Kalamazoo pastor paid children for sex
by: WOODTV.com staff
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Court documents filed Tuesday show how police say a well-known pastor and his wife used their positions with Kalamazoo Public Schools and a Kalamazoo church to coerce and pay four teenage boys for sex.
The alleged incidents all happened in Kalamazoo County between 2015 and 2018 with the teens, who were between the ages of 15 to 17 at the time.
State police say Strickland paid the teen boys $100 to $200 to have sex with his wife or paid them to send him nude photos. Two of the four alleged victims were students at KPS’ Phoenix High School where Strickland’s wife, Jazmonique Strickland, worked.
One of the victims told investigators he was given a car and in exchange, he allowed Strick Strickland to perform oral sex on him.
It’s also alleged in the documents that the pastor engaged in similar behavior years ago with his ex-wife while they lived in Mississippi.
Strick Strickland has not yet turned himself in. However, his attorney told News 8 on Monday that arrangements were being made for that to happen this week.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Jazmonique Strickland had not been formally charged in any of the cases.
Did he like to watch his wife having sex with a boy, like Jerry Falwell Jr.?
What is with Baptist pastors and their wives?
Dover, Del area church youth leader indicted on 89-counts of
child sex abuse
Esteban Parra
Delaware News Journal
A 34-year-old Hartly man has been incident on 89 charges he was involved in sexual relationships with two teenage girls who were members of a church youth group he'd been leading for the past three years.
Maranatha Fellowship did not immediately respond to messages sent to the church on Monday.
Delaware State Police investigators questioned the girl Sapp had mentioned. The girl told investigators that she and Sapp began a "secret relationship" in October 2017, when she was 15, according to court records.
The two would perform sexual acts, usually inside Sapp's truck, but there were times the contact occurred at his house, church premises and even on a youth group camping trip, according to court records.
The sexual acts occurred two to three times per month for about two years, until the relationship ended in June 2019, the documents state.
Sex crimes:
The pastor told investigators that after the Feb. 13 meeting with Sapp, he became aware of an additional member of the youth group "who may have had similar relations" with Sapp.
When investigators spoke to the second girl, court records state she told officers she and Sapp started a "secret sexual relationship" when she was 16. That relationship went from January 2019 to January of this year.
Like the other relationship, court documents said Sapp and the girl had their encounters in the man's truck, sometimes at his or her house and at times in the parking lot of Delaware Technical Community College's Dover Campus. These encounters occurred at least twice a month.
Sapp has been indicted on multiple charges, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual abuse of a child by a person of trust, fourth-degree rape with a victim under the age of 18 and unlawful sexual contact. Sapp has a pending a final review hearing before a trial is scheduled.
Salvation Army to re-examine claim against Aussie serial paedophile
James Michael Brown
By Giselle Wakatama
'King of the kids': Salvation Army to re-examine claim against serial paedophile(Giselle Wakatama)
He was known as "king of the kids", but beneath his charming veneer was a paedophile journeyman who infiltrated three religious groups over 20 years.
Starting in the mid-1970s, James Michael Brown abused more than 20 boys, first as an Anglican preacher and finally, victims claim, as a soldier within the Salvation Army.
Brown died earlier this year after pleading guilty to more than a dozen charges relating to two young Salvation Army soldiers between 1997 and 2002.
One of them was Michael Crawford, who in 2014 made a complaint about Brown to the Salvation Army. It took the Salvos two years to formally respond.
"After I went to the Salvation Army, I received a letter that said that Jim wasn't a member of the church, that there was no documentation, there was no records," Mr Crawford said.
The Salvation Army claimed it was not liable for the abuse, telling Mr Crawford that Brown was never a Salvation Army soldier and that he rarely attended its Newcastle church.
But 7.30 obtained evidence putting Brown in uniform and in a Salvation Army Corps directory, along with evidence from whistleblowers who put him in the frame.
"The facts in the police case show clearly that he was a soldier within the Salvation Army," Detective Sergeant Kristi Faber said. "There are statements obtained and evidence obtained that he wore his Salvation Army uniform and he also did youth ministry and this was known within the Salvation Army."
After repeated denials about Brown, the Salvation Army has responded to the investigation. "New information contained in questions first put by ABC 7.30 this week has, following careful consideration, provided a context for reassessment of the claim," the Salvation Army Australia said.
"In turn, there is an opportunity for Mr Crawford to have his claim considered fresh by the National Redress Scheme or the Salvation Army's own internal redress office, the Centre for Restoration."
A trusted brand shattered by abuse claims
The Salvation Army has been one of Australia's most trusted institutions for more than a century.
But some former members believe the church has not always looked after its own people.
