The victim testified before a jury that Brown bit her finger--because she had a habit of sucking on it--pinched her chest, beat the bottom of her feet with a hair brush and smashed her arms with a belt.
The county Department of Human Resources was contacted by a teacher and the school nurse when they noticed the girl was limping and had a red mark on her forehead.
There had been previous complaints about Brown, who had been warned about taking such action. In addition to helping out at the church school, Brown also worked at a juvenile boot camp next to the Dallas Co. jail.
The minister's attorney said Brown was simply a strict disciplinarian and admitted Brown did administer spankings with a belt, and used a hair brush when the strap was not available. Source: Birmingham Post-Herald 5/14/97
Butler, 44, was convicted by a jury of 4 counts of rape, 9 counts of violation of a minor and 1 count of sexual misconduct. He was given 16 years for each rape charge and 3 years each on the other counts. The victims are now ages 15, 17 and 19. Source: Northwest Arkansas Times 5/31/97
Martin Greenlaw, 54, pleaded no contest in early July to felony grand theft and embezzlement of $76,000--in addition to his earlier conviction.
He was sentenced to 1 year in prison, 5 years of supervised probation, 1,000 hours of community service and religious ministry to fellow inmates.Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 7/6/97
Molest Suit Filed Against Priest. Two women and a man filed a civil lawsuit in July against a Roman Catholic priest who they said molested them during church-sponsored activities years ago.
Don Kimball, 53, who has been on leave from active status as a priest since the early 1980s, reportedly molested the plaintiffs when they were children. The incidents reportedly occurred while Kimball was assigned to Santa Rosa's Resurrection Parish from 1976-79 and while administrator of the diocese's High School Youth Ministry from 1979-81.
He is the 5th Sonoma Co. priest to be accused of molesting children over a period of 2 decades. Source: San Francisco Chronicle 7/9/97
"Baptism" Becomes Sexual Battery? A Stockton youth counselor who reportedly fondled teenage boys during private "baptism" rites in his home will face trial for 2 felony charges of sexual battery involving 2 boys ages 15 and 16, and a misdemeanor child-molestation charge involving a 3rd boy, 16.
Michael Anthony Jones, 31, former Greater Faith Baptist Church minister, part-time track coach at Stagg High School, and recent group counselor at San Joaquin County's Juvenile Hall, reportedly had up to 10 boys strip to their underwear and rub oil onto each others' chests and backs and onto their own penises in a rite that Jones called a "baptism." The boys were reportedly asked to be his godsons and to participate in the ceremony as a means of sealing their relationship.
One boy testified that Jones lectured them on bible-related and religious subjects prior to the sexually oriented rituals in his living room.
The two other boys described individual baptisms in Jones' bedroom in which he had them strip nude and kneel while he massaged oil onto their bodies and, in separate incidents, fondled them. Source: The Record 5/21/97
Mormon Physician Guilty Of Assaulting Patients. Former oncologist and local Mormon church leader John Parkinson was convicted of sexually assaulting 2 female patients and of practicing without a license.
Parkinson, 64, was found guilty by a Solano Co. Superior Court jury on 16 counts of genital or anal penetration by a foreign object for sexual purpose and 2 felony counts of practicing without a license. He was found not guilty on 6 more sex charges and 10 counts of possession of controlled substances. Each sex crime carries a maximum penalty of 8 years in prison.
Two women, a mother and daughter who were fellow church members and family friends of Parkinson, testified they endured a series of daily pelvic exams of 2 hours or more. The women went to police after Parkinson told the daughter during a pelvic exam that he loved her and wanted to marry her.
Parkinson, father of 9, was stripped of his medical license 2 years ago after 28 women complained of excessive pelvic exams. One woman said Parkinson performed sometimes daily pelvic exams on her in his office for nearly 12 years. In 1990, he was placed on probation by the state Medical Board for overmedicating a patient. Source: Lodi News-Sentinel 6/4/97
Mormon Missionary Suspected Of Molesting Girl. A reading volunteer at the Rosendale North Elementary School was arrested in late May on suspicion of molesting a girl, 8, at the school.
Jason Chad Larsen, 20, a Mormon missionary from Idaho, was charged with 1 felony count of child molestation for an incident in the school cafeteria among other children and reading volunteers.
