North Jersey News - April 20th 2002:
Around the region
Saturday, April 20, 2002
A West Milford man pleaded guilty to child endangerment offenses Friday for sexual encounters he had with two teenage girls he met through his membership at the Jehovah's Witnesses temple in town.
Tom Blankenship, 23, had been befriended by an elder at the church and was often invited over for meals and visits, said Joseph Del Russo, Passaic County chief assistant prosecutor.
From the fall of 1998 through April 2000, Blankenship had sexual relations with one of the elder's relatives, a 17-year-old girl. He had similar sexual contact with another relative, a 14-year-old girl, from June 2001 through Feb. 21, Del Russo said.
Although there was no physical force used in the incidents, Blankenship was charged with multiple sexual assault charges because of the victims' ages. The incidents sometimes took place when Blankenship was over for visits, other times when he sneaked into the house late at night, Del Russo said.
The church elder contacted police Feb. 27 and Blankenship was arrested March 3 and charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, and child endangerment offenses.
He pleaded guilty to two of the child endangerment offenses and will face a probationary sentence with up to 364 days in the county jail. Had he been convicted at trial, Blankenship faced up to 10 years behind bars.
- Jennifer V. Hughes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Zealand Television News Story - April 8th 2002:
POSSIBLE MOTIVE FOR DISAPPEARANCE
UPDATED: 05:50PM MONDAY 8 APRIL
Police have finally uncovered a possible motive for the disappearance of a teenage Jehovah's Witness on a camping trip four months ago.
Other church members who were with Elon Oved, have admitted they were dressing up in women's underwear and taking photos of each other urinating.
Oved's father says his shy son would have left the group out of embarassment and then lost his way.
Four months after his son disappeared in the mountains, Rami Oved says he's disgusted to find out exactly what happened on the tramping trip just before he went missing.
This photograph shows one of the group - a 15-year-old boy - wearing a bra. The group's leaders have also admitted taking photos of people urinating.
Elon's father, Rami Oved says: "Elon was very sensitive when it comes to that so I'm sure he was very fearful of being photographed or followed and therefore he was pushed further into the bush."
14-year-old Elon Oved was on a camping trip with fellow Jehovah's Witness church members in the Lewis Pass area last December... he disappeared after changing clothes behind a hut...his body was found two months later.
Police say while the conduct was not criminal, they are annoyed that they weren't told about the pranks.
The Jehovah's Witness church emphasised it was a privately organised trip... but said the photograph.."reflects behaviour that is totally unacceptable to the moral standards espoused by the Jehovah's Witness community. If photographs were taken of people urinating during the trip, such conduct is similarly inappropriate, even if the actions were meant as a practical joke."
Police have already re-interviewed the camping party... details of their behaviour will be heard at a coroner's inquest into Elon's death.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Oregonian Newspaper - March 29th 2002:
Letter to Editor of The Oregonian Newspaper.
Witnesses hide molestation The Catholic church has hidden sexual abuse by moving guilty priests to new communities. Even more abominable, Jehovah's Witnesses hide the molestation of their youths by threatening the victims with expulsion if they try to warn and protect other members or even to report the perpetrators to police.
03/29/02
Last August, I was one of a group of advocates from across the nation to travel to Ritzville, Wash., to support one such victim when she brought charges against her Jehovah's Witness molester/rapist, Manuel Belize, at his retrial.
For at least three decades, Jehovah's Witness rape victims were accused of "consenting to fornication" for being unable to scream when criminally assaulted. An untold number were disfellowshipped and shunned. Some committed suicide.
How do the victims of these violent crimes become a danger to the fellowship, thus needing to be expelled and shunned? Is it not, rather, the other way around?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacramento Bee Newspaper - March 16th 2002:
Former El Dorado family dead in murder-suicide
Robert Bryant killed his children and wife, then himself, officials say
By Walt Wiley and Peter Hecht -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, March 16, 2002
A family of six that moved from Shingle Springs to McMinnville, Ore., in May was found dead in a murder-suicide, authorities in Oregon said Friday.
Robert Bryant killed his wife and four children before turning the gun on himself, said Yamhill County District Attorney Bradley C. Berry.
All apparently had been killed by shotgun blasts.
"Mr. Robert Bryant killed his wife and children and then took his own life," Berry said. A motive is not yet known.
The children last attended school Feb. 22. Based on a receipt with a time stamp found in the home, the shootings are believed to have occurred the night of Feb. 23, he said.
