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Black Collar Crime: Six Mormon Families Sue LDS Church Over Sexual Abuse Cover Up

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civil lawsuit

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Six Virginia Mormon families have filed a civil lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), alleging the church knew “one of their members was abusing children and actively covered up the abuse that continued for years.”

KUTV reports:

A group of families are suing the LDS church, alleging it covered up child sex abuse by another member in West Virginia.

A total of six families with nine children filed the lawsuit against The Corporation of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints according to court documents — available at the end of the story.

The families allege LDS leaders knew one of their members was abusing children and actively covered up the abuse that continued for years. The case is scheduled to go to trial in January.

“My church family preached to me about forgiveness — that I needed to forgive him,” Helen said. “How do you forgive something like that?”

The abuse allegedly took place over the course of two months in 2008.

According to documents, in January 2012 the children told their parents what Jensen had done to them five years before.

She didn’t contact law enforcement immediately when she discovered the abuse.

“That is something that does eat at me. It is something that I wish that if I could go back and change, I would have done it differently,” Helen said. “I felt if i couldn’t even get these people that are supposed to have my family’s best interest, why would a jury believe what happened?”

In 2012, the abuser, Michael Jensen, was indicted for abusing other children and she contacted law enforcement. She said one of her sons testified at the trial but the court proceedings were not about his abuse.

According to court documents, Jensen was on trial for abusing two children in 2007. The papers say the boys, 3 and 4-years-old at the time, were forced to perform oral sex on Jensen while he was their babysitter. In 2013 Jensen was sentenced for up to 75 years in prison after he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for abusing the two boys.

The appellants’ brief states:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day (sic) Saints knew that it had a sex offender in its midst as early as December 2004-January 2005, when Michael Jensen was charged in Provo, Utah, with felony sexual abuse of two girls and pled guilty to two sex offenses in the presence of his parents (who became Church leaders) and a Church bishop in Provo.

Is says that instead of warning others about Jensen, even as his predations began to mount, local church leaders “covered up, minimized and denied” his abuse and “dangerous proclivities; sponsored false explanations when evidence of abuse surfaced; touted him as a trustworthy and exceptional member of the Church community.”

Attorneys in the civil case contend local church leaders discussed the allegations of Jensen’s abuse as early as 2007 and no one reported them to law enforcement. The layers also claim LDS church leaders in Utah knew Jensen was convicted of other sex crimes in Utah in 2004.

….

The legal papers state that between April 2007 and August 2012, after moving from Provo, Jensen sexually abused nine children.

Helen said she doesn’t want to forgive, she wants justice.

“And this is the only way I know how to do it,” she said. “The only way for [my son’s] voice to be heard and my voice to be heard and to force them to change their policies so that this doesn’t happen again.”

….

Black Collar Crime: IFB Bus Pastor Wayne Bean Charged with Lewd Molestation

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The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Wayne Bean, bus pastor at Ada Baptist Temple in Ada, Oklahoma, has been charged with three counts of lewd molestation. Astoundingly, Bean was accused of similar crimes in 2005 — giving a teen girl “daddy” kisses — and not charged.

KXII-12 reports:

[It] hurt like scared for the kids,”Ada resident Bryan White said.

That’s how White felt after learning a member of the Ada Baptist Temple was charged with lewd molestation.

Ada Police say Wayne Bean inappropriately touched four girls while working as the bus minister.

Detective Brian Engel says he began investigating in May after an 11 year old girl refused to get on the bus.

“She started crying and the mother talked to her about why she didn’t want to get on the bus,” Engel said,”she disclosed to her mother that an individual from the church that rides the bus had been inappropriately touching her.”

Engel says the child’s mother contacted another mom, who’s 7 year old daughter also rode the bus he says, that girl also said she was touched by Bean.

“During my investigation I found out that there was a 13 year old that had also disclosed that this man had been inappropriately kissing her on the lips, when she got on and off the bus,” Engel said.

“It is actually disgusting and shameful that it actually happened with somebody that you actually trust,” White said.

….

He tells us Bean was investigated in 2005 for inappropriate acts with an 11 year old girl who says it started on the bus.

“He stated that [when] he met her, she was riding the church bus and they ended up developing a relationship and he would take her places in his own vehicle, and that in the interview he stated he would give her daddy kisses,” Engel said.

No charges were filed in the 2005 case.

Engel also says he found pornographic videos on Bean’s computer showing older men having sex with women were portrayed to be very young.

