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DIGGING DEEPER: Church aware of child sex abuse, made no reports
Lupita Murillo
TUCSON (KVOA) - About eight months ago, the Digging Deeper team told you the story about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Bisbee, and how they were aware of child sex abuse and did not report it to authorities.
It involved a Border Patrol agent and his wife.
This is an amended complaint to the original civil lawsuit filed in Cochise County. The original complaint detailed how three children were sexually and emotionally abused.
The amended complaint alleges various church leaders conspired to conceal the sexual abuse.
"I think that the LDS church has a cult of secrecy surrounding sex abuse. And a cult of secrecy preventing their clergy from reporting sex abuse of children," Lynne Cadigan, the plaintiff's attorney said.
Lynne Cadigan represents the children who claim they were physically and sexually abused by their father Paul Adams.
Authorities learned about the abuse when a video showing Adams having sex with his young daughter surfaced in New Zealand in 2017.
Adams was arrested that same year at the border patrol station where he worked he committed suicide ten months later.
In 2018 his wife Leizza plead no contest to two counts of child abuse endangerment. She's currently on probation after serving two years in prison.
Court documents obtained News 4 Tucson show the clergy was aware of the abuse prior to that and did not report it to law enforcement.
"The church constantly says it's against the law to report abuse learned through a confession. That is a myth," Cadigan said.
News 4 Tucson reached out to the Church of Latter-Day Saints. The attorney who represents the church sent us this statement:
"The assertions against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints contained in the motion filed by plaintiffs' counsel are baseless and totally unfounded. The abuse that occurred was tragic, but the scurrilous attack against the church by plaintiffs' counsel is both inaccurate and unwarranted."
Bill Maledon, Attorney representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
In our previous stories, the Church officials have acknowledged the bishop had limited knowledge of the abuse through the father's confession and urged the family of Paul Adams to report the abuse or give him consent to do so they refused.
The church excommunicated Paul Adams in 2013.
A hearing on the amended motion is scheduled for next spring.
Paedophile vicar David Beater, from Birchington, abused boy
but was allowed to return to Northfleet church
KENT TRAVEL NEWS
By Paul Hooper
Published: 17:40, 23 August 2021
A perverted clergyman preyed on two boys 40 years ago and groomed them for his own twisted sexual gratification – but was allowed to return to the church.
Depraved David Beater, 80, sat stone-faced in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court as details of his abuse on the vulnerable victims, who were left mentally scarred, were recounted.
He was the vicar at St Botolphs and St Marks Church in Northfleet and showed one victim porn at the vicarage.
Now Beater, of Minnis Road, Birchington, has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after admitting five sex abuse charges which took place in the 1980s.
Judge Philip Statman told him: "These were profound and grave breaches of trust which cause a sense of public outrage when they are revealed.
"One of your victims is now suffering from PTSD... but he has had the bravery to come forward and has now been vindicated. Sexual offending leaves the greatest of scars upon its victims."
He praised both victims for their "guts" in coming forward.
Beater was convicted in 1985 of sexually abusing a teenager and later resigned after being fined £250 for the assault, a result described by a barrister as "remarkably lenient".
Astonishingly, he was later allowed back into the Church of England and continued as a clergyman until he retired in 2005.
The judge said: "It is not for me to pass judgment in that regard."
Prosecutor Sophie Shotton told how the latest offences came to light after an attack in prison involving one of the victims.
It triggered horrifying memories from his childhood when the victim's mother had taken him to see Beater because of his musical abilities.
'I considered how different my life might have been had I not been abused by David Beater...'
Under the guise of encouraging him to join the church choir, the pervert - who had "an aura or warmth" - began his abuse almost immediately.
There is much more to this story on Kent Travel News.
Lawsuit: Troy church ignored youth pastor's abuse,
claimed child 'led him on'
Robert Gavin
Aug. 26, 2021, 4:49 p.m.
Times Union
A woman is suing the Troy-based Grace Baptist Church on allegations its leadership ignored her daily sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a youth pastor – then claimed that she had “led him on.” (Paul Buckowski / Times Union).
ALBANY – A woman is suing the Grace Baptist Church in Lansingburgh, alleging its leadership ignored her daily sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a youth pastor – then claimed that she had “led him on.”
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Broadway alleged Larry Hallock, the church’s former youth pastor, sexually abused the victim “on a daily basis” between 2000 and 2002 in the church located at 612 Fourth Avenue. The girl was between 15 and 17 at the time, her lawyer said.
At the time of the abuse, the lawsuit said, Hallock’s wife sent the child several letters acknowledging that she had informed the leadership of Grace Baptist Church of Hallock’s involvement with the child.
“Rather than inquire as to why (the child) was receiving letters from the Pastor Larry Hallock’s wife, the church leadership did nothing,” the lawsuit said. “Later when the abuse came to light, they stated the plaintiff had ‘led him on.’ More, Grace Baptist Church leadership has stated because plaintiff didn’t ‘cry for help’ she was culpable for the abuse perpetrated upon her.”
Grace Baptist Church and its pastor, the Rev. John Koletas, have attracted attention in the past for AR-15 rifle giveaways, including one in late June 2020 amid protests in the aftermath of the May 25, 2020, police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Police were called after protesters blocked the door of the church.
The church's Facebook page said it was formed on July 1, 1987, in downtown Troy and moved to its previous location on Third Street in Lansingburgh in November 1988.
Koletas' personal Facebook page identified him as a Baptist preacher. Several of the posts shared debunked conspiracy theories, racist comments, as well as several sexist posts, including at least one mocking the "Me Too" movement, which led to the takedown of several high-profile sexual predators.
A phone number for Hallock in public records was disconnected. Koletas could not be reached.
The woman filed the suit on Aug. 9 under the state’s Child Victims Act, which allowed victims of child sex abuse to file lawsuits years after the statute of limitations expired on the alleged crimes.
The lawsuit alleged that between 2000 and 2002, Hallock victimized the child before the child’s morning paper route and during church-sponsored events.
“The sexual abuse suffered by plaintiff included sexual and emotional grooming, oral sex, fondling, and forced sexual touching,” stated the suit, filed by Dallas attorney Ashley Pileika and Florida attorney Thomas J. Nessler.
The victim, identified only as a “Jane Doe,” now resides outside of the country, the lawsuit said.
"She is extremely private about her personal life due to the fact she has been harassed, stalked, threatened by members of the church," Nestler told the Times Union. "The abuse she suffered has taken extreme tolls on her personal happiness. In my opinion, she is an extremely brave woman for speaking out and trying to make herself whole again."
Nestler added: "She would like to send a message to the church members, 'Do not be intimidated by those who twist the bible for their own agenda. If you or your loved ones were ever harmed by anyone in the church reach out.'”
The lawsuit said Hallock, who supervised the church’s youth trips and Sunday services, abused the child at those events.
It said the church controlled the premises, supervised the pastors such as Hallock and held itself out as a place where children would be safe.
The lawsuit accuses the church of negligence; gross negligence; assault and sexual assault of a child; premises liability; breach of fiduciary duty; negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of statutory duties to report, among other allegations.
It asked for damages for past, present and future mental anguish and emotional distress, medical expenses and loss of earning ability; punitive and compensatory damages; litigation costs and attorney fees.
Troy, NY
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