Wolves Among the Sheep > Hot Youth Pastor? Buddhist Monk sentenced for sex abuse of two little girls

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South Carolina church investigating student pastor

who gave teens ‘i ❤ hot youth pastors’ sticker

By Leonardo Blair, 

Christian Post

Screengrab: Twitter/Emily Petrini

A South Carolina church has launched an investigation and placed its student pastor on administrative leave after outrage erupted online over stickers he gave to minors in his care that say, “i ❤️ hot youth pastors.”

Fairview Baptist Church said in a statement from deacons and their personnel team on Facebook Sunday that Cory Wall, their suspended student pastor, has acknowledged he made a “poor decision” and they are treating that decision “very seriously.”

“Our student pastor, Cory Wall, acknowledges that he made a poor decision and a mistake by making a sticker available that was offensive to some,” the statement said.

“Cory has been placed on administrative leave and will not be involved in student leadership responsibilities while this situation is being investigated. There will be a thorough and comprehensive investigation,” the church leaders added. “We take this matter very seriously and want to be proactive as we move forward. Our main goal is to always make our campus a safe place for anyone who attends.”

That's your 'main goal'? I would have thought that introducing children to Jesus would be your main goal. Apparently not!

Emily Petrini, who describes herself as a doubt-filled believer, first made the sticker public in a post on Twitter last Thursday. She said the sticker was sent to her by a friend in South Carolina who got it from a local mom group.

In the post, the mom who shared the sticker said: “The youth pastor gave my younger sister (14 years old) and other students, this sticker during Midweek last night. He is 35 years old... This made her very uncomfortable.”

Church officials did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post on Monday about the specific age range of minors who were under Wall’s care, but the sticker itself drew swift condemnation.

Amy Smith, a sexual abuse survivor advocate, called the sticker “disgusting” in a statement on Twitter.

In an email to Lead Pastor Eddie Leopard that Smith posted on Twitter, she further alleged that Wall discussed his porn addiction with the students and called for his immediate dismissal because he is “displaying grooming behaviors.”

“I’m very disturbed about the inappropriate behavior of your youth pastor Cory Wall. Your email to church members excusing his behavior is also very disturbing. His discussion of his porn addiction with kids is very concerning, in addition to his decision to pass out those offensive stickers. He’s displaying grooming behaviors. I think kids very likely are at risk of sexual abuse in your church. Please do the right thing and remove him from his position immediately.”

I totally agree with her.

A Facebook post from the church shows that Wall, who studied psychology at North Greenville University before getting a graduate degree from Southeastern Theological Seminary, started his position at the church in January.

In a copy of an email Wall sent to the woman who raised the alarm about the stickers in the mom group, Wall said he was just poking fun at the “I Love Hot Mom” culture.

“Let me assure you that my intentions were pure, I the last thing I wanted to do was to make you, your sister, or anyone else in attendance feel uncomfortable,” Wall allegedly wrote.

“The sticker was meant to poke fun of the ‘I Love Hot Mom’ culture. In hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake on my part. I do apologize for their distribution.”

One might almost believe him were it not for the fact that he discussed his porn addiction with his youth group. If the church doesn't remove him immediately, the parents should remove their children and themselves.

Winnipeg Buddhist monk sentenced to 11 years for sexual abuse of two girls

Caroline Barghout · CBC News · 

Posted: Oct 24, 2022 5:39 PM CT | 

Southone Silaphat, 74, was the head monk at the Wat Lao Xayaram temple for 12 years. (Google Maps)

WARNING: This story discusses sexual abuse.

A Buddhist Monk has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls at a Winnipeg temple. 

Southone Silaphet, 74, was convicted of two counts of sexual interference in December 2021. He was the head monk of Wat Lao Xayaram Temple on Sinclair Street in Winnipeg's North End for 12 years.

The victims were aged two and six when the abuse began in May 2011, and it carried on for eight years, according to court records.

The crown wanted a 14-year sentence, while the defence said 30 months would be more appropriate because Silaphet will experience "significant hardship" while incarcerated because of his age and the fact he has virtually no English language skills. 

Provincial Court Judge Stacy Cawley delivered her decision on Oct.12, and said despite Silaphet having no criminal record, she must impose a sentence on the higher end of the spectrum to "adequately reflect the wrongfulness of his actions."

"The message to Mr. Silaphet and to the public generally must be strong and clear — the sexual abuse of children will result in severe consequences," wrote Cawley in her sentencing decision.

Monk abused his position: Judge

The defence had argued that the monk should get a reduced sentence related to the range of acts included in the sexual abuse, but Cawley disagreed.

She said Silaphet engaged in unwanted touching and other sexual acts.

"This type of sexual contact is violent and extremely intrusive. It violated [the girl], not just physically, but also emotionally and psychologically," wrote Cawley..

She said Silaphet abused his position as head monk when he sexually abused the girls.

"This was not a one-time opportunistic incident," wrote Cawley. "Mr. Silaphet repeatedly made the decision to abuse the victims."

One of the victims said the monk would text her when her saw her at the temple and ask her to come upstairs, where his living quarters were located, but she would ignore his texts. He would then text her mother and ask her to send the girl upstairs to help him with some clerical work. 

The girl, who is only known as A.H., said the abuse by Silaphet occurred over and under her clothing.

"A.H. alleges Silaphet would repeatedly say sorry when he was finished touching her. He told her not to tell anyone and that she would get in trouble if she did," Cawley wrote in her December 2021 decision.

