How Many of Them Do You Know About?

by clarity 63 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  sister x

  My sister was molested and held down and raped by one of my fathers close friends at the hall when she was 15. The brother had two daughters that he was molesting, my big sister walked in on him having oral sex with his eldest daughter. She told my dad what he had done to her and what she saw going on in the brother house, the sick games he played with his girls and how she walked in on him and his daughter and they held an elders meeting immediately...... the Elders talked to my mom and dad and the accused brother with my sister in the back room. They said she was "lying" and a "troublemaker" making false accusations against this poor brother. My mom and dad took the elders side and told my sister to stop.

  My sister slit her wrist two times and they found her on the bathroom floor in a puddle of blood. She lived but afterwards started stealing, using drugs, running off with men, she changed. Eventually she called social services on my parents and told them she didnt want to live with them anymore, social services took her out of the home and put her in a group home.

  After my sister was out of the house, my dad, in an effort to apologize to this brother took our family and his to DisneyLand!! and they continued to be friends for some while.....

  Here is the kicker..... A few months later this brother was in the local News paper for "countless lewd acts" with his own daughters. Some one else found out about what he was doing and turned him in. MY father didnt know what to say or think, especially my mom.

  The brother was locked up, did some time in prison. His wife (out of shame and humiliation) packed her bags and left, and their daughters were taken out of the home. I heard the oldest one he molested all the time was put in a psych ward and is on medication. The brother got out of jail, went back to the hall and found him a "fresh young sister" to marry who probably didnt know his past... and he is currently attends meetings.

  I talked to my sister about this a few months ago. She said she actually ran into him at the hall and he didnt recognize her because she was all grown up now, but she remembered him. She wanted to walk right up to him and let him get an ear full, but she didnt. She had already forgiven him in her heart. She did feel like he shouldnt be looked upon by the rest of the congregation as "an example" to the rest of the congr. or be allowed to just roam freely around young girls in the hall .....

  Very Sad situation that really hurt our family. The thing that bothers me is that it was never reported to the police by my parents, the elders or the brothers wife who knew what happened it was just COVERED UP!!!! The elders know that the acts are felonies and must be reported by Law... but they dont.. I dont understand how someone can be dissfellowshipped for not agreeing with a minor belief or for a bad attitude... but is okay to have sex with kids as long as you have a "repentent spirit"..... Jesus would not approve..

  Michele
• 

  Murray Smith

  sister x . . . that is a shocking story

  I know of three sisters abused by JW Elders (still serving) when they were children. In one case her brother (now an elder) was also involved.

  I also became privy to a case where an MS masturbated in front of 13 yr old in the cong and was privately reproved

  I had a non-JW who worked for me, who's XJW wife had all 4 of her children abused by an Elder (still serving)

  That makes 8

  Are we still counting?
• 

  clarity

  Murray, sisterx

  What can we say about all this? I feel sick.

  Can you just imagine if Christ WAS sitting with the 'governing body' in a little back room in Brooklyn, .... that he would have any of this!!!?

  That within the 'special' organization that HE picked in 1918-1919, there would be such ungodly, inhuman filthy crap going on!!!

  I am not a born-in and in my previous life had never heard of such debauchery! An organization who covers up such morally corrupt acts cannot be from god or even be regarded by decent people as being worth following.

  Oh yes, we're still counting but.... broken hearts now.... not numbers

  clarity
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  Murray Smith

  Thinking back of the damage done is hard enough . . . the thought that this evil is still going on is even harder . . . innocent children having their lives ruined while the players move the pieces round the board without seriously addressing it. . . it's hard to imagine anything more wicked.
• 

  exwhyzee
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  saltyoldlady

  I had a Book Study Conductor who molested two teenage boys about the same time - he was removed from being an elder but that was all - apparently because only one witness to each event - the young teenager being molested. The elder would not confess guilt. At the same time this elder was involved in a court case by a family of an elderly widow claiming that this elder had bilked their mother out of a great deal of money. I knew he had redecorated her huge old mansion for her and redid the landscaping too and she dearly loved him. Never heard all the details of the case except he was denied contact with her any further - he moved away and was eventually df'd by some other elder body - as a young man about 20 plus years before the above incidents he had been df'd for homosexual activity with another pioneer at my last congregation. Don't suppose that would count as molesting children so we will only count this as 2 cases. But this was a case of the brother having a previous record for homosexual activity being reinstated and then eventually - in about 6 to 8 years made an elder and given freedom with young people.

  Then a sister in a different congregation had her small baby - about 1 or 2 years old at the time molested in what was described as group activity by adult men in the congregation, some of them in positions of authority. When she intercepted them they managed to get her put in a mental institution for two weeks. And while in that congregation I was also told by a sister who had just moved into our territory from their flight out of California that their son had been used for Satanic Ritual Abuse and that the same activity was occurring in the congregation we were currently in. She did not know I knew about this young child incident as I kept my mouth mum period but she struck me as being a truthful witness about these events. Their alarm was horrendous. So this makes 4 events I have learned of during my 33 plus years. My daughter knew of more up north in her area but we will not count those as I do not know as much knowledge of the people involved. Just say it is not as rare as you could wish. I would prefer to think the SRA was phoney baloney and someone's hyped up fear but it appears it is REAL and not just somebody's imagination I am sad to report.
• 

  aSphereisnotaCircle

  I know of many,

  I was abused and the elders would do nothing because it was his word against mine. They also told me I MUST forgive and forget, and must never speak about it again to ANYONE. They also told me to let them know if it happened again.