The body of Bryant, 37, a landscaper who owned Bryant's Landscape Maintenance in El Dorado County from 1981 until the business failed 19 years later, was found in the living room with a shotgun still in his right hand.
Also dead were his 37-year-old wife, Janet Ellen Bryant, and their children: Clayton, 15, Ethan, 12, Ashley, 10, and Alyssa, 8.
Their bodies were discovered Thursday after several reports by neighbors that no one had been seen around the house for two weeks. Investigators believe they had been dead for three weeks.
The Bryants left California after Robert Bryant's business failed and a bitter split with family members and the Jehovah's Witnesses Shingle Springs congregation.
The Bryant family lived for four years in a well-kept, ranch-style home on an acre of manzanita and small oaks near Shingle Springs. They had purchased the home for $159,000 in 1997 and sold it for $245,000 in May.
The family moved to Mc-Minnville, 40 miles southwest of Portland, and lived in a travel trailer from midsummer until Christmas at the Olde Stone Village trailer park.
The Bryants finished paying in December for the 2.2 acres they bought for $96,000 from Dennis Goecks, a former Yamhill County commissioner and neighbor. They planned to build a permanent residence next to the double-wide modular home in which they'd most recently been living, Goecks said.
"The family used to remind us of what we were like when we first got here," Goecks said. "They were excited to have found a beautiful place to live. They were excited about making it look really great."
In Shingle Springs, Mark Messier Sr., an elder at the Shingle Springs Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, said Bryant was expelled from the congregation about three years ago after he announced that he no longer accepted its religious teachings.
Messier said Bryant also became estranged from several branches of his family, including his parents, three brothers and a sister in the Shingle Springs and Cameron Park area.
He said other family members were Jehovah's Witnesses and the split appeared to involve differences over religious beliefs.
"He had isolated his children from the rest of the family," Messier said. "They wanted access to visit with the children, like grandparents would and like uncles would. But he (Bryant) was refusing to allow them visitation."
Messier said grieving members of Bryant's extended family were headed to Oregon on Friday.
The bodies were discovered by Yamhill County Sheriff's Detective Jack Crabtree about 9 p.m. Thursday during an unrelated call in the rural neighborhood.
Crabtree used a ladder to peer through a window after neighbors expressed concern for the family that had not been seen for weeks. He said that when he saw Robert Bryant's body on the floor, he knew he would find more bodies inside.
Ashley and Alyssa were in one room, in twin beds formed like an L. Older brothers Ethan and Clayton were in bunk beds in another room. Their mother was on the floor nearby. There was a lone spent shell for each victim.
At area schools Friday, teachers and students wept, hugged one another and talked about the kids they hadn't had time to get to know very well.
Chris Webb, an 18-year-old senior at McMinnville High School, knew Clayton Bryant as a nice person who never gave anyone any problems.
"He would always be telling me about how he had redone some guy's whole lawn that weekend and that he had been paid," Webb said.
Michel Jo Scott owns a catboarding business in Newberg. She became worried about the family after Bryant failed to show up to complete irrigation work he had contracted to do.
She, like many others Friday, was left searching for answers.
"He just seemed to be such a nice fellow," Scott said. "He had the sweetest smile."
"When they sold their house and were packing up to move, he said he was having a tough time with his business here and he had a better opportunity in Oregon," said Bob Riley, a neighbor who lived a few houses down the gravel Pleasant View Lane where the Bryants lived near Shingle Springs.
Riley, whose family moved into the neighborhood in March 2000, said his family tried to befriend the Bryants because they had children of similar ages.
He said the Bryant parents kept a close watch on their children and seemed reluctant to have them socialize with the neighbors.
"We tried to create some opportunities for the kids to play together, and we invited them to our church," Riley said. "But (Robert Bryant) said they were Jehovah's Witnesses and they celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday. We tried maybe a half-dozen times to get the kids together but came to the conclusion that they were a family that wanted to keep their kids close and they didn't want to expose them to outside influences of any kind."
He said Bryant would take the children on fishing and camping trips.
"The children were well-liked and respected by everybody who knew them," Messier said. "The children have always been very outgoing and energetic and sociable. But he limited their socialization. That was his choice."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ThisIsNorthScotland.co.uk News - March 4th 2002:
MISSING PAEDOPHILE IN PRISON FOR THREE YEARShttp://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=62692&command=displayContent&sourceNode=62244&contentPK=1190243IAIN MACIVER09:00 - 04 March 2002
THE mystery over why a convicted paedophile from Alloa suddenly vanished from a remote village where he had settled controversially has been solved.