The girl also recalled another incident when she was alone with the monk in his room, which had a TV displaying video surveillance. He forced her to hide in the closet when he saw a man coming upstairs, where she stayed until the man left. 

She kept quiet about the abuse until 2019 when she told a school guidance counsellor what was happening. 

The other victim, referred to as T.H., testified that Silaphet touched her underneath her clothes and that he apologized and gave her money afterwards. 

Silaphet denied the allegations, but admitted to giving the girls money on their birthday. Cawley did not find the monk to be a credible witness and rejected his denials.

Cawley agreed with crown attorney Dayna Queau-Guzzi that Silaphet's testimony appeared tailored to minimize the contact he had with the victims.

Silaphet grew up in Laos, then moved to a refugee camp in Thailand to become a monk and help teach children. He came to Winnipeg in 1991 and lived at various temples until his arrest in 2019. He has been a monk for 54 years.

Wolves Among the Sheep > Youth Pastor Gets Good Start on Eternity in Hell; US Army Officer Pleads Guilty; Ravi Zacharias Family Divided

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Former Abilene youth pastor sentenced to 99 years in prison 

| KTXS

This was never truer than in the case of former Abilene youth pastor Jeffrey Forrest, sentenced to 99 years in prison for the aggravated sexual abuse of two boys, bail jumping and failure to appear. He had fled to Mexico where he was tracked down, arrested and extradited back to Texas in May 2020.

During the trial, multiple witnesses testified that Forrest admitted to the abuse. He allegedly told a good friend and a professional counsellor.

According to reports when he was arrested in 2015, Forrest had been involved "in children and other youth groups at various Abilene area churches and camps".

At the time of his arrest, in April, 2015, police said they were investigating three possible offences against children at the daycare centres where Forrest worked and had received one substantive complaint alleging molestation of a boy in 1983. Forrest then moved into a garage apartment where the boy lived and continued to molest him there. It was not until 2011 that the boy found the courage to tell his father about the abuses. Forrest was said to have confessed to the offences to a counsellor on a sex-offender program.

Forrest was given $100,000 bail and released the same day, but failed to show up for the trial in August, 2016 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was eventually tracked down in Mexico after a $25,000 reward was offered for information on his whereabouts. He was extradited to Texas and stood trial in April 2021 on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, bail jumping, and failure to appear in court.

Army National Guard Officer Pled Guilty to Child Sex Abuse

Posted By: Parker Padgett

April 29, 2021 @ 8:07 pm

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An Army National Guard officer pleaded guilty in federal court today to sexually abusing four minors over several years while he was director of the youth ministry at Fort Leonard Wood U.S. Army Base.

David J. McKay, 42, of Waynesville, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and four counts of sexually abusing a minor.

McKay, an Army National Guard Major Sergeant, was the youth ministry director for the Religious Services Office at Fort Leonard Wood. By pleading guilty today, McKay admitted that he sexually abused four victims, ranging in age from 11 to 17 years old, on dozens of occasions from 2010 to 2017.

According to today’s plea agreement, the sexual abuse occurred at Fort Leonard Wood and various other locations within Pulaski County, Mo. The victims also reported being abused during the youth group’s ski trips to Colorado and on camping trips at Fort Leonard Wood.

Under federal statutes, McKay is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command at the Fort Leonard Wood Army Base, the Pulaski County, Mo., Prosecutor’s Office, and the Waynesville, Mo., Police Department.

Ravi Zacharias' daughter apologizes for 'serious errors;'

brother says she doesn't speak for family

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, 

Christian Post Reporter 

Friday, May 28, 2021

Sarah Davis, CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and oldest daughter of the late apologist, speaks during a video message shared on May 26, 2021. | Screenshot: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

Sarah Davis, CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and oldest daughter of the late apologist, has apologized for her initial reaction to the allegations of her father’s sexual misconduct, admitting she made “serious errors that only furthered deep wounds.”

Her statement elicited a response from her brother, who claimed that she is not speaking for the family. 

“To the women who are victims of my father's abuse, I think of you every single day. I am utterly devastated," she said in a video message this week. "I am sorry that I did not see you. I am sorry that you were made powerless and rendered voiceless. When you did speak up, I didn't believe you, and I'm deeply sorry for this."

An independent investigation released earlier this year found credible evidence of a long pattern of abusive behavior by Zacharias, one of the most recognizable figures in American Christianity for decades.

The report found that the apologist, who died last May, coerced massage therapists at a spa he co-owned to perform sexual acts. It also uncovered a collection of explicit photos — many of them of much younger women — found in Zacharias’ possession. 

The independent report corroborated accounts made by several women, including Lori Anne Thompson, who Zacharias sued in 2017 for alleging they had an online sexual relationship.

Davis, who became CEO of RZIM in November 2019, admitted that she erred by ignoring allegations against her father and defending his innocence.

“I earnestly wanted the truth, but I recognize that the steps I took didn't always show this,” she shared. “I should have immediately called for an independent investigation in 2017, but I trusted my father fully, and I carried his narrative, both in 2017 and then initially in 2020, when we were first made aware of those allegations. In both of these, I know that I caused pain. I did not serve well, and I did not love well. And for this, I'm deeply sorry.”

“My goal and my heart were not to attempt to cover up the sins of my father — or any sin — to further a call or a mission," she added. "I believed this man, my father, whom I loved and trusted more than anyone else, could not have done these things … But I was wrong.”

