Ex-con anti-Semitic Covid-denying priest defrocked,
after seizing control of convent
Former Prattville, Ala, youth minister gets 13 months in prison on assault charge
Marty Roney, Montgomery Advertiserafter seizing control of convent
FILE PHOTO © Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsin
By Jonny Tickle
The Ekaterinburg ecclesiastical court has defrocked the infamous cleric Shiigumen Sergius, after a series of controversial comments and disobeyed orders. The priest also took control of a convent, removing the abbess in charge.
This would be the Russian Orthodox Church.
“In connection with the violation of the priestly oath, monastic vows, and sacred canons, the Shiigumen Sergius (Romanov Nikolay Vasilyevich) is to be expelled from the Holy dignity,” said Nikolay Maleta, the chairman of the court.
Before becoming a priest, Sergius was a police officer and had previously spent 13 years in prison for murder. In mid-June, he was banned from preaching, after calling Covid-19 a “pseudo-pandemic,” claiming it was an excuse to microchip the public. He also complained that the precautionary closing of churches was done under pressure from “the atheistic authorities.”“Whoever encroaches on the closing of temples, may he and all his family be damned,” he said.
As well as propagating wild conspiracy theories, Sergius is known for using anti-Semitic language in his sermons, referring to the “protocols of the Elders of Zion” and suggesting Jews be evicted to the “Republic of Birobidzhan [sic],” the capital city of Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region, and its Semitic heartland.
Despite being prohibited from doing so, Sergius returned to the Central Urals Convent, near the city of Ekaterinburg. There, he assumed control, ousted the abbess and several nuns, and organized a guard of loyal parishioners and Cossacks to prevent local religious leaders and journalists from entering.
According to recent media reports, the convent is now home to about 200 people, including some children. The former priest is accused of being psychologically and physically abusive to them.
No indication the children are being sexually abused, at least. Let's pray that never happens. As to 'wild conspiracy theories', I'm not so sure how wild his theory on micro-chipping is. However, there is no place in God's church for anti-Semitism.
PRATTVILLE — A former Prattville youth minister was sentenced Monday to 13 months in prison on an assault charge.
John Edgar Harris, 42, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Ben Fuller. Harris originally was indicted on child sex charges, including sexual abuse, facilitation of travel of a child for a sex act and enticing a child for immoral purposes.
He pleaded guilty in December to assault, a Class C felony. He is not considered a sex offender and will not have to register as such. The plea agreement was offered because it "would have been difficult," proving the elements of the sex charges, said Mandy Johnson, an assistant district attorney.
Sentencings are usually straight forward affairs, but this court proceeding didn't follow a normal course, including Harris telling Fuller why he entered the guilty plea.
"At the end of the day, I could have fought it, but I would have hurt a lot of people," he said. "I got to avoid hurting a lot of people and it seemed like it was the best option to me."
He was the former student minister of Glynwood Baptist Church, a post he held for more than eight years. He resigned from the church the month before his arrest. The victim in the case was then a teenage boy who was a member of the youth group. Harris was charged in October 2017.
He has maintained his innocence through the whole situation since his arrest and denies the sex charges, his attorney Brad Ekdahl, told the court. In the original complaint, the victim said Harris would have inappropriate physical contact with him during sleepovers at Harris' home of youth group ministers.
Two other former youth group members, now adults, testified as character witnesses and told Fuller that Harris had never acted inappropriately to them or around them during the sleepovers.
Fuller even took the unusual step of hearing from Scott Baxley, the Prattville Police Department investigator who handled the case. Baxley said he was not consulted before the plea offer was made and did not agree with the amended charge.
Ekdahl countered that a large group of people including church and former youth group members have maintained their support for Harris and feel he isn't guilty of the sex charges.
I have seen this in virtually every single case of pastoral child sexual abuse. Much of the congregation believe the pedophile and reject the victim. Pedophiles are often very gregarious and very popular in the circles. It's disappointing that many Christians seem to have no discernment whatsoever.
