Wolves Among the Sheep > Amish Bishop, Refuge, Man of God, LDS Bishop, Youth Pastors

Amish church bishop in Lancaster County charged with failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities

WGAL News 8

PEQUEA TOWNSHIP, Pa. —

A church bishop in Lancaster County is charged with failure to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities.

Levi Esh Sr., 63, served as bishop of two Amish churches when a member of his congregation in Pequea Township confessed to him in 2012 or 2013 to the sexual abuse of three girls, the district attorney's office said.

Charges filed by police allege that Esh did not contact police or social services, and the matter "was handled internally" instead.

According to prosecutors, police became aware of the incident after members of the Amish community had conversations with Esh and other bishops and ministers in October 2019. The community members were told to "let it go" and that it had "been taken care of," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said 41-year-old John Beiler, of Providence Township, made the confession to Esh. Beiler was charged last week with counts of sexual abuse related to crimes against three girls between 2011 and 2015, the district attorney's office said.

Pequea Twnshp, Pa

4 Minors Accuse Concord, NC, Church Pastor

of Sexual Assault

The Refuge Church, Kannapolis

41-year-old pastor Brian Mahiques has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing at least four minors, including at least two youth group members.

Mahiques was first arrested on May 7 after the first two alleged victims came forward. He was initially charged with two counts of statutory sexual offense of a child and three counts of indecent liberties with a minor.

Two more alleged victims have recently come forward and Mahiques now faces additional charges of one count of statutory sexual offense and three counts of indecent liberties with a minor.

The sum of charges against Mahiques is now three counts of statutory sex offense of a child and six counts of indecent liberties with a minor.

Concord police say one of the alleged victims recently told their parents that they had been sexually abused by Mahiques several times between 2005-2006 when Mahiques was their youth pastor at The Refuge Church.

A second victim came forward during the initial investigation and also reported that Mahiques had sexually abused them during the same time period. This second alleged victim was also a youth group member at The Refuge Church.

Both of these alleged victims were under 16 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and both told investigators that some incidents happened at youth events and on Refuge Church property.

It is not clear if the two additional victims were also youth group members.

This investigation is ongoing and Concord Police investigators are working to determine if there are any other victims.

Judge gives Tn pastor who raped daughter, 14, a soft prison sentence ‘because he is a man of God’

..

The pastor was sentenced to 12 years in jail,

60 years less than the maximum term

Molly Rose Pike, The Sun, UK
19 May 2019

A PASTOR who raped his own 14-year-old daughter for two years was given a soft prison sentence because he is a "man of God".

David Richards, 41, was sentenced to 12 years in jail, 60 years less than the maximum term sought by prosecutors.

His daughter Amber (pictured), who has waived her right to anonymity, said she believes he could attack another girl.

Judge Steven Sword cited his work as a pastor and the Bible study group he began in jail as mitigating factors in the lenient sentence.

They should both be factors for increasing his sentence, the first as an aggravating factor, and the second for the good of the prison. It's a shame we have such low expectations of "a man of God".

Richards, of Knox County Tennessee, was found guilty of rape, incest and sexual battery by an authority figure for abusing his adopted daughter for two years, Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

His daughter Amber, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she believes he could attack another girl, "given the opportunity".

'HE COULD DO IT AGAIN'

In an emotional victim statement, she said: "I wanted to throw my body away. Not a day goes by that I don’t, in some way, think of what he did to me.

"I firmly believe if given the opportunity, he would victimise another girl,’ she continued."

Richards continued to maintain his innocence throughout the trial and attempted to paint his accuser as a rebellious teenager who first made her allegations of sexual abuse to act out against his strict rules for his children.

Forensic testing uncovered the presence of his semen on the girl's bed frame.

Richards said: "I stand before you convicted of crimes I did not commit. I simply believe the system just erred in this case. I’m not sure why I’m here… but I assume it’s for His (God’s) purpose."

An unrepentant pastor does not deserve any leniency. He is obviously a liar and not a man of God!

I didn't really do this for me I did it so it didn't happen

to anyone else, so nobody's in the same situation as I am

..

Amber Richards 

Speaking after her dad was found guilty in February, Amber said: "I'm glad I can finally move on with my life.

"I didn't really do this for me I did it so it didn't happen to anyone else, so nobody's in the same situation as I am, especially kids, they don't deserve to go through things to do that.

"If I have to be the one to make sure that it never happens again I don't mind doing that."

Richards was formerly a pastor at My Father’s House Church of God in Lenoir City.