When she was presented with evidence that the allegations against her father were true, Davis said she was “quaked” to her “very being.”

“I still replay memories, over and over in my head. How could this make sense with the man that I knew and what we now know to be true? Was it all a lie? Could he have done these things?" she said. "And if he did do them, why wouldn't he have confessed them, even to his family? For the rest of my life, I will have to hold the tension with this man that I knew and love, with the man that we know now committed these actions.”

Davis said she hopes to be a “conduit of healing” and move forward with truth and transparency. She apologized to the public for RZIM “not representing Christ to you.”

“While we were proclaiming a God who loves and values every person, our leader was not living in the truth of who God is,” she said.

While RZIM hopes to return to preaching the Gospel eventually, it must first “engage in this very important ministry — to acknowledge, to respond to and to address how these things could have happened at RZIM,” Davis concluded.

In response to his sister's statement, Nathan Zacharias wrote a brief response in which he said that that he stands by his father:

“My sister, Sarah, recently gave a video statement on the situation with my Dad. There was no new information given, and she did not say anything she has not already said in her previous statements over the past few months. It was the same talking points."

“She is not speaking for the family," he added. "As has been clear, we do not share her take on this situation.”

Part of the grieving process is denial. It wouldn't be surprising if the family is stuck in denial. It's hard to reckon with the idea that a Christian hero might actually be a fraud.

In a May 7 blog post, Nathan Zacharias argued that the Miller & Martin investigation was "driven by a predetermined agenda, not actual evidence and truth." He also voiced disagreement with how RZIM handled the allegations. 

Since the release of the Miller & Martin report earlier this year, RZIM has announced that it's changing the ministry's name, restructuring to become a grant-making organization supporting evangelism and abuse victims and laid off the majority of its staff. Additionally, numerous publishers pulled Zacharias’ books.

In a May interview, Abdu Murray, who co-authored a book with Zacharias and has been in the leadership of RZIM since 2017, apologized for how he and the ministry handled their public statements when the allegations arose. 

“We really cannot afford to elevate ministry above people or certainly above Jesus,” Murray said, speaking about what he learned amid Zacharias' gradual exposure over the past few years.

“I think that we have this mentality in ministry that somehow ministry is itself sacred, that ministry is itself untouchable. And so when an allegation of abuse happens, we find it unbelievable because these people could not possibly have done it.”

I think we are just beginning to get a glimpse of how many Christian "Rock Stars" are really just Rock Stars.

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Wolves Among the Sheep > CoE Paedos; Vice Principal; Youth Pastor

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Church of England forgave pedophiles en masse, allowed them to continue working with children, inquiry finds

A shocking new inquiry has found that, not only did the Church of England forgive some 400 pedophiles, but it allowed them to continue working with children.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found that between 1940 and 2018, some 390 people employed by the church, as clergymen or in trusted positions, were convicted of child sex abuse. 

They were ‘forgiven’ for their crimes by the church and allowed to continue their duties, often in close proximity to children, the IICSA found. 

“The culture of the Church of England facilitated it becoming a place where abusers could hide,” the report reads. 

Unfortunately, they didn't just hide!

The inquiry found the church repeatedly failed to respond in a consistent manner to victims and survivors of abuse, compounding their trauma over a period of decades.

In 2018 alone, there were some 2,504 concerns raised about possible abuse of children or vulnerable adults, including 449 allegations of recent sexual abuse. 

“Over many decades, the Church of England failed to protect children and young people from sexual abusers, instead facilitating a culture where perpetrators could hide and victims faced barriers to disclosure that many could not overcome,” chair of the inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay said.

The IICSA lambasted the church for regarding forgiveness “as the appropriate response to any admission of wrongdoing.”

One such case highlighted is that of Timothy Storey, a man who was permitted to continue working with children after apologising “for everything he had done wrong.” Storey is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for multiple offences against young girls, including rape. 

As part of the findings announced Tuesday in the damning report, the panel found that record-keeping of abuse claims was “almost non-existent.”

The panel decried the church's willingness to pervert the course of legal justice by meting out its own 'forgiveness,' precluding sex offenders from being held responsible for their crimes and prevented from re-offending.

The church was also blasted for its handling of the reverend Ian Hughes scandal, in which he was convicted in 2014 of downloading 8,000 child porn images, including 800 in the most serious category. 

At the time, Bishop Peter Forster claimed Hughes had been “misled into viewing child pornography”.

The report further condemned what it dubbed as “tribalism” within the church, which placed loyalty to its own over the safety and wellbeing of children. It cited a “culture of fear and secrecy within the Church about sexuality” which then facilitated a climate of sex abuse.

The church issued an apology and expressed shame after the inquiry’s findings were released. “The report makes shocking reading and while apologies will never take away the effects of abuse on victims and survivors, we today want to express our shame about the events that have made those apologies necessary,” said the Bishop of Huddersfield, Jonathan Gibbs.

“The whole Church must learn lessons from this Inquiry. Our main focus in response must be recognising the distress caused to victims and survivors by the Church’s failures in safeguarding,” Gibbs added.

Should you not also recognize the sins you have committed against God in protecting evil men while endangering innocent children? You will stand to answer for these sins!

The inquiry held public hearings in July 2019, which led in part to the findings of the report. 

