around 5:00 pm Tuesday night into Wednesday
morning. Sheriff Kevin Walsh says Gardiner is accused of having sexual
contact with a girl who is under age 11. Court documents show the
allegations do not involve anyone outside the Gardiner home. According
to Sheriff Walsh, the investigation began when Gardiner?s wife Deborah
contacted his department. Gardiner also taught Bible study and
economics classes at the Baldwinsville Christian Academy; he has been
fired from the job in the wake of the sex abuse allegations. (March 8,
2002, WTVH news)
Minister flees law after sex abuse charges
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0501story115953_news.shtml
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEW ORLEANS, LA (CHARISMA) -- The music minister at a large New
Orleans church has been charged with intentionally exposing a teen-age
boy to the AIDS virus. Phillip Britton--music minister at Greater St.
Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, led by Full Gospel Baptist Church
Fellowship founder Bishop Paul Morton--denied the charge brought last
week, "The Times-Picayune" said. Britton, 38, was charged earlier with
having sex with an underage male. A police report said that Britton
met the boy from another church through choir activities, and the two
had sex more than 100 times in a year, the newspaper said. (Maranatha
Christian Journal, Feb. 23, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The former minister of a southeast Kansas Baptist Church has been
charged with molesting a teen-age girl. 37-YEAR-OLD KYLE GUENTHER of
Iola was charged Wednesday in Allen County with five counts of
aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and four counts of
aggravated sodomy. County Attorney Nanette Kemmerly-Weber says the
charges stem from 15 alleged incidents between Guenther and the girl.
The girl was 14 in November 1999 when the alleged assaults began.
(MSNBC.com, Jan. 31, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A survey of SBC pastors published in the Winter, 1993 edition of The
Journal of Pastoral Care, done by Jeff Seats, an SBC pastoral
counselor, revealed that 14.1% of ministers surveyed admitted to
"engagement in sexual behavior which was judged by the individual
pastors to be inappropriate for a minister."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RIDDLE Gary John, 50 Geelong Baptist churchgoer, youth leader and
primary school teacher. Receives maximum 5 year jail sentence in VIC
Appeals Court after pleading guilty to 14 sex offences, including
indecent assaults, gross indecency and sexual penetration, against 9
girls, aged 10 to 16, between 1971 and 1989 at Geelong, Hawthorn and
Port Campbell. Court hears Riddle, of Bell Post Hill, Geelong,
continued offending despite church pastor confronting him about
behaviour in 1983. Originally charged with 52 offences against 11
victims. (Victoria, Australia, 2002).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, CA. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Reverend
Charles Thomas of the Foothill Missionary Baptist Church. Thomas is
accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl from his congregation
during a month-long period in the fall. Thomas reportedly called a
special meeting with church members last week and admitted that the
charges were true. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in
prison. (12-11-2001; KPIX TV)
Reverend sought in crime
KPIX report
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<
Marietta, GA. A 30-year-old former church martial arts instructor at
Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta was sentenced today to 90 years in
prison. Cobb County Superior Court Judge George Kreeger also sentenced
Gunther Fiek today to 90 years on probation. Fiek showed no emotion
when Kreeger announced the sentence. A jury convicted Fiek of 18
counts of child molestation and three counts of aggravated child
molestation in September. (WSB-TV, October 19, 2001)
Fiek gets 90 years for child molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beginning at age 11, Esther Combs was regularly sexually abused by her
father. She said he told her that King David had concubines, so this
behavior was condoned by the Bible. Esther, her three brothers and two
sisters were home-schooled. No visitors were allowed into the home ?
not even parishioners. A later search of the property found it was
filthy, garbage and rat-infested and inhabited by caged cats and dogs.
The pungent odor was still faintly there last fall when the detective
took me and our cameras on a tour of the place. Richmond pointed out
the basketball floor where, she says Esther Combs "was beaten with
ropes, chains, whips, umbrellas, bats." (ABC News, Oct. 18. 2001)
In November 1998, Joe and Evangeline Combs were indicted on multiple
charges of aggravated child abuse, assault and kidnapping; Joe was
further charged with rape. Last spring, both were found guilty and
sentenced to prison terms that will likely keep them behind bars for
the rest of their lives.
How Esther Combs Finally Escaped a Lifetime of Abuse
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/2020/primetime_esthercombs_feature.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABC released excerpts, including Heche's revelation that she spent the
first 31 years of her life suffering from mental illness triggered by
sexual abuse by her father. Heche says she was sexually abused by her
father from the time she was a toddler until she was 12. Donald Heche,
a choir director in a Baptist church who frequented gay bars, died of
AIDS in 1983. (USA Today; Sept. 4, 2001)
Anne Heche sexually abused by father, a Baptist choir Director
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2001-09-04-heche.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DELRAY BEACH -- An associate pastor is behind bars, accused of
molesting a young girl and possibly fathering her child. Police say
that Lyndon Howell, who served at the Community Missionary Baptist
Church, befriended the victim's family when she was 11 years old. For
the next four years, police believe that Howell had sex with her.
Howell faces several charges. He is being held without bond at the
Palm Beach County Jail. 6/26/01
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - A one-time Baptist church deacon was sentenced to 21 months in
federal prison for what the FBI called "cyberterrorism"that targeted
young women on the Internet.
Robert Harvey Alexander, 52, had assembled a list of 100 e-mail
addresses of high school and college students and demanded they have
sexually explicit conversations with him or he would ruin their
reputations, court records said.
Alexander, who was a deacon at First Baptist Church in Tampa at the
time of his arrest, also taunted his victims by telling them that
police couldn't find him. FBI agents arrested him last Nov. at a
computer terminal at a Tampa public library.
Alexanderuilty to 6 counts of extortion. His attorney argued that
Alexander suffers from bipolar disorder and didn't fully understand
what he'd done. AP 10/7/2000.
Cyber-Extortion Results in Prison Sentence
(http://net4tv.com/voice/story.cfm?storyid=2931)
CHURCH DEACON FACES MULTIPLE CHARGES
(http://faculty.csumb.edu/mountfordcarolin/world/cst371/history.html)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FRESNO - A former minister and police officer has been sentenced to 21
years in prison for killing his lover?s husband.
A Fresno County jury had cleared Paul Hurth,44, of murder but
convicted him of manslaughter in the Feb. shooting of car salesman
Ralph Peter Gawor. Giving Hurth the maximum term for voluntary
manslaughter, the judge said that Hurth had violated his trust as a
police officer.
The four-year police officer and department chaplain claimed he killed
Gawor, 43, in self-defense with his service weapon after going to
Gawor?s house to tell him of the sexual affair he had been having with
Nancy Gawor.
Hurth, the former pastor at Heritage Baptist Church, was arrested more
than a week after the killing and fired from the force.AP 8/15/2000
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BISHOP, GA. A wounded Oconee County church is trying to pick up the
pieces this week after the shattering news that its pastor had been
jailed on felony child molestation charges. Larry Michael Holmes, 53,
who was minister of the Bishop Baptist Church until he abruptly
resigned two weeks ago, remained in the Oconee County jail without
bail on Monday, charged with child molestation and one count of
aggravated child molestation. Holmes had been highly regarded by the
members of Bishop Baptist Church. He had been pastor of the church,
which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, for about
five years. ''He had led the church so strongly" said one member, Jean
Holcomb.'He had done a real good job," said church deacon Dean
Johnson. "They are very upset, just having a hard time accepting it."
said Gene Dellinger, chairman of the church's board of deacons.
(onlineathens.com, July 23, 2001)
Molestation charges leveled against pastor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CLINTON, IL. - A state district judge levied a total of $20,000 in
fines against a minister charged with two counts of molestation of a
juvenile.
Rev. William Thomas Rose III, 51, pleaded guilty on April 24 to
molesting two girls in Wilson while he was pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Wilson in 1986. The girls are now ages 19 and 23, according
to court records.
?Unless you come to grips with the fact that you molested two little
girls, you?re in trouble - because it could happen again,? District
Judge Wilson Ramshur told the defendant. ?Contrition is one step
toward salvation,? the judge added.
Ramshur also sentenced Rose to two consecutive 10-year prison terms,
but suspended the sentences and placed him on probation for 10 years.
As a condition of probation, the defendant is prohibited from being
alone with anyone younger than 18. Advocate 6/28/2000
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GREENWOOD, SC. - A minister and former school library aide has been
charged with 16 more counts of sexually molesting children after
police identified more victims from homemade videotapes.
Fernando Garcia - held on a $4 million bond - is now charged with a
total of 44 counts of sexual misconduct with at least 15 victims,
police say. ?Investigators probably still have several weeks of work
left to do - more charges are likely,? said the police chief. Garcia
was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor
and 14 counts of lewd acts on a minor. The latest charges accuse him
of fondling children at an elementary school, where he worked for two
years, and at the Abbeville Baptist Association, where he was
pioneering a Hispanic ministry. The Chihuahua, Mexico-native is a
husband and father of two teen-age children.AP 6/28/2000
Tales of horror: Sex crimes victimizing children rock community's
foundations
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/indexjournal/01Jan25A.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bartow, FL. Accompanied by family and parishioners, the Rev. Kenneth
Baxley, pastor of Central Baptist Community Ministries in Lakeland,
was sentenced Thursday to a two-year prison term for failing to
register as a sex offender. The failure-to-register charge originated
with a crime committed by Baxley in 1983 but confessed to seven years
later. He served 15 months in prison for attempted sexual battery on a
child younger than 12. Baxley has served several churches in various
capacities in the Lakeland area since his release. (The Ledger, June
1, 2001).
Minister not registered as sex offender gets 2 years
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
LARGO, FL. Randy Morrow, 40, street minister with Countryside Baptist
Church in Palm Harbor, was charged with molesting three teenage boys.
(St. Petersburg Times, October 18, 2000)
Authorities say they have a taped phone call in which pastor Morrow
apologizes to one of the reported victims
Authorities Youth minister sentenced for sex
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EASTON - A pastor will stand trial on rape and child-abuse charges, a
judge ruled yesterday. The Rev. Andrew Roy Tilghman, 32, was ordered
to stand trial in circuit court on charges of first-degree rape and
first-degree sexual offense against two girls.
Tilghman is pastor of the United Missionary Baptist Church. District
Judge William Adkins III also ordered him to stand trial on nine
counts each of second-degree rape, second-degree assault, child abuse
and third- and fourth-degree sexual offense and two counts of
second-degree sexual offense. His wife, Great Elizabeth Tilghman, 33,
was ordered to stand trial on charges of child abuse and second-degree
assault. Easton Police Detective Brandon Bobbick testified in a
hearing that a 10-year-old revealed she had been beaten by Great
Elizabeth Tilghman and that she and her sister had been sexually
abused by Andrew Roy Tilghman. - AP May 24, 2000
Easton pastor's abuse trial on
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AIKEN. SC. - A former youth minister who admitted to molesting church
members on camping trips and manipulating neighborhood boys with money
and gifts during 3 decades has received a 30-year prison sentence.
Robert Dorsett, 65, pleaded guilty to 15 sex crimes involving children
during an emotional hearing in which the offenses were read in detail
to a hushed courtroom. Some of Dorsett's victims - who range in age
now from 9 to 43 - attended the hearing and asked the judge to keep
Dorsett from abusing more children. Friends and family members of
Dorsett attended the hearing, lining up to speak on his behalf. Many
were neighbors or co-workers who called him a father figure and hard
worker.
Dorsett met many of his victims while he was a training director at
First Baptist Church in Aug.a years ago. During trips in a church
program, he would organize shaving cream fights and have the youths
shower together, police said. He encouraged them to go streaking.
During a search of Dorsett's home, sheriff's officers found a brown
suitcase containing X-rated videotapes and magazines along with candy,
cookies and other items he gave the children, police said.
Investigators found notebooks where Dorsett kept track of neighborhood
boys and their telephone numbers. Publicity about his arrest last year
led to new allegations by victims who had tried to forget the abuse,
police said. Augusta Chronicle, 11/30/99
Molester pleads guilty
http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/113099/met_124-3417.shtml
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - A church deacon already accused of Internet sex crime against
a teen-age girl faced more sexual extortion charges for allegedly
terrorizing 5 other high school and college students. Robert Harvey
Alexander, 41, a deacon at the First Baptist Church in Tampa, was
being held in lieu of $150,000 bond after an appearance in federal
court to advise him of the 5 additional charges.
Three 21-year-old students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and two students
at Plantation High School in Florida were the latest alleged victims
of attempts to engage them in telephone and cybersex, federal agents
said. Frank Gallagher, head of Tampa's FBI office, said the new
charges grew out of interviews with people named on a "Victim's List."
Agents seized the list with 99 names and e-mail addresses on it when
they arrested Alexander for using the Internet in an attempt to extort
a 16-year-old girl.
