Not on JW.org: Jehovah's Witness Elder arrested for raping FOUR children. Local Elders and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society under investigation for cover-up.

by Balaamsass2 15 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

• 

  Balaamsass2

  Jehovah's Witness church elder Ronald Lawrence arrested over sex abuse claims dating back to 1980s

  Tyler Dunn 5:43 PM, Nov 26, 2013 4:19 PM, Nov 27, 2013 Previous Next

  10pm church arrest

  KJRH Autoplay:

  6pm church leader

  KJRH

  6pm church leader

  KJRH Show Caption Hide Caption Previous Next

  MCALESTER, Okla. - A 76-year-old McAlester man was arrested Tuesday on 19 counts of sexual abuse after police received claims he molested several children while in a position of authority more than 30 years ago.

  McAlester police detectives were alerted to the alleged sexual crimes conducted by Ronald Lawrence back in August when his first accuser reported abuse at the hands of a Jehovah's Witness church leader.

  A woman now in her 40s told detectives Lawrence, an elder at McAlester's Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, abused her when she was just eight years old, inviting her to his home, where he fondled her and raped her in his bathtub, according to her testimony found in Lawrence's arrest warrant, which was issued Tuesday.

  Two other accusers, also in their 40s, then came forward with similar stories of abuse. Both said they were very young, with one telling investigators the molestation took place from the time she was 10 until she was 13 years old. She reported being assaulted in Lawrence's swimming pool, at the lake and in the janitor's closet at the First National Bank where he worked, his arrest warrant indicates.

  Detectives spoke with Lawrence shortly after, on Oct. 25. Lawrence initially denied any sexual contact with two of the three, but admitted to at least some form of inappropriate behavior with one of the alleged victims.

  "They shouldn't have [happened]," Lawrence told detectives during a recorded interview. "I'm sure and [it] may have been on purpose, I touched her."

  Lawrence also said he was "dis-fellowshipped" from the Kingdom Hall after two allegations from within that community came to light. Lawrence even named another allegation involving a boy in the First National Bank basement, according to the affidavits. He refused to speak with investigators.

  But after the interview in which Lawrence denied the majority of allegations facing him, he called a McAlester detective, the document states, to say he had confessed to the Kingdom Hall in 2005 that the claims of abuse were true in order to be reinstated into it.

  According to Lawrence's arrest warrant, the elder did not believe the Kingdom Hall ever elected to tell law enforcement of the potential crimes. If officials did, in fact, withhold that information from authorities, they too could be prosecuted.

  We reached out to McAlester's Kingdom Hall Tuesday evening, but our efforts were unsuccessful.

  The district attorney's office is now in the process of determining what laws Lawrence might have broken that were in place in the 1980s. McAlester detectives are also exploring the possibility of more victims.

  McAlester law enforcement said Wednesday Lawrence had already bonded out of jail.
• 

  sparky1

  Looks like Jerry Sandusky might be getting a new roommate!!!!
• 

  Calebs Airplane

  Isn't this news about 8 months old?

  Also, wasn't it Bill Bowen (of Silent Lambs) who brought this case into the media spot-light?

  Either way, I'm glad it received good coverage. The Watchtower loves to throw stones at the Catholic church but they are just as bad or worse...
• 

  Balaamsass2

  Sorry, but my MS browser is unstable this AM. The original TV news cast video will not post and the older JWN posts were not getting SEO. Just doing my part in the August JW.org SEO campaign.

  Looks like WTBTS MAY have missed a bullet on the criminal case.

  " Records obtained by the News-Capital show a member was “disfellowshipped” by the church and reinstated several times over accusations of child molestation.

  Witnesses probably will not be prosecuted By Kandra Wells Editor

  Members of a McAlester church who apparently withheld information about a member accused of molesting children likely will not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired.