The panel made eight recommendations, including an improved complaints process for victims of abuse, the reintroduction of immediate expulsion from the church for anyone convicted of child sex offences, and improved funding and support for victims and survivors.

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Civil lawsuit filed against church, Fairfax School District, Ca, over ex-vice principal’s alleged sexual abuse of minor

By: Veronica Morley

ABC23

A civil lawsuit has been filed against Fairfax School District and Fairfax Assembly of God church over the alleged sexual abuse of a minor by a former vice-principal in the district and church board member, Donald Ricketts.

According to court documents filed Monday, Attorney Daniel Rodriguez argues that officials at the school and the church failed to listen to reports of the abuse and follow their own bylaws and training.

Rickets, who pleaded no contest in 2013 to lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and was sentenced to three years in prison, was at the time of the alleged abuse a board member of Fairfax Assembly. He also served as a youth camp supervisor/chaperone for Fairfax Assembly, youth teacher and/or counselor, group leader, and/or authority figure at Fairfax Assembly.

The Plaintiff in the suit, according to documents, was 11-years-old when the alleged abuse began and continued until the Plaintiff was 16. According to the documents, Defendants in the case knew or should have known of the alleged abuse.

Rodriguez said Tuesday that according to police reports, there was an incident at the church when a woman walked into a dark room and turned on the lights. Rodriguez said she found Ricketts inside the room with a little girl on his lap and "his hand in a place that it wasn't supposed to be."

The woman, according to police reports, alerted the church but the only action taken was Ricketts was told not to be alone with children, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said that when the Plaintiff did disclose the abuse to church officials, she was kicked out of the church.

The documents argue that Defendants, including those within the Fairfax School District, failed to provide reasonable supervision of Ricketts during times when the abuse occurred. According to the documents, "Despite knowledge of the sexual misconduct of Defendant Ricketts, Defendants held Defendant Ricketts out as a man who was safe to be around minors."

Rodriguez said the decision to file the new suit stems to new law that took effect in January allowing survivors of childhood sexual assault to file a lawsuit up until the age of 40. Previously the law only allowed lawsuits to be filed up to the age of 26.

The Plaintiff in the case, now 28, according to the document, claims to suffer pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, and physical injury among other things.

Why were the Pastors and elders not charged with complicity? What a disgrace for a church!

Inquiry details allegations of sex abuse at hands of Bradford, UK, vicar,

Trevor Devamanikkam

By Jo Winrow, T&A

   

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s (IICSA) report into the Anglican Church details the full case against the late Reverend Trevor Devamanikkam.

It states: "Trevor Devamanikkam was ordained in 1977 (6th story on link) as a priest in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds. In March 1984, he moved to a parish in the Bradford diocese, where he remained until 1985. Devamanikkam retired in 1996 but between 2002 and 2009 had permission to officiate in the Diocese of Lincoln.

"Reverend Matthew Ineson is an ordained priest in the Church of England. During his teenage years, he had difficulties with his parents and went to live with his grandparents. His family were religious and attended church regularly. Matthew Ineson was a member of the church choir and an altar server. As his grandparents were struggling, a local priest organised a respite placement living with Reverend Devamanikkam."

The report states that in 1984, aged 16, Matthew Ineson went to live with Devamanikkam and his housekeeper. On his second night, Devamanikkam came into Matthew Ineson’s bedroom, put his hand underneath the covers touched him indecently. It continues: "When asked if he liked it, Matthew Ineson said no. This continued for two or three nights, and then progressed to Devamanikkam telling Matthew Ineson to share his bed with him. Devamanikkam made it plain that, if he did not do so, he would be thrown out of the vicarage and would have nowhere to go. While sharing a bed over a number of weeks, Devamanikkam raped Matthew Ineson at least 12 times and also sexually assaulted him."

"After approximately two months, Matthew Ineson’s grandmother came to the vicarage and spoke to Devamanikkam. Matthew Ineson was not part of that conversation and his grandmother left without talking to him. The next day, Matthew Ineson said that the Bishop of Bradford visited the vicarage and told him that he had to leave, saying that “It’s not my problem where you go but you have to leave here”. No reason was given.

"Bishop Roy Williamson (who was then Bishop of Bradford) told us that there was “disquiet about the arrangement” between Matthew Ineson and Devamanikkam but he did not remember visiting the vicarage. A licensed deacon at Devamanikkam’s church (who made a detailed report at the time about Devamanikkam’s mental health) said that it was the then Archdeacon of Bradford (David Shreeve) who had visited the vicarage. There was no written record of this visit.

"Reverend Ineson went to the police first in 2013 and then again in 2015. In 2017, the police investigated and charged Devamanikkam. Devamanikkam took his own life in June 2017, the day before his court appearance for three counts of buggery and three counts of indecent assault between March 1984 and April 1985, all relating to Reverend Ineson."

In addition the report details how the case of Matt Ineson demonstrated the "potential difficulties in imposing or upholding" a 12-month time limit on complaints. Although, since 2016 this time limit does not apply to allegations of child sexual abuse, it adds.

One Bishop was aware of the abuse at the time, and Mr Ineson, went on to disclose his abuse to senior Church leaders between 2012-2014, before making a Clergy Discipline Measure complaint in 2017.

The report states: "As regards his allegations against Devamanikkam and Bishop Williamson, this was in part because he thought that he would not be believed.

"At the request of the police, Reverend Ineson delayed making the remaining complaints while an investigation into Devamanikkam was ongoing.