All of those on the list received virtually identical messages
threatening to destroy their reputations unless they engaged in phone
or computer sex with the sender. Gallagher called it "cyberterrorism"
because of the fear created in the recipients. One women told her
father, an assistant federal public defender, about the message.
Another contacted university officials.
Investigators are trying to reach other women included on the list. So
far, have traced 17 of them, and are continuing their search.
Prosecutors said they hope the new charges will bolster their claim
that Alexander is a methodical and dangerous sexual predator. AP,
11/11/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FAIRBANKS, AK. - A Baptist pastor from an interior village was
arrested on charges he molested his adopted teen-age daughter, State
Troopers said.
Richard Cook, 46, is accused of having sex with the girl twice and
touching her genitals often during the past 19 months, according to
court documents. He has been charged with one count each of first- and
second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Troopers said Cook first sexually touched the victim, then 13, in Oct.
1997. Four months later, the molestation became an "almost daily"
event despite the girl's protests, according to court documents.
The girl's adoptive mother, who had started working outside the home,
suspected something was amiss because Cook "changed his behavior and
demeanor," according to the documents. But when she questioned her
husband and daughter, both denied anything was going on, troopers
said. The girl attempted suicide before she reported what happened.
Troopers said Cook has since admitted to the sexual contact, stating
he knew his actions were wrong but that he "just got mixed up a bit,"
according to documents.
He was arrested at a Fairbanks motel. Cook and the women had traveled
to town to seek help, said police. AP 4/27/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MASCOTTE, FL. - A Baptist preacher was charged with molesting three
foster children left in his care. Pastor William Nathan White, Jr.,
50, was being held at the county jail on $45,000 bond, charged with
three counts of sexual battery of a child under age 12, a capital
offense, jail officials said.
Following his arrest, 8 foster children and 3 adopted children were
removed from his home and placed in other foster homes according to a
spokeswoman for the state Dept. of Children & Families. State records
show that White and his wife, Susan, have taken in at least 20
children since they were licensed by the state to become foster
parents in 1995.
White first was accused of sexual battery when a 7-year-old girl, who
lived with the family for two weeks, told her natural mother during a
visit monitored by social workers that White had molested her a
sheriff's spokesman said. The girl told investigators that while
sitting on White's lap, the minister asked her if anyone had ever
touched her "private area." White then placed his hand inside her
clothing and fondled her, reports said.
In a videotaped interview, a 10-year-old told authorities White had
repeatedly molested her since she came to live with him in Aug.,
according to reports. An 11-year-old, who lived with the Whites from
Aug. into Nov., said the pastor often had her sit on his lap while she
played computer games, and he once fondled her, records said.
Investigators plan to question every child the Whites have had in
their custody since 1995. State social workers are also reviewing
their files to determine if there were any concerns raised about the
Whites' home in the past AP 3/5/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DUBUQUE, IA. - A woman is suing her former pastor and the Baptist
church for which he worked. Sheldon D. Stotmeister is accused of
having exploited the woman in order to have a sexual relationship when
Kim Deutmeyer came to him for counseling. He is also alleged to have
encouraged her to divorce her husband and to not tell anyone about the
relationship.
Two weeks earlier, her ex-husband Darrell, filed a similar suit.
Stotmeister resigned in March and was arrested in Aug. on charges of
sexual exploitation by a counselor as a result of his relationship.
Telegraph Herald, 4/15/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FORT WORTH - Five women agreed to drop their sexual-misconduct
lawsuits against the founder of a Baptist church in exchange for his
admission to some of the affairs, according to court papers.
The lawsuits against Ollin Collins, founder of Harvest Baptist Church
and a former board chairman of Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary, were dropped after Collins acknowledged that he "engaged in
an adulterous relationship" with three of the women. But all five
women retained the right to sue Collins again their attorney said. "We
had asked him to apologize to the church and agree not to be in the
pulpit until Sept. of 2000, and he refuses to do that," he said.
Four women and the family of another filed lawsuits in state district
court contending that Collins had used his position to force them into
"lewd, lascivious, obscene conduct."
Harvest Baptist Church, with 3,500 members, fired Collins in Nov.
The church and the women agreed to a settlement in which the church
and its insurance company would pay $400,000 to the women and their
families, the Star-Telegram reported. The church has paid about
$100,000 of the settlement and will sell a piece of property to cover
the cost said an attorney for the church. AP 4/22/99
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An Ardmore youth minister has been charged with child molestation.
Everice Daniel Johnson appeared in district court Tuesday for initial
arraignment on one count of lewd acts against a child under 16.
Johnson, a youth minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church, was released
following the court appearance on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond.
According to charge information filed by the district attorney's
office, Johnson allegedly touched the girl "in a manner relating to
sexual matters or sexual interests." (The Daily Admoreite, January 14,
1999)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tampa, FL. Dan Earl Allmond, Youth Pastor of Tampa Baptist Church, a
Southern Baptist Church, and a married man, suddenly resigned on
December 9, 1998 and disappeared off the scene when the police were
called in concerning a complaint made by a female high school student
that she was having sex with the pastor as a minor. Senior Pastor
McCormick of Tampa Baptist Church denied all knowledge about the
sexual activities and ordered the staff of Tampa Baptist Academy to
stay silent on the whole matter and not to discuss Dan's previous
sexual escapades with no one! McCormick's own daughter was sexually
promiscuous and had to leave school for a while for fear of being
pregnant. (Tampa Tribune, December 9, 1998)
Dan Earl Allmond faces two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a
minor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SAN FRANCISCO - A minister already facing theft and arson charges was
sued by 10 parishioners who allege he convinced them to take out
mortgage loans for church improvements and then stole the money.
Rev. Thomas McCall allegedly used the loan money, totaling more than
$850,000, to buy real estate in San Francisco and Southern Calif.,
according to the lawsuit. The members of the Concord Missionary
Baptist Church are seeking damages for breach of contract, breach of
good faith and fair dealing, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
McCall had been under investigation since last Jan., when 7
parishioners claimed the pastor convinced them and others to mortgage
their homes to finance $1.1 million in church renovations.
Records show church members raised a total of $2.9 million in equity,
donations and construction loans - about $1.1 million more than was
necessary for the work.
In addition to 4 counts of grand theft for allegedly taking $2.5
million in church funds, including the $850,000 mentioned in the suit,
McCall also faces an arson charge for allegedly trying to destroy
financial records by setting his apartment on fire. He has been
dismissed from the church and the trial was scheduled to begin Jan.
25. AP, 10/14/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WASHINGTON, DC. - A Baptist minister in Texas who had sex with two
women while counseling them about their marriages lost his appeal to
the Supreme Court. He now must pay each one $115,000.
The court, without comment, turned away Rev. Shelby Baucum's argument
that a federal jury violated his religious freedom by deciding he had
committed malpractice and breached his fiduciary duties. Baucum had
sexual relationships with two women who were church members and
employees in 1991. One woman was fired from her job as the church
receptionist and the other lost her job as his administrative
secretary when they disclosed the relationships. Baucum was asked to
resign, which he did.
The women then sued him in federal court, and each won awards of
$30,000 in compensatory damages and $85,000 in punitive damages.
Baucum appealed, contending the jury had punished him for what he said
was a mixture of secular and spiritual counseling - the equivalent of
"clergy malpractice."
But in upholding the awards, the Court of Appeals ruled that the
religious-freedom difficulties posed by such a finding were not
present in Baucum's case. The appeals court ruling added: "The First
Amendment does not categorically insulate religious relationships from
judicial scrutiny, for to do so would necessarily extend
constitutional protection to the secular components of these
relationships ? To hold otherwise would impermissibly place a
religious leader in a preferred position in our society." AP, 10/5/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
APOPKA, FL. - A minister who molested third-graders at his church
school couldn't promise that he wouldn't molest again, and so was
sentenced to prison for 7 years and 4 months, followed by 10 years of
probation. The judge acknowledged the remorse of David Joe Rich, 55,
and that he took responsibility for his crimes, but said she wanted to
ensure he would not harm anyone again.
Rich, former pastor of Springs Community Baptist Church, pleaded
guilty to molesting 2 girls and trying to molest a third during the
1995-96 school year. He fondled the girls, ages 8 and 9, at his desk
while other students were in the classroom, said the prosecutor. The
desk concealed the probing.
Rich apologized and made no excuses for his conduct but could not
explain it. With God's help and counseling, he said, he hoped never to
molest again. But he said he would be foolish to make a "100 percent"
guarantee. He had resigned when confronted about the abuse 2 years
after it ended.
While on probation, Rich must get counseling. He cannot be alone with
children younger than 18 or live near a school or other place where
children visit. The judge told Rich he should bring his ministry to
prison. "There are people in prison who could use your services," she
said. Orlando Sentinel, 12/4/1998
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NORRISTOWN, PA. - A clergyman was charged with murdering a 4-year-old
boy whom he and his wife had agreed to look after as a favor to the
child's impoverished mother, authorities said.
Rev. Javan McBurrow , 47, beat Michael Davis across the back of his
legs as many as 10 times with a two-foot metal mason's level, and then
forced the child to march the length of the family's squalid suburban
home until he dropped, police said. They said the boy was being
punished for wetting his pants and for looking at one of the couple's
daughters in the bathroom.
McBurrows and his wife, Jane, took the boy to the hospital, telling
doctors he had fallen in the bathtub. They then fled with their own
five children to Georgia. The boy died soon after and an autopsy
showed he had been beaten over a prolonged period.
McBurrows, pastor of the Third Christian Church was arrested for child
endangerment in Georgia and returned to Philadelphia.
The 4-year-old, his 7-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother had been
living with the McBurrows for about a month because their mother, who
also has 3 other children, could not care for them.
After being charged with first-degree murder, McBurrows was remanded
to jail with bond set at $500,000. Police who searched the family's
home described the two-story house as a "squalid, uninhabitable"
dwelling with only one bed. The property has since been condemned.
Reuters 1/15/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NORRISTOWN, PA. - A clergyman was charged with murdering a 4-year-old
boy whom he and his wife had agreed to look after as a favor to the
child's impoverished mother, authorities said.
Rev. Javan McBurrow , 47, beat Michael Davis across the back of his
legs as many as 10 times with a two-foot metal mason's level, and then
forced the child to march the length of the family's squalid suburban
home until he dropped, police said. They said the boy was being
punished for wetting his pants and for looking at one of the couple's
daughters in the bathroom.
McBurrows and his wife, Jane, took the boy to the hospital, telling
doctors he had fallen in the bathtub. They then fled with their own
five children to Georgia. The boy died soon after and an autopsy
showed he had been beaten over a prolonged period.
McBurrows, pastor of the Third Christian Church was arrested for child
endangerment in Georgia and returned to Philadelphia.
The 4-year-old, his 7-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother had been
living with the McBurrows for about a month because their mother, who
also has 3 other children, could not care for them.
After being charged with first-degree murder, McBurrows was remanded
to jail with bond set at $500,000. Police who searched the family's
home described the two-story house as a "squalid, uninhabitable"
dwelling with only one bed. The property has since been condemned.
Reuters 1/15/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RICHMOND, VA. - Former Mayor Rev. Leonidas B. Young has agreed to
plead guilty to 4 of 19 felony counts alleging he sold his influence
as mayor and, as a pastor, defrauded members of his congregation,
according to a newspaper.
The Times-Dispatch said Young is likely to face 2 years to 2 1/2 years
in prison at sentencing. Young will lose his City Council seat
automatically if he pleads guilty. He became pastor of Richmond's
Fourth Baptist Church in 1990 and was elected to City Council 2 years
later and appointed mayor in 1996. Last fall, Young was indicted on
charges of racketeering, fraud, filing false tax returns, suborning
perjury and money laundering. The charges carry prison terms ranging
from five to 30 years.
Authorities allege Young peddled influence as mayor and cheated
members of his church out of money he used to help pay for an
expensive secret life of extramarital affairs. AP, 1/27/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cherokee County, GA. A Cherokee County church deacon was convicted
Saturday of molesting a 14-year-old girl who attended his church.
Jurors deliberated about 14 hours Friday and Saturday before finding
John M. Eatman guilty of child molestation and enticing a minor for
indecent purposes. He is to be sentenced in several weeks. Prosecutors
said he showed the girl an adult magazine and made sexually explicit
comments to her in August, then touched her buttocks during Sunday
morning services Sept. 27 at South Cherokee Baptist Church. (The
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 12-13-1998)
Deacon convicted of molestation: Man fondled teen in Cherokee church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KANSAS CITY - A minister who participated in a school program to
counsel troubled youths has been charged with rape and other sex
offenses involving 3 teen-age girls. Rev. Gregory Robertson, 40, was
accused of using his affiliation with the Kansas City School District
to befriend families of students outside of school, said a spokesman
of the police sex crimes unit. Robertson convinced parents to allow
some children to temporarily move into his home to "give them
guidance," he said.