Larsen reportedly put his hand in the girl's shorts and eventually inside her underwear while she was reading to him. The girl said she was scared and tried to ignore the act. After finishing the book, Larsen reportedly asked if she wanted to read another book. She said no and returned to her class where she reported the incident to a teacher's aide.
Larsen, who has volunteered at the school since mid-Feb., was arrested a few hours later. He was released on $10,000 bail. Source: Bakersfield Californian 5/24/97
Jere B. Ratcliffe, 59, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a 3rd-degree felony, when a security scan showed a loaded .32 caliber revolver in his bag. He was released on $5,000 bond. Source: St. Augustine Record 4/28/97
Pastor Blames Devil For Sex Charges. A pastor arrested for sexually assaulting a girl, 15, told investigators the "devil" made him do it.
David Anthony Law, 45, was charged with sexual battery for molesting the teen while she slept on his living-room couch.
The girl and her sisters were friends of Law's children and had spent the night at the First Born Pentecostal Church pastor's home the night of the incident.
According to court reports, the girl awoke after feeling a sharp pain in the middle of the night and saw found Law kneeling next to the couch with his hand in her underwear. Law reportedly put his hand over her mouth and "asked her to be quiet and not to say anything to anyone," and then went to his bedroom.
When questioned by police, Law confessed, saying the "enemy" and the "devil" had made him do it. He was held at the Broward Co. Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. Source:The Miami Herald 7/6/97
Priest Investigated After Molest Claims. St. Thomas the Apostle Parish pastor Richard Castillo was relieved from priestly duties in April after a report surfaced that he had molested a male high school student 7 years ago.
The incarcerated man, now 24, said Castillo molested him while he was a student at Pensacola Catholic High School. Castillo was reportedly sent to an undisclosed church-run medical facility to undergo a mental evaluation. Source: St. Augustine Record 4/28/97
Evangelist Accused Of Hiring Hit Man. Former religious broadcaster George Crossley was arrested in July after attempting to hire a hit man to kill the husband of a woman with whom he had had an affair.
Crossley, 56, claimed George "Butch" Waldo, 53, was obsessed with ruining him and was determined to destroy his life after he learned his wife had a revived affair with Crossley.
He is free on an undisclosed amount of bail, awaiting trial on charges of solicitation to commit murder and arson. Source: Orlando Sentinel 5/14/97
Preacher's Wife Charged With Arson. The wife of a prominent black church leader, who has ties to President Clinton, was charged in early July with setting fire to a woman's home.
Deborah Lyons, wife of Rev. Henry Lyons (President of the National Baptist Convention USA), was charged with burglary and arson of a $700,000 home in St. Petersburg owned by her husband and another woman.
Lyons said the fire accidentally started after she had gone to the home to get some papers for her husband, who was traveling in Africa. She said the house was used as a guest home for visitors and denied that her husand and his business partner, Bernice Edwards, were having an affair. Source: Reuter 7/8/97
The Roman Catholic priest admitted he used church accounts to conceal his personal income from the Internal Revenue Service, punishable by up to 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His mild sentence is to be followed by 5 months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service.
Berndt also pastored at St. Boniface in Clinton and St. Peter's in Buffalo.
The U.S. Attorney's office declined to say how much income was concealed over the 4-year period, beginning in 1986. Sources: Clinton Herald 5/17/97; Quad City Times 5/17/97
Minister Sneaked Into Woman's Bedroom. Crandon Methodist Church minister Paul Grandon, 40, pleaded guilty in July to felony charges of kidnapping and sexually abusing a woman in '96.
He was charged with 3rd degree kidnapping, 3rd degree sexual abuse and 2nd degree burglary for entering the Lovilia woman's home last July. Grandon reportedly tied the woman up, put a pillow case over her head and then fondled her.
Court records state the minister told the woman he was "going to have mercy on her."
He was granted a leave of absence last August from his co-pastor position at the Corydon United Methodist Church.
Grandon's pretrial release was revoked and is being held in the Monroe Co.Jail pending sentencing. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each charge. Source: Des Moines Register 7/8/97
The unidentified juvenile male, 15, reportedly tried to kiss and fondle the girl at a church function. Both are members of the church. There were no witnesses, but 2 other members of the church told investigators that they have seen the boy touch other girls improperly.
The boy, who has a record of sexual assaults, was taken to the Jackson Co. Youth Center.