"When the President of Tribunals wrote to the clergy who were the subject of the complaints (including Devamanikkam) asking for their observations on granting permission for the complaints to be outside of the time limit, none of them agreed.

"The President of Tribunals extended the time limits only in relation to the complaints against Devamanikkam and Bishop Williamson."

The report also details how the inquiry heard widespread support for a mandatory reporting law with any failure to comply being enforced through the criminal law.

It adds: "Reverend Matthew Ineson noted that a mandatory reporting law would make it a matter of routine to 'pick the phone up to the police'."

Former Strafford, Mo youth pastor charged with child sex abuse

by: Associated Press

Oct 11, 2020 / 03:51 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former youth pastor was charged with seven felonies following accusations he sexually abused a child in Missouri.

The Springfield News-Leader reports 46-year-old Jeff Taylor of Strafford, Missouri, was charged Thursday with five counts of statutory sodomy and two counts of statutory rape.

Taylor is accused of sexually abusing a child for several years beginning when the victim was younger than 14.

Court documents say Taylor worked at First Baptist Church in Strafford until a few days ago.

Some Extremely Disturbing Stories on Today's USA Pervs n Pedos List

Youth Pastor Sentenced To Over 1,000 Years
For Child Sex Abuse in Alabama

Written By Associated Press Television News | Mumbai | 

An Alabama youth evangelist was sentenced Friday to more than 1,000 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple child-sex charges. Al.com reports that a judge handed down the maximum sentence on every count to Paul Edward Acton Bowen. Bowen had pleaded guilty in Etowah County to 28 counts involving six boys between the ages of 13 and 16.

The 39-year-old Bowen faced charges that include sexual abuse, sodomy, enticing a child for sex and traveling to meet a child for sexual abuse. He still faces other charges in the Birmingham area.

Victims and family members wept as the judge slowly read out the maximum sentence and fine on every count, the newspaper reported.

The shackled minister apologized to his own family and victims in the courtroom. “The shame and guilt I feel is overwhelming and has been for a long time,” he said. “My heart was never wanting to hurt anybody but my mind was not well.”

It's not your mind, I'm afraid. It's your spirit!

He had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disorder.

Bowen was arrested on sex abuse charges last year. Authorities say additional victims came forward after he was in jail.

Bowen was a Christian minister who wrote books, ran his own youth ministry and traveled to speak at youth events.

Bowen pleaded guilty as his first trial was set to begin.

Etowah Co., AL

Mentally ill parents torture and kill 4-y/o girl

by burning her in hot bath water

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The couple admits to having severe mental illnesses

and not treating them

By Varsha Vasudevan, Meaw

In a terrible tragedy in Michigan, a 4-year-old girl died after being tortured by her mother and the mother's boyfriend. The girl had been burned so badly that her big toe fell off and her melted skin was found in the bathtub.

Shocking details of toddler Gabby Barrett's death came to light after her 24-year-old mother, Candice Diaz, and the 28-year-old boyfriend, Brad Fields, were captured by the police on January 9th after being on the run from the law.

Gabby died on New Year's Eve and there was a nationwide manhunt for the couple after they went on the run from the Sumpter Township. The pair were arrested about 792 miles away from their home in southern Georgia.

The medical examiner from Washtenaw County said that Gabby's death was the "worst child death case" that he had ever seen in his 30-year career as a doctor.

The Detroit Free Press obtained court documents which had the gruesome details of the child's injuries. The authorities said that they had found Gabby's melted skin in the drain of the bathtub and she was also missing a big toe due to the burns.

So, how could this happen? They had to have had a doctor sometime in their lives. The doctor(s) had to know they had children and they weren't taking the medications. Isn't such a doctor obliged to inform child and family services that the children were in danger and should, at least, be looked in on? Shouldn't that be the law?

Former Boston, NY, Boy Scout Leader Accused of

Child Sex Abuse

By Spectrum News Staff and Jeannie McBride Hamburg

A town of Boston man and former Boy Scout leader was arraigned on Friday in Hamburg Town Court after being accused of sexually abusing two children.

Michael Meyers, 57, is charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse, course of sexual conduct against a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to the Erie County District Attorney's Office, Meyers began abusing one victim in December 2015 when the child was 11 years old. The abuse is alleged to have continued until August 2019 and took place in the towns of Boston and Hamburg.

A second victim is alleged to have been abused by Meyers between May 2016 and September 2019, beginning when the child was 13 years old. The incidents allegedly took place in the town of Boston.

At the time of the investigation, Meyers served on the executive board for the Greater Niagara Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He previously served as council president.

Officials with the Boy Scouts say although the allegations against Meyers are not associated with his role, they took immediate action to prevent his future participation in the organization.

Meyers was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court on January 13, 2020. Orders of protection were issued for both victims.

If convicted, Meyers faces a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Millersburg, PA, man avoids prison

in child sexual abuse case

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A Dauphin County man has avoided prison and instead will serve seven years of probation for groping a 5-year-old girl, authorities said.

Gary E. Mateer Jr., 43, of Millersburg, received the sentence after pleading guilty this month to corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and indecent assault of a person under 13 years of age.

He must register his whereabouts with police, under Megan’s Law, for the rest of his life.

The district attorney’s office said the child reported the abuse in March. Authorities said Mateer later admitted, after failing a polygraph examination, that he kissed the girl and inappropriately touched her.