Robertson has pleaded innocent and is free on $15,000 bond. He faces
charges of statutory rape, 2 counts of statutory sodomy, attempted
statutory sodomy and 4 counts of sexual misconduct. The charges
involve 3 girls ages 12 to 14. The girls told police the incidents
occurred between Feb. 1996 and Dec. 1997 at Robertson's home.
Police said Robertson met at least one of the girls through his work
with the school district. They were not sure how he met the other two.
The three girls did not know each other.
Robertson was part of a Ministers Alliance, a group formed last school
year by a former superintendent to counsel troubled students. The
program no longer exists, and Robertson was banned from the schools
after officials heard about the investigation, said a district
spokeswoman.
Police began investigating Robertson in Sept. 1997 after a girl told
officers she had lived in Robertson's home in 1996. No charges were
filed. The investigation was reopened in Jan. after a 12-year-old girl
made new allegations. Detectives then found 3 other girls who had
lived in Robertson's home, including one who said Robertson offered to
buy her a pair of shoes in exchange for a sex act.
Robertson was ordained at Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church about 6
years ago, but has since left the church, police said. AP, 10/28/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BOONE, NC. - A long-standing pastor and high school teacher accused of
raping a 15-year-old student two years ago was sentenced to spend up
to two years in prison as part of a plea arrangement.
Rev. Larry Edward Elliott, 50, pleaded guilty to 3 counts of taking
indecent liberties with a minor. He entered his plea just before the
jury was to be selected for his trial. A judge ordered Elliott to
serve time for one of the 3 counts, the others suspended and the
district attorney dropped 3 other charges of statutory rape.
Elliott, a Baptist pastor for 20 years, resigned after the accusations
surfaced. He had worked as a substitute math teacher at the school
where he met his victim. (9/15 Watauga Democrat)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TIERRA AMARILLA, NM. - The Chama First Baptist Church has been sued by
a man who claims the church should have stopped the pastor, Rev. Louis
Day, from wrecking his marriage. Eileen Dement began counseling soon
after he became pastor in 1993, but she testified that she never
considered him a psychological counselor, and began an affair which
included lovemaking sessions in the church. She left her former
husband for Day, whom she married in 1996, and has a 7-month old son
by him.
She testified it would have taken "an act of God" to save her marriage
to the plaintiff, Richard Hurd. He testified that Day told him to try
to add some romance to their marriage. (8/29/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - The president of the National Baptist Convention USA pleaded
not guilty to federal fraud charges and was allowed to remain free on
a $125,000 bond. Rev. Henry Lyons, 56, was indicted by a federal grand
jury on grounds that he had used the organization of black churches to
steal millions of dollars from corporations and activists.
Lyons was indicted on 56 counts including fraud, extortion, conspiracy
and tax evasion. At the hearing, 8 friends of his pledged to cover the
bond. He said that all of his assets were frozen by the government.
Prosecutors charge that Lyons fraudulently solicited contributions for
charitable causes, including the rebuilding of black churches
destroyed by arsonists. The indictment said he used the donations to
support a lavish lifestyle, buying cars, jewelry, country club
memberships and homes throughout the country.
Lyons already faced state charges that he used his position to bilk
millions of dollars from companies doing business with the church
group. A federal grand jury also indicted a convention employees
Bernice Edwards and Brenda Harris. Both are free on bond also. (7/7/98
Reuters)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Atlanta, GA. The Rev. Danny B. Moody may have slipped in the eyes of
the law, but he hasn't fallen from grace in the hearts of his
followers. Moody, 52, who has served as Pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist
Church in Douglasville for 24 years, was arrested May 29 on a felony
Peeping Tom charge. Atlanta police allege Moody aimed his Camcorder
beneath the skirts of females while riding escalators at Hartsfield
Internationa Airport. Moody was released under $5,000 bond the same
day. Almost three weeks later, Moody's wife, Brenda, said his
congregation still supports him. "The church has been told about the
charges against him, but the church stands behind him by an
overwhelming vote," Brenda Moody said. (The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution 06-19-1999)
Minister faces felony Peeping Tom charge
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HARTFORD - A former Baptist deacon who fathered a child with a young
parishioner was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping her and
another girl as well.
Edward Brown, Jr., 39, asked for forgiveness in court. The young woman
was 6 years old when Brown began molesting her. He raped her several
times and she became pregnant in 1994 at age 14. She hid the
pregnancy, giving birth alone in her room. When the baby died shortly
thereafter, she threw away the body, which has never been found.
Six months later, she had a nervous breakdown. Doctors would not
believe she had been pregnant until a medical exam proved it.
After Brown pleaded guilty to the rape, one of his family members came
forward to accuse him of molesting her since age 5. 4/4/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ORLANDO - A minister surrendered to faces charges of molesting two
elementary-school girls and sheriff's investigators were seeking more
possible victims. Rev. David Joe Rich, 54, who resigned his post at
Springs Community Baptist Church in Apopka, was arrested after
confessing to the assaults. He was charged with four counts of lewd
and lascivious acts and released on bail.
The two girls, whose parents confronted Rich, said they were fondled
during classes while standing behind the pastor's desk. Other girls
were also called to stand there, according to a detective. (2/14/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DALLAS - A pastor convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl
wassentenced to 12 years in prison following testimony that he agreed
to let her graduate early from the church's school in exchange for
sex. Rev. Jerry Wayne Power, longtime pastor of Irving Baptist Temple
and principal of the church's school, was convicted of two counts of
sexual assault of a child.
Power, 51, hopes to be released on bond while appealing the decision,
his attorneys said. The jury of 11 women and one man deliberated 31/2
hours before deciding to punish Power with 12 years on one count and
11 years on the other. The jury fined him $10,000 on each count. He
will serve both sentences simultaneously and will first be eligible
for parole in six years.
Power's attorneys argued that the girl should be held accountable
because she testified that she and her friend initiated the deal with
Mr. Power.
A former student testified that Power fondled her, placed his foot in
her crotch and masturated in front of her. The woman said he told her
that he would kill her parents and her horse if she quit his school.
(4/17/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COPPELL, TX. - Monte Ray Freeman, 68, a former Baptist deacon and
school board member, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and
fined $750 after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a
4-year-old girl last year. He had been alleged to be molesting girls
over a decade ago, but church officials persuaded the accusers'
parents not to pursue criminal charges. (2/27/98)
http://www.opengovtcoppell.com/file/news/1998/8227dmn1.htm
Report: church leaders persuaded parents to drop sex abuse complaints
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DALLAS - A Baptist pastor awaiting trial on a sexual abuse charge
involving an 11-year-old girl is now accused of molesting a 3-year-old
girl at her mother's home.
Police arrested Rev. Ronroyal Owens at his church office after a
mother reported finding him nude in bed with her daughter. She told
police she and Owens had gone to sleep in the living room but when she
awoke shortly later and checked on her daughter, she discovered Owens
with her, touching her leg. Her panties had been pulled down. An
officer of the child exploitation unit of the Dallas PD said it did
not appear that the child had been harmed.
Owens was being held on a $300,000 bond. (2/11/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BUENA PARK, CA. - A controversial Southern Baptist paster known for
his support of a boycott of the Walt Disney Co. was sentenced to 1,500
hours of community service for violating city building codes by
sheltering the homeless at his church. However, the judge also
credited Rev. Wiley Drake, 53, with the same amount of time for his
past efforts to aid the homeless. (10/23/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ELGIN, IL. - A former associate Baptist minister has been found guilty
of aggravated criminal sexual assault involving two girls aged 4 and 9
in 1995 in an encounter in which the girls' mother participated. Juan
Wyley, 39, faces 12 to 60 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled
for Dec. 3. Wyley testified that he had accepted lodging from the
woman while he pursued a reconciliation with his ex-wife, but that the
girls' mother was "crazy" causing him to leave after a stay of only 5
days. Investigators were alerted by the mother's psychiatrist and
later learned that she was involved in the incident. (1998)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When he was 5 and 6 years old, the boy explained when they got home,
he was abused by Robert D. Tardy, a deacon at Peace Baptist Church on
18th Street NE. This month, Tardy was sentenced to two to 10 years in
prison for molesting the boy, plus 100 days for abusing a girl at the
church. Tardy pleaded guilty to molesting the boy and in the second
case entered an Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but
conceded that there was enough evidence to convict him. (Washington
Post, 1998)
Sex Abuse at Church Shatters a Family
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BUENA PARK, CA. - A pastor convicted for violating city zoning rules
by operating a makeshift homeless shelter has won the support of
several of the jurors who voted against him. Four jurors attended
services at Rev. Wile Drake's First Southern Baptist Church. Two
declined comment but two others said they were impressed with the
sermon and will donate money after touring the patio and parking lot
where some 40 homeless people now live. They said they were forced by
the law to convict, and Drake said he understood and thanked them for
coming. He faces up to $4,000 in fines and 6 months in jail.
Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 22 (8/9/97)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BROKEN ARROW, OK. A resigned youth minister at Arrow Heights Baptist
Church apparently killed himself early Tuesday after police told him
late Monday that he would be charged with molestation and related
offenses. John Priddy, a Tulsa assistant district attorney, said the
charges stemmed from allegations that Randol sexually abused a teen-
age girl who attended the church. The alleged incidents began when the
girl was 13 and ended when she was 15, Priddy said, adding that the
incidents allegedly occurred at the church. Randol was the youth
minister at the church until he resigned in April. A church secretary
said Randol had worked for the church for one year, but she refused to
comment further. Pastor Bob Green was unavailable for comment. (Tulsa
World, 07/24/1996)
Broken Arrow youth minister dies of a bullet wound hours after being
told he would be charged with sex offenses
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REYNOLDS John Claude, 60 Launceston Christian youth group leader and
Care and Rehabilitations Ministries (CARM) director. Receives 3 year
jail sentence in TAS Supreme Court after pleading guilty to 5 gross
indecency charges, including 2 counts of committing unlawful sexual
intercourse, against boy, aged 7, between 1967 and 1973 while head of
CARM drop-in centre, Launceston, TAS. Court hears Reynolds took boy to
popular fishing spot and attempted to have anal sex with him in kombi
van. CARM described as Christian organisation with links to Memorial
Baptist church and St Aidan's Anglican church, Launceston. (Tasmania,
Australia, 1996).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
North Charleston, WV. North Charleston Baptist Church youth leader
Gerald Mollohan, 47, was convicted by a jury on 2 counts of rape and
received consecutive sentences of 15-35 years for each assault. The
teen, 16, testified that Mollohan, a 28-year postal employee,
befriended several brothers through a church youth group and bought 1
of them gifts and took him on a trip to Disney World. The victim said
he resisted Mollohan's sexual advances several times before the youth
leader raped him at knifepoint on 2 separate nights at the leader's
home in December '93. (The Charleston Gazette 11/7/95)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Isaac Park, IL. A popular preacher from Lawrence County was convicted
of sodomy and sexual abuse, including 9 felony counts for molesting 4
boys in his rural farmhouse. Gallie Isaac Sr., 78, was recommended by
jury to serve 25 years in prison for his sexual crimes. The pastor of
Isaac Park Free Baptist Church was indicted in '94 on charges of
molesting 8 boys from 1984-94. Four of the boys, ages 11-14 at the
time of the incidents, testified saying that he engaged in
masturbation and oral sex with them. "He was saying stuff like, 'God's
watching you, and you're doing good,' and 'All the boys do this,' "
the witness, now 18, said. One of the victims said Isaac played a
Halloween tape before having sex with him and told him that having sex
was okay. "He began to touch me and he would whisper, 'I will protect
you . . . from the house,' " another alleged victim, now 25, told
jurors. Formal sentencing for Isaac, father of 6 and former county
clerk, is scheduled for Dec. 14. Isaac is free on bond until
sentencing and faces a second trial on charges relating to the 4 other
alleged victims. (Lexington Herald-Leader 11/4/95, 10/31/95)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tulsa, OK. A Tulsa County minister accused of molesting a teen-age
church member was sentenced Friday to five years in prison. Steve
Lamberson, 35, pleaded no contest April 3 to two molestation counts.
Lamberson, a resident of the Mounds area, was pastor and principal of
Liberty Heights Free Will Baptist Church and academy in south Tulsa
County when the offenses occurred, said a report by Sheriff's Deputy
Gary Ross. Lamberson was charged in 1994 with molesting a girl -- now
18 years old -- in December 1991 and March 1992, when she was 14 and
15. (Tulsa World, 05/27/1995)
Lamberson Sentenced for Molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ottowa, CA. A Baptist lay minister, Walter Howe, was sentenced to 3
months in jail for sex crimes since the 60s. Howe, 85, admitted to
abusing 8 girls between ages 5 and 15 at the time of the abuse. (The
Ottawa Citizen, 9/2/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST MINISTER CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ABUSE. A married minister, who
worked at Tiverton-Freeport United Baptist Church from 1976-1981, was
convicted of 21 charges of indecent and sexual assault involving 13
boys in Digby County between those years. Floyd Delano Gale, 46, had
written a letter of apology to the family of one of his victims.