  Last month, 19 counts of child sexual abuse were dismissed for Ronald H. Lawrence, 76, of McAlester, after his attorney argued the statute of limitations for the alleged crimes had passed. Lawrence was a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of McAlester and records show he was “disfellowshipped” — or banished — by the church at least two times on allegations of sexual abuse. Lawrence had been accused in Pittsburg County District Court of 11 counts of lewd molestation, five counts of forcible oral sodomy, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of rape by instrumentation of three separate children from 1977 to 1982. Defense attorney Warren Gotcher of McAlester successfully argued the statute of limitations for rape and sodomy is three years, and the limit for molestation is five years. The Pittsburg County District Court case against Lawrence was dismissed Feb. 27 by Associate District Judge James Bland. The prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Danita Williams, has filed an intent to appeal the dismissal. “We feel very strongly about the case and we feel very strong in regards to the issue of concealment,” Williams told the McAlester News-Capital last week. State law requires reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect, and sets the statute of limitations for violation of the misdemeanor at three years. Letters between the McAlester church and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York about Lawrence, a former elder, have been obtained by the News-Capital. They indicate the McAlester church became aware of sex child abuse allegations against Lawrence as early as 1994. A 1998 letter from New York is signed with a stamp that appears to read, “Your brothers, Watchtower B&T Society of New York, Inc.,” to “Body of Elders, McAlester Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, c/o Wendell G. Marley.” It discusses a review of “testimony that you have gathered thus far” about “accusations of sexual improprieties and other possible acts of sexual abuse that have been made by several people against Ronald Lawrence.” The letter goes on to define child sexual abuse: “Child sexual abuse occurs when an adult purposefully uses a child or some form of sexual gratification.” The letter refers to a 1994 accusation and three other accusers of Lawrence, and prompts the church’s Body of Elders: “Once you have clarified the testimony of the accusers and have seen the reaction of Brother Lawrence to their testimony, please write back to us with all the details before proceeding judicially.” Eventually, the McAlester church “disfellowshipped” Lawrence, but the alleged attacks were apparently never reported to police. Lawrence was reinstated by the church in November 2000, according to church records. He was again disfellowshipped in September 2005, and a form used for the official proceeding lists “lying, loose conduct, child abuse (sexual)” as the specific offenses used for the move. The form also shows he was again re-instated in April 2010. The prosecutor in his court case had asked Judge Bland in a Jan. 28 brief to allow her to present “proof regarding the ‘concealment’ of this crime by the wrongdoer, defendant Ronald H. Lawrence and the entire church body, most especially the governing body of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” “The actions of the church, their banishment of the defendant on more than one occasion and the directives of the governing body toward the victims and their family members regarding these crimes were actions of ‘concealment’ and further actions preventing the victims from reporting the crimes to law enforcement.” Lawrence’s attorney Gotcher has not responded to a message seeking comment on the case, and a woman who identified herself as Lawrence’s wife, Sarah Lawrence, told the News-Capital on Wednesday that “he really doesn’t want to talk to anybody about it right now.” No phone listing could be found for the McAlester church, and no one answered the door at the Electric Avenue building on Wednesday morning. Contact Kandra Wells at [email protected]
• 

  Balaamsass2

  Looks like number four mentioned by the original TV news decided not to testify and the DA did not proceed with that one. Holy spirit in the "spiritual paradise" of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society hard at work.
• 

  cultBgone

  Every single member of that congregation should be horrified, as once it was broadcast locally, they all know this took place.

  Are the rank and file jws just pretending everything is okay and this was an "isolated" incident by a random "bad" person?

  Those elders who never reported these events to the police should be horse-whipped and tossed out in the street. Where is cowboy justice these days?
• 

  jam

  I gave talks in that KH around 1977-1986....The first I heard

  of it....So sad.....
• 

  hamsterbait

  I personally knew a person who had molested little boys, years after I last saw him, when he was an eldub. The elders never reported it, though they DFd the perpetrator. I suppose in this case it makes them accessories after the fact. He was never prosecuted, and after 20 yrs still DF.

  if it wasn't for the fact the boys concerned are now in their 30s, I wd be tempted to dredge it up to the police, but those men might not want their family and kids traumatised.

  i have to respect their wishes.

  HB
• 

  BucketShopBill

  If this is a Spiritual Paradise, how come we have Predators who are Elders who were appointed by the Jehovah(Governing Body is now Jehovah or equated with Jehovah according to the New Watchtower Information!).

  What is spoken by the Dukes of New York is now considered "words spoken by the Universal Supreme Being", some might call that Blasphemy, other's say "They are Divine!".
• 

  zeb

  accesories after the fact. The day governments move on the wts they will scream from the roof tops of their 'persecution'. How elders can live with themselves having not reported mongerels like this one is beyond me. As i have said before ... 7.62.