Mills, WY, man sentenced to at least 10 years

for child sex abuse

TOM MORTON
Natrona County Sheriff's Office

A Mills man will spend at least a decade in the Wyoming State Penitentiary for two counts related to child sexual abuse, according to the sentence handed down in Natrona County District Court on Friday

Adam Grant Glazier was sentenced to a seven- to 10-year prison term for sexual exploitation of a child -- possession of child pornography -- and a 10- to 15-year prison term for third-degree sexual abuse of a minor, Judge Kerri Johnson said.

The prison terms will be served concurrently, or at the same time, Johnson said.

"The damage you did ... is unfathomable," she told Glazier.

This was his third felony conviction and the second sexual-abuse related conviction, Johnson said.

Glazier also will receive treatment for his child pornography addiction while in prison, she said.

In August, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual exploitation of children and another count of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

As part of the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed to dismiss other charges in the case. On April 30, Glazier pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness. However, a mental health evaluation found that he was fit to go forward in the case.

On March 7, a Mills police officer was called to the Wyoming Medical Center emergency room to investigate a report that a 4-year-old had been sexually assaulted, court records say.

A nurse noted that the victim had injuries on her genitals, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

A Children's Advocacy Project interviewer spoke with the victim who said Glazier touched his genitals to hers. The victim also mentioned that Glazier laid her down and undressed her.

That evening, Glazier voluntarily went to the Mills Police Department to speak to detectives. When a detective asked him about looking at pornography online Glazier said, "[I] invariably seem to get myself in trouble with it because I end up in the darkest recesses of the internet." Glazier then explained he came across a folder with questionably legal pornography, meaning child porn.

Glazier told detectives he downloaded too much child porn to keep track of it, the affidavit says.

Sin is progressive. It obviously progressed to the level of raping a 4 y/o girl. How sick is that?

Long Prison Sentences for Two Minnesota Creeps
Making and Distributing Child Sexual Images

KIM DAVID

Minneapolis (KROC AM News) - Two Minnesota men have received lengthy federal prison sentences for separate child pornography convictions.

A 40-year sentence has been given to 43-year-old Michael Carlos Mitchell of Minnetonka. He was charged with using a young child to produce large amounts of child porn. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minneapolis, Mitchell “created hundreds of videos and thousands of images of himself sexually abusing a child under the age of 10 years old.”

A 25-year sentence has been handed down in the case of 33-year-old Marty Keith Larson of Keewatin. Prosecutors say he “created sexual abuse images of a minor under the age of 10 and distributed them using Kik Messenger application.”

U.S. Attorney (Minnesota) Erica H. MacDonald said, “We have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of cases involving the sexual abuse of minors. I am committed to using every available resource to combat this disturbing trend. One such resource is the Project Safe Childhood initiative which brings together child protection experts nationwide that are laser focused on bringing these predators to justice.”

MacDonald adds, “These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.”

Life + 25 x 2 for Okemah, OK, man convicted

of child sex crimes

By Editor 
By Ken Childers
ONL Editor

An Okemah man convicted of child sexual abuse has been sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years times two.

In November, an Okfuskee County jury found 63-year-old Mark Wattles guilty on four counts of child sexual abuse. Following suit with the jury’s recommendations, Judge Lawrence Parish last week handed down two life sentences, one each for counts one and two, plus a pair of 25-year sentences, one each for counts three and four.

The sentences for counts two and four are to run consecutively with counts one and three – meaning two sentences of life plus 25 years, served back-to-back.

That makes no sense to me - to me it results in two sentences of Life + 25 years, to be run concurrently. Is that how you read it?

The case stemmed from allegations of sexual abuse made by two young Texas girls who had spent the summer of 2017 with Wattles and his wife Mary at their Okemah home. Mary Wattles was charged with multiple counts of enabling child sexual abuse and will be tried at a future date. A motion made by the defense to have the two trials consolidated was denied by the court.

The initial investigation began in Abilene, Texas, when the girls, who were 12 and 14 years old at the time, returned home and confided in a family member about the incidents. The family member then notified the girls’ mother, which led to the notification of authorities.

During the trial, the girls’ father testified that the girls “crumbled” when he talked to them about the allegations they had made.

“This has been the toughest two years of my life,” the father said. “My daughter has been hospitalized, my kids are so much different, my wife and I nearly separated over this and I’ve changed careers,” he said. The father was an employee of the Texas Department of Corrections but left his job – which involved reading “gruesome details” of crimes – because he felt he could no longer “look at things objectively.”

The witness further testified that the younger of the two girls has been hospitalized three times for suicide attempts since 2017 and the older daughter had become “reclusive” and often wears sweaters, even in hot weather, to stay covered up. Both girls are still receiving counseling to treat sexual abuse-related trauma, according to their father.

Also during the trial, jurors were shown video of forensic interviews conducted with both girls in 2017 by Brandon Gurganus, Victims Services Specialist with the Abilene Police Department. In the video, the oldest of the two girls seemed reluctant to discuss the abuse, stating only that “bad things” had happened. She later wrote more details down on paper for Gargunus. The younger girl described several events, including one in which Wattles allegedly exposed himself to her. “I don’t get why he did it to me,” she said in the interview.

Mark and Mary Wattles were taken into custody in September 2017 and were scheduled to stand trial in October 2018, but it was rescheduled due to family health issues with the couple’s lawyer. The trial was rescheduled for May 13, 2019 but was continued twice, first until May 20 then to November.