According to probate court records, in March '93, at age 11, the boy threatened a bus driver with a utility knife in an attempt to have sex with her. The charges were reduced to assault and battery. Two months later, the boy reportedly stabbed a teacher with a pencil. In Oct. '95, he admitted to 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct in the assault of a boy, 3.
The teen reportedly completed a program with Catholic Social Services for sexual offenders last year and has been involved in community mental health programs since March '92. Source: Jackson Citizen Patriot 6/3/97
Twelve men were charged in connection with the money-laundering scheme.
Mahir Reiss, 47, and Bernard Grunfeld, 64, each were charged with depositing, and then withdrawing, $1 million, obtained from 5 suspected drug traffickers, through the accounts of the Bobover Yeshiva and Congregation Eitz Chaim in Brooklyn. The men reportedly made more than 95 transactions in amounts under $10,000, in order to avoid a federal reporting requirement. Source: Associated Press 6/17/97
Privette engaged in unwanted kisses, remarks and touching while the women were employed at the church in Cary.
During a late May hearing to determine his ability to pay the judgment, Privette declared poverty, saying he only had $65 in savings and no place to live when he and his family moved out of the church parsonage. Last year the minister reported more than $106,000 in income. Sources: Washington Post 5/24/97; The Chronicle 5/31/97
According to reports, the 3 rented suburban Philadelphia homes, opened checking accounts and obtained utilities with phony identifications, false references, exaggerated employment claims and fake Social Security numbers.
Police allege that Dantzler, McIver, Clay and 5 others wrote bad checks to finance a comfortable lifestyle, leaving a trail through 17 Montgomery Co. communities, Delaware and Georgia. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer 5/21/97
Religious Camp Raided For Drugs. Four people were arrested on drug charges in mid-May after the headquarters of an Upper Burrell religious organization was raided by Westmoreland County authorities.
Christine Malits, 27, Edward King, 29, and Brian Allen, 25, were charged with possession of crack cocaine, possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine and conspiracy. Ronald Johnson, 20, was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Malits' father is the president of the Living Branch Ministries, headquartered at the 76-acre farm.
Detectives said they purchased crack cocaine on several occasions from Malits, Allen and King at the property. Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 5/13/97
Diocese Fights Negligence Claim. The Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg announced in May that it will appeal a Dauphin Co. Court decision that keeps the diocese as a party in a lawsuit filed by a woman who had an affair with one of its priests.
The diocese claims the priest and the woman were consenting adults who broke the church's rules and that allowing the court to make decisions on the church's hiring and supervision practices violates the separation of church and state.
The suit, filed in Jan. of last year, states the diocese should be responsible for the actions of Rev. Robert J. Peregrin, former pastor of Good Shepherd Church of Camp Hill.
According to the suit, Aileen Nardella sought help from the priest after her mother died and was taken advantage of despite obvious psychological problems partially caused by past abuse from priests.
Nardella said she began to perceive Peregrin as having a god-like power and began having sex with him on church property. She said he calmed her objections by assuring her he was a healer. When Nardella went to Msgr. William Richardson, then general secretary of the diocese, about the affair, he reportedly told her that he was aware of Peregrin's past relationships at other parishes and advised her to end the relationship. Peregrin reportedly pursued and tried to dissuade her from disclosing their affair for more than a year while she was in treatment at the Harrisburg Institute of Psychiatry. Source: Patriot News 5/20/97
The conviction came a week after another rape charge against Dunn, now 76, was dismissed for lack of evidence of force. In that case, a woman tesitifed that Dunn raped her 32 years ago when she was a college student working for him. Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato, Jr., found that the woman had not resisted Dunn and that the priest had not used force against her. The victim reportedly had a 4-year sexual relationship with Dunn, became pregnant by the priest, and gave up the infant girl for adoption.
Dunn is the first priest in the state to be convicted of rape, or 1st-degree sexual assault. Since the mid-1980s, 4 other priests have been sentenced on other sexual assault charges.
The victim testified that Dunn approached her at a religious convention in Atlantic City. On the bus-ride home, he reportedly told her he noticed she seemed disturbed during a session on incest and said that he knew she had been sexually abused by her father and asked her to begin counseling with him.
During the next year, the victim said Dunn became a surrogate father to her. One evening, while napping on Dunn's bed in the rectory, she said she awoke to find Dunn fondling her genitals. The priest then told her that God had sent her to him as a gift, and that God wanted her to teach him that he could be loved by a woman.