Jehovah's Witness Thomas Maxwell is in jail after being found guilty of a further string of sexual attacks and cruelty to girls - some as young as seven.
Some of the latest offences he was jailed for date back more than 30 years.
Maxwell, 61, moved to Leverburgh in the south of Harris just before his conviction in June, 2000, for sex offences against a 12-year-old girl.
In June, 2000, Maxwell was living in Woodlea Park , Sauchie, near Alloa, when he was found guilty at Alloa Sheriff Court on two counts of behaving with shameless indecency.
Islanders reacted angrily when he was sentenced to three years probation and 240 hours community service at Alloa Sheriff Court .
Sheriff William Reid said his decision not to impose a prison sentence was influenced by Maxwell's voluntary exile "to a remote part of the Western Isles".
In recent weeks, villagers in Leverburgh had been baffled over why Maxwell had not been seen since the end of January.
One said: "It was obvious Maxwell was no longer around. He was always wandering about the village and the beaches although most people would generally steer clear of him.
"But he had won over a few gullible people. Some would say they found him nice and pleasant and they kept saying that they could not fault his be haviour.
"These few people said he should not be judged even although they knew full well he had been convicted of serious child sex offences. That attitude is very worrying. It may have made Maxwell seem welcome."
Now papers released from Edinburgh Sheriff Court show that Maxwell, of 2 Burnside Cottages, Obbe Road , in Leverburgh, was put on trial on January 24 and was convicted on January 28.
He is now serving a three-year jail sentence after being found guilty on a charge that at various times between August, 1970, and November, 1974, at an Edinburgh address he fondled a girl who was just eight when the abuse began.
The lewd, indecent and libidinous conduct continued until she was 13, according to the charge.
Maxwell was also found guilty of attempting sex with the same girl on an occasion between October, 1972, and June, 1975, at either the same address or an address in Linlithgow.
Finally, Maxwell was found guilty of cruelty between March, 1971, and March, 1973, to another girl who was just seven or eight at the time.
The court heard that she suffered injuries when Maxwell poured boiling water between her legs as she sat in a basin and when he also held a bottle of steam against her skin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Garden City Telegram Online Edition - March 2nd 2002:
Man acquitted of molestation chargesBY JACLYN O'MALLEYDate Posted on Saturday, March 2, 2002 10:05:50 AMA 71-year-old Garden City man was acquitted Friday afternoon on charges he repeatedly sexually molested his young granddaughter and two great-granddaughters.
Arthur Cruz exchanged hearty handshakes and bear hugs with numerous family members who have been supporting him in the courtroom throughout the trial. When the not-guilty verdict on five counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child was read, his supporters gasped with delight and shed tears of joy.
Meanwhile, Cruz's 15-year-old granddaughter sat with a relative and sobbed. The girl's companion cried and said she, too, had been victimized by Cruz and can't believe he was freed.
Cruz's twin 9-year-old great-granddaughters also had testified he sexually assaulted them numerous times when they were younger. They were not present for the verdict. Their mother was, and she celebrated the acquittal in the hallway with Cruz and his clan.
The 15-year-old came forward last summer. She said Cruz sexually molested her when she was a 10-year-old spending summer vacation at his home. The incidents surfaced when she reported another family member sexually abused her.
Around the same time, the twins confided in a fireman that they were being abused by Cruz.
Cruz's defense depended on the jurors finding the girls' testimony not credible enough to convict him. He countered their claims by saying the twins made it up because they were mad he took their pet dog, and saying that the 15-year-old wanted to use it to back up claims against another family member.
All three girls testified to similar events. They said Cruz assaulted them when no one else was around - usually when a family member was caring for Cruz's sick wife in another room. He tried to kiss them, would shove his hands down their pants and fondle their genitals, they testified.
They all claimed Cruz told them if they said anything about the fondling, no one would believe them.
In an interview after his arrest, Cruz told a detective he didn't know any of his grandchildren and was stunned anyone would put a Jehovah's Witness in jail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a Letter sent to the Editor of an Arizona Newspaper around February 25th 2002:
To the Editor:Survivors of sexual abuse need support and validation to heal. The cover-up in the Catholic Church of abuse of children by priests has no doubt further scarred the innocent victims.
Another religious group is soon to have their cover blown, the fallout from which will be the same as that experienced within the Catholic Churchshame, disbelief, denial, and disgust. The public has an absolute and undisputed right to know that a pedophile may be knocking at their door under the guise of religion.
