..
Ex-Horsham pastor gets 200 years in prison for child sex abuse
Christopher Dornblaser
Bucks County Courier Times
A former pastor of a church in Horsham will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Thursday in federal court for sexually abusing an infant and a young girl under 10, according to federal authorities.
Zweitzig, of Hatboro, pleaded in May in the two cases involving the sexual abuse of children.
The former pastor filmed himself sexually exploiting a young girl over a period of years, according to the release. Additionally, authorities said Zweitzig had a collection of more than 10,000 images of child pornography on hard drives found in his home.
“The level of depravity in these cases leaves me almost speechless,” U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain said in the release. “I will simply say this: today’s sentence ensures that Zweitzig will die in prison, which is probably a better fate than what he deserves.”
He still has one more Judgment to befall!
Federal authorities said a Horsham detective received a call in March 2018 reporting that Zweitzig had sexually assaulted a girl numerous times over several years leading into 2014.
The victim told police that Zweitzig took sexually explicit photos of her over a period of 10 years, according to officials. He assaulted the girl between 2009 and 2014, authorities said.
Horsham police, Montgomery County District Attorney's Office and the Department of Homeland Security assisted in the investigation.
A US Amish community dedicated to serving community was supposed to keep Misty safe; instead, it shielded her abuser
By Emily Olson
(Supplied: Misty Griffin)
Misty Griffin really wants you to know her story.
She has written a book. She's collaborated with podcasts. She's pitched to television producers, spoken with filmmakers and sent "more than 100 emails" to US journalists. She has politely, quietly, diligently reached out to me at least 29 times since our first email, to see if and when I could publish this piece.
But it's not just about telling her story. What Misty wants most of all is for you to never hear a story like hers again. What she wants is for her story to become a rarity, a dinosaur, a defunct antique, the opposite of what journalists use at the beginning of an article to introduce a pattern.
Misty wants to reform a system she believes is broken, to slow a harm she knows is perpetuating. She has an informed hunch that fixing a problem starts with getting a sufficient number of people to care about it.
The trouble is, Misty's story is not an easy one to tell. For starters, the story begins in a slice of misunderstood space known as America's Amish country.
The Amish are one of America's most insular communities
The Amish, like most religions, associate piety with surrendering to a set of rules.
Unlike most religions, the rules are so at odds with modern ideals that the community is famously insular, even exempt from some US laws.
There are over 300,000 Amish in the US and Eastern Canada, broken up into different church districts serving 10 to 18 families. There is no central power structure, and each of the roughly 2,400 districts are self-governing, laying out a plan for their district in what's called an "Ordnung".
But there's a few things they have in common.
The Amish can only wear clothes prescribed by the church. They must learn and speak a German-based dialect. They cannot pursue education past eighth grade, join the military or drive a car.
Most of the communities forbid the use of computers, phones or electricity. Most Amish live in rural regions, requiring every member to earn their keep through crafts and chores.
And at the heart of every decision they make is the principle of Gelassenheit, which translates to "yielding to others". Amish life is all about giving up individual autonomy for the good of the group, something that would cause your average American to slowly drown.
For Misty, the prospect of group accountability looked as promising as a lifeboat.
After being raised on an isolated farm by physically abusive parents, Misty was sent to join a small, 100-person Amish community at age 18.
"It was the first time in my life I felt like I really belonged to something," she said. After years of a tough rural existence, she adapted quickly and, when it came to crafts like quilting, even excelled.
And yet she "could always tell something was just wrong," she said.
Her first 'mother' warned her against pinning her dresses too tight. Another woman spoke in whispers about what a grandfather had done to his own kin.
For four years, she was able to look the other way, to keep her head down and follow the rules, reminding herself that an Amish life was far better than the childhood that'd left her physically scarred.
Things changed when she was asked to serve as a live-in maid for a woman whose seizures made it difficult to care for seven children.
The woman happened to be married to the highest-ranking church member.