For the next 4 years Dunn continued to fondle the teen. When she turned 21, Dunn reportedly began pressuring her to have sexual intercourse with him. At one point he even insisted that she make an appointment to obtain birth-control pills.
The night before her gynecologist appointment Dunn appeared at her apartment and raped her.
Dunn faces up to 20 years in prison. Source: Providence Journal-Bulletin 6/25/97
Bishop Freed From Testifying. Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Needham ruled in early June that the head of the Providence diocese does not have to testify about his conversation with a priest charged with raping a girl, 15, because the talks are protected by law.
In March, Roman Catholic Bishop Louis F. Gelineau was subpoenaed to testify about his conversations with Alfred R. Desrosiers, as related to the charges that the cleric plied a woman with liquor on more than 1 occasion, beginning in 1972, when she was 15, and had sex with her up to 4 times a week in his Cumberland apartment for a period of 2 years while serving as asst. pastor of St. Joan of Arc Church.
Prosecutors argued the conversations should not covered by canon law, a confidentiality law for clergy, because they were administrative, not spiritual.
Judge Needham said the conversations were protected even though there was no evidence that conversations were spiritual, stating the law is broad enough that such evidence is unnecessary.
If convicted, Desrosiers, 62, faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment. His trial is expected to begin this fall. Source: Associated Press 6/6/97
Aaron LeBaron, 28, was convicted in Feb. on charges of murder-for-hire, racketeering and civil rights charges for the ordered slayings of Mark Chynoweth, his brother Duane, and Edward Marston because the 3 men left the sect.
Lamb of God members follow a 510-page creed written by the group's founder Ervil LeBaron, a self-proclaimed messenger of God , husband of 13 and father of 54, wrote the creed in prison.Members believed that anyone who left the sect had to be killed before believers could inherit God's kingdom on Earth.
Aaron LeBaron became the group's high priest when his father died in a Utah prison in 1981. Source: New York Times 6/13/97
Priest Fit The Mold Of A Pedophile. Testimony in the civil trial against Rudolph "Rudy" Kos began in May with statements from his siblings, a therapist and a priest who worked closely with Kos.
Don and Richard Kos told a jury, via videotape, that even they knew Rudy Kos was a pedophile. The brothers said they, as well as another neighborhood boy, were sexually abused by Rudy Kos when they were teens. Kos reportedly spent a year in a juvenile detention facility for abusing the neighbor.
Since the priest had not responded to the suits until recently, default judgments ruled Kos, now 52, liable for sexually abusing 11 boys between 1981-92 at All Saints Catholic Church in N. Dallas, St. John's Church in Ennis and St. Luke's in Irving.
The plaintiffs, who seek $146.5 million in damages, say they were sometimes offered drinks and drugs, and passed out before the abuses occurred. A total of 50 boys are suspected to have been victims.
Rev. Robert Williams, who was Kos' assistant at St. John's, testified that "thundering herds" of boys came and went from the rectory, with a few "favorites" continually spending the night in Kos' quarters.
One of the victims said the priest abused him for 4 years, beginning at age 10. Kos reportedly once told the boy, "You're in God's hands," after performing oral sex on him and then led him to a church shower telling the boy he would "cleanse" him with holy water, then sexually abused him again.
"I began to feel defective," the victim said, adding that he believed it was God's will for him to endure the abuse silently.
The man said he finally broke off contact with Kos at age 14 after a trip to see Kos' mother near Houston. He said he became aware for the first time that the abuse involved someone else when he heard another boy being abused by the priest in the travel trailer.
Another victim told the jury that he was sexually abused by Kos about 350 times, most of which involved Kos masturbating with the boy's foot. Several love letters Kos wrote to the boy after he and his family moved out of state were introduced as evidence.
Dr. Jay Feierman, a psychiatrist who has evaluated Kos and 500 other priests with sexual interest in children, testified the priest was a sexual "opportunist" who should have been kept away from children.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs claim the diocese knew of Kos' sexual abuse history, and that of other priests before him, and concealed it.
The Diocese of Dallas claims it had no knowledge of any sexual misconduct by Kos until '92.
A written deposition from Kos' ex-wife, Kathleene Hetzel Winkler proves otherwise. Winkler stated that she had told a church official that Kos was attracted to boys when he sought an annulment so he could attend seminary. A memo from that church official was introduced as evidence, reading, "Something is fishy. Perhaps we should get the petitioner to level with us." However, Kos was admitted to the seminary in 1977. The diocese attorney maintains that officials did investigate and found nothing.