Harris said the victim made up the story and that the police did not do a proper investigation.
"This destroyed me from moment one," Harris told Fuller. "You're talking about people that were my family. They are words on a piece of paper. I never had the chance to defend myself."
"You certainly did," Fuller said. "You could have gone to trial."
Harris then went on to tell Fuller that he was afraid that a jury would hear the word "minister," and make up their minds without listening to the evidence and that he was trying to help the victim in the case.
"So, you're taking a bullet for everybody?" Fuller asked Harris. Harris said yes. "Part of taking that bullet is 13 months in prison," Fuller said.
The defense was seeking parole. The punishment range for a Class C felony is one to 10 years in prison.
Gloriavale, NZ, child allegedly sexually abused months after authorities ignored 'call for help'
Sam Sherwood
Gloriavale has been the subject of investigations in recent years by police, Oranga Tamariki and the Charities Commission. ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF
A child has allegedly been sexually abused at Gloriavale, months after authorities failed to act on a ‘call for help’ over his alleged abuser - a teenager living in the same community.
Police arrived at the isolated West Coast farm last week as part of an inquiry into new claims of child sexual abuse. It is alleged a teenage male inside the community has sexually offended against multiple boys. A complaint was laid with police last Monday on behalf of a child aged under 12.
Stuff can reveal Charities Services, which regulates about 27,000 registered charities, was warned in February about concerns within the community regarding the teen’s behaviour. Gloriavale Leavers Support Trust general manager Liz Gregory was told of these concerns and emailed the information to Charities Services.
However, the agency did not pass on the concerns to police or Oranga Tamariki.
In the email, seen by Stuff, Gregory highlights a series of issues asking for the agency to investigate.
Gregory said someone in the community had spoken to Gloriavale leader Howard Temple about the teen, currently under investigation regarding inappropriate sexual activities.
The email includes quotes from a person close to Gloriavale who had asked the leaders to transfer the teenager out of the community because they “didn’t feel safe with their children being in the community with (the teen) around”.
The information sent to Charities Services also included a comment from Gregory's Gloriavale source that claimed another leader had told the teenager’s father to advise his son “if anyone comes to you or asks you about this to say nothing”.
Police arrived en masse to the isolated West Coast farm last week as part of an inquiry into new allegations of child sexual abuse. ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF
In her email to the Charities Services, Gregory said the messages were a “real call for help. People don’t make this stuff up for fun”.
“Never before have we had people from the inside crying out for help and saying they support whatever measures are necessary. I sure hope we don’t let them down.”
A Charities Services senior investigator responded to Gregory and asked if it would be OK if he shared the information with the Ministry of Social Development, Oranga Tamariki and police.
Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust general manager and support worker Liz Gregory. JOHN BISSET
Gregory replied giving permission to pass the information on, adding she was “hopeful that the information we have given you is enough to trigger concerns”.
Gregory told Stuff she did not receive any further correspondence.
On Friday, Department of Internal Affairs deputy chief executive of service delivery and operations, Maria Robertson, confirmed the information was not passed on.
“We apologise for this and confirm the information has now been passed to relevant agencies.”
Robertson said it was a case of a person "making a mistake", and it should not have happened. We have already strengthened our internal processes and confirmed our strong working relationships with other agencies to make sure this does not happen again."
She said Charities Services had worked over the past four years to ensure Gloriavale met its charitable obligations.
In that time, they received approximately 80 pieces of information from various sources covering a variety of issues and had passed 30 on to other government agencies including health, education, police, Oranga Tamariki and others.
Gregory said she felt “really ill” to learn her concerns had not been passed on. “If Charities Services had acted on the credible information that was provided this alleged recent tragic assault could possibly have been avoided.”
She went to Charities Services as a "centralised place” where information was sent. “There were times we did pass stuff to police but it wasn't of a high enough standard and they couldn't do anything.
"So we just decided our best bet was to pass it through to the Charity Services because we thought they would pass it onto the agencies. “We used them as a funnel, to capture wider information, and they could decide what needed to go in what direction."