The advances started slowly
When Misty tells the story about what happened next, the story she wants you to know, she'll start with a warning about how there are still gaps in her memory.
Misty says she was sent to work as a maid for another family in her community, and was soon abused by the man of the house.(Supplied: Misty Griffin)
She remembers that the advances started slowly.
The bishop would stare at her as she worked, she said. He brushed her breasts as she handed him the baby. He openly speculated that Misty would make a good replacement for his wife if she succumbed to her seizures.
Then one night he summoned Misty into a dark room, where she says she found "the entire front of [his] pants open. He wasn't wearing any underwear and he was fully erect," she says.
The following morning — the start to her last day in the Amish community — is when things start to get fuzziest.
She remembers falling asleep fully clothed, with her quilt pulled over her head, a futile shield for a community that sees no need for locks.
And she knows the first thing she saw when she awoke was the bishop's face, peering down at her through the darkness.
What happened to Misty next is still a mess of fragments — ugly, hurtful moments that strike her as randomly as lightning and linger like thunder in her nightmares.
She does remember him standing when it was over, whispering that he'd be back the next day.
'No one can ever talk about what you did'
Misty didn't know this at the time, but her church's Ordnung, the set of guiding rules, was strict even by Amish standards.
The punishment for breaking any rule was the same. You'd confess before the church.
Then the church leaders, a handful of older men, including the bishop, would decide if you'd be placed "in the Bann" and if so, for how long.
The Amish speak out about the Bann like it's a prison, but it's not a physical space. It's a form of social shaming.
"It does not mean that the other Amish can have nothing to do with the individual or cannot speak to him or her," explains Steven Nolt, a senior scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.
"Members will avoid the person in certain symbolic ways, like not sharing a meal together."
Misty said that when the period of shunning formally ended, "you go back to your life and no one can ever talk about what you did. That's pretty much all it is".
Misty would find out later that the bishop had been placed in the Bann before she'd gone to live with his family as a maid. He'd been molesting his own children for years.
Six weeks of shunning hadn't exactly reformed him.
He had been Banned for incest, yet he continued to be Bishop!!!???
There is much more to this story at ABCNews
=====================================================================================
Richmond, Va teacher faces 15 to 30 years in child porn case
Frank Green
Richmond Times-Despatch
Prosecutors are seeking a maximum 30-year sentence for a former Richmond Public Schools elementary school music teacher who pleaded guilty in June to producing child pornography.
Kellen Thomas Donelson, 32, of Richmond is set to be sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck. Donelson's lawyer is asking for a 15-year prison term citing his lack of a prior criminal record, his cooperation with authorities and other factors.
Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School
Donelson came to the attention of law enforcement in 2019 when he uploaded images of child pornography via Snapchat and Kik Messenger. In a search of his home and electronic devices in December, law enforcement officials discovered additional images and videos of child sexual abuse.
In pleading guilty, Donelson admitted that he produced several images and videos of child pornography using his cellphone, including with a victim as young as 4.
At the time of his arrest in December, he was employed as a music teacher at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School and was an associate minister/music director at Mount Hope Baptist Church.
Mount Hope Baptist Church
"Although Donelson comes to the Court with no criminal record and a relatively unremarkable personal history, those features of the case do not mitigate against a 360-month sentence for his conduct," wrote Kevin S. Elliker, an assistant U.S. attorney.
In a sentencing memorandum urging the maximum term, Elliker wrote that "Donelson’s sexual abuse ... was premeditated, repeated, and severe. And he connived to keep the abuse secret in various ways: he selectively preyed on a minor over whom he could exercise authority and control."
"And he hid the pornography he produced in password-protected folders within a password-protected application on his phone," wrote Elliker. The prosecutor added: "If not for the CyberTips that led to the identification of Donelson as a purveyor of child pornography in 2019, he could have continued to pursue and escalate his abuse of [the child] unnoticed."
Sin is progressive!