Jehovahs Witnesses long standing policy, implemented by the governing body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, of requiring two witnesses to a sin, combined with keeping essentially all problems within the congregation to protect their public image, has provided a haven for molesters of all types. Victims can even be disfellowshipped if they warn others in the congregation when the preposterous requirement of two witnesses has not been met.
Dateline will be offering an expose` of this scandal, possibly in March. A civil sexual abuse lawsuit was filed in Washington against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society by Erica Rodriguez, whose victimizer is now in prison. The suit cites official Watchtower policy as contributing to the harm Erica endured. Other suits are pending. The Rodriguez story will be the main focus of the Dateline probe.
Public relations appointees of the Society continue to confound questioners of policy with double-talk while offering no apology or words of comfort to the victims.
Just as those who have been molested in the Catholic Church have formed support groups among themselves, victims and supporters among Jehovahs Witnesses have formed a national alliance and can be reached at www.silentlambs.org.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tribune-Courier Newspaper - February 13th 2002:
Former Jehovah's elder starts abuse Web siteBy Bobbie FoustTribune-Courier Editor
William Bowen of Calvert City is continuing a campaign he started last year over policies within Congregation of the Jehovah's Witness church regarding alleged
sexual abuse of children.
Bowen, a former church elder, resigned last year. Now he has started a support group called silentlambs Inc., a network for abuse victims. Its Web site, www.silentlambs.org , allows victims to share their stories.
James Bonnell, leader of the local Jehovah's Witness congregation in Draffenville, wouldn't comment on the issue. "This issue was brought up over a year ago, and Mr. Bowen has tried to keep it in the public eye," he said.
Bowen also has traveled to Washington State to support a victim, who he says was harassed, during two criminal trials of her abuser.
On Jan. 22, the woman, Erica Rodriguez, filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of
Washington, against Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Othello Spanish Congregation of Jehovahs Witnesses and Manuel Belizthe man convicted of abusing her as a child.
Bowen calls the lawsuit just the tip of the iceberg. He claims the church discourages victims from reporting abuse to authorities telling them instead to report it to church leaders.
Our denomination is now where the Catholic Church was 20 years agoright on the edge of a crisis," Bowen said.
Bowen recommends three things to stop abuse:
# Victims should go to the police first.
# The church should not put a known molester in a position of responsibility.
# Stop child molesters from going door to door.
After resigning last year as presiding overseer of the local congregation, Bowen made accusations to "push the denomination's leaders to respond more sympathetically" to abuse victims, a release said. He claims that "on a shoestring budget" in only few months he has contacted more than 1,000 victims.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Sun-Times - February 11th 2002:
Jehovah's Witness suitA woman who said her family was shunned after reporting sexual abuse by a Jehovah's Witness leader claimed in a federal lawsuit this week that the denomination protects pedophiles.
The suit by Erica Rodriguez, 23, now of Sacramento, Calif., contends the religion's policy has given pedophiles ''sanctuary, protection, sympathy and support'' while blaming and shaming victims.
Rodriguez seeks undisclosed damages from the international Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Manuel Beliz, a former Jehovah's Witnesses leader in Othello, Wash., who was sentenced to 11 years in prison last year for molesting Rodriguez.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Paducah Sun (Kentucky) Newspaper - February 8th 2002:
No silence of the LambsWeb site for pedophile victims provides support, opportunity to share storiesBy C.D. Bradley [email protected].8650BENTON, Ky.--Bill Bowen, the former Jehovah's Witness elder who made news when he resigned last year and criticized the church for its position on pedophiles in the congregation, has started a support group for victims.
"Our purpose is to give a voice to those who have been silenced by the organization," Bowen said of his group, Silent Lambs. "We want to let them know they do have a place they can go to. We don't perform any miracles. We just give them resources and information, sources of counseling and help."
The nonprofit group's work centers around its Web site at www.silentlambs.org. The site, which Bowen said is visited by about 200 Internet surfers a day, provides a variety of information and resources.
It includes a place for victims to share their stories, often told in brutal detail. Bowen said the site now has about 400 stories split between a victims page and guestbook.
The page also keeps tabs on alleged Witness molesters in the news, provides tips on how to "pinpoint a pedophile," picks up church writings on the issue, and offers resources for victims who are looking for help.
"Only one out of five post their stories," Bowen said of the site's visitors. "Four remain silent. I tell the ones who do that they're really the heroes of the Web site. They are the ones that show that I'm not just some crazy guy in Kentucky who's made up a story.
"That's why I put up the elders' letters (outlining church policy). That way, they're not about taking my word for it. They can read it themselves."