According to the family's testimony, he sat in their living room and
admitted he was a pedophile, and had sexual relationships with boys,
including their son, then 12, but claimed they were of legal age and
consented. Gale claims to be a victim of childhood sexual abuse
himself. Gale's assaults included oral sex and fondling of the boys,
some in their own home while their parents slept. During the trial one
of his victims punched Gale in the head outside the courthouse. When
the judge denied a request for Gale to be set free until sentencing,
the courtroom applauded In 1988 Gale resigned from the Church of
Christ in Garnet Settlement, New Brunswick, amidst rumors of his
sexual misconduct. (The Chronicle-Herald (Nova Scotia)
5/17,18,19,20,26/94, 6/7/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WEST VIRGINIA. MINISTER INITIATES SEX WITH INCEST VICTIM. A girl, 14,
who sought help from a Baptist minister because her father was
sexually abusing her was then sexually abused by the trusted pastor
during counseling sessions. Gary Hackler Kendall, 40, pastor of North
Hills Baptist Church, pleaded guilty. The victim's father also pleaded
guilty and received a 5-15 year prison term. (Charleston Gazette_
6/1/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BOBO SENTENCED. A Baptist deacon accused of fondling several girls has
been sentenced to 3 years in prison for the molestation of a female
student. Wallace Bobo, Jr., 57, was a high school teacher and coach at
Meridian High in Mound City. The father of one victim, who shot Bobo 5
times, awaits trial, while Bobo is out on bail pending an appeal.
(Philadelphia Inquirer_ 4/9/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GEORGIA. BAPTIST MINISTER ACCUSED. For being accused of sexually
molesting several male teens between Sept. 1992-93 while serving as
youth minister at Western Hills Baptist Church in Cobb County, Kevin
DeRosa, 33, of New Jersey is being held at the Paulding County jail on
similar charges in that county. (Atlanta Journal_ 3/94)
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PASTOR MOLESTS. Former associate pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church
and parent representative at Pittsburgh's Margaret Milliones Middle
School, Rev. Rudolph B. Walls, 43, was a defendant in a lawsuit filed
in May 1992 by a male teen and his mother. Walls was accused of
sexually molesting the teen, now 18. Also involved in the suit were
the principal, school board, and Pittsburgh Public Schools. They
settled for $425,000. In August 1991 Walls was sentenced to 1-5 years
in prison for indecent assault. Walls was on probation for a North
Carolina molestation at the time he began assaulting the teen in this
lawsuit. (Pittsburgh Post- Gazette_ 2/24/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST MINISTER SENTENCED. For sexually abusing 2 boys who were
members of his Community Baptist Church near Lake Lavon, Gene Allen
McDonald, 55, of Nevada will serve a minimum of 2 years in Collin
County Jail before parole. He was sentenced to 2 concurrent 5-year
sentences. (Dallas Morning News_ 2/8/94.)
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Miami, FL. CHURCH TO PAY MILLIONS FOR MINISTER'S ABUSES. Wayside
Baptist Church in Miami received a $6.7 million judgment for
negligence in hiring and retaining Keith Geren as youth minister. The
church did not do background or reference checks, nor did Geren even
fill out a job application, though Geren did admit urges to molest
boys. He sexually molested nearly a dozen teenage boys. Church
officials say they had no idea Geren was a pedophile. All of the money
is going to one victim, Daniel Artis, for emotional pain, treatment,
and punitive damages. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune 2/6/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MINISTER ADMITS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT. A Baptist minister and social
activist, Rev. Donovan Cook, has been under investigation for sexual
misconduct involving 3 women. It has been recommended that his
ordination be suspended. Cook is popular for his work helping Central
American refugees, and allowing homosexuals to be church members. One
member said, "If we can't get justice for the women, how are we going
to ask for justice in Central America?" Supporters of Cook say the
American Baptist Church's political conflicts with Cook's work make
their judgments "hardly impartial". (Seattle Post-lntelligencer_
1/31/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ASSAULT CASE SETTLED. A man, 28, who was recovering from epileptic
seizures in his apartment when he was attacked, will receive $300,000
in damages from the Sierra Vista Baptist Church for the sexual assault
by John Adams Marshall in April 1991. Marshall performed oral sex and
fondled the weakened man while pinning him down. The jury found the
church 40% liable for Marshall's assault and negligent in retaining
him as minister. Marshall did not lose his ordination to be a minister
elsewhere. (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 1/15/94)
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KENDALL, FL. They're more suspicious of people today at Wayside
Baptist Church in Kendall than they were before the 1994 trial that
convicted Keith Geren, one of their popular youth ministers, of
molesting nearly a dozen boys, ages 13 to 16. He was sent to prison
for 15 years and cost the church $4.2 million in damages.
''It used to be we just trusted everybody,'' says the Rev. Gary
Johnson, Wayside's present pastor. ``We don't trust anymore. We take
precautions.''
Today, Wayside gives new employees criminal background checks. It has
installed windows in every classroom. At least two adults run every
children's class. Men may not change diapers. (1994, Miami Herald)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gwinnett, GA. A 22-year-old woman has accused a Southern Baptist
minister from Gwinnett County of sexual abuse saying he touched her
improperly several times over a period of almost 10 years. The Rev.
Franklin, now pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Lawrenceville,
could not be reached for comment, but his attorney said Tuesday that
he denies the allegations. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution,
03-10-1993)
Parishioner claims pastor sexually abused her
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deacon A.V. Ballenger was convicted of fondling a 7-year-old girl in
Sunday school class and sentenced to 8 years in prison. A.V.
Ballenger, a deacon and bus route driver at Hyles' First Baptist
Church Hammond, was convicted in March of 1993 (and sentenced in July
of 1993 to five years in jail) of molesting a seven year old girl.
(This crime occurred in a Sunday School room of the church!
Incredibly, after conviction, but prior to sentencing, Ballenger was
allowed to resume his FBCH bus route!) The highlight of the sentencing
hearing was the testimony of three young women. Each was molested by
Ballenger when she was a child, and in each case, before age seven.
Jack Hyles, who testified in Ballenger's behalf, defiantly declared
the outcome of the trial null and void, claiming that the courts had
no jurisdiction in this matter. Hyles told the girl's parents, "Deacon
Ballenger just likes little girls."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MORE CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST BAPTIST. Washtenaw Co. Dist. Judge
Thomas F. Shea threw out 2 charges of 1st-degree criminal sexual
conduct against Baptist deacon Mark Foeller, leaving 6 counts of
criminal sexual conduct. The deacon and bus driver at North Sharon
Baptist Church is accused of raping a boy, 9, twice, at the church,
which has a campaign to bus low-income children from 4 counties to its
Sunday school and church camp. The dismissals follow earlier
dismissals against assistant pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 33,
originally charged with 12 similar counts. Judges dismissed all his
charges, saying the alleged victims were either too young to testify
or that their testimony was too vague. At least one family will file a
civil lawsuit against the North Sharon Baptist Church and Leonard,
according to Ann Arbor attorney Mark A. Hopper. "We will sue the
church for negligent hiring and negligent retention of those workers."
Leonard has been invited back to the church and is directing its music
programs. A mother told a reporter she was "stunned" and "numb" by the
judge's decision. Shea ruled that a 9-year-old could not testify about
being raped in the church nursery, because she couldn't say on which
day it happened. Source: _Jackson Citizen Patriot_ 2/5&18/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST PASTOR GOES TO TRIAL. Indicted for 6 counts of aggravated
sexual battery & 5 counts of sexual battery was Rev. George Walker,
64, of New Tazewell, who has pastored a number of area Baptist
churches. He is accused of victimizing a female piano student
instructed by his wife for 4 years. Source: _The Daily News_
Middlesboro, 12/24/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHURCH EVANGELIZERS PREYED ON LOW-INCOME KIDS. Men from a rural
Baptist church known for its aggressive evangelizing of children are
suspected of molesting as many as 22 boys & girls. The associate
pastor, volunteer bus driver & a third church member are believed to
have fondled some & raped others, ranging in age from 3 to 10, on
church buses & property. Charges involving 10 victims were brought
against Associate Pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 32, of North Sharon
Baptist Church near Grass Lake, & volunteer Sunday school bus driver,
church deacon Mark Foeller. Three other church members are being
investigated. The suspects went to low-income housing projects or
trailer parks in 4 counties, telling parents they would "take the
children to church & teach them about God", according to Det. Robert
Fitzpatrick, Jackson Co. Men would walk up to children in their yards,
coaxing them with treats to come to weekend services or summer _Bible_
school. Leonard was relieved of church duties involving children in
August, after police started investigating him when a doctor reported
suspected abuse in a child with a sexual disease. He also worked as
instructor & gym teacher in the North Sharon Christian School,
enrolling about 65 students. Church members were not informed, even
after the arrests. In November, Gail Ganger, who lives 5 houses from
the church, organized a Sunday morning picket after learning that the
church secretary knew about the allegations, yet still recommended
Leonard as a babysitter for her children. He & his wife Nadine had
babysat for her 3 children 7 times since Oct. 1. About 2 dozen
protesters carried signs saying "Close It Down." "The church knew
about the allegations of child molesting, but nobody told me about it.
This church should not be able to carry on business as usual," she
said. "What a wonderful thing it is to be part of a church where
adversity happens," said Rev. Bill Wininger, senior pastor. In
January, Leonard was released after 72 days in jail after 10 charges
were dropped over the objections of the DA by Washtenaw Co. Dist.
Judge Thomas Shea, saying victims were either too young to testify or
could not pinpoint the time of their assaults. Leonard still faces 2
2nd degree criminal sexual conduct charges. Although he resigned from
the church, church funds are being used to help support his family &
pay his legal expenses. The pastor said if he is acquitted, "I'm sure
he would be welcomed back with open arms." Sources: _Ypsilanti Press_
11/12/92, _Detroit Free Press_ 11/12/92, _Toledo Blade_ 11/18/92,
_Jackson Citizen Patriot_ 11/16/92, 2/1/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WRIGHT Keith Webb, 51 Rockhampton Pentecostal born again Christian,
Baptist church member, preacher, evangelist, school teacher and Labor
MP. Receives 8 year jail sentence in Brisbane District Court after
being convicted on 6 child sex charges, including 5 counts of indecent
dealing and 1 of committing unlawful sexual intercourse, against girl,
aged 11, over 3 year period. Court hears Wright sexually molested girl
in parliamentary suite while Leader of Opposition and masturbated girl
in flat in Brisbane while watching pornographic video. In 1994, Wright
receives additional 12 month jail sentence in Brisbane District Court
after being convicted on 3 further charges of indecently assaulting
girl, aged 11, over 6 year period between 1984 and 1990. (Queensland,
Australia, 1993).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST VOLUNTEER PREYED ON GIRLS? Thomas Road Baptist Church in
Phoenix failed to screen churchvolunteer John Herman Kuiper for a
criminal record when it permitted him to drive a church bus &
volunteer at youth events. Kuiper, who had been convicted in 1991 of a
felony charge of 3rd degree sexual assault, was arrested in Phoenix
for molesting 5 girls. As a church bus driver in Fort Collins,
Colorado, he had received a deferred sentence for molesting a little
girl, 5. Rev. Ken Adrian, church pastor, complained to media that the
publicity was not good for his Phoenix church. Source: _Arizona
Republic_ 11/4/92.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MINISTER PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSING NIECE. Baptist minister Rev. Ernest
Lee Rowsey, 51, of Wharton Missionary Baptist Church in Bim, pleaded
guilty to 1 count of 1st degree sexual abuse, involving his niece.
Originally, he was charged with molesting 2 nieces between 1976-1982,
but they agreed to drop all but one charge against their uncle. The
kids were molested for 6 years starting from ages 5 & 7. Rowley's
sister also said he molested her as long ago as 1969, but at that
time, child sexual abuse was a misdemeanor, & the statute of
limitations has expired. Source: _Charleston Gazette_ 11/1/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST CHARGED WITH INDECENCY. Charged with indecency for fondling a
preteen girl in 1991 was Norman "Buddy" Wilcoxen, 60, former pastor of
Calvary Baptist Church in Bastrop. Source: _Austin American-Statesman_
10/17/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST VOLUNTEER CONVICTED. Granite State Baptist Church volunteer
David Kirsch, 39, of Salem, was convicted of sexually assaulting 6
young girls through the church from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Source: _USA Today_ 9/25/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST CONVICTED OF RAPING BOY. A jury convicted Baptist minister
Edward Quakenbush, of New Testament Baptist Church, town of Wyoming,
of raping & molesting a teenage boy in his church over a 4-year
period, starting when he was 12. Members of his church & family sobbed
& shouted at jurors & a police detective who testified that the pastor
had confessed to the molestations. Quakenbush later denied confessing.