Gregory said there were “systemic issues" at play in Gloriavale, which had created an unsafe place for people to live. Despite many agencies being involved changes had been “piecemeal”. “There comes a point where it's wrong and immoral of us to just let these things slide any further.”
The isolated West Coast Christian community of Gloriavale has set itself apart from the rest of society for more than 50 years.
A relative of the alleged child victim, told Stuff he was “gutted” it took five months after concerns were raised for police to arrive at Gloriavale.
“I've got a boy the same age, if that happened to him I'd be raging. Especially if I knew that the leaders knew … he'd done stuff before.”
"The tricky part comes where they would say they did deal with it. But, their dealing with it is different to what you and I would understand is dealing with it, because they have a very low view of police, the law and the legal system and they think it's their god-given duty to deal with everything themselves.”
In an emailed statement on Friday evening, police confirmed they received information from the DIA on Thursday. Police were now checking whether this information was related to their current enquiries into Gloriavale.
The religious community near Greymouth on the West Coast has been the subject of investigations in recent years by police, Oranga Tamariki and the Charities Commission.
A former senior member, a community teacher and Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian have all been convicted of sexual offending.
This month Family Court Judge Sarah Lindsay described Gloriavale as "psychologically abusive" towards three young girls who had been living in the community with their father.
Gloriavale, NZ
3 Consecutive NZ Assemblies of God leaders
alleged to have abused children
Consecutive leaders of New Zealand's Assemblies of God church leadership, Jim Williams and Frank Houston, both subject to accusations of child abuse. Photo / Supplied
By: David Fisher
Senior writer, NZ Herald
Leaders of a New Zealand church agreed to keep details from their congregations about a prominent pastor's sexual abuse of children, it has emerged, as the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care prepares to target clergy.
A special Herald investigation has uncovered fresh allegations and evidence of child abuse perpetrated by two leaders of the Assemblies of God (AOG) before both abusers left New Zealand to continue their ministries in Australia.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care has confirmed to the Herald that it considers its terms of reference to include "pastoral care", significantly broadening its investigations into the actions of churches.
The Herald has confirmed that fresh allegations of abuse by the AOG's former leading light, Pastor Frank Houston, have been provided to the Royal Commission.
One allegation, that he sexually abused a child between 1945-1948 while helping run a Salvation Army children's home in Temuka, opens up the span of Houston's alleged predatory behaviour to cover decades.
Houston left New Zealand in 1977 to start a church in Sydney, which has since grown to become Hillsong Church, one of Australasia's biggest evangelical movements. He died in 2004, having admitted just two instances of sexual abuse, saying it was "a continuing problem".
A Herald investigation has identified about 10 separate instances of children allegedly being sexually abused by Houston.
The investigation also uncovered allegations that Pastor Jim Williams, another former leader of the AOG in New Zealand, sexually assaulted at least two girls in the 1960s.
Three decades later Williams was banned from preaching in the churches linked to the Assemblies of God in New Zealand after predatory sexual pursuit of women in his ministry.
Houston was General Superintendent of Assemblies of God in New Zealand from 1965 until 1977 when he left for Australia. Williams was General Superintendent from 1977 to 1989 and then also left for Australia. Both are now dead.
Williams was replaced as General Superintendent in 1989 by Pastor Wayne Hughes, who resigned in 2005 on health grounds after an allegation of sexually inappropriate behaviour with a teenager.
An Australian Royal Commission, set up to investigate how institutions managed claims of abuse, found fault in the handling of child sexual abuse claims by Assemblies of God in Australia, now called Australian Christian Churches.
Evidence gathered by the Australian Royal Commission shows the New Zealand church authority left it to the Australian institution to deal with Frank Houston - even though the Australian president at the time was Houston's son Brian, founder of Hillsong.
The Assemblies of God in New Zealand also agreed - in writing - to keep Houston's abuse secret unless it had to, and when pushed, to tell only its ministers.
It did so in a letter in 2002 which included the statement: "We cannot see any reason for this to be announced to your church or further afield."