Bean has since been released from jail on a $250,000 bond, he’s due back in court in February.

“We just need to pray for our community because obviously we need it,” White said.

Video Link

Ada Baptist Temple — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church — calls itself “The Friendliest Church in Town.” Their website also says the church’s services are “the most exciting services in town.”  The church describes itself this way (link no longer active):

Ada Baptist Temple is an old-fashioned, independent, Baptist Church that takes a strong stand for the Word of God and against sin. Fundamental in her doctrinal stand and premillenial in her interpretation.

The Ada Baptist website also has a statement on human sexuality:

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.

They left out child molestation and allowing accused child molesters to continue work with children.

Update

Bean committed suicide.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Luminary Paul Pressler Sued Over Sexual Abuse Allegations

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paul pressler

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Paul Pressler, best known for his instrumental roll in turning back the Southern Baptist Convention from its drift into liberalism, stands accused of sexually abusing a former office assistant. The assistant has filed a $1 million civil suit against Pressler, along with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Paige Patterson, and First Baptist Church in Houston.

Adelle M. Banks, a reporter for Religions News Service, writes:

Paul Pressler, a key figure in the self-identified “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970s and early ’80s, is fighting a lawsuit by a former office assistant who alleges the onetime Texas appeals court judge sexually abused him over the course of several decades.

Gareld Duane Rollins Jr. filed the $1 million suit Oct. 18 in the District Court in Harris County.

The plaintiff, now in his 50s, claims he was abused by Pressler starting when he was in his midteens, continuing when he was hired as a “boy Friday” in the judge’s home office and ending around 2014 when Rollins was rearrested and imprisoned for driving while intoxicated.

In a court document responding to the claims, Pressler and his wife, Nancy, a co-defendant, “categorically deny each and every allegation.”

Pressler’s attorney, Ted Tredennick, said the suit’s claims cannot be taken seriously.

“Mr. Rollins is clearly a deeply troubled man, with a track record of multiple felonies and incarceration, and it is the height of irresponsibility that anyone would present such a bizarre and frivolous case,” according to a statement from Tredennick.

The 40-page suit describes sexual acts that allegedly occurred around the time Pressler enrolled Rollins in a Bible study at First Baptist Church in Houston. The suit says Pressler told Rollins he should consider the alleged rape “our secret, our freedom, no one but God would understand.”

Rollins’ attorney who filed the suit, Daniel Shea, is a Houston lawyer and former Catholic deacon who previously represented young men who alleged they were sexually abused by a seminarian who fled to his native Colombia after the charges arose. That case was settled in 2008.

Legal documents filed in the suit against Pressler, now in his 80s, contain letters he wrote on behalf of Rollins to a parole board reviewing his status after he was charged with forgery and driving under the influence. The suit says Rollins turned to drugs and alcohol—leading to multiple DUI arrests—as a response to the alleged abuse.

In one letter, Pressler mentions plans to employ Rollins after the younger man was granted parole and released from rehab.

The suit also names as defendants Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president, Paige Patterson, and Houston’s First Baptist Church, and claims they are liable for their professional, personal or denominational connections with Pressler.

The legal document also goes into the movement led by Pressler and Patterson starting in 1979 that turned the Southern Baptist Convention in a more conservative direction after deep theological battles. It claims the movement was focused on power, which the suit called “a key ingredient in the abuse of children and women.”

Mark Lanier, a Houston lawyer representing Patterson and his seminary, rejected the allegations, saying they are “riddled with errors and falsehoods.”

“We will diligently defend the fine reputation of Dr. Patterson and SWBTS in court,” he said, referring to the seminary.

….

Did You Know Most Pedophiles and Rapists are Women?

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the predatory woman

Just when I think I have heard EVERYTHING, a Christian fanatic will send me an email such as the one that follows. According to the letter writer, contrary to what we know to be true about rape, pedophilia, and sexual assault, most perpetrators are actually angry ovulating females. Let that sink in for a moment. You see, ladies, it is men who are being harassed and molested, not women. It is men who must constantly be aware of their surroundings lest a woman jump out of the bushes and rape them. Birth control, according to the letter writer, has turned women into predatory animals who seek to sexually dominate men.