Elliker wrote that the crimes have devastated the child and the child’s family. The child's mother "told law enforcement that, after Donelson’s arrest, she noticed the child had been having bad dreams and woke from a nightmare screaming, 'Don’t touch me!'
The mother said the child is receiving therapy but continues to struggle with the trauma while attempting to process what has happened. "The nature of the abuse makes it possible that Donelson has forever tainted [the child's] ability to trust others, much less someday engage in meaningful, supportive, and age-appropriate intimate relationships," contends the prosecutor.
Donelson's lawyer, Carolyn V. Grady, asked the judge to impose no more than the 15-year minimum prison term.
"There is little dispute that this is an emotionally difficult case in which to find justice – but a 15-year sentence for a 32-year-old man without a speck of criminal history would be just for his crime," she wrote to Lauck.
Grady pointed out that Donelson never denied the charges and that from the time that he was confronted by authorities at his home he accepted responsibility for his actions by confessing.
Donelson also turned over passwords and allowed searches of his home and phone without a search warrant. "And Mr. Donelson knew that by pleading guilty, he would lose everything – his home, his wife, any chance of a future, and any respect that he had for himself in this world," argues Grady.
And any respect anyone else had for him in this world.
"He realizes that as a leader in the church, and in his capacity as a teacher, he has let down many children who looked up to them," wrote Grady. "The guilt and shame that accompanies this realization will not end upon the completion of his term of incarceration, but will remain with Mr. Donelson for the rest of his life."
And with his victims, their families, and his friends.
Ex-BBC presenter who abused kids and adults in their sleep while working as church pastor over 30 years is jailed
Abe Hawken, The Sun
Benjamin Thomas, a former BBC presenter who abused kids and adults in their sleep while working as a church pastor has been jailed for more than 10 years.
He was today sentenced at Mold Crown Court after admitting 40 sexual offences committed over a period of almost 30 years.
Thomas, who was pastor of Criccieth Family Church in Gwynedd, North Wales, up until his arrest last year, assaulted boys and men while they were sleeping, often at Christian camps and conferences, the court heard.
Sentencing him, Judge Timothy Petts said: "For nearly 30 years, until your arrest in September 2019, you hid a dark secret, namely that you were a prolific sex abuser."
JAILED
He sentenced Thomas to 10 years and four months, with an extended licence period of six years.
The court heard the vast majority of Thomas's victims were teenage boys.
Judge Petts said he abused his position as a "respected church leader" to find potential victims and his preferred method was to wait until they were asleep to abuse them.
For nearly 30 years...you hid a dark secret,
namely that you were a prolific sex abuser
Judge Timothy Petts
He said: "As time went on, you progressed to making secret videos of boys and men."
Of course, sin is progressive!
The court heard Thomas once hid his phone in a washbag at an outdoor centre to film boys going to the toilet or showering.
His offending came to light when one victim had the "courage to come forward", and Thomas was reported to police, Judge Petts said.
'DARK SECRET'
Thomas, of Flint, initially answered "no comment" when interviewed by police, but three weeks later asked to be re-interviewed and confessed to offences against 33 victims aged between 11 and 34.
Many of his victims were unaware they had been abused until they were traced by police following Thomas's confession, and not all of the males he admitted abusing have been found, the court heard.
Judge Petts said: "You know the harm you have caused to your victims and the wider impact your crimes have had upon your family and the church community."
The judge said Thomas, who began the sexual abuse when he was 14 or 15, had a "facade of respectability" in his trusted position as church pastor.
He classed Thomas as a dangerous offender, ruled he would be on the Sex Offenders Register for life and issued a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Thomas, who has a wife and children, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to 40 offences including sexual activity with a child, sexual assaults, attempted sexual assaults, indecent assaults, voyeurism and making indecent videos of children.
His family must be so proud of him!!! Good grief! What does that do to a wife and children to find out their husband and father is a monstrous paedophile?
Gwynedd, Wales
No comments:
Post a Comment