Bowen said the church requires members to report anything, including molestation, to the congregation's elders, who then advise them what action to take. Church doctrine requires two witnesses for any type of disciplinary action, and there are generally not two witnesses to pedophilia. Church representatives have said they always follow the law, but Bowen said that does not go far enough. Only 16 states, including Kentucky, require clergy to report accusations of sexual abuse to authorities, and Bowen said elders in the other states generally choose not to report it.
Bowen has also posted audio from testimony by Erica Rodriguez, who said she was raped and molested by a church elder when she lived in Washington state from the age of four until her family moved when she was 11. Now 23 and living in Sacramento, Calif., she has sued the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based church headquarters the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society claiming church policy protects pedophiles.
Bowen said when Manuel Beliz, the former elder convicted last year of raping Rodriguez was sentenced a second time, 29 members of the church sent letters supporting him. He said Rodriguez and her family were shunned after she took the matter to legal authorities.
"Three simple things would make it a better organization," Bowen said. "One, if a child is molested, they should be required to go to the police first, not the elders. Two, if a child molester comes into the congregation, don't put him in a position of responsibility. Three, stop child molesters from going door to door."
The denomination is known for proselytizing by knocking on doors.
Bowen said he's not out to destroy the church, and is not making any profit from the support group, which he helps fund and run with the help of volunteers nationwide.
"It's a meaningful effort, and I'm glad for what it has been able to accomplish," he said. "If anything has been accomplished, it's a growing awareness among people at the Watchtower that they'd better do this right. They've been made aware they need to be careful, and if they mess up, we're going to find out about it and let everybody know."
The organization can also be reached at 1-877-WTABUSE.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Newswire - January 28th 2002:
More Sexual Abuse Suits Against Jehovah's Witnesses Will Follow, Predicts Ex-Church Elder & Legal ExpertStory Filed: Monday, January 28, 2002 6:52 PM ESTSPOKANE, Wash., Jan 28, 2002 (U.S. Newswire via COMTEX) -- A federal civil sexual abuse lawsuit filed last week in Spokane, Washington against the Brooklyn-based Jehovah's Witness organization is "just the tip of the iceberg," according to the leader of a new nationwide support group for church members who have been abused by Jehovah Witness members and leaders. A plaintiff's attorney who has represented more than 400 people who were molested by clergy agrees.
Dozens more victims of other abusive church leaders may file similar suits, they predict.
Last Tuesday, a 23-year-old Sacramento woman, Erica Rodriguez, sued the Jehovah's Witness minister who repeatedly abused her and the New York-based denomination which "routinely" gives pedophiles "sanctuary, protection, sympathy and support," the suit claims. Manuel Beliz of the Othello Washington Spanish Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was convicted of raping and molesting Rodriguez during her childhood and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
The case is significant because it is one of a relatively small number filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses' national headquarters.
One of Rodriguez' attorney's in the case, Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul Minnesota, has filed more sexual abuse suits against religious bodies than any other legal expert. "In my experience over the last 20 years, a handful of brave victims step forward in any denomination. Then, others who are hurting become inspired to seek healing too," he said.
"Our denomination is now where the Catholic Church was 20 years ago -- right on the edge of a crisis," said William H. Bowen of Calvert City, Kentucky. A former church elder in his local congregation and a Jehovah's Witness for 43 years, Bowen now heads "silentlambs," a new national self-help group for men and women molested by Jehovah's Witness members. ( www.silentlambs.org, 1-877-WTABUSE) He resigned as Presiding Overseer last year to support victims and push the denomination's leaders to respond more sympathetically to abuse victims and turn over alleged molesters to the criminal justice system.
"In just a few months, with a shoestring budget and a volunteer staff, our group has been contacted by nearly 1,000 Witnesses and former Witnesses who have been raped or molested by church members," Bowen claimed. The alleged victims range in age from 2 to 15 from Maine to California and several foreign countries.
Repressive and insular church policies, a rigid hierarchy and a strong emphasis on obeying church authorities combine to "trap victims in a cult of silence," Bowen believes. Members of other faith groups who are abused are more apt to speak up and consult attorneys or turn to police, he feels.
"Both formally and informally, Witnesses are taught to take all matters, especially controversial matters, to church leaders, and to avoid bringing shame on the church," said Barbara Anderson, another leader in "silentlambs." Anderson served for 10 years at "Bethel," the Brooklyn New York headquarters of the denomination. Like Bowen, she became disillusioned after being assigned as a researcher on how church leaders handled abuse accusations.