I suspect the letter writer is a Roman Catholic. What better way to deflect attention from the Catholic church’s sex scandal than to suggest that most sex crimes are perpetrated by women, not men. Countless children and teenagers have been sexually abused by Catholic priests, yet, according to the letter writer, the REAL scandal is sexual abuse at the hands of birth-control-using women.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter writer’s three-thousand-word tome:

CONTRACEPTION CREATES FEMALE PEDOPHILES & CHILD MOLESTERS

(To Eliminate Majority of Rape Just Ban Birth control)

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (the statistical agency of the injustice department) states: “Approximately 95% of all youth reporting staff sexual misconduct said they had been victimized by female staff. In 2008, 42% of staff in state juvenile facilities were female.”

This disproves the idea that women are more likely to molest children just because they are around them more often and have more access. No. The statistical data shows that even when the pagan women have less access to children and are less than half of the staff in juvenile prisons they end up committing a staggering 95% of child rapes. So shocking is this statistic that journalist Laura Burke of the Texas Observer out of curiosity decided to contact the justice bureau of her home state of Texas concerning the figures of female victimization of youth, since she knows that ‘nationally’ 42% of staff in child prisons are females, and that in Texas 50% of juvenile hall staff employees are females (in the Texas Youth Commission, which is the biggest chain of child prisons in Texas and dominates almost 100% of youth prisons there); now this is what she said in regard to her inquiry: “The justice bureau will not release percentage breakdowns of sexual offenses by female employees in Texas, or at individual facilities. The bureau cites confidentiality as the reason.”

Birth control creates the female pagan child predator epidemic. Women who use it are such beasts of impurity that they are driven to murder in the 1st degree in an act of ultimate betrayal the children they conceive. This vicious act utterly permanently destroys their maternal (and feminine) instincts. Contraception murders already conceived children. It prevents them from attaching themselves to the womb after conception when they travel to that place. It would also seem there are tons of female sodomites (no doubt themselves child killers) in action too, because 14% of juvenile hall youth are females and this figure in general has not changed since 1997 and yet 95% of all minors reporting child molestation say female staff did it. So statistically this means male staff are less likely to molest girls than their female staff counterparts, despite constituting over half of the staff in juvenile prisons. This tells us that it’s very much possible the majority of the female pedophiles in juvenile hall are sodomites and that the remainder who are not sodomites are nonetheless guilty of child murder (and that being a murderess of children is what drove sodomite women to be sodomite in the first place). It’s scientifically undeniable, birth control turns women into pedophiles. Young males in detention are being sexually assaulted more so by female guards and caretakers than females in detention by male guards. Female staffers are more likely to committ [sic] sexual assault and rape inmates than male staffers.

Female staff committ [sic] more forcible sexual assualt [sic] than male staff; indeed females committ [sic] 86% of it according to the 2012 BJS report of staff indecent misconduct in juvenile hall. Here is a situation in which women in complete power have no hesitation using it to hurt children. It shows that when presented with the opportunity women will rape and this should raise concerns not only about female staff in juvenile prisons, but women in general because women have much greater access to children than men. This means that people should suspect all contracepting [sic] women of being child rapists or potential child rapists and at the very least, as pedophiles. I repeat; women who use birth control are either active child predators, a developing child molester, or a child molester in training. Statistics do away with the ridiculous notion that sexual violence is always or mostly male-on-female assaults.

The epidemic of woman predators molesting school children is so bad that even CBS News has a well-updated special section on their website dedicated to showing the profile photos of teacher female molesters and briefly mentioning the details of their child molestations.

According to Richard Nixon’s Commission on Obscenity for every female prostitute there are 9 underage male prostitutes. Birth control turns women into pedophiles. An extensive study in Canada found that high rates of homeless children are being molested. Staggeringly, 3/4 of the molestations of boys were done by adult women.Arguably, pagan female child killers (among whom are many woman sodomites) are more intense in their child lust than male sodomites.

With prescience Giuseppe Cardinal Siri (His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII) wrote on June 12th, 1960 the epistle “Notification Concerning Men’s Dress worn By Women”. Logically outlining the evil effects of women wearing pants, he said it leads to “the rising of the primary instincts” which “push forward to uncontrolled acts.” For such a change of clothing “helps to diminish the vital defenses of the sense of shame” or “obstructs that sense” and “when this sense of shame is absent because of some obstacle or impediment, then the relations between men and women degrade to pure sensuality devoid of all mutual respect and esteem.” He also says: “Experience teaches us that when the woman is de-feminized, then defenses are undermined and weakness increases.” He added: “What can these women give their children when they have worn trousers for so long that their self-esteem is determined more by their competition with men than by their function as women?”