Pastor Don Barry of Hamilton's Gateway Church took his congregation out of the Assemblies of God over frustration at the response to his attempts to shine a light on Houston's abuse. Barry has produced evidence showing he raised concerns of specific instances of abuse by Houston from 1994 onwards and that church authorities did not deal with the complaints until 2001.
Yet Assemblies of God in New Zealand General Secretary Darren Gammie said evidence of Houston's offending against children did not emerge until August 2000. He said the church leadership group moved quickly to deal with the issue.
What does the Bible say about liars? Seems to fit right in here.
He said the Assemblies of God in New Zealand executive saw "sexual abuse of children as reprehensible and abhorrent, as is any attempt to cover up such offending".
"Those who were known to have been abused (by Houston) were contacted by (Assemblies of God in New Zealand) executive members in order to apologise and to ascertain their desired pathway for resolution."
He said the executive knew nothing of sexual assault allegations involving Williams or claims Houston had been confronted as early as the 1970s. "The Assemblies of God has consistently sought to deal with the allegations regarding Jim Williams and Frank Houston with an evidence-based, reasonable and respectful approach."
The Australian Royal Commission heard evidence from two New Zealanders about sexual abuse by Houston, carried out under cover of his ministry.
A South Island victim of Houston's, David, told the Herald he had provided evidence to the New Zealand Royal Commission of the abuse he had suffered. He said he wanted to see a full inquiry into Houston's abuse.
A Salvation Army spokeswoman told the Herald it had also provided information on Frank Houston to the Royal Commission. She said it passed on information relating to an allegation of abuse it had received in 2003 relating to Frank Houston's time as a lieutenant helping run the Bramwell Booth Children's Home in Temuka.
The Herald has also learned the Australian inquiry heard from one of Williams' accusers, Caroline Andrews, who died 18 months ago. Andrews told the Royal Commission she and sister Joanne Ridge were sexually targeted by Williams between 1960 and 1963 when they were aged 11 and 12.
Ridge told the Herald she was visited by an envoy of Williams years later with a letter from him expressing a hope she was well and that he would pray for her. She was not allowed to keep the letter, which was burned by the envoy.
And I suppose he thought that would make it go better when he stood before God?
Williams later came to New Zealand, spent almost two decades preaching here, then returned to Australia. He apologised for adultery while a pastor then failed to have his preaching credentials renewed in New Zealand when it emerged he had not disclosed the extent to which he was having sex with members of his congregation.
Of course not. Liars only tell you as much as they think you can take and not turn on them. What kind of spirit permeated the NZ AoG? It certainly couldn't have been the Holy Spirit. There is nothing holy about liars and paedophiles.
Frank Houston was a pivotal figure in the Pentecostal movement in Australasia. His son, New Zealand-born Brian Houston, founded Hillsong by merging his church with Frank Houston's. Hillsong now has 150,000 members in more than 20 countries around the world. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called Brian Houston a "mentor".
A spokesman for Hillsong Church would not field questions about Frank Houston's abuse of children. He said: "Frank Houston was a credentialed New Zealand Assemblies of God pastor in those years, and they are the right body to be dealing with these historical complaints."
Brian Houston said in a statement he found it "agonising" that his father had engaged in "such repulsive acts", although he recognised it was more painful for the victims of abuse.
Frank Houston was also an important leader and pastor to Paul de Jong, founder of New Zealand's Life churches. De Jong said he became aware of allegations of abuse by Frank Houston between 2010 and 2012. He said it was a "complete shock and a deep disappointment".
"My response at the time was that if that was true, there should be no tolerance for it whatsoever, and it needed to be dealt with by the police."
De Jong said he would provide whatever assistance was required by the New Zealand Royal Commission. "I am more than willing to ensure that we stamp out sexual abuse wherever possible."
New Zealand Police have found only one record of a complaint against Frank Houston, lodged in 2019. Evidence before the Australian Royal Commission suggested one victim - or his representative - had contacted New Zealand Police about Frank Houston, but was told Houston's age, health and time away in Australia meant extradition was unlikely.