Source: AP/_Daily Telegram_, Adrian, Ml 9/12/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - A Southern Baptist minister's conviction for
child molestation has led to five lawsuits seeking a total of $10
million in damages against the minister, the Southern Baptist
Convention and three other Baptist groups. Each is named in a $2
million suit. They are Donald McCary, minister of music and youth at
Chattanooga's Central Baptist Church of Hixon for 17 years until his
arrest; the church itself; the Tennessee Baptist Convention; the
Hamilton County Baptist Association; and the denomination. McCary was
convicted last April of 13 counts involving aggravated sexual battery,
assault, sexual battery, rape and statutory rape of four boys, then
aged 12 to 15. He was sentenced to a maximum 72 years in prison.
Attorneys for the denomination and congregation voiced certainty they
would be dismissed from the suit. The suits allege that Central's
pastor, Ron Phillips, failed to investigate McCary's activities after
complaints about him in 1989. Phillips also is also chairman of
directors of one of the denomination's major agencies, the Home
Mission Board. (Tulsa World, 08/23/1992)
Minister convicted of molesting 4 boys: 2 brothers already in prison
for abuse lawsuits allege that pastor, Ron Phillips, failed to
investigate McCary's activities after complaints about him in 1989.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
$10 MILLION SOUGHT FROM BAPTISTS. Five civil lawsuits asking for $10
million in damages were filed against the Southern Baptist Convention
for sexual assaults by convicted minister Donald McCary, of
Chattanooga, sentenced in April to 72 years in prison for assaulting 5
boys. James Guenther, general counselor for the SBC in Nashville,
shrugged off the suits: "We've probably had a dozen of these cases
where a plaintiff has undertaken to show that SBC controls a
minister." He says no SBC agency beyond the level of the congregation
has legal or disciplinary authority over pastors. McCary's twin
brother is also in prison for abusing children; their older brother is
on parole for similar charges. Source: _Birmingham News_ 8/21/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST YOUTH PASTOR NABBED. Youth minister-Sunday School teacher
William Speaker, 21, of First Baptist Church in Excelsior Springs, was
charged with a felony for sexually molesting a boy, 14, while
chauffeuring him to church activities. Source: _Kansas City Star_
8/21/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PASTOR GETS 13 YEARS FOR INCEST. Springfield Baptist Church pastor Jon
L. Walker, 43, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for molesting a
relative for 2-1/2 years, beginning when she was 13. Twenty persons
pleaded for leniency, including the local NAACP president. Walter's
defense was to accuse his wife of concocting the charges to get even
with him because he had an affair with a young church member! Deputy
DA Karen Gray said the letters of support were "a sad testimony to the
fact that Mr. Walter's life has been a fraud". Source: _San Luis
Obispo Telegram Tribune_ 8/5/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ACCUSED PASTORAL COUNSELOR A PHONY. Port Charlotte church school
principal Albert Joseph Clerico Jr., 47, charged with sexual
misconduct by a psychotherapist by means of therapeutic deception,
claims to be licensed by a nonexistent "scripturally based" group,
National Christian Counselors Association & to have attended the
nonexistent Carolina University of Theology. State investigator Robert
Ford charged that Clerico "did cloak himself in the guise of
Christianity & did represent to the female defendant that sexual
contact" was part of the treatment. Clerico maintains his position as
"pastoral counselor" exempts him under state law from charges. Police
miked the victim & recorded Clerico making sexual advances, soliciting
her comment on his graphic fantasies & telling her to perform oral
sex. He was arrested after the 75-minute "counseling session". He has
been suspended as principal of Community Christian School of First
Baptist Church in Port Charlotte, & as minister of First Baptist
Church, which operates the school. Source: _Sarasota Herald-Tribune_
8/4/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VICTIM SUES CONVICTED MINISTER. Rancho Cucamonga pastor John Marshall,
convicted of sexually battering an ill man, 25, is being sued for $1
million by victim Kirk Judy, along with his church, the American
Baptist Churches of USA & of the Pacific Southwest. The 6'2", 200-lb
pastor overpowered the 5'6", 140-lb victim at a bedside counseling
visit. He got only 2 years of probation. The suit alleges that
Marshall had committed other crimes, & that the 2 Baptist groups
should have known about them. Source: _Ontario Daily Bulletin_
7/29/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER CONVICTED. Youth minister Don McCary, 48, was
sentenced to 72 years of prison for molesting 4 boys at his Baptist
Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. Explains sex offender therapist Deloris
Roys, Don McCary "had a perfect camouflage ... For the person who uses
religion as a camouflage, it gives them the mantle of being an OK or
holy person. We all imbue religious people with the idea they wouldn't
hurt us. They have instant authority, a power we don't have, a mantle
of respect." Don McCary had been youth/choir director for 15 years at
Central Baptist Church of Hixson, Tenn. He recorded lewd conversations
with young boys and gave copies to his brother Ron in jail. Source:
_Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER. The twin brother of Don McCary, Ron McCary, a
Christian comedian and pastor, is in prison after committing
aggravated rape on a boy, 6. Source: _Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER. The older brother of Ron and Don McCary, Richard
McCary spent 2 years in the California prisons in the 1980s after
conviction on 6 charges of child molestation. Explains sex offender
therapist Deloris Roys, Don McCary "had a perfect camouflage ... For
the person who uses religion as a camouflage, it gives them the mantle
of being an OK or holy person. We all imbue religious people with the
idea they wouldn't hurt us. They have instant authority, a power we
don't have, a mantle of respect." Don McCary had been youth/choir
director for 15 years at Central Baptist Church of Hixson, Tenn. He
recorded lewd conversations with young boys and gave copies to his
brother Ron in jail. Source: _Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma County courts have given a seven-year
suspended sentence to former Del City minister Rev. Roy E. Jones, 56,
who pleaded guilty to molesting young girls in his congregation. In
1986, Jones molested several young girls in his congregation at the
First Baptist Church of Del City, where he was pastor for 35 years,
authorities said. (Tulsa World, 05/09/1992)
Sentence Suspended For Molesting Minister
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DEACON ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING 8 GIRLS. Victory Baptist Church deacon
Daniel Eaves, 34, was arrested for sexually assaulting 8 girls, ages 3
to 14, at his Springfield home and during youth groups last year.
Source: _Philadelphia Inquirer_ 4/25/ 92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AIR FORCE CHAPLAIN RAIDED. Deputies raided the home of Veterans
Administration chaplain Rev. Donald G. Phillips, of Butler County,
seizing 500 video tapes, movie equipment and restraints following a
tip that he produced pornographic movies with young girls. The Baptist
minister recently received the highest recognition awarded a VA
chaplain, "the Award for Excellence in Chaplain Service". Source: _St.
Louis Post-Dispatch_ 2/19/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SETTLEMENT SHROUDS BAPTIST CASE. A secret settlement was reached just
before a civil suit went to jury against Moffett Road Baptist Church
minister Henry Hobson, Mobile, for sexually abusing a girl, 14. Hobson
admitted having sexual intercourse with the girl he referred to as an
adopted daughter, once when she accompanied him on church
"visitation". He admitted she "wanted out", but called her a "pleasant
diversion". At first he denied her accusations and asked her to say
she had lied, for "damage control". He resigned in April 1991 after a
suicide attempt when the girl confided in the youth pastor about him.
Attorney Robert Cunningham, Jr. told jurors that many church members
shunned the 9th grader, blaming her. His attorney argued, "It
certainly was not part of his job to have sexual intercourse with her,
and therefore the church is not responsible," adding: "He thought it
was better she learn about sex from him rather than some young boy at
school." Source: _Mobile Register_ 2/12/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The arrest of Rev. Jack Law, a Baptist minister, was heralded by a
headline, "Girl, 5, Raped Under Pew." He was accused not only of that,
but of molesting and raping her two sisters. These crimes took place
at the family home as well as during an outing arranged by him so the
girls could help him distribute religious tracts. The girls had tried
to tell their parents, but were not believed. "Being a preacher," the
father said of him to local media, "we thought he was a good man." Law
killed himself that year rather than face trial. (The Scandal of
Pedophilia in the Church By Annie Laurie Gaylor ? 1992)
Pastor molests 5 year old
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Minister Rev. Robert Burton charged after admitting long-term
serious sexual abuse of his six and eight year old stepsons. (1991,
England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Minister Larry Bernard 45, sentenced to 7 years for molesting
a boy of 14. (1991, England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1991, England. Baptist Minister Ashby Breneman jailed for molesting 6
boys at his Christian Youth camp.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cobb County, GA. A Minister pleaded guilty Tuesday to child
molestation and cruelty charges and was sentenced to 20 years in
prison for having
sex with a 11-year-old girl who attended his church's vacation Bible
school. The Rev. James Calvin McCurry, 38, a former pastor at the
Greater Zion Hills Baptist Church in Smyrna, had been charged with
forcing the girl to have sex three times in 1985 and 1986. (The
Atlanta Journal and Constitution 05-30-1990)
Minister sentenced to 20 years in sex case: Cobb preacher pleads
guilty to molesting child
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GARY HAMBRIGHT, a Southern Baptist minister accused of molesting
dozens of children at the Presidio daycare in San Francisco, died of
AIDS Nov. 8. Between 60-102 tots were suspected victims of child
sexual abuse by Hambright and others, but 2 investigations led to
dismissal of charges. Five children had contracted chlamydia, a
sexually transmitted disease. The Army daycare was closed. Parents
have filed more than $60 million in claims against the Army alleging
negligence led to sexual abuse of kids. The claims haven't been heard.
Hambright died maintaining his innocence, leaving an obituary rife
with references to " my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." A Presidio
spokesperson said none of the children have shown signs of AIDS. (San
Jose Mercury News, 1/5/90; Orange Co. Register, 1/6/90)
Rev. Gary Willard Hambright, a Southern Baptist, was charged as a
daycare worker with sexually abusing 10 little boys and girls at the
U.S. Army preschool at its Presidio base. Four of the tots had
contracted the sexually transmitted disease of chlamydia. A grand jury
spent 10 months investigating charges. (Source: San Francisco
Chronicle, 11/5/87; Wall Street Journal, 11/16/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister HENRY BAZIL WATERS, 49, was convicted of fondling 3
young boys and untold others at the Grace Baptist Temple Church in
Statesboro, Ga., and in his home and car. Waters' testimony that he "
saved" youth through " sex instruction " matched testimony of the
victims. Waters admitted fondling boys in Latin America, saying " I
have no idea " how many children he had abused. Waters was given
permission to attend church while free on bond. (Atlanta Journal,
2/18/89)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REV. THOMAS V. COSSAIRT, 72, retired former pastor of First Baptist
Church, Carter Lake, received a suspended 1 year jail sentence and 2
years' probation after pleading guilty to indecent contact with a
child. A charge involving a 2nd child was dropped. He lives in
Commerce, Okla. (Omaha World Herald)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REV. WILLIAM MURRAY HENDRICKS JR., 50, pastor of Clay Hill Baptist
Church, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of lewd & lascivious assault on a
minor. The victim: a girl, 7, molested at the church, parish house in
1988 where he pastored for 15 years. As a plea bargain he agreed not
to perform pastoral duties until his probation ended. (Florida
Times-Union, 9/19/89)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister Henry Waters, convicted of sexually abusing young
boys whose souls he claimed would be 'saved' through his 'sex
instruction'. (1989, England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Six girls who were sexually abused by REV. FRANCIS G. HAIGHT, head of
ex-Baptist Christian Academy, Monroe, WI, were awarded a total of
$57,440 in court settlements. Haight is serving a 20 year term for
molesting children; He is eligible for parole in 4 years. (8/14/89)
Rev. Francis Guy Haight, principal of the Baptist Christian Academy in
Monroe, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to a reduced number of charges of
sexually assaulting four young girls at his church school. He had had
sexual contact with up to 11 girls at his school on an almost daily
basis. Haight admitted the abuse was "happening pretty near everyday"
and that he could not "even begin to estimate how many times this
occurred." Most of the abuse took place in his office. A five year old
girl said she was molested in her preschool program at the church. An
11 year old was abused when Mrs. Haight sent her to the office,
telling police that it "kind of hurt." She didn't tell, she said,
because she was scared. A 12 year old said the contact began when she
attended summer bible school, where the minister molested her once or
twice per day. One former student said she left the school after the
eighth grade to avoid the constant abuse. Two victims said the
minister would molest them by touching them under their dresses. As
principal, he required that all girls wear dresses as part of the
school dress code. Haight had been asked to leave a previous job under
mysterious circumstances. Apparently the school had not made
inquiries. Haight's attorney William Lansing said Haight
plea-bargained in order to spare the children from testifying in
court. "He's a very religious man," Lansing said. Haight's views on
religion and compassion toward children obviously did not preclude
constant sexual exploitation of them. (Sources: Wisconsin State
Journal, 11/12/87; 1/9/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cobb, GA. A Baptist preacher who established a Cobb County ministry
after leaving two other churches amid allegations of sexual misconduct
was arrested in Marietta Monday on charges of child abuse, police
said. Cobb police arrested the Rev. Tony McGowan, pastor of the New
Grace Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Monday on two counts of
cruelty to children and one count of child molestation in connection
with alleged fondling incidents involving a 12-year-old and a
17-year-old he met through his ministry. The allegations came to light
after the youngest girl, now 14, told her mother that the minister,
43, fondled her in a church van. (The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, 08-02-1988)
Preacher Charged With Child Abuse
Baptist Minister is Guilty of Molestation, Sexual Assault
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oreste Victoriano Lopez, 60, was ARRESTED by Miami police for sexually
assaulting male and female teenagers he met through his business,
community and church activities. Victims said they were wooed by
Lopez's kindness and financial generosity and his use of bible verses
to justify his actions. He met youth at his church, West Flagler Park
Baptist Church. Police found pornography, comic books, bibles, toys
and children's clothes at his home, as well as 1000 files detailing
children's lives. On his wall was a letter thanking him for his work
with youth. (Miami Herald July 17, 1988)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. James Anthony Colyn, 39, former pastor of the Glendale (Az.)