Indeed, the feminism heresy (of which contraception and wearing men’s clothing is a part) turns women into pedophiles. The statistics robustly go on. Apart from raping boys, pagan women harlots also love raping men, gang raping men, kidnapping and raping them; especially if the male victim is a handicap or blind or immobile or non-verbal or unconcious [sic] or sedated or restrained.

These swine love to abuse the role of “care giver.” 12 years ago one careerist pedophile with the usual indiscretion, candor of snobbery and mockery, said: “Had an incident the other day, a pt. had a tight foreskin. First i couldn’t get the thing to go back, THEN couldn’t get it to go back over!! What didn’t help matters is that there wasn’t much to take hold of. Plus 5 sets of eyeballs watching.” Indeed, one only need peruse the blogs owned by nurses (which will not be named here because they are awful and moreover frequently criticized by doctor blogs and websites and a few nurse blogs as unprofessional and incredibly damaging to the profession) to discover their unladylike strange appetites; their supercilious ribaldry and shocking amount of inappropriate comments they make regarding the physique of boy patients, their belittling comments; detraction, their disturbingly fanatic attraction to minors, their fascination with personal areas of the body, their frank admissions of how they love it when they do “physicals” on boys, how they love to undress them and digitally penetrate the male part of boys with a catheter while the person is drugged under sedation (and in most cases then removing it prior to the child awaking, who never find out that they were undressed and lost their virginity) and this undoubtedly would constitute rape (this also happens to male adult patients). They also constantly love to gloat and bask in their status of total impunity and predation, the wide culture of acceptance of these deviancies, and how co-workers with ogling eyes watch and even participate in it. Any place of care of the vulnerable has always been a magnet for these types of perverts, who take pleasure in the degradation, hurt and humiliation of their victims. Indeed 6 female Minnesota teens at a nursing home raped their elderly patients. I mean, high school girls unleashed their devastating desires on the elderly, presumably after taking birth control.

….

SHOCKER: MORE MEN ARE VICTIMS OF RAPE THAN WOMEN

“More men are raped in the US than women, figures on prison assaults reveal:  “More men are raped in the U.S. than woman, according to figures that include sexual abuse in prisons. In 2008, it was estimated 216,000 inmates were sexually assaulted while serving time, according to the Department of Justice figures. That is compared to 90,479 rape cases outside of prison.”

Sexual misconduct is not an uncommon complaint to state boards of nursing. 38 to 52 percent of nurses report knowledge of colleagues who have had sexual misconduct with patients. The NCSBN reports that in some states sexual activity with a consenting adult patient is considered a criminal offense (since it is statutory rape for a person in a position of trust to use it for lewd activity).

According to individual state boards of nursing disciplinary records; the ratio of female nurses committing boundary violations as compared to male nurses is 26/1. That is for every male nurse that has sex with his patient, 26 female nurses have done so as well.

CONTRACEPTING FEMALE PAGAN (HARLOTS) CAN BE MORE VIOLENT THAN MEN

Contracepting female [sic] are just as violent, if not more violent than their male counterparts: “It has often been claimed that the reason CTS studies have found as many women as men to be physically aggressive is because women are defending themselves against attack. A number of studies have addressed this issue and found that when asked, more women than men report initiating the attack.”  According to CDC study: “Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases.”

USA FLAG INSPIRES FEMALES TO BE CHILD MOLESTERS

Another factor driving female pedophilia is venerating the anti-Christian USA flag whose tricolor represents the condemned rebellious masonic slogan “liberty, equality, fraternity” under which millions of Christians were murdered (it represents man against God and the overthrow of Christian order and Monarchy which uphold inequality). This purges all their moral sensibilities, drives them to lust and therefore birth control and child molestation. After speaking to a rebellious foul-mouthed heretic in the South who audaciously pretends to be Catholic, I should point out in regard to the tricolor, that anti-Christian France and the USA republic are masonic creations. Both colonial and French freemasons [sic] collaborated in fomenting the revolution in America (1775-1783) and France (1789-1799); so the significance of the tricolor ‘red, white, and blue’ as representing the heresy ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ remains. When adopted and used by masons, it carries a particular meaning; in the same way that the rainbow though given to mankind by God as a sign of peace and promise that he would never destroy the world again with a flood; when that symbol is used by secular religion it takes on a whole different meaning, namely, the total repudiation of Marriage and the family, which is the lifelong union of man and the woman. When the Cross is used by Christianity it signifies Christ but when used by American religion especially on gravesites [sic] of the USA missionaries (I.e soldiers) it represents the condemned doctrine of ‘universal salvation.’ When Christians use the upside down Cross on the Feast of St. Peter it represents his upsidedown [sic] crucifixion martyrdom, but when used outside that context it represents Satanism. The more pagan woman tries to conform to the women of Christianity (the only authentic standard of womanhood) the better; for pagan women would not generally be harlots and murderesses of innocent children in the 1st place.