What happened when -
Assemblies of God leaders, 1965-2005
1965-1977: Frank Houston (died 2004)
1977-1989: Jim Williams (died 2015)
1989-2005: Wayne Hughes
Key events
1945-1948: Frank Houston allegedly commits abuse at a Salvation Army boys' home in Temuka. The complaint does not emerge until 2003.
1960: Houston allegedly abuses a small boy, David, in the South Island.
1960-63: Jim Williams allegedly abuses 11-year-old twin sisters Joanne Ridge and Caroline Andrews in Melbourne.
1969-74: Houston abuses Sydney boy Brett Sengstock from age 7 to 12. In 1999 Houston apologises and pays Sengstock A$2000.
Mid-1970s: A young man in Palmerston North tells a visiting pastor Houston sexually assaulted him.
1994: Pastor Don Barry in Hamilton tells two senior ministers in the Assemblies of God about allegations of child sexual abuse by Houston.
1994: Williams is banned from AOG ministry in NZ for his predatory sexual pursuit of women.
1999: Barry tells AOG leaders about two new abuse claims against Houston.
2000: The AOG agrees Houston will never preach again, but neither the NZ nor the Australian AOG will publicly reveal the sex abuse allegations unless forced to do so.
2002: Wayne Hughes writes a confidential letter to AOG ministers, acknowledging "serious sexual offences" by Houston and "sexual failure" by Williams, with no mention of child victims.
2005: Hughes resigns on health grounds after an allegation of sexually inappropriate behaviour with a teenager.
2014: The Royal Commission in Australia hears evidence suggesting up to 10 known victims of Houston's abuse.
Bellevue, Tn, Baptist Church sued after paid volunteer coordinator sexually abuses teenager
Katherine Burgess
Memphis Commercial Appeal
The three giant crosses, belonging to Bellevue Baptist Church, stand at I-40 and Appling Rd. in Cordova. It is hard to miss the crosses or the church which sits on a 377 acre campus and has a sanctuary that seats 7,000 people. The center cross is 150 feet tall, and is flanked by two 120-foot crosses. (Karen Pulfer Focht/The Commercial Appeal)
The parents of a 15-year-old sexual abuse victim are suing Bellevue Baptist Church, saying the flagship church in the Southern Baptist Convention provided a space for her abuser to groom and abuse her, and that church officials failed to remove her abuser from working with children after being warned.
James A. Hook was a paid volunteer coordinator at the church when he sexually abused his victim, who is identified by the pseudonym “Janet Doe,” according to the complaint.
Officials at Bellevue Baptist declined to comment on the lawsuit, which argues that church officials knew or should have known that Hook was a risk to minor children. Hook pleaded guilty to sexual battery by an authority figure in January after officers found Hook and his victim in a car together in May 2019. Hook admitted to sexual contact with her, but denied having intercourse, according to the affidavit. Hook was charged with sexual battery by an authority figure and solicitation of a minor at the time.
“Hook groomed Janet Doe and fomented his incredibly inappropriate relationship with her at Bellevue Baptist Church and some of the sexual abuse took place on the grounds of the church,” the complaint reads. “Bellevue Baptist Church placed Hook in a position that would put him in contact with minors, it ignored warnings about Hook, it failed to have policies in place that would prevent him from being alone with a minor on church property, and it failed to have training for its employees and staff to identify suspicious behavior and report it in an effort to prevent abuse.”
James Hook pleaded guilty to sexual battery by an authority figure.
The lawsuit notes that Hook knew “Janet Doe” and her family outside of Bellevue: Hook and the victim’s mother had an extramarital affair in 2011, “long before the abuse,” according to the complaint. They also had a child together, "Janet Doe's" sibling, according to Bellevue's response to the complaint.
When the victim’s parents separated in 2018, Hook began communicating with the victim and her mother, according to the complaint. Around the same time, Hook became a paid volunteer coordinator at the church in the children’s area, the complaint says.