But that "cult of silence" is slowly changing, she believes. "More and more Witnesses realize that exposing sexual crimes is God's will. They recognize that getting rid of molesters is healthy for the church." Witnesses are "encouraged, even inspired" by the example of victims in Catholic and Protestant denominations who have sued their perpetrators with increasing success in recent years, she said.
"We find that the more conservative and controlling a church group is, the harder it is for someone who has been victimized to come forward," said attorney Timothy Kosnoff of Bellevue Washington. Kosnoff also represents Rodriguez and has handled sexual abuse claims against other religious organizations.
"That's why having a support group is so helpful, and that's why getting the police or a therapist or any outside professional involved is critical," he said.
While the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters maintains extensive internal files on accused molesters within the church, they refuse to make public this information. In many cases, they do not report the crime to police, Bowen said. As a result, no solid figures exist on the number of Jehovah's Witnesses who have been accused of sexual molestation.
"Whatever that number is, you can be sure it's going to start growing quickly and dramatically," said Bowen. "Victims are starting to discover that the church can no longer bully them into silence."
The denomination has one million members in the United States and six million across the world.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacramento Bee (SacBee.com) News - January 26th 2002:
Woman sues Jehovah's Witnesses in sex abuseBy Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published January 26, 2002)Claiming church policy protects child molesters, a Sacramento woman is suing the national headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses and a church elder convicted of raping her.
Erica Rodriguez, 23, says in a civil lawsuit filed earlier this week that church elders threatened her with expulsion if she told police that as a child she had been molested by a longtime congregant while living in the state of Washington.
Rodriguez and her mother were shunned by church members for reporting the abuse while the accused was given "sanctuary, protection, sympathy and support," according to the lawsuit.
Rodriguez is seeking undisclosed damages from Manuel Beliz; the Othello Spanish Jehovah's Witnesses Congregation in Othello, Wash.; and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the church's national governing body. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane, Wash.
Church officials would not comment on Rodriguez's lawsuit, but did say they report crimes to the proper authorities.
"We have no objection to a crime being handled," said J.R. Brown, director of the Office of Public Information for the national organization. "In no way do we conflict with how police or other authorities handle these cases."
Beliz, 48, is a former church elder in Othello, about 100 miles southwest of Spokane. Last August, he was convicted of raping and molesting Rodriguez from the time she was 4 until she was 11, when her family moved from Washington to Sacramento, where Rodriguez still lives.
Beliz is serving an 11-year sentence in Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
Rodriguez said Friday that the molestation began when she visited the home of her best friend, Beliz's daughter. She said Beliz told her that if she reported the abuse he would make sure her family would face expulsion, or "disfellowship," from the Jehovah's Witnesses.
After Rodriguez's family moved to Sacramento, Rodriguez said she told church elders here about Beliz. They told her to let the church handle it, she said.
"We were loyal and devoted," Rodriguez said. "We trusted the church and thought they would do the right thing."
Instead, she said, the church elders did nothing.
Eventually, Rodriguez went to Sacramento police. They contacted police in Othello, and Beliz was later arrested.
"Church policy requires that there be two witnesses, and as you know that doesn't happen in molestation cases," Rodriguez said.
Her attorney, Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., said the church policy makes it easier for predators to escape detection.
"Jehovah's Witnesses have been employing practices that don't protect children," said Anderson, who has filed more than 400 sexual-abuse cases against clergy across the country.
"They aren't entitled to operate above or below the law when it comes to a child's safety," he said.
But church officials strongly denied Anderson's allegation.
"The two-witnesses requirement applies to how we handle transgressions or sins as a church," Brown said. "It has nothing to do with how we handle a crime.
"We are a church made up of families ... We would not allow predators to get away with this," Brown said.
Rodriguez said the church failed her. Although she was never stripped of her church membership, she no longer belongs to a congregation.
"I don't believe in organized religion anymore," she said, "not after this."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian U.K. Newspaper - January 26th 2002:
Witness on the watchtowerStephen BatesSaturday January 26, 2002The GuardianThe letter from JR Brown, director of the office of public information for Jehovah's Witnesses in New York, spoke fondly of the Guardian, pointing out that "our journals, Awake! and the Watchtower quote from it extensively." Sadly, his opinion had changed as a result of a four-paragraph article I had written last November.
The story was a particularly terrible one. Larry and Constance Slack, a devoutly religious couple from Chicago's south side, had been accused of beating their 12 year-old daughter Laree to death with a length of electric cable, 5ft long and almost an inch thick, after she could not find her mother's coat quickly enough for them go out on time one Saturday evening.