….

I think I can now safely say that women really are to blame for EVERYTHING! Pity us men. It is unsafe for us to even leave our homes with female sexual predators prowling about seeking to drop their pants and ride every man in America. Men must demand action be taken by law enforcement to protect them from angry, ovulating, birth-control-popping, child-molesting, rapist females.

Or we can safely assume that the writer of the aforementioned screed is bat-shit crazy, a Roman Catholic loon who hates women. What say ye, female readers? Has the letter writer exposed the truth about women — that it is women, not men, who commit most sexual crimes? Please share your angry, hormone-driven, birth-controlled thoughts in the comment section.

Black Collar Crime: Civil Suit Against Temple Baptist Church and Mike Holloway Continues

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pastor mike holloway

Please read previous posts on this scandal: Black Collar Crime: Woman Claims Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Knew She Had Been Sexually Abused and Did Nothing, Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Denies He Knew Anything About Woman’s Sex Abuse Claim, Black Collar Crime: Another Victim Comes Forward in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal, Black Collar Crime: The Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal Continues, Black Collar Crime: Alleged Victim Count Up to Ten in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sexual Abuse Scandal, Black Collar Crime: The Cover-up Continues at Temple Baptist Church in Kokomo, Indiana and Black Collar Crime: Jane Doe Files Civil Suit Against Temple Baptist Church and Pastor Mike Holloway.

Today, The Kokomo Perspective released another episode in their ongoing coverage of the Temple Baptist Church sex scandal. Devin Zimmerman writes:

Both the Croddys and Temple Baptist Church have responded to the civil suit filed against them by Jane Doe, and a new venue might be selected for the case.

Both defendants in the case denied the allegations made by the unnamed female plaintiff in a civil suit filed in September. Doe sought damages for alleged sexual abuse she claimed to have endured at an early age at the hands of Donald Croddy and involves Temple Baptist Church and its pastor, Mike Holloway, in that she claimed to have been put under Croddy’s care by the pastor.

In the initial complaint, Doe claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Croddy while between the ages of 12 and 14 years old while living with him and his wife, Elfriede, in the early ‘90s.

The living situation, according to the suit, was suggested by Holloway in 1992 while Doe attended Temple Baptist Church via its bus ministry. Due to difficulty in attending church events and activities associated with Temple Christian School, which is operated by the church, the living situation allegedly was suggested so she could increase her attendance. Then, while living with the Croddys on weekends from 1992 to 1994, Doe claimed to have been sexually abused by Donald.

The suit partially hinges on whether Holloway knew of Donald’s tendencies, which the suit claims he was made aware of during a confrontation that involved similar allegations made by an individual in both Holloway and Donald’s presence.

However, both the Croddys, the church, and Holloway denied the allegations in their answers to the complaint, with the Croddys most recently filing their answer on Nov. 22.

Temple Baptist Church and Holloway’s initial response cited several affirmative defenses in the civil suit, including a claim that the statute of limitations bars Doe’s claims. The defendants also requested the action be tried by a jury.

The Croddys, in their response, sought dismissal of the case and also cited a statute of limitations in their affirmative defenses.

Additionally, a special judge was appointed to the case after a motion to change the venue of the case was filed in September. As a result, Rich Maughmer of Cass County was appointed; however, a second change of venue was filed on behalf of Doe on Nov. 30. As of press time, the second special judge had not been appointed.

….

In previous interviews and social media postings, the church has maintained the defense that Holloway sought council from the Christian Law Association (CLA), wherein he was encouraged to take the precautionary measure of restricting Donald from all activities involving children.

In a Facebook posting in April, Holloway wrote, “Since that decision and up to this present time, I have received no information indicating concern about Don’s behavior.”