The complaint says that “Janet Doe’s” father warned Bellevue Baptist that Hook should not be allowed to interact with children.
It also says that Hook used his position to encourage “Janet Doe” to volunteer in the children’s Sunday School program, where he had access to her alone. There, the complaint says, he groomed her, giving her gifts, complimenting her and sending her sexually explicit photos of her mother taken during the extramarital affair seven years earlier.
He began kissing and having other physical contact with her, sometimes on Bellevue property or when driving her home.
"He, with no ostensible purpose for doing so, shadowed her everywhere she was in the church,” said Gary Smith, attorney for the victims’ parents. “It was that setting and that environment that allowed him to groom her, build that trust and then take advantage of it. … It was the culture at Bellevue Baptist that allowed him to exploit the child. It has all emanated from that location and the culture that existed.”
In its response filed in court, Bellevue denied “any suggestion or insinuation that Bellevue permitted, condoned or was aware” that Hook was grooming his victim. The church also denied any liability for Hook's actions “which were outside the course and scope of his employment.”
"Defendant specifically and categorically denies that James Hook had unsupervised and unrestricted access to volunteers, including Janet Doe," read Bellevue's response. Bellevue had policies in place requiring two adults to be in the room with minors, read the church's motion to dismiss. The church also has background checks and annual training on child abuse, they wrote.
And, when "Janet Doe's" father advised a pastor that he did not want Hook around his children, the pastor only knew that Hook had participated in an extramarital affair, according to their motion to dismiss.
"Plaintiffs do not allege the substance of or reasoning behind John Doe’s so-called warning or how this constitutes notice to Bellevue that Mr. Hook would engage in childhood sexual abuse," read the motion. The motion also said that "Janet Doe" communicated with Hook with the knowledge of her mother.
Bellevue Baptist Church is one of the largest churches in the Memphis area, with an average Sunday attendance of about 8,000. It is a flagship church of the Southern Baptist Convention, and its pastor, the Rev. Steve Gaines, once led the denomination as its 61st president.
The Southern Baptist Convention has recently grappled with sexual misconduct within its churches after a 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News found about 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers who had faced allegations of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, with more than 700 victims.
Open letter on social media account of former Ohio boy scout leader: 'I am a child molester'
Toria Barnhart, Chillicothe Gazette
CHILLICOTHE — Former Ohio Boy Scout leader, pastor and teacher Bill McKell appears to have posted an open letter on Facebook admitting to allegations of sexual abuse that have circulated on social media.
The Gazette recently reported on the allegations after a 13-page report from the Chillicothe Police Department was distributed online. The report details an investigation stretching over two years starting in March 2018, when now-former Chief Keith Washburn asked detectives Shawn Rourke and Twila Goble to initiate an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by McKell.
As McKell has not been formally charged, the Gazette did not release his name in its initial report.
In the open letter published under Bill McKell's account on Sunday, July 12, it begins by saying "My name is Bill McKell and I am a child molester." The Gazette has reached out to McKell's attorney, Steve Nolder, to verify that McKell did indeed write the letter. At the time of this publication, Nolder had not responded.
"Every 12-step program begins with admission. I have been one who abused teenage boys. As far as I am able to tell, it is a disease of the mind not unlike alcoholism or drug addiction. It is a sickness that can never be cured or healed, only recovered from. That being said, there is no excuse for what I have done," the post states.
It's a disease of the soul and spirit. It begins with a complete lack of control, and/or self-discipline which opens your life to demonic influence. That's what pedophilia is.
The post goes on to say that the police report should have remained private as the investigation is ongoing and he has not been charged with a crime or had the opportunity to present a legal defense. The post went on to say that he is upset, not because the "social media wildfire has driven [him] to this admission" but because the names and experiences of his victims have been publicly displayed.
"But this one has been waged against me and I have something to admit. During my late teens, twenties and early thirties, I had inappropriate contact with a number of young men," the post states.