The love-struck Winkler said she also naively dismissed other warning signs such as a phone call from a young male voice on the day of their wedding claiming she was marrying his boyfriend, and a witness who told her that her future husband was seen "petting" with 2 boys in a car. Although their marriage was short (and never consummated), Winkler recounted numerous incidents when Kos brought boys to their apartment and used drugs.
In addition to Winkler's deposition, a 12-page letter from one of Kos' assistants to church officials was introduced into evidence. In it, the priest stated his concerns about Kos' behavior and said he had seen Kos under the covers of his bed with a boy.
When questioned about the letter, Msgr. Robert Rehkemper testified that he didn't remember reading that part of the letter.
"That's the most important piece of evidence in the case," said plaintiff attorney Windle Turley. "You were waiting for someone to see him sleeping in the bed with someone, and you just let it get by you?"
"Yes," Msgr. Rehkemper replied.
Last year Kos, who is living in Calif. under an assumed name, was indicted on 1 count of indecency with a child and 1 count of sexual contact with a child. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge and a possible fine of $10,000. A criminal trial is set. Sources: Dallas Morning News 6/6/97, 5/30/97, 5/25/97, 5/23/97, 5/16/97
Perry Chaney was convicted in April on 3 counts of felony rape for performing a marriage cermony in '93 between his daughter, then 13, and a friend, 48. Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 6/17/97
Chad Bryan Seidler, 23, was charged with 1 count of felony embezzlement from the 10th-graders' fund.
The teacher's attorney said Seidler "borrowed" the money by signing for it, but simply forgot to return it.
He already faces up to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing his fiancee's younger sister and 2 other female academy students. He pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 1 of the girls, taking indecent liberties with another and sodomizing the 3rd between Dec. '96-Jan. '97. The incidents reportedly occurred at the school, a residence, and in a parking lot.
Bond was revoked for Seidler, who also worked as a part-time youth director. Source: Fairfax Journal 5/30/97
Priest Arrested For Drugs. A Catholic priest was arrested in late June for possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Terry A. Lenning, 41, an associate pastor at St. Edward's in Chesterfield, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and heroin when an officer noticed syringes sitting in his car parked outside his house. Source: Progress-Index 6/20/97
White, 42, was originally charged with 21 crimes including sexual assault and exposing himself. He reportedly molested teenage boys in his Madison home after supplying them with beer, marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs.
When given the opportunity to address White in court, one woman returned a book about the bible that White had given her.
"At a time in my life when I needed some guidance, some help, when I was very vulnerable . . . you just took advantage of that," said one of the victims.
White will be eligible for parole in 6 years. Source: Wisconsin State Journal 6/13/97
Fraser, a familiar figure in Stalham, Norfolk Co. (Ontario), reportedly lured the girl and her friend, 11, from their bicycles to a park bench he was sitting at with friendly conversation. The victim testified that the vicar began by making explicit sexual comments. He asked one girl if she got a thrill from sitting on the crossbar of her bicycle and asked if their mothers had big breasts. Fraser reportedly then grabbed her, thrust his walking stick up her shorts and fondled her bottom. The girls managed to escape and ran home to tell their parents.
Fraser was fitted with an electronic monitoring device which sounds an alarm if he leaves his home between 10am-6pm. Source: News Of The World (British) 4/27/97
Imam Mohamed Kerzazi, 33, was found guilty of "acts of torture and barbarism, having involuntarily caused the death" of the young woman while trying to exorcise the demons that supposedly "raged within her."
Accomplice Morad Selmane, president of the Roubiaix mosque in northern France, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for participating.
Louisa Lardjoune died after being repeatedly whipped with a bamboo stick, dunked underwater and forced to swallow several quarts of salt water in an attempt to control the fits of hysteria which doctors attributed to psychological problems. Source: St. Augustine Record 6/7/97
Police believe Peerapol Srinivate, 32, shot and killed his lover, 25, in Nakhon Pathom for attempting to break off the relationship because he had fallen in love with a woman.Source: Associated Press 7/2/97
The charges stemmed from an investigation into reports that Banana continually raped a former aide in the 1980s.
Banana, a Methodist minister, has denied the charges, which carry up to 10 years per charge in prison. Source: The Advocate 7/9/97