According to court documents, Mark Wattles, a former employee of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, has filed notice that he intends to appeal the conviction.

Good idea! You haven't made the girl's lives difficult enough; you should torture them some more!!!!

Ex-Penn Charter School Counselor and Coach Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Counselor

A former summer camp counselor and tennis coach for William Penn Charter School has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage counselor from the school’s summer camp program in 2018.

35-year-old Christopher Spencer was arrested on December 19 and faces charges of attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, institutional sexual assault, and related charges.

In July 2019, parents of a different teenage summer camp counselor filed a complaint with the school, alleging that Spencer “engaged in inappropriate online and verbal communication and interacted with their child in a way that made the child feel uncomfortable,” according to a statement from the school.

Penn Charter officials reported these allegations to ChildLine – Pennsylvania’s child abuse reporting hotline. This led to an investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit. However, this investigation was closed without further action.

The school continued to internally investigate the July 2019 allegations and spoke with other people that Spencer had interacted with through his position at Penn Charter. In September, the school says they discovered “information that led us to believe that Spencer engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with a high school-age counselor the year before, in the summer of 2018,” the school said in a statement.

The summer 2018 allegations were also reported to ChildLine and also led to an investigation by the Special Victims Unit. Spencer would eventually be arrested based on these allegations.

Nice work, Penn Charter; not-so-much Philly SVU.

One Survivors Story About Her Youth Pastor's Child Sex Abuse

She was 10. The man she says abused her was no stranger. He was like family.

Sarah Fowler, Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Warning: This story contains graphic details of sexual abuse accusations.

On Saturday nights during the 1970s, LeAnne Kay's family had a routine. Her mom and dad would each sit in their respective chairs and Kay would lie on the couch situated between them. Together, they would watch "Saturday Night Live." But Kay wasn't on the couch alone. At the other end sat the youth minister from the local Methodist church. 

A frequent guest in their north Mississippi home, the 25-year-old quickly became like part of Kay's family. The physical abuse started when he moved in, Kay said, but the grooming began before that. She was 10 years old.

She didn't tell her parents at the time, only telling her mother a decade later. Over the years, she confided in multiple people, beginning in the 1980s. The Clarion Ledger spoke with three people who each confirmed Kay's story and shared intimate details of the allegations. 

The Clarion Ledger also reached out to the man Kay said abused her. He has not been charged with any crime relating to the accusations and is not being named in this story. 

Now 71, he denies the allegations but acknowledges something happened "one time," though he describes that one time as both an accident and the actions of a "curious" child.

In talking with the Clarion Ledger, parts of his story kept changing. Some details he provided from that time matched Kay's, nearly word for word.

"I can't prove I didn't, but I didn't," he said. "There's no Bill Clinton dress that I did but, god, what a horrible thing to have to say or reference."

While Kay has been trying to press charges against him for years, she's run into roadblocks and charges have never been filed. In March, she shared her account with a blog, naming him, and the news quickly spread in Iuka via social media. 

In the wake of the recent public accusations, he said, he attempted to take his own life.

"Hey, if I was dead, then, hey, she's got the payment," he said. 

Today, Kay is 54 years old and living in West Virginia. She's had a full, successful life, but what she says happened in her house all those years ago still haunts her. By telling her story, she's hoping to help parents recognize the warning signs of grooming and abuse.

'He really groomed my mother into feeling sorry for him'

In the summer of 1974, Kay was living with her parents and older brother in Iuka. Her grandparents had a grocery store in town, and her grandfather was a state park commissioner. Every Sunday, the family went to First United Methodist Church. For a time, Kay's mother served as interim youth director. 

Then, a new guy showed up. In his mid-20s, he looked more like the kids he was ministering to. He wore bell bottoms and had long hair. He liked to be called by a nickname. He talked about his life before he became a Christian — stories filled with the life he led as a musician on the road, playing with famous bands. He told the kids he had given up a gig playing with the Rolling Stones to become a youth minister.

"He tried to make it like it’s such an honor he chose us, that was the angle," Kay said. "That was always the story, that he chose us over the Rolling Stones. He came in like a hippie rocker. 

"His conversations weren’t your typical person trying to be squeaky clean, he was the opposite: 'I’m everything but squeaky clean, but I’m cool because I’m Christian.'"

He started a band with the church youth. Kay's brother sang in the band. Kay, a self-described "wallflower," was too young to join the youth group but would often tag along with her brother. Pretty soon, Kay's mother invited the youth minister to move in with the family in an effort to help him save money. 

He wanted to go to seminary, but with the cost of his education plus rent, it would have been tight financially. 

"He really groomed my mother into feeling sorry for him," Kay said. "He’d had a horrible life. ... She became like a mother figure to him."

The youth minister left the church and enrolled in seminary in Georgia, but when he came back to Iuka on the weekends, he was given Kay's room. She slept on a couch in a hallway that doubled as a TV room outside of her bedroom.

Her brother's bedroom was down the hall. Her mother slept in a chair in the living room, while her father's bedroom was on the other side of the wall of the hall. Her father was a functioning alcoholic, Kay said, and her parents never shared a bedroom.

The family's home became the man's "home base." He would go to seminary during the week, but on weekends and holidays he was at Kay's house. When he was there, kids were constantly coming and going from the house.