Bible Baptist Church, received a sentence of seven and a half years in
prison. Colyn was described by police as a "sexual predator" who
molested a teenage girl who asked him for counseling because she was
being abused by her stepfather. Colyn PLEADED GUILTY to a charge of
attempted molestation as a plea bargain. He moved to Phoenix 12 years
ago after resigning as youth pastor of Temple Baptist Church in
Albuquerque, N.M. after admitting sexual involvement with a teenage
member of that congregation. The Glendale church said they were not
aware of that when Colyn was hired. (Phoenix Gazette 7/1/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. J.D. Henderson, 51, of Russellville, Ark., was convicted of
molesting twin 6 year old girls, and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Henderson is an ordained Free will Baptist minister. (Little Rock
Arkansas Gazette 6/10/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Duval county minister, Rev. Roy Lynn Gaskins of Edgewood Heights
Baptist Church, was accused of forcing a 13 year old boy at gunpoint
to have sex. (Florida Times-Union 5/13/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An American missionary and her daughter were stabbed to death near
American Bible College in Yapeka, Liberia by Baptist seminary graduate
Benjamin Moley Morris. He confessed, saying he killed the pair after
the mother had caught him trying to molest the child. (Source:
Sacramento Bee, 11/30/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. Jack Law, a Baptist minister in Nashville, was accused of
molesting and raping three small sisters during church outings and
visits, once raping a five year old girl under a church pew. He was
also accused of molesting and raping the sisters at their family's
home and during an outing arranged to help him distribute religious
tracts. The girls had tried to tell their parents, but were not
believed. "Being a preacher," the father said, "we thought he was a
good man." Law killed himself in July 1987 when facing trial for
abusing the three sisters. (Sources: Nashville Banner, 7/26/86;
Tennesseean, 7/10/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deacon James Nordgren, a Sunday School teacher at Sherwood Park
Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, was indicted for aggravated sexual
assault of three boys under age 14. He was charged with assaulting the
boys at his home after showing them a book with a cover resembling a
bible but which contained pictures of nude people. (Source: [Irving,
Texas] Daily News; 5/21/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister James Luttrell, Bible Baptist Church, Bend, Oregon,
was convicted of raping a six month old baby boy. The evidence was
incontrovertible, yet another minister outspokenly defended him and
paid for his legal help. (Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregon,
5/8/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Rev. Clyde L. Johnson, pastor of the largest Baptist church in
Petersburg, Virginia and a popular city council member for 14 years,
was convicted of the rape and sexual battery of four girls, aged nine
to 16, in his congregation. Despite the conviction, and Johnson's
cruel and slanderous statements about the young girls made in an
effort to protect himself, he received continuous religious support,
including prayers, rallies, money and special services. "The bottom
line is that all of us . . . has [sic] some skeletons in his closets.
That's not our job to judge. It's the Lord's job," said clergy
supporter Rev. Kenneth Arrington of the Union Fellowship. One church
member, Melvin Harwell, who was angered by this widespread support of
a child rapist, commented: "Some people worship preachers." (Source:
Washington Post, 4/24/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Church youth minister Timothy J. Ganzel was spared a flve-year prison
sentence (receiving one year in jail and probation instead), because
the judge said he took into account a courtroom full of relatives,
friends and church members. Ganzel molested a teenage boy in Wisconsin
Grace Baptist Church, Racine, Wisconsin. (Source: Capital Times,
4/21/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wilson A. Mears, Jr., convicted of sexually assaulting his 14 year old
stepdaughter, later became a Baptist pastor, and was granted a full
pardon by the Florida cabinet. He sought the pardon for his 1977 crime
in order to be allowed to serve as a chaplain for the state prison
system. He had served 15 months in prison. "If I stood before my God
and answer for my crimes, I can certainly stand before my governor and
my Cabinet seeking their grace and mercy . . . I've tried to help men
with the same crimes I had." He received an appointment as pastor of
Pine Grove Baptist Church in Quincey. What does this favoritism say to
rape and incest victims, and to imprisoned sex offenders? (Source:
Florida Today, 3/8/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Brazenly abusive behavior reportedly went unchecked for more than a
year when Pastor Charles Brown of London Baptist Church, in Evergreen,
Alabama, latched on to a teenaged boy and initiated a sexually abusive
relationship by telling the boy he had a mental problem Brown could
cure. The pastor's prescription: to get "closer," ply the boy with
drugs, and move him into his own home and his own bedroom (the
pastor's wife was relegated to their daughter's bedroom). Brown was
convicted of a reduced misdemeanor charge in 1987 and was given a
suspended sentence, although he was fired from his position as a
public school teacher. (Source: Evergreen Courant, 9/25/86; 1987) Gary
R. Martin, who had served as a minister and was a volunteer chaplain
for the Indian River County Sheriffs office as well as the Vero Beach
Police Department, was charged with molesting 13 boys. He had trusted
positions in the community, including an appointment to the school
district's sex education committee. His modus operandi was to tell
victims he was researching children's growth for a doctoral thesis at
Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana. He pleaded no contest to
sexually mishandling three of the 13 boys. In October 1987 he was
sentenced to seven years in a state prison with an additional 13 years
probation, and ordered to receive treatment for his pedophilia.
(Source: Florida Today, 3/1/87; 10/31/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The grandmother of a minister who abducted an 18 year old woman for 24
days and raped and molested her, could only comment, "If you had seen
him when . . . he preached, his face was just shining like an angel."
This diabolical crime involved kidnapping Maria C. Smith from a
shopping mail in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on July 9, beating her with
belts and raping her, and imprisoning her bound-and-gagged in the
trunk of a car for what a judge later termed a 24-day reign of
"terrorism." On August 2, the assailant Rev. Karl Strahan and his
father purported to discover the missing teenager, and were touted as
heroes. Two days later police realized Strahan was the abductor. He
had threatened Smith's life if she had not backed up his story. On
February 6, 1987 he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and armed robbery in
Forrest County, where he received a 25-year concurrent sentence. The
same day in bordering Covington County where he had taken his victim,
Strahan pleaded guilty to rape and sexual battery. He received a
sentence of life imprisonment on the rape charges and 30 years on
sexual battery to run consecutively. Strahan was a licensed
Mississippi Baptist minister. (Sources: Jackson Mississippi Daily,
8/6/86; 8/8/86; Hattiesburg American, 2/6/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Rev. Bobby Harold Epps of Starke, Florida pleaded guilty in
May, 1986 to performing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a
child under the age of 16. He was convicted of fondling a girl in a
church office, and masturbating in her presence when giving her a ride
home following a church activity. (Source: Gainesville Sun, 5/28/86)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Church deacon Harley Francis of Powers Drive Baptist Church in Orlando
was convicted of molesting six girls, ages six to 13, whom he met
through his Sunday School class. The elderly deacon bribed them with
gifts and told the court he couldn't understand how people could
misconstrue his "kindness toward children." (Source: Florida Today,
4/26/86)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. John Janney Sr. pleaded guilty to molesting three male foster
children, following a wild attempt to elude authorities by fleeing to
another state, during which time he tried to murder his wife and
commit suicide. Ironically, as a pastor of the Calvary Bible Baptist
Church, Bridgeton, New Jersey, he had been an outspoken opponent of
humanist literature which he said would "corrupt the morals of
youths." (Source: Bridgeton Evening News, 12/26/85)
JAMES CLIFTON NALLEY, a volunteer at Bible Baptist Church in
Fernandina Beach, Fla., was charged with fondling 2 church girls, ages
9 and 11.
Flint, MI. Eight women claim they were molested by Gerald E. Ney
insuch places as the pastor's home, a bakery in Metamora and in the
Liberty Baptist Church. Most of the victims told police of single
incidents that dated back to 1978. Ney, 73, was charged with 1 count
of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct, 4 counts of 2nd degree and 1
count each of 3rd and 4th degree criminal sexual conduct, as well as a
criminal misdemeanor of allegedly being a sexually delinquent person.
An investigation began after allegations from a girl, 16, were
reported to police. Ney reportedly molested the parish member from
1993-94. The teen said she would sleep over at the pastor's home on
Sundays and clean his house for money. She said he would sometimes
molest her when his wife left on errands. (The Flint Journal)
Rev. James E. Wynn, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Temple in Asbury
Park, New Jersey, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexually
assaulting two young girls who were members of his congregation. Wynn
was diagnosed as a "compulsive, repetitive sex offender" by doctors
who examined him. The girls ranged in age from nine to 13 at the time
of the assaults, which occurred at church or in the minister's home.
The pastor steadfastly maintained his innocence. His attorney Charles
Frankel told the judge at the time of sentencing that his client
"stands before your honor with a clear conscience head unbowed." The
church fired him from his duties a month after his conviction.
Superior Court Judge James Kennedy stated that "these offenses
involved the most drastic breach of trust anyone can imagine."
(Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 10/13/84)
Three sisters from Okanogan County -- Juanita Funkhouser, Sheri Lewis
and Janelle Larson -- alleged they were molested between 1969 and 1980
by Orin Wilson, a one-time deacon of their church, Calvary Baptist
Church in Twisp. Wilson admitted to the abuse in letters before his
death, according to court records. But the sisters claimed the church
and its governing body, the Calvary Baptist Conference, were aware of
Wilson's alleged abuse of other young girls and failed to warn or
protect them.
€ R.L. Measures
<tpars...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
** the awful truth. The RCC certainly doesn't have the monopoly on
boinking children, but there is no question that they miles and miles
ahead of the Prot pedophiles..
--
khjarvis
"TDP" <tpars...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:382itvg5b6utgtn0h...@4ax.com...
Nogales priest disappears after being told of sex-abuse investigation
A Roman Catholic priest in Nogales being investigated for possible sexual
abuse has disappeared.
The Rev. Fernando L. Manzo, pastor of San Felipe de Jesus parish in Nogales,
disappeared late last week after being summoned to a brief closed-door
meeting with Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of the Tucson Diocese.
Kicanas confirmed through his spokesman Monday that he met with Manzo last
week.
"At that time, I indicated to him that a criminal investigation had been
initiated . . . by the Pima County Attorney," Kicanas said in a letter read
to parishioners in Nogales.
"I asked that he go on administrative leave until the investigation is
completed."
The bishop said Manzo promised to let church officials know where he was
staying, but quickly disappeared.
"I have not heard since from Fr. Manzo," Kicanas said. "A missing person
report has been filed with the Nogales Police Department. I pray we will
locate him soon."
Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall said she was ethically prohibited from
commenting because "there is an ongoing investigation." She also said she
was unaware of Manzo's whereabouts. Two sources close the church, however,
confirmed the investigation against Manzo involved at least one allegation
of sexual misconduct.
Manzo, 47, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and graduated from St. John's
Seminary in LaCamarilla, Calif., in 1982. He was ordained in 1983 and served
in parishes in Safford, Yuma, Summerton and Tucson before becoming pastor of
San Felipe de Jesus in July 2001.
Since June of 2002, the Tucson Diocese has identified 25 priests, one deacon
and one religious woman who have been accused of "credible" allegations of
sexual misconduct with minors. Many of allegations date as far back as the
1960s.
Another 30 clergy and church employees in the Phoenix Diocese have been
publicly accused of sexual misconduct, including eight priests indicted in
the past year.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1208priest-ON.html
Bishop's letter to Nogales parish
Dear Brothers and Sisters of San Felipe Parish:
I wish I could be at the parish in person today to make this announcement,
but that is not possible.