More than 30 members of his congregation sat on his side of the courtroom to show their support on Thursday.

David Thompson, who shared ministry duties with Richards, testified in his defence, saying "I find it impossible for me to believe he’s guilty of this. His business needs him. His family needs him. Our church needs him."

There are invariably people who will believe their pastor is a good and holy man regardless of what he has done. Is it partly because they refuse to believe that they have been fooled for so many years? That they have invited a wolf into the sheep-pen?

Richards is seeking a new trial.

Ex-Latter-day Saint bishop to now be prosecuted
in federal court on child porn charge

Dennis Romboy, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News)— A former Latter-day Saint bishop arrested last fall for allegedly possessing and distributing what state investigators called “child sexual abuse material” will now be prosecuted in federal court.

Timothy James Hallows, 62, of Kaysville, pleaded not guilty to possession of child pornography during an initial appearance in U.S. District Court last Friday. The charge filed May 8 alleges Hallows possessed material containing an illicit image of a child under the age of 12.

A change of plea hearing is scheduled for June 30. Defendants typically plead guilty in those hearings as part of an agreement with prosecutors. i.e. - a plea deal!

Hallows was bishop of the Wellington Ward in the Kaysville Utah Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was arrested in October and later charged with eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in 2nd District Court in Davis County.

Hallows “admitted to distributing child sexual abuse material” on Skype and to sexual gratification to prepubescent children, according to a police affidavit filed in state court.

“Hallows stated the children are not real, and provided several incidents of justification and rationalization for the conduct,” a Davis County sheriff’s deputy wrote in the affidavit. Investigators noted that Hallows held a special position of trust as a bishop, including “unfettered” access to children in his congregation and in private.

The state charges will be dismissed as the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Davis County Attorney’s Office decided to pursue the case in federal court. U.S. Attorney John Huber said federal and county prosecutors regularly work together on child exploitation cases to find the best venue to prosecute the case.

“County prosecutors and law enforcement officers are very experienced in investigating and prosecuting these cases, but they can be limited, candidly, by low state sentences,” Huber said. “The tools we have in federal court can bring very significant, very appropriate sentences. In this case, it made sense to prosecute the defendant in federal court.”

Federal judges consider a number of factors when imposing a sentence for possession of child pornography, including the number of images, use of a computer, distribution of the images, the defendant’s abuse of a position of trust to hide the offense, the ages of the children in the images and the defendant’s criminal history, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Multiple counts do not change the sentence because the court is aware of each image the defendant possessed regardless of the number of criminal charges.

Microsoft Online Operations filed a complaint on Oct. 6 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a user uploaded and made publicly available child sexual exploitation material to or from a Skype account. Phoenix police initially investigated the cases because the IP address tracked to a Holiday Inn in Arizona. Investigators determined it belonged to Hallows.

A search warrant was executed at Hallows’ home in Kaysville. The affidavit says investigators located “thousands of images of pornography, including many images of child sexual abuse.”

Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints, called the allegations serious and deeply troubling after Hallows’ arrest last October.

“When local leaders learned of these allegations, this individual was immediately removed from any position that would place him in close contact with youth or children. This is done to ensure the safety of others and to allow this individual to address these serious allegations,” he said then in a prepared statement.

Hawkins said the church has no tolerance for abuse of any kind, including child pornography, and teaches its members and leaders that such behavior is offensive to God and to his church.

Not to mention the children!

Abuser kept job at Modesto, Ca, church for 3 years

after teen reported molestation, lawsuit says

BY ERIN TRACY
Modesto Bee

Carl Epperson said when he was 13-years-old he was molested by a youth pastor at his Modesto church.

The abuse was reported to church leaders and the Modesto Police Department but the youth pastor, Robert Chapman, wasn’t fired or arrested.

Instead, Epperson said church leaders blindsided him by bringing him into a room with his alleged abuser, who got to tell “his side of the story,” and the detectives assigned to the case treated him like a suspect by questioning his sexuality and threatening him with juvenile hall if he was lying.

During the following three years, Chapman molested at least two more boys until he was arrested and convicted in 1987.

More than 30 years later, Epperson and another man who was molested by Chapman, Larry Spencer, are suing the church, claiming those who ran it failed to protect them when they were boys.

It’s the third lawsuit against CrossPoint Community Church, formally First Baptist Church, alleging its leaders covered up childhood sexual abuse by its employees for more than a decade.

The church already settled with one victim, Jennifer Roach, in the amount of $267,500 for abuse by youth pastor Brad Tebbutt in the late 1980s. In October, it was served with a second lawsuit by Tracy Epler, who said she was abused by a different youth pastor, Les Hughey, in the 1970s.