My mother 'had no idea what he was doing'

As part of his shtick, Kay said, the man would would make inappropriate jokes and comments. Soon, she was the target. He would tell her she would have to "use a stick to beat the boys away" and began to regularly comment on the 10-year-old's breast development — even doing so in front of her mother.

"That was not unusual for his type of conversation, and he was so slick at it," Kay said. "It would happen in front of my mother, and she was going along with it.

"She was duped. She had no idea what he was doing."

Neither did Kay. The comments made her uncomfortable, she said, but since her mom laughed and went along with the jokes, she thought, "it's pretty awkward, but it must be OK."

The comments progressed, but Kay's mother was no longer in the room when they were happening. She recalls he would walk by and brush against her breasts or place his hand on her waist, "just heavy ... not in a ‘you're a little girl’ way.'"

Still living with the family, he would ask her to come out to his car and listen to music. He would sit in the driver's seat with the door open, she said, legs splayed out of the car. Kay would sit between them on the running board.

The touching, and the frequency, intensified, she said.

"It just got more aggressive, basically, and more routine, more as if that’s just what we do," she said. "I would sit there, frozen, be real still because I don’t know what I’m supposed to say or do."

Kay provided the Clarion Ledger with a photo of her, her brother and the man from that time period. While her brother and the man are smiling, Kay is not. Her left foot is turned. 

His hand sits on Kay's waist. The tips of two of his fingers are visible, but the rest of his hand is hidden by her shirt. His hand and her arm were partially under her shirt, against her skin, Kay said. 

Kay said she sees the picture as "powerful." 

"My body language speaks volumes," she said. "I wanted to run away as far as I could because he had pulled me in so tightly. ... My foot tells the direction I want to go."

'I just froze'

One night, like usual, Kay's mother fell asleep in the chair in the living room. Her father and brother both closed the doors to their respective bedrooms. Kay was on the couch in the hallway, dressed for bed in her nightgown, watching TV. It was likely the weekend, she said, and the man went to the hall bathroom and took a long bath.

When he came out, he sat on the edge of the couch with Kay. He put her head in his lap. 

That’s when the fondling started. 

"He did that for a few nights just to get a routine and, I guess, feel out the environment," Kay said.

Looking back on those first few nights, she said “he was very patient. He would do this for hours. It wasn't a short thing."

Then one night, while he was taking a bath, Kay fell asleep on the hallway couch. 

She said she awoke to his penis in her mouth. 

"I just froze and pretended like I was asleep," she said. "There was no other choice."

She said she was forced to perform oral sex on him night after night, always on the hallway couch after his bath.

‘I felt powerless’

Then, Kay said, he became emboldened. 

One night when the family was watching TV together, Kay says he fondled her while her parents were in the same room. She was on one end of the couch and he was on the other, their feet stretching between them in the middle and covered by a blanket. Her parents were mere feet away. While he fondled her under the blanket, she said, he talked to her parents. They were oblivious, she said. 

"He was always working his feet, fondling me, while carrying on conversation with my parents," she said. "He even ran his toe in and out under the blankets. That's what frightened the most, when he was doing that."

The abuse continued for a year, Kay said.

"I was basically his puppet, that’s what it felt like," she said. "Whatever he wanted me to do, I felt powerless to not do it."

Then, one night, she said, the abuse abruptly stopped. Kay said she was being forced to perform oral sex when her father's bedroom door opened on the other side of the house. 

"You've never seen anybody move faster than he moved getting his penis in his pajamas and my head out of his lap," she said. 

Her father burst into the hallway and the two men stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, Kay said. Eventually her father turned around and walked away. 

The man left the hallway and went to sleep in Kay's room, she said. He packed his things and left the next day, she added.

'I'm not saying she's lying'  

In speaking with the Clarion Ledger, the man said, "it only happened once," before offering an initial description of the events. 

"I woke up with the feeling of warm breath in my very private area because that will wake you up and, when I woke up, I realized that she had her head down there and there did not appear to be anything happening but I could feel the breath," he said.

"So I reached down and got both of her shoulders and I lifted her to eye level and I said, 'LeAnne, you know, that can't be done. You can't do that, we can't do that but when you get a little older, like 17, 18, whatever, you're going to start dating and you'll find a guy —you guys might do that and you'll have a lot of fun with it and enjoy it but that's not something we can do."

He first said it may have happened on "accident." Then, he said, it may have happened because the child was "curious."

While he initially denied intimate physical contact, as he talked, he said it was possible his penis was in the child's mouth that night.

"It's a possibility that it may have touched her mouth, I can't deny that," he said. The child also may have touched his penis, he said, but he does not remember. 

"It could have happened, that's the thing," he said. "I'm not saying she's lying...I'm not calling her a liar, I can't say that. All I can say is it was not my intention, ever to have that happen as a volitional choice on my part. I did not chose to do that. It was that one time."

What parents need to know about child sexual abuse

One in three girls and one in seven boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18, according to Amy Walker with the Mississippi Attorney General's Office. Only one in 10 of those children will report the abuse, she said. While children are taught "stranger danger," the majority of abuse is at the hands of someone the child already knows and trusts, Walker said. 

Jay Houston, commander of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said it's important that parents do not assume a person in authority is someone you can automatically trust. 

What's important to realize, Walker said, is that it's not just the children that are being manipulated — the parents are as well. 

"The thing with manipulation, you don't realize you're being manipulated until it's done and over," she said.