Fr. Fernando Manzo, your pastor, visited with me last week. At that time I
indicated to him that a criminal investigation had been initiated in his
case. This was reported to us by the Pima County Attorney. Because of this I
asked that he go on administrative leave until the investigation is
completed. He indicated that he would let me know where he would be staying.
I urged him to cooperate fully with the investigators when they contacted
him. I could not tell him the specifics of the allegation since it was part
of an active investigation.
I have not heard since from Fr. Manzo. He did not call to give me the
location and phone number of where he is staying. At the present time we do
not know where he is. A missing person report has been filed with the
Nogales Police Department. I pray we will locate him soon.
As you know, Fr. Manzo recently returned from treatment for alcohol abuse.
He did very well at Guest House and had made significant strides in his
recovery. I know you received him with open arms and have been praying for
him. I hope you will continue your prayers at this difficult time as well.
I will keep you informed of what we know.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas
Bishop of Tucson
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1208bishop-letter-ON.html
khjarvis
Melbourne priest blames celibacy for assault
A Melbourne court heard yesterday that a priest who indecently assaulted a
15-year-old boy told police celibacy was to blame for the sexual abuse of
minors.
71 year old Fr John Barry Gwillim of Coburg yesterday pleaded guilty in the
County Court to five counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross
indecency between October 1979 and February 1981.
Prosecutor Michael Tinney said Gwillim told police after his arrest in July
last year: "It was the sort of thing (where there was) a lovely slice of
cake, and I bloody well ate it."
Fr Bob Maguire, the director of Open Family Foundation, said Gwillim was a
"wounded healer" who suffered burnout.
The court heard Gwillim, who was the priest at St Peter's church in Keilor
East between 1979 and 1999, approached the schoolboy in the Melbourne CBD
while he was waiting for a train in late 1979.
Telling him he was a teacher or private tutor, he offered him a lift home.
He pulled aside on a quiet street and after asking the boy to be "nice" to
him, directed him to perform oral sex.
Judge Fred Davey will sentence Gwillim this week.
http://www.cathnews.com/news/312/51.php
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,8105583%5E662,00.html
khjarvis
Here's another one...Want to see more.....We are sick of it.
Miami Archdiocese suspends two priests for alleged sexual abuse
Two priests from the Archdiocese of Miami accused of sexually abusing boys
have been suspended.
It is the second suspension for one of the priests, who returned to the
pulpit in August after the archdiocese cleared him of wrongdoing in a
previous incident.
The suspensions came in the wake of lawsuits filed against the priests last
month.
The priests, the Rev. Alvaro Guichard, pastor of St. Frances de Sales Church
in Miami Beach, and the Rev. Hector Gonzalez-Abreu, pastor of St. Vincent de
Paul Church in northwest Dade, deny the allegations.
The Archdiocesan Review Board, a committee set up to investigate sexual
abuse allegations, advised that the priests be suspended until the criminal
allegations have been resolved, Archbishop John C. Favalora said in a news
release Sunday.
The most recent complaint against Guichard involves allegations he molested
a homeless teenager 20 years ago, after the boy arrived from Cuba in the
Mariel boatlift and sought help from the Catholic Church. The accuser, who
was 15 at the time, said in a lawsuit that Guichard made nighttime visits to
him and forced him to have sex in the pastor's quarters at The Church of the
Little Flower in Coral Gables.
Guichard has been accused in two other lawsuits accusing him of sexual
assault, one of which is by a man who said Guichard and another priest set
up sex parties for children at the Church of the Little Flower.
The Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office investigated the previous allegations
and announced in August it could not file charges because the accusations
were too old. The archdiocese reinstated Guichard soon after.
The state attorney is investigating the latest accusations.
According to state law, there is no statute of limitations for sex crimes
when victims are 12 or younger.
Abuse that happens to a child older than 12 must be reported by age 20.
"We take every allegation seriously," said Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for
the archdiocese. "But the new allegations came to our attention in
November."
The lawsuit against Gonzalez-Abreu said the priest sexually abused a teen in
1980, after the teen told Gonzalez-Abreu that another priest had molested
him. The lawsuit says Gonzalez-Abreu gave the boy beer, showed him a
pornographic movie and then abused him.
While suspended, priests are forbidden from dressing as priests, offering
Mass publicly or administering sacraments, Ross Agosta said.
€ R.L. Measures
"khjarvis" <nospam@ever> wrote:
** Knock it off, Karen. And besides, where's the beef? Butt-ramming
altar boys does not violate the oath of not to do It with a woman.
--
New Kind Of Man
> Here's another one...Want to see more...We are sick of it. It's not
> just Priest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then take your issues over to the Baptist discussion. We are sick of your
denial.
Christopher Robin
"New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
news:C9kCb.59811$R9.1...@twister.socal.rr.com...
OTHER ministers who are also guilty of the same heinous crimes? Where has
TDP ever denied the problem, rather than simply pointing out that there are
other denominations where it also occurs?
€ R.L. Measures
<NewKin...@home.com> wrote:
** I never tire of seeing denial of reality -- the greatest human malady.
New Kind Of Man
"Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:DdkCb.14466$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
This is a Catholic discussion group. If he is concerned about Baptists and
other denominations, he should take it there. The fact that sexual abuse is
perpetrated by ministers other than Catholic in no way excuses the offense
by Catholic priests and bishops. Furthermore, simply posting news accounts
of abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests should not elicit the kind of angry
response it did from TDP. If it isn't denial, what IS the problem? What IS
he sick of?
New Kind Of Man
"Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:DdkCb.14466$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
>
To say it another way, TDP is attempting to minimize incidents of abuse by
Catholic priests by providing examples of sexual abuse perpetrated by other
ministers. This is a form of denial -- and frankly, it's been rampant among
the sheep for quite some time now.
Christopher Robin
>
> "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:DdkCb.14466$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> >
> > "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> > news:C9kCb.59811$R9.1...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> > >
> > > "TDP" <tpars...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> > > news:bf2itvksuopg7k0do...@4ax.com...
> > >
> > > > Here's another one...Want to see more...We are sick of it. It's not
> > > > just Priest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> > >
> > > Then take your issues over to the Baptist discussion. We are sick of
> your
> > > denial.
> > >
> > Why do you claim it is denial, when TDP is simply noting that there are
> > OTHER ministers who are also guilty of the same heinous crimes? Where
has
> > TDP ever denied the problem, rather than simply pointing out that there
> are
> > other denominations where it also occurs?
>
> This is a Catholic discussion group.
> If he is concerned about Baptists and other denominations, he should take
it there.
> The fact that sexual abuse is perpetrated by ministers other than
Catholic in no way excuses the offense
> by Catholic priests and bishops.
Never said it did.
> Furthermore, simply posting news accounts of abuse perpetrated by Catholic
priests should
> not elicit the kind of angry response it did from TDP. If it isn't denial,
what IS the problem?
> What IS he sick of?
>
The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring ACROSS
denominations.
>
Christopher Robin
fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
Alan Ferris
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring ACROSS
>denominations.
Indeed, that is true.
But no other religious organisation has such a ingrained cover up of
abuse as has the Catholic Church. This goes to more than simply
America. It is international in scale. And it goes to more than
simple sex abuse of boys.
--
Alan "Ferrit" Ferris
()'.'.'()
( (T) )
( ) . ( )
(")_(")
Alan Ferris
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I wouldn't say minimize... I would say he's trying to draw attention to the
>fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
Which Baptist organisation was covering up abuse on an international
scale? Moving priests between countries to avoid prosecution and hide
offenses?
Which other organisation covered up also for physical beatings and
their priests abusing women, fathering children and denying those
children?
TDP
I am sick of people posting what the Priest have done, and yes
Cardinal Law amongst others spit on the Church. My problem is that
non-Catholics come into to our NG and post things about our clergy
that we already know. Do we condone it? OF COURSE NOT! It's
heartbreaking to us and we don't need to be reminded by those who
think it's only the Catholic Church committing these acts, so I
thought I would give them a little bit of their own medicine. I don't
go around hammering other denonminations so they shouldn't either. But
i am extremely weary of it.
>
TDP
I CERTAINLY AM NOT!. You don't know me from Adam. There is no denial
here, but if you think for one minute that I am defending what they
did, you are out of your MIND!. You guys can dish it out but can't
take your own medicine.
>
TDP
wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 17:35:33 GMT, "Christopher Robin"
><anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>I wouldn't say minimize... I would say he's trying to draw attention to the
>>fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
>
>Which Baptist organisation was covering up abuse on an international
>scale? Moving priests between countries to avoid prosecution and hide
>offenses?
Don't know. Why don't you read the articles I posted and see.
TDP
There is no denial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alan Ferris
wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 18:03:19 +0000, Alan Ferris <al...@spamddandd.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 17:35:33 GMT, "Christopher Robin"
>><anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I wouldn't say minimize... I would say he's trying to draw attention to the
>>>fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
>>
>>Which Baptist organisation was covering up abuse on an international
>>scale? Moving priests between countries to avoid prosecution and hide
>>offenses?
>
>Don't know. Why don't you read the articles I posted and see.
None is the point.
>>Which other organisation covered up also for physical beatings and
>>their priests abusing women, fathering children and denying those
>>children?
Alan Ferris
TDP
wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 18:44:00 GMT, TDP <tpars...@sbcglobal.net>
>wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:21:22 GMT, "New Kind Of Man"
>><NewKin...@home.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"TDP" <tpars...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>>>news:bf2itvksuopg7k0do...@4ax.com...
>>>
>>>> Here's another one...Want to see more...We are sick of it. It's not
>>>> just Priest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>
>>>Then take your issues over to the Baptist discussion. We are sick of your
>>>denial.
>>>
>>There is no denial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>There is by some.
Maybe so, but not me.
maf 1029
wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:21:22 GMT, "New Kind Of Man"
Now that's funny.
maf 1029
wrote:
Now, would that be the dose of you "weary, put-upon Catholics"
blaming homosexuals across the board for what happened among your
allegedly celibate priests?
Sauce for the goose, chum.
maf 1029
wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 19:46:23 +0000, Alan Ferris <al...@spamddandd.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 18:44:00 GMT, TDP <tpars...@sbcglobal.net>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:21:22 GMT, "New Kind Of Man"
>>><NewKin...@home.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>"TDP" <tpars...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>>>>news:bf2itvksuopg7k0do...@4ax.com...
>>>>
>>>>> Here's another one...Want to see more...We are sick of it. It's not
>>>>> just Priest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>>
>>>>Then take your issues over to the Baptist discussion. We are sick of your
>>>>denial.
>>>>
>>>There is no denial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>
>>There is by some.
>
>Maybe so, but not me.
That's very funny.
New Kind Of Man
> I wouldn't say minimize... I would say he's trying to draw attention to
the
> fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
I see you have the same problems as TDP. The abuse stories are the truth.
Deal with it, or continue not dealing with it.
New Kind Of Man
> The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
ACROSS
> denominations.
No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted. Does
the fact that abuse occurs in other denominations somehow make the abuse
that occurs in the Catholic Church not worth reporting?
The truth is you don't want to accept that these things have occurred on
such a grand scale in the Catholic Church. Instead of whining about the
truth, why not dedicate yourself to trying to change this sick system? Or
are you part of the sickness?
New Kind Of Man
> I am sick of people posting what the Priest have done, and yes
> Cardinal Law amongst others spit on the Church. My problem is that
> non-Catholics come into to our NG and post things about our clergy
> that we already know. Do we condone it? OF COURSE NOT! It's
> heartbreaking to us and we don't need to be reminded by those who
> think it's only the Catholic Church committing these acts,
That is not what the articles posted claimed.
> so I
thought I would give them a little bit of their own medicine. I don't
> go around hammering other denonminations so they shouldn't either. But
> i am extremely weary of it.
Too bad. Ask victims how weary they are of being spit upon.
New Kind Of Man
You certainly are DEFENSIVE for someone who's not defending the Church. I
stand by my criticism. Perhaps your time would be better spent protesting to
your local bishop.
€ R.L. Measures
<NewKin...@home.com> wrote:
** nobody but nobody likes to admit they are being led around by an org
that covertly abets pedophiles, who will do damn near anything to avoid
paying for the damage their org's pedophiles cause.
Christopher Robin
>
> "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:b%mCb.15063$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
>
> > The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
> ACROSS
> > denominations.
>
> No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted.
How often do you see the Baptist Ministers being arrested as front page
news?
> Does the fact that abuse occurs in other denominations somehow make the
abuse
> that occurs in the Catholic Church not worth reporting?
>
Nope... but if one is front page news, why isn't the other?
> The truth is you don't want to accept that these things have occurred on
> such a grand scale in the Catholic Church.
Roughly 400 out of 49,000 priests. That's not the grand scale that you want
to make it to be. Is it roughly 400 more than I would have liked to see?