Wow! That's astonishing! 3 predator youth pastors in one decade. This church has a remarkable ability to seek out wolves in sheep's clothing and then pay them to live among the sheep. Was there no discernment whatsoever in that church? Was nobody listening to God?

The abuse “could have been prevented completely if people did their jobs and meant what they said when they said their priority is protecting children, not protecting abusers,” said Maricar A. Pascual, an attorney with the law offices of Joseph C. George, who is representing the men.

The Sacramento-based firm, which specializes in sexual abuse cases, has represented all of the plaintiffs in the suits against CrossPoint.

The complaint filed in Stanislaus Superior Court on behalf of Epperson and Spencer in February alleges negligent supervision or retention of an employee, negligent supervision of the plaintiffs when they were minors, failure to report childhood sexual abuse and childhood sexual abuse.

Chapman had only been employed at the church a few months as an organist when he asked the youth leaders if he could take on a role as a youth pastor, Pascual said.

Epperson said he’d heard Chapman specifically asked to work with boys.

According to the complaint, Chapman led a “Disciples Group ... which was supposed to help young teen boys with issues related to reaching puberty.”

In April 1983, Chapman recruited Epperson and another boy to help him keep watch and prevent vandalism of a large tent that was set up on the church grounds for an upcoming event. After keeping watch, the boys went to sleep in Chapman’s camper, where Epperson was awakened by Chapman rubbing his chest, according to the complaint.

“(Chapman) subsequently fondled and masturbated (Epperson),” the complaint says.

REPORT MADE TO FIRST BAPTIST, MODESTO POLICE

About four months later, Epperson told his girlfriend what happened and she told Epperson’s mother, who reported the abuse to the church hierarchy and the Modesto Police, according to the complaint.

Epperson said on Aug. 28, 1983, his 14th birthday, he and his father were called to a meeting at the church with the lead pastor, two youth pastors and Chapman, who denied anything happened.

At the end of the meeting “I remember them shaking my dad’s hand and telling him, ‘We have to stand behind our man until we hear otherwise,’ ” he said.

Not long after, two detectives showed up at Epperson’s school, pulled him out of class and interrogated him, according to the complaint.  OMG!

“Those two events really changed who I was,” Epperson said. “At that age I got a very clear view of how the police acted and people who I thought were God-fearing folks acted, and it made me think the world is a corrupt place.”

The detectives told Epperson that Chapman had passed a lie detector test and that he also could take one, but he would be arrested if he failed, the complaint says.

“They said I would be serving three to five years in California Youth Authority if I was lying,” Epperson said. “They asked, ‘Did you like it? Did you enjoy it? Did you ever think you might be homosexual?’ I remember telling myself, ‘You know what happened, don’t let these guys falsify what you know is true.’ ”

The detectives closed the case as unfounded and Chapman maintained his position at the church.

“Accordingly, (Chapman) continued to have access to sexually abuse minors, including (Larry Spencer), until another police report was made” three years later, according to the complaint.

During those three years, Larry Spencer was molested an average of two times a month, according to the complaint.

When reached by phone in May, Spencer did not comment for this story but told The Bee in a 2018 interview that he was 13 when he was first molested during a sleepover hosted by Chapman.

The evening discussion was about puberty and masturbation, Spencer said. Then they watched movies and drifted off to sleep. Spencer, like Epperson, said he woke up to Chapman touching him.

Chapman continued molesting him, in the car while giving him rides home from church, and in the swimming pool during youth activities, Spencer said.

It was in 1986 when he saw Chapman become inappropriate with his younger foster brother that Spencer decided to come forward.

‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’

“I said, ‘Enough’s enough. This guy’s going to screw somebody else up,’ ” Spencer said.

That time, Chapman was prosecuted. He was charged with molesting Spencer, Epperson and another boy. Pascual said the third victim might also join the civil lawsuit but has not yet decided.

A negotiated deal ended with Chapman pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation in return for a 300-day term in County Jail.

Wow! 300 days. Another 'man of God'?

Chapman, who is now in his 80s and still living in Modesto, told The Bee this month that he hadn’t yet been served with the civil complaint. He declined to comment further.

The complaint was filed in February but the defendants were listed in it as Does. Pascual confirmed CrossPoint Community Church and Chapman are the defendants and said they will be served when she files the amended complaint soon.

CrossPoint’s lead pastor, Matt Whiteford, did not respond to a request for comment.