In the released police report, at least 12 victims came forward to share their abuse allegedly by McKell. Eric Palmer, who agreed to be named by the Gazette, confided in his sister Officer Julie Preston that McKell had allegedly molested him at the Chief Logan Reservation — a boy scout camp in Jackson and Vinton counties — when the victim was between 10 and 12 years old.
Preston told detectives that a couple of weeks after speaking with Palmer, she sent McKell a Facebook message about the matter. He allegedly responded only that he was "shocked and confused" by the messages, according to the police report.
In the course of the investigation, detectives spoke to at least five individuals with similar allegations against the man, and several others are considered possible victims although they declined to speak with detectives.
One victim reported to a detective that he had allegedly been assaulted more than four times but less than 10 times, at various scouting events in Southern Ohio, Western New York, and Eastern West Virginia.
According to the Facebook post, in 1996 McKell attended a spiritual renewal weekend that changed his life and showed him how "truly sick" he was. After that, he says that he committed himself to recovery. "I would love to say I was instantly 'cured'. I was not, but I am recovered," the post states.
The same year, McKell abruptly disappeared from scouting and church involvement. The Boy Scouts of America told the Gazette that McKell had been forced to disassociate himself from scouting. "This individual was added to our Volunteer Screening Database over 25 years ago following allegations of inappropriate behavior," said a public relations representative for the National BSA in an email. "This bars him from participation in any Scouting activities, regardless of where they occur." The open letter also spoke of recovery and fear of a confession: "While recovery is challenging, I have learned that limits, control and accountability are key. Accountability has always been hampered by my fear of confession. One wonderful friend even gave me an opportunity to confess and, I hope, to receive forgiveness, but I was too much of a coward to seize the opportunity." How does a pastor ignore the fact that God sees and knows everything? He was afraid to confess to a friend but completely ignores God in his life. How do you get to be a pastor without knowing anything about God?
"Accountability will be easier now that everyone around me is aware of my disease. It is the 'everyone around me' that I must apologize to next," it went on to say. "To my former coworkers and those who have defended me through the rumors and accusations because they could not reconcile the man they know with the man described, I thank you and I’m sorry. Please forgive me for letting you down. I am working hard to remain only the man you know. This admission finally gives me the freedom to get the professional help I need to assure that."
Here, again, what about God? He has not apologized to Him Whom he truly sinned against.
McKell ended the letter asking for mercy, grace and forgiveness from his family. Yet those who shared and commented on the post did not have any sympathy for McKell.
Brandon Lawson, a Chillicothe resident and Rio Grande University teacher, recently told Facebook friends that he is a victim of sexual abuse. He alleges that while he was an Eagle Scout from Troop 5, McKell assaulted him. When he read McKell's post, Lawson says it was clear that there was no apology.
"This is a superbly crafted statement to try to gain sympathy. It won't work," Lawson said. "You didn't base your friends, you abused children. You weren't equal with us, you were a father figure to us. And you used it to prey on us."
Lawson went on to say, "You specifically target children from homes of divorce to try to magnify the father aspect. You are not ready to apologize. You have no idea how many people you've hurt. Some day in the future I hope you're able to make an apology that doesn't read as a plate for victimhood."
Commenters called the open letter to be a poor apology where McKell played the victim. Many noted the timing of the admission, as it came just days after news reports on the alleged abuse, stating that it was too late for reconciliation.
On July 9, Horizon announced the termination of McKell who served as the organization's Chief Executive Officer. At the time, they were unable to comment on the circumstances of his termination. They issued another statement on Sunday in which they stated they planned to cooperate with local authorities with the ongoing investigation.
In the Facebook post it states that McKell plans to defend himself from any false charges but will direct his legal counsel to work cooperatively on any legitimate charge.
The Ross County Prosecutor's Office, the Vinton County Prosecutor's Office and the Southern Ohio District Attorney's Office have all confirmed that they have received a copy of the report but could not comment further.
Those with information concerning the allegations against Bill McKell are asked to contact the Chillicothe Police Department at 740-773-1191. If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse, please call the free help hotline 800-656-HOPE.
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