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor and Concert Promoter Harry Thomas Accused of Sexually Assaulting Minors

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pastor harry thomas

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Harry Thomas, pastor of Come Alive Church in Medford, New Jersey and the founder of Creation Concerts (Festivals), has been accused of sexually assault four minors over a sixteen-year period. Thomas has already been scrubbed from the church’s website.

Jim Walsh, a reporter for the Courier Post, writes:

A 74-year-old pastor active in promoting Christian music festivals is accused of sexually assaulting four minors here over a 16-year period, authorities said Thursday.

Harry L. Thomas, who preached at Come Alive Church in Medford,  allegedly assaulted his victims between 1999 and 2015, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.

It did not name the victims or describe their relationship with Thomas, a Medford resident who played a prominent role in a sensational child-abuse case more than a decade ago.

The prosecutor’s office asked anyone “who may have experienced inappropriate contact” with Thomas to contact investigators.

According to online information for Come Alive Church, Thomas founded the church in 1983, holding its first services in a township school building.

He also is the founder of Creation Concerts, a Medford-based promoter of Christian music concerts.

Thomas in 1979 held the first Creation Fest, which bills itself as the nation’s largest Christian music festival. The multi-day summer festival has shows scheduled for 2018 in Mount Union, Pa., and Kennewick, Washington.

Come Alive Church includes “both traditional and contemporary music” in its services, according to the church’s website.

“The art of music can also be a way to present the gospel message in a disarming way, and at the same time inspire and encourage the body of believers,” it says.

In 2003, Thomas served as an advocate for Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of Collingswood, church members accused of starving four foster children.

The pastor created a now-defunct website, savethejacksons.org, and offered emotional and financial support to the family, according to Courier-Post reports from that time.

“I find it very hard within me to believe they have done this in any purposeful way, if in fact they have done it,” he told a Courier-Post reporter in November 2003.

Thomas was criticized at a congressional hearing on the case in November 2004, after he minimized weight gain by the children after they were removed from the Jacksons’ care.

The boys, ages 9 to 19, each weighed less than 50 pounds after a neighbor alerted police after he found a boy looking for food in his trashcan.

During his testimony, Thomas suggested the boys may have been weighed with their shoes on and said the boys might be responding to attention from authorities, said a Courier-Post report.

“We’d all gain weight in that environment,’ he told the panel.

Vanessa Jackson received a seven-year prison term in 2006 for endangering the welfare of the children. Raymond Jackson died in 2004.

A representative of Come Alive Church, which is on the 200 block of Old Marlton Pike, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Thomas, a Queens Lane resident, was arrested Wednesday morning, and “is being treated at a medical facility, where he is under guard,” the statement said.

The pastor is charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault and three counts of sexual assault, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The Medford man also faces four counts of endangering the welfare of minors.

….

Update

On December 19, 2017, NJ.com reported:

Harry Thomas, the 74-year-old church pastor accused of sexually assaulting four minors over more than a decade, consented to remain detained pending further court proceedings.

At a detention hearing in Burlington County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, Thomas said he would voluntarily remain in prison, at the advice of his attorney, public defender Anthony Aldorasi.

Thomas, a Medford resident and pastor at Come Alive Church, was charged earlier this month with a series of alleged assaults that took place between 1999 and 2015.

In addition to his role at Come Alive Church, Thomas is also a popular national figure in the Christian community, and founded the country’s largest Christian music festival, the Creation Festival.

Both Come Alive Church and the Creation Festival have indefinitely suspended Thomas from his leadership and ministry roles.

Authorities are withholding information about where the alleged assaults took place, as well as the victims’ ages, to shield their identities.

….

In a February 17, 2018 story, the Burlington County Times reported:

The former pastor of a Medford church was solemn, weeping at one point and sniffling often, as he admitted in court Friday that he sexually assaulted or abused five minors over a 14-year period.

Harry L. Thomas, 74, of Queens Lane in Medford, will likely die in prison after he agreed to a plea deal before Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert that would have him serve 15 to 20 years without parole.

Thomas, founder of the Come Alive New Testament Church on Old Marlton Pike, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Under the deal, the state will argue that he serve 20 years; the defense will seek 15 years. Thomas’ sentencing is tentatively scheduled for June. He had faced the possibility of up to 25 years for first-degree aggravated sexual assault and 10 years each on the other charges, Covert told him.

When questioned by his attorney, Anthony Aldorasi, Thomas admitted to the sexual assault of a 9-year-old in 2005; sexual contact with three girls who were 7, 8 and 9, in 2000 and 2010; and exposing himself and endangering the welfare of a girl between 2008 and 2010, when she was 8 to 10 years old.