Yep.
The difference is, though, by and large, the Catholic Church ones are 20+
years old... the Baptist Ministers are MUCH more recent.
Christopher Robin
>
> "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:F%mCb.15067$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
>
> > I wouldn't say minimize... I would say he's trying to draw attention to
> the
> > fact that the focus shouldn't be on ONE organization over any other.
>
> I see you have the same problems as TDP.
The fact that I would like some integrity, honesty and equal treatment in
the media? Yep. Absolutely.
> The abuse stories are the truth.
Not all of them... some (probably a relatively few, admittedly) are from
those who are looking to make a quick buck - which is why the Church does
investigate EVERY claim, rather than simply paying automatically.
> Deal with it, or continue not dealing with it.
>
I am dealing with it. As the Church is.
€ R.L. Measures
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> news:eovCb.22$Oh...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> >
> > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:b%mCb.15063$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> >
> > > The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
> > ACROSS
> > > denominations.
> >
> > No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted.
>
> How often do you see the Baptist Ministers being arrested as front page
> news?
>
> > Does the fact that abuse occurs in other denominations somehow make
the abuse
> > that occurs in the Catholic Church not worth reporting?
> >
> Nope... but if one is front page news, why isn't the other?
>
> ...
** After over 1.5 millennia of crowing that they are God's one true
church, that everyone else burns forever in Hell, and condemning non
heteros for almost as long, it is newsworthy to see that there are such
numbers of priests in the org who apparently could not care less about
having sex with a female. But what else should anyone expect after a job
requirement of not having sex with women was mandated in 1123?
"The devil never harmed the church so much as when the church herself
adopted the vow of celibacy". -- Peter Comestor (12th century)
€ R.L. Measures
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> news:eovCb.22$Oh...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> >
> > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:b%mCb.15063$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> >
> > > The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
> > ACROSS
> > > denominations.
> >
> > No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted.
>
> How often do you see the Baptist Ministers being arrested as front page
> news?
>
> > Does the fact that abuse occurs in other denominations somehow make the
> abuse
> > that occurs in the Catholic Church not worth reporting?
> >
> Nope... but if one is front page news, why isn't the other?
>
>
> > The truth is you don't want to accept that these things have occurred on
> > such a grand scale in the Catholic Church.
>
> Roughly 400 out of 49,000 priests. That's not the grand scale that you want
> to make it to be. Is it roughly 400 more than I would have liked to see?
** 400 seems unlikely to be accurate since over 330 have been discovered
so far in Boston and L.A. alone, and L.A. Archbishop Roger Mahony is
refusing to furnish the names of the rest of the pedophile priests in the
archdiocese. My guess is that there is nothing unique about L.A. and
Boston, so Fr. Andrew Greely's estimate of approximately 3000 in the U. S.
is probably semi-accurate. The most pukey things I see about the one true
church's pedophile-priest problem are the hiding of known pedophiles in
remote dioceses, without any warning to parishoners, and paying hush-money
to victims -- like the King of Pop did in 1993.
New Kind Of Man
>
> "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> news:eovCb.22$Oh...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> >
> > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:b%mCb.15063$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> >
> > > The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
> > ACROSS
> > > denominations.
> >
> > No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted.
>
> How often do you see the Baptist Ministers being arrested as front page
> news?
TDP posted some. I ask you: How often have you seen Baptist ministers
forming policy to systematically cover up child abuse?
> > The truth is you don't want to accept that these things have occurred on
> > such a grand scale in the Catholic Church.
>
> Roughly 400 out of 49,000 priests. That's not the grand scale that you
want
> to make it to be. Is it roughly 400 more than I would have liked to see?
> Yep.
Have you alerted the media to the fact that you have all the statistics on
this matter?
>
> The difference is, though, by and large, the Catholic Church ones are 20+
> years old... the Baptist Ministers are MUCH more recent.
You're clueless and you're a liar, just like so many other sheeple. Do you
expect abused children to come forward the next day?
New Kind Of Man
>
> "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> news:ykvCb.20$Oh1...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> > Deal with it, or continue not dealing with it.
> >
> I am dealing with it. As the Church is.
Your Church is going down in flames -- or haven't you noticed?
Christopher Robin
>
> "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:FUDCb.17670$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> >
> > "New Kind Of Man" <NewKin...@home.com> wrote in message
> > news:eovCb.22$Oh...@twister.socal.rr.com...
> > >
> > > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > > news:b%mCb.15063$Vg3....@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> > >
> > > > The slanted reports - ignoring the FACT that the abuses are occuring
> > > ACROSS
> > > > denominations.
> > >
> > > No one is denying that. The abuse stories themselves are not slanted.
> >
> > How often do you see the Baptist Ministers being arrested as front page
> > news?
>
> TDP posted some. I ask you: How often have you seen Baptist ministers
> forming policy to systematically cover up child abuse?
>
> > > The truth is you don't want to accept that these things have occurred
on
> > > such a grand scale in the Catholic Church.
> >
> > Roughly 400 out of 49,000 priests. That's not the grand scale that you
> want
> > to make it to be. Is it roughly 400 more than I would have liked to
see?
> > Yep.
>
> Have you alerted the media to the fact that you have all the statistics on
this matter?
>
the ones reporting it. Last number I saw in MSNBC this fall was about 325
priests removed.
http://www.wjz.com/topstories/topstories_story_012111839.html
There were around 1,200 accused. Who knows how many of those accusations
are false accusations by money grubbers (like the accusations against
Cardinal Mahoney by that woman last year)...
"Most of the priests accused of abuse were ordained between the mid-1950s
and the 1970s, while the alleged abuse occurred primarily in the 1970s and
the 1980s, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions. Some allegations
date to the 1930s."
> >
> > The difference is, though, by and large, the Catholic Church ones are
20+
> > years old... the Baptist Ministers are MUCH more recent.
>
> You're clueless and you're a liar, just like so many other sheeple.
I am neither. By and large, the Catholic Church incidents date back into
the 80s & earlier. Not many cases from the 90s. (Boston being a notable
exception). I wonder why that is - perhaps because, by and large, the
Catholic Church revised and implement Child Protection policies in the late
80s/90s? Nah, you're too much in denial to admit that sort of thing.
>Do you expect abused children to come forward the next day?
>
Nope. Never said they would.
Christopher Robin
go to right now. Tell that to the 40 or so who joined last year. In fact,
my Church is going to weather this crisis, as it has weathered crises
before - learning from mistakes and growing.
New Kind Of Man
"Mistakes"? "Crisis"? Ask the thousands of people who have been victimized
by the Church whether the "crisis" is over for them. Or whether it was a
"mistake" when Father Whoever raped them.
What the Church defines as "crisis" for them amounts only to a public
relations problem. And sheeple like you are the glue that makes it stick.
New Kind Of Man
> I do not have them all - I've seen the statistics IN the media. They are
> the ones reporting it. Last number I saw in MSNBC this fall was about 325
> priests removed.
>
> http://www.wjz.com/topstories/topstories_story_012111839.html
>
> There were around 1,200 accused. Who knows how many of those accusations
> are false accusations by money grubbers (like the accusations against
> Cardinal Mahoney by that woman last year)...
Your statistics are inaccurate; they do not even come close to addressing
the truth. For every person that has come forward with legitimate claims,
there are so many more who will never come forward. Only the most clueless
sheeple would believe that all the perpetrators have been removed, that
there are no more among the clergy. Only the most clueless sheeple would pay
any respect to their local bishop, 2/3 of whom deliberately covered up
incidents of abuse, allowed it to continue, or broke the law by not
reporting it when it came to their attention.
>
> "Most of the priests accused of abuse were ordained between the mid-1950s
> and the 1970s, while the alleged abuse occurred primarily in the 1970s and
> the 1980s, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions. Some allegations
> date to the 1930s."
It's worse than naive to think that children aren't still being abused.
That somehow it magically stopped in the 1990s, or that it doesn't exist
unless victims come forward.
[]
>the
> Catholic Church revised and implement Child Protection policies in the
late
> 80s/90s? Nah, you're too much in denial to admit that sort of thing.
Right -- the Catholic Church is recognized the world over as a leader in
child protection.
khjarvis
"Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote> > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote> > > > "Christopher Robin" <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote
You missed this Will...........
"``My assessment is it's only the tip of the iceberg,'' said William R.
Stayton, a Widener University professor who teaches human sexuality. He was
shown the results of the Times study.
``You really don't have a true picture. I have worked with many clergy
sexual abuse cases over the years, and very, very few of them were
reported.''
--
Karen
"I desperate in my attempts to crack your nut."
Earl Weber, duk...@earthlink.net, 19-03-2003
TDP
Our Parish is growing by leaps and bounds, in fact we are adding on
to the Sanctuary and expanding our CCD class rooms. The RCIA is full
every year. So please, don't lie in here or for that matter anywhere
else.
>
New Kind Of Man
Apparently, you haven't noticed, either.
Christopher Robin
that is ignorant. Not those who see their Church growing... adding members,
increasing sizes of rooms, etc.
Alan Ferris
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I am neither. By and large, the Catholic Church incidents date back into
>the 80s & earlier. Not many cases from the 90s. (Boston being a notable
>exception). I wonder why that is - perhaps because, by and large, the
>Catholic Church revised and implement Child Protection policies in the late
>80s/90s? Nah, you're too much in denial to admit that sort of thing.
Look at the ages of the people coming forward. It is not easy for
children to talk of abuse. Sometimes it has to wait till they are
adults before it will be addressed.
€ R.L. Measures
<al...@spamddandd.com> wrote:
** The pedophile priest scandal of 2002 apparently created a snoball
effect -- i.e., as more victims came foreward, other victims were
encouraged by their bravery and they too told the secrets.
New Kind Of Man
"€ R.L. Measures" <+r...@somis.org> wrote in message
news:+r-151203...@192.168.1.100...
That is so true. This crime is all about silence and shame, and victims who
break that silence become an inspiration for others to do the same. Before
last year, most victims had never thought the tide would be on their side.
They were so shamed, they never thought someone could come forward and speak
up for them and receive support. The media (putting aside its sins for the
moment)
did (and is still doing) a great public service in telling victims' stories.
Reporters who covered this story did more to help victims than all of the
bishops combined. And organizations like SNAP and The Linkup brought
victims/survivors together for the first time, which worked wonders for
victims who thought they were freaks and all alone.
€ R.L. Measures
<NewKin...@home.com> wrote:
** Indeed. The idea of God's Holy Church being involved up to its
eyebrows in hiding pedophile priests and paying hush-money to victims,
leads me to doubt their claim of who they represent.
Alan Ferris
<anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Perhaps it is the one speaking ignorantly of a church going down in flames
>that is ignorant. Not those who see their Church growing... adding members,
>increasing sizes of rooms, etc.
Whilst others in Europe see the churches shrinking and very few new
priests.
khjarvis
"Alan Ferris" <al...@spamddandd.com> wrote in message
news:h5qutvov1mohr9iol...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 23:27:26 GMT, "Christopher Robin"
> <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Perhaps it is the one speaking ignorantly of a church going down in
flames
> >that is ignorant. Not those who see their Church growing... adding
members,
> >increasing sizes of rooms, etc.
>
> Whilst others in Europe see the churches shrinking and very few new
> priests.
Priest changes with changing Catholic Church
BROCKTON - When the Rev. Richard C. Conway was ordained nearly 40 years ago,
five other men from his parish in Roslindale became priests at the same
time.
"Now, there aren't five priests ordained in the whole archdiocese," said
Conway, pastor and sole priest at St. Margaret's Church in Brockton. "There
just aren't enough clergy and support staff."
A lack of clergy, declining revenue, dwindling Mass attendance and a
shortage of parish volunteers have forced churches and the archdiocese to
take a long, hard look at the future - and how to best consolidate and
reconfigure parishes.
http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2003/12/15/news/news/news03.txt
€ R.L. Measures
<al...@spamddandd.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 23:27:26 GMT, "Christopher Robin"
> <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Perhaps it is the one speaking ignorantly of a church going down in flames
> >that is ignorant. Not those who see their Church growing... adding members,
> >increasing sizes of rooms, etc.
>
> Whilst others in Europe see the churches shrinking and very few new
> priests.
>
** Increasing the size of rooms is best handled by the Queen of the
Universe. Not even her son attempted to do this while he was on Earth.
€ R.L. Measures
> On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 23:27:26 GMT, "Christopher Robin"
> <anony...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Perhaps it is the one speaking ignorantly of a church going down in flames
> >that is ignorant. Not those who see their Church growing... adding members,
> >increasing sizes of rooms, etc.
>
> Whilst others in Europe see the churches shrinking and very few new
> priests.
>
** Unless the Church continues its Tradition of helping priests dodge
prosecution for what they do behind closed doors with minors, fewer men
will seek the priesthood.