They had beaten her in accordance with Deuteronomy 25, verses 1-3, prescribing 40 lashes' chastisement, minus one, as authorised by Jewish tradition, but then zealously reproducing St Paul's punishment (Corinthians 2:11) by multiplying it three times. The child, whose mother Constance administered some of the lashes, died after being beaten 160 times. Mrs Slack is a nurse.
The couple's five other children - one of whom, an eight year-old boy, was also beaten for being unable to find the coat - were ordered to help hold Laree down. She was gagged with a towel to prevent her screams being heard.
But what disturbed JR Brown about the Guardian's report was not the shocking story itself but the fact that the Slacks were described as Jehovah's Witnesses. He helpfully appended a statement from Leon, Larry Slack's brother, insisting that the couple were not devout witnesses. Although baptised as JWs, "for the last 10 years they have not shared in our worship services, although there were a few relatively short time periods that they would sporadically show up at meetings.
"To physically harm, abuse or kill others is diametrically opposed to the Bible principles we believe in and strive to practice... among the qualities we study about in the Bible... are.... love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control."
The Jehovah's Witnesses have reason to be nervous about this case. A series of court actions concerning child abuse are pending across the US, and the sect's guidelines are coming under scrutiny because they appear to hinder any investigation of allegations made by children. They recommend, for instance, that complaints be investigated only if abuse is observed by two independent witnesses, and that any documentation arising from an inquiry should be burned rather than shown to outsiders.
The Watchtower does not prescribe 117 lashes for children, but it certainly endorses Proverbs 23:14: "Do not withold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die." Line four of song 164 in the Witnesses' hymn book, Children: Precious Gifts From God", chirrups: "He says 'Use the rod, yet with tenderness and loving care'."
The organisation has been in almost daily expectation of Armageddon since 1914, and keeps members in line by predicting a grim fate for non-believers - known privately as birdseed - since, in fulfilment of Ezekiel 39:18, their bones will be picked clean by crows. In particular, since September 11, they hope no one notices that their standard depiction of the onset of Armageddon is a jet plane crashing into a New York skyscraper.
The Watchtower holds that "theocratic war strategy" can justly be used to deceive outsiders: "In times of spiritual warfare, it is proper to mis-direct the enemy by hiding the truth. It is done unselfishly; it does no harm."
Presumably, this is JR Brown's precept in his letter. A trawl of Awake! and The Watchtower reveals few references to "the Manchester Guardian" in the last 20 years - certainly none current quoting from it extensively - and those there are appear to be distortions, or outright reversals, of what our articles said. As with the Bible, the interpretation is wrenched out of context.
But there's a deeper, nagging, thought here. Why is the Watchtower so keen to abandon the Slacks to their fate? Surely a Christian religion should not deny its followers, however repugnantly they have behaved? Did not the example of St Peter on Good Friday lay down a few guidelines here? It can't be, can it, that JR Brown believes that ordinary folk - birdseed, Guardian readers - might think that JWs' reading of the Bible allows such a misunderstanding?
We await his next response with interest.
Stephen Bates is the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crosswalk.com News Channel - January 25th 2002:
Jehovah's Witness Church Accused of Hiding Sexual AbusersBy Matt PyeattCNS Staff WriterJanuary 25, 2002www.CNSNews.com -
The woman who was sexually abused by a leading elder in a Jehovah's Witness church in Washington State claims the church regularly hides illegal actions of its members and officials to protect its "image."
The elder, Manuel Beliz, was convicted of raping and molesting 23-year-old Erica Rodriguez and sentenced last August to 11 years in prison. Beliz now awaits the result of a civil suit filed by Rodriguez against him, the Othello Washington Spanish Jehovah's Witness congregation and the church's official national governing body, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York.
Rodriguez said Beliz "abused her approximately once a week" from the time she was four until she was 11, when she and her family moved to California. "The criminal case was to protect other kids from a dangerous molester," Rodriguez said. "This case [civil suit] is to protect many more kids from a dangerous denomination."
Rodriguez believes that "perhaps thousands" of youngsters are victims to the Jehovah's Witness denomination because of what she alleges is the church's policy to allow known molesters to avoid detection and criminal prosecution.
Attorney Timothy Kosnoff stated that Rodriguez was pressured to remain silent about the issue and that church officials Carlos Chicas and Milton Malendez threatened her with "disfellowship" or ex-communication from the church if she spoke out.