All of the crimes occurred in Medford, according to comments in court. Any additional information about the victims was withheld to protect their identities, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. The office also would not comment on whether the victims were church members.

Aldorasi said although Thomas could not recall the exact dates of the offenses, he did not dispute the allegations. Thomas pleaded guilty before being indicted on any charges, waiving his right to grand jury proceedings. Both sides indicated that he wanted to plead guilty quickly out of consideration for the victims and their families, some of whom were in court.

Thomas will be evaluated to determine if he should undergo treatment as a repetitive and compulsive sexual offender. He will also be subject to Megan’s Law requirements, including registering as a sex offender.

Thomas, who has been in jail since his arrest in December, told the judge he has had serious health problems, including strokes and congestive heart failure. He was sniffling throughout the proceedings, but told Covert he was in a clear mind frame in admitting his guilt.

On its website, the church posted: “Harry Thomas has officially resigned all associations and ministry roles with Come Alive New Testament Church, Creation Festivals and Come Alive International, effective immediately. The leadership of these organizations have accepted Mr. Thomas’ resignation as the proper course of action and will continue to actively cooperate with the authorities. While we are unable to share the details of what was reported, we have been informed that the charges are not related to any of his roles in these ministries.”

….

 

Black Collar Crime: Bible Teacher Erick Granados-Zeledon Gets Ten Years for Sexually Abusing Child

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erick ernesto granados zeledon

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Erick Granados-Zeledon, a Bible teacher at Iglesia Hispana Emmanuel in Annapolis, Maryland, was sentenced today to ten years in prison for sexually molesting a ten-year-old child.

Saline San Felice, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, writes:

A former Bible study instructor at an Annapolis church was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a child.

Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon, 39, of Edgewater, was arrested in June and charged with sex abuse of a minor and several related crimes. A 10-year-old child told investigators that Granados-Zeledon sexually abused him.

On Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Michael Wachs sentenced him to 10 years in prison with five years probation. Granados-Zeledon is required to register as a tier three sex offender for the rest of his life and has been barred from any unsupervised contact with minors.

Granados-Zeledon was a chaperone and Bible study instructor at Iglesia Hispana Emmanuel in Annapolis, where he met the boy and his family, Assistant State’s Attorney Reva Chopra said during the sentencing hearing in Annapolis. He became a friend of the family and would take the child from the family’s residence to church, out to eat and occasionally to his home in Edgewater, police wrote in charging documents.

“His family believed (Granados-Zeledon) wanted to be a mentor for the young boy,” Chopra said in court.

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Assistant Public Defender Bethany Linden Skopp, Granados-Zeledon’s attorney, said her client admitted to investigators that he’d performed sexual acts with the child in March when he drove the boy to his home. He pleaded guilty in October, and prosecutors dropped all of the charges except for sex abuse of a minor.

At the time of his arrest, Anne Arundel County police expressed concerned there might have been more victims since Granados-Zeledon’s position at the church put him in regular contact with children.

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Black Collar Crime: Mormon Counselor Jeffrey Graton Accused of Sex Crimes

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jeffrey graton

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Jeffrey Graton, a counselor affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was arrested Monday on sexual abuse allegations.

The Daily Herald reports:

A second counselor in a bishopric in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was arrested Monday after reportedly sexually abusing a girl multiple times.

Jeffrey Graton, 40, of American Fork, was arrested on suspicion of three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Police responded Sunday to a call at the 300th block of 620 South in American Fork Sunday night on a welfare check after an LDS bishop called to have police check on Graton, a second counselor in an LDS bishopric.

Graton reportedly had left his home with a gun and wasn’t answering his phone after it was reported he had inappropriately touched a girl several years ago, according to a police report. Graton was found and gave the rifle to an LDS leader.

The abuse reportedly happened 10 times.

Graton reportedly told police he had touched the girl’s chest and thighs, both under and over clothing, while giving her a massage in two occasions two and a half years ago. He also admitted to grabbing the girl’s hand and using it to touch his genitals.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor James Crawford will Serve No Jail Time for Allegedly Molesting Three Girls

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pastor james crawford

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

James Crawford, pastor of Westside Church in Redding,California, inexplicably escaped 22 felony counts alleging lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, accepting a plea deal that had Crawford pleading no contest to three misdemeanors. Crawford will spend no time in jail.