Mr Crawford said he felt betrayed after he made complaints.
"They're an institution that are there to help people. They weren't helping me at all. They didn't care. They didn't want to know my story," he said.
"I was roughly 10 years old and my dad had distanced himself from our family. I didn't have a father figure and being a part of this church, it became very important to us, and it was a lifeline."
That father figure was Brown and Mr Crawford's mother Karen Goodliff said she never knew what went on when her son was alone with him. She said she trusted Brown, only to learn later about the harm he had done.
"He was a beautiful boy and then he started to change, profoundly," Ms Goodliff said.
"Brown came into the church community accompanied by another gentleman and they were well-loved and arrived on big shiny bikes and of course, all the youth were very interested in that," she said.
The man who brought Brown into the fold was former Salvation Army officer, Howard Mole. "He was a funny guy and easy to chat to, get along with, and kids, they did get along with him," Mr Mole said.
"So the sad thing is, is he's used that very deceptively to us. We just thought he was doing ministry and that's the thing, that he obviously had another agenda."
Brown 'groomed the adults first'
Detective Sergeant Faber, who investigated Brown, said his agenda started with grooming entire families.
"Yeah definitely, he was a master groomer. I don't know if he wrote the book on it, but he pretty much groomed firstly the adults in the communities he went in to," she said. "He clearly was king of the kids, he had all the toys to bring kids in and he was a mentor to the children within these churches.
"We saw clearly him doing this in three church groups, being the Anglican, the Baptists and the Salvation Army. And then once he groomed these adults within those groups he had access to children."
Most of his known victims of more than 20 boys were assaulted while Brown was an Anglican lay worker.
Michael Crawford said he is putting himself "back together". (ABC News)
The Anglican Bishop of Newcastle Peter Stuart said Brown's crimes were appalling. "He was able to move from one place to another and do great harm," Bishop Stuart said.
"The Diocese of Newcastle should have known more about James Brown offending at an earlier point and taken action clearly to prevent his further offending.
"Every church, every organisation needs to do its best to make sure that people do not move from organisation to organisation."
Mr Crawford said while Brown had destroyed his life in many ways, he had regained strength and trust. "You can smash a tile and make a beautiful mosaic out of it, so I guess that's how I look at myself," he said.
"Whilst I'm broken, I'm still an OK person being put back together."
Great attitude. God bless you Michael.
Former Mother Lode Christian Coach Accused of
Sexually Assaulting Female Students
A coach who formerly worked at Mother Lode Christian has been accused of sexually abusing female student-athletes in the 1990s, according to ABC 10.
Mona McGrady has not worked at Mother Lode for nearly two decades. During her time there, she was both the sports team coordinator and a coach at the school. Students who had McGrady as a coach came forward with allegations of sexual assault. The details of these assaults have not been released.
McGrady faces one count of sexual penetration with a foreign object of a person under 18-years-old and 13 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years old. In court, McGrady testified denying all allegations.
Mo., Amish Brothers Plead Guilty in Sex Abuse of Relative; No Jail Time
September 17, 2020 Jason Wert
Ozarks Independent
Two Amish brothers from Seymour have pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of an underage relative, but they will not be seeing the inside of a jail.
A plea agreement with prosecutors will have Aaron C.M. Schwartz, 22, and Petie C.M. Schwartz, 18, pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree child molestation with a child under the age of 14. The charges are class C felonies.
According to a report by the Webster County Citizen and court documents, the two Amish brothers, along with two younger brothers, committed repeated sexual assaults of a female relative when the victim was under 14 years old.
The two men received a 10-year prison sentence on the first count and five on the second count. Those counts were given a suspended execution of sentence, meaning the brothers will not serve jail time. The brothers will be on five years probation, complete the Missouri Sex Offender Treatment Program by September 2021, complete 100 hours of community service, write an apology letter to the Amish community, and pay $250 to the Law Enforcement Restitution Fund.
The two adult brothers will have to register as sex offenders for life.
The Citizen quoted Webster County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Berkstresser as saying he made the deal because the two men “would’ve been eaten alive in the state prison system.” He said the men were “much younger than their age” in maturity, and he took that into account when offering the plea bargain.
The victim of the assault had a child two weeks ago that prosecutors say was fathered by one of the four brothers who engaged in the abuse.
Berkstresser told the Citizen that the Amish community does not recognize the state’s authority to prosecute them for crimes like this, but they were cooperative. However, they told the prosecutor they had punished the four abusers for their actions and called the punishments “very severe.”
Police discovered the abuse when the victim was found to be pregnant. Her doctor called the state’s abuse hotline.
Good for him!
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