  It did happen again and I went back to one of the elders, he listened to what I had to say and said "OK, let me know if it happens again"

  It did happen again, so this time I went to another elder. he gave me a long speach about how the abuser is having a tough time and as a kid I did not understand such things, he also pointed out that this whole thing must be terrible for my mother and I needed to think more of her and less of myself. I walked away from that lecture completely numb, my brain just shut down at that point.

  But I was still a believer, and I remained a believer until my early 30's. During that time I knew of many cases of abuse, but i somehow managed to convince myself that jah and the elders had it all under control.

  In spite of my own first hand experiences, I still believed that what happened to me, didn't happen to other abuse victims, I believed that those cases were handled appropriately. i was just someone who had fallen through the cracks.

  I made ALL KINDS of excuses for those elders actions. Then my oldest daughter approached the age I was when the abuse started. Thats when I stoped making excuses for those assholes. The older I get the less I understand how grown men, fathers and grandfathers, could ignore a young girls pleas for help, AND make sure she cannot seek help elsewhere.

  Back to the original question, right now I can remember 14 people who were abused by active JWs, in good standing in the congo. All the abusers got away with it, except for one, in that case the abuser and the victim were DF'd.
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  Pika_Chu

  I never really knew of any, accept this one crazy guy who molested a girl. He wasn't a higher-up or anything though. Of course, maybe I'm just not in the know.
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  saltyoldlady

  Oh and a Ps to the above incidents - the SRA stuff did not result in much discipline from the elder body. One MS got his rank yanked - he was the father of the baby which makes the event even horrendous to me. One elder - the PO - was threatened with removal from his "rank" by an investigating high ranking official known to be a "trouble shooter" from WTSdom - this high ranking guy was asked to stay out here in the area and be the DO for several years because there apparently there was so much apostasy, and other troubles, etc. etc. going on out here. The PO in question threatened to sue if his rank yanked so the unthinkable happened - they let him remain as an elder and as the PO. Amazing to both the sister and myself. Something very strange about that to me. Does the WTS run scared of lawsuits? Perhaps only in the case that great scandal might be exposed!!!

  And I forgot about a 5th incident - a young girl in that same congregation many years earlier was repeatedly molested by her step-father who was a brother. They did DF him - and he was put in the hooch for many years. The community brought this one up to me many times in my field service there but I also learned the details because the sister of the girl raped became a buddy of my daughter. The brothers would not allow the mother of the girl to divorce her husband for this activity because it was only porneia - not out and out adultery. Many years later those rulings got changed thank goodness. But this sister stuck it out and survived. The man was later reinstated in the congregation after his many years of jail service spent.

  And sorry gang - this just brings to mind a recent episode where I did know the people involved - that my daughter explained to me. Another brother up in that same congregation recently - about 2 years ago also got put in jail for sex offense with a teenage girl in the congregation during field service activity. My husband and I were good friends of that couple - he did have a previous jail record also but I did not know the details - apparently it was sexual offenses against minors. He was not an elder or MS in the congregation but here he was allowed to mix with the young people without restrictions and with the most of us not knowing the background. So this brings the count up to six for me. I try to forget these type of things - hope I don't suddenly remember more and pop back here.
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  exwhyzee

  As you can see, my comment above is blank. I had posted some information I learned on this subject but decided to delete it because I didn't want to get myself or anyone else in hot water by sharing too much. I'm going to use the word (allegedly) quite often in this condensed version, to avoid problems... you be the judge.

  While I was "IN" I never heard of any (alleged) child abuse cases but now that I think of it, I'm sure it must have happened from time to time. However, I only heard word of these (alleged) happenings, after leaving the Organization myself. I thought the accounts I was hearing of, here and elsewhere, might be a bit exaggerated....sour grapes etc. and sort of discounted them. It was easier to believe and hope this was so. That is until I ran into an old friend who (allegedly) left the "Truth" over this matter himself. All I can say is he is a very reliable and honorable individual who was (allegedly) involved with investigating, in various locations around the country, certain difficult molestation cases. He was also( allegedly) involved in other assignments with the Socitey that included international travel. He left the "Truth" altogether after hearing first hand some pretty horrific stories of (alleged ) sucide, institutionalizations and cover-ups and saw the somewhat voyeuristic way these investigations were handled at times and how enduring these amateurish investigations, effected the victims. In the end, he was removed himself for (allegedly) wanting to notify an unsuspecting congregation that a man who had been reinstated after serving a prison term for (alleged) Child Molestation, was to be released from prison soon and would be attending their Hall. He was (allegedly) told by the society to keep his mouth shut. Which he wouldn't, and didn't do, and was (allegedly) removed as an Elder.

  I have no evidence myself that these things are true but it seems to me, where there's smoke there's fire.