Jim Schultz, a reporter for the Record Searchlight, writes:

A former Redding pastor arrested in February and charged with 31 criminal counts, including 22 felonies, for allegedly molesting three girls over a seven-year span pleaded no contest Monday in Shasta County Superior Court to three misdemeanors.

James Gladwell Crawford, the ex-pastor of  the Westside Church of Redding off Swasey Drive, pleaded no contest to child endangerment not likely to produce great bodily injury.

He was placed on probation for four years and credited for eight days he served in Shasta County Jail. He is not required to serve any additional jail time and was ordered to pay the standard court fees and fines.

A prosecutor for the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office could not be reached late Monday afternoon for comment about his plea deal.

Crawford was arrested Feb. 3 and later released from jail after his $1 million bail was posted. He was charged with 22 felony counts alleging lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, as well as a series of sex crime-related enhancements and nine misdemeanors.

Those charges were dismissed and he pleaded no contest to the three child endangerment-related misdemeanors.

Although there was no sexual intercourse involved, Crawford was accused of inappropriately touching the three girls, who were 17, 16 and 11 at the time of his arrest.

Additionally, he was accused of engaging in other inappropriate behavior, according to a Shasta County Sheriff’s Office report filed in court at the time of his arraignment.

That report says the girls told detectives that Crawford, among other things, playfully tickled — and touched them all over their bodies — as he removed their clothing.

One of the girls also told detectives he became upset at her and one of the other girls about five years earlier because they wanted to ride their bikes to school, according to the police report.

“In an effort to explain what could happen to them, James Crawford threw Victim 3 against a wall and held the backside of a knife blade against her throat,” the sheriff’s report said.

The other girl also involved in that episode confirmed that knife account, as well as the tickling, the sheriff’s report said.

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Black Collar Crime: Church Choir Director Robert Kalton Convicted of Sex Crimes

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robert kaltonThe Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Robert Kalton, a British church choir director, was convicted of sexually abusing boys and sentenced to nine years in prison. Kalton previously spent six years in prison for similar crimes.

The BBC reports:

A former church choirmaster has been jailed for sexually abusing three boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Robert Kalton, 82, sexually assaulted the children while he was working at a church in Leicestershire and Wiltshire, Leicestershire Police said.

He had moved to live in Portugal after the attacks and was arrested in 2013.

Kalton, of no fixed address, was found guilty of 15 child sex abuse offences at Leicester Crown Court and sentenced to nine years in prison.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for life.

Police said the victims were sexually abused at a church in Melton Mowbray and Trowbridge.

Officers received a report four years ago from a boy who claimed he had been sexually abuse by Kalton when he was 11 and 12 years old.

An investigation found two other victims were abused when they had attended choir practice.

Kalton was found guilty of four counts of gross indecency with a boy under 16 and 11 counts of indecent assault on a male.

Det Con Steve Winterton said: “These awful crimes took place when the victims were young boys.

“They have lived with what happened to them for many years and no doubt the crimes committed on them have affected them ever since.

“All the victims have shown immense courage throughout the investigation and legal proceedings and it’s their perseverance which has resulted in the conviction.”

The Leicester Mercury adds:

Former choirmaster and organist Robert Kalton was extradited from his home in Portugal earlier this year to face charges relating to his abuse of young boys during the seventies and eighties.

He was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on Friday after admitting to 15 counts of indecency with a child and indecent assault on a male.

The court heard that Kalton’s crimes were committed against two victims when he was living in Thorpe Arnold, near Melton, and a third young boy when he previously lived in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

Richard Thatcher, prosecuting, said: “They were all boys at the time of the offences when this defendant was a choirmaster.”

He said Kalton seemed to “pay more attention to the boys” and was “very tactile with them” whilst not encouraging girls to join the choir.

Mr Thatcher said that the defendant used the victims’ “keenness to learn” to draw them to his home, which one described as being “like a boys club”.

Kalton also relied on his reputation as a gifted teacher and their parents’ naivety to engineer time alone with the boys and would “groom” them with praise to win their confidence.

The court heard that in each case “congratulatory hugs and kisses” would often lead to intimate touching and sexual activity, however, he added that this did not involve intercourse.

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In 1988, the defendant was convicted of a serious sexual offence on a boy and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Mr Thatcher said: “These matters, however, did not come to light at the time, the complainants indicating that they would have lied at the time to avoid the embarrassment of revealing what had happened to them.”

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