"This pattern of forbidding abuse victims to contact police or outsiders is standard operating procedure all Jehovah's Witnesses must follow, by direction of the national organization in New York," Kosnoff said. "By failing to contact civil authorities, the Jehovah's Witness elders violated Washington's mandatory child abuse law."
Beliz is currently serving time in a Washington state prison in Walla Walla. Two separate juries found Beliz guilty of the crimes. The first conviction was overturned because the deputy prosecutor admitted to tampering with the jury by attempting to exclude younger women during jury selection. An appellate court ordered a mistrial and Beliz was convicted a second time.
Jehovah's Witness church officials in New York deny that the church hides criminal activity. "We have no such policy. Our policy allows for anyone who wishes to report the matter to the authorities to do so," J.R. Brown, national spokesman for the Jehovah's Witness organization, said. "We strictly comply. We are not in any way resistive to the proper authorities being notified."
Brown said that while he could not comment on the specifics of the case, the church typically follows general policy guidelines in such matters.
"We follow a general policy that we do not support legally any Jehovah's Witness charged with a crime. We do not use our donated resources to defend any Jehovah's Witness accused of a crime," Brown said.
Barrett said Rodriguez brought the civil suit to "bring attention to the fact that the Jehovah's Witness church has very regressive policies and she wants to see some changes."
"The Jehovah Witness church and the Watchtower Society must protect kids and not molesters. A lot of pain and suffering could be prevented if they would forget about the church's image, take sexual abuse seriously and start reaching out to the victims," Rodriguez said.
But Brown said the core issue is not the church's image.
"If someone were to feel that our concern for our resources were greater than that for innocent victims, that simply is not true," Brown said. "We are concerned, just as any other organization, about our public image. We are concerned about our resources because we are recipients of donated funds for non-profit charitable work. But we are primarily ministers who are concerned to act as shepherds in a protective and spiritual sense over the members of the congregation," he said.
"If anyone has been abused by anyone else in the congregation or whether that person is an appointed elder or not, we view this as a horrific crime to inflict on a child or anyone else," Brown said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tri-City Herald (Washington) News - January 23rd 2002:
Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Othello sued in sex abuse caseThis story was published 1/23/2002By Shirley WentworthHerald Basin bureau
OTHELLO -- A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the Othello Spanish Jehovah's Witnesses congregation and its New York governing body, alleging they covered up the sexual abuse of a child.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane by Erica Rodriguez, 23, now of Sacramento, Calif., also seeks unspecified damages from Manuel Beliz, the man who abused her, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
Rodriguez, who testified in Adams County Superior Court that she was raped weekly between the ages of 4 and 11 by Beliz, won two criminal court trials. Beliz, 49, first was convicted in 1998, but that conviction was overturned. He was convicted a second time last year, and his 11-year sentence was reinstated.
Although the Herald usually does not report the names of people who report sexual assaults, Rodriguez has gone public in her quest to save other children from pedophilia.
Rodriguez said after she moved to California at age 12, an elder in the church she attended there also began abusing her, which went on for four years. She said when she reported the abuse to church elders, the man was removed as an elder but not disfellowshipped from the church.
When she told the elder that she planned to go to the police, she was told she'd be disfellowshipped. She did contact Sacramento police, who contacted Othello police, who arrested Beliz. Rodriguez also has filed criminal charges against the Sacramento elder, but that case has not yet gone to court.
Although Beliz was disfellowshipped from the church, he was reinstated as an elder shortly before the trial. Rodriguez said she called the Watchtower legal department to ask why. "This guy said, 'It's none of your business, don't call again,' " she said.
Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., the lead attorney in Rodriguez's suit, said he has sued just about every church denomination for covering up child sex abuse over the last 20 years.
This is the second such suit he has filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses, with the other in New Hampshire.
"The vast majority have been Catholic; I stumbled over that phenomenon in the early 80s," Anderson said. He filed the first pedophile case against the Catholic Church in 1982.
Anderson said pedophilia is most likely to occur in "hierarchical, insular, religious organizations that are paternalistic and sexist and repress healthy sexuality."
"They are secret ... they are run by one male or a small group of men," he said.
Under Jehovah's Witness church policy, congregation members report transgressions of other members to a judicial committee made up of three or more church elders -- none of whom are women.
The committee decides what disciplinary action to mete out, often using disfellowshipping as punishment. Disfellowshipping means the congregation -- including family members and friends -- shuns the culprit, who becomes invisible to them.
When allegations of misbehavior are taken before the elders, at least two witnesses are required if the accused denies the charge -- which is particularly difficult to provide in accusations of sexual abuse.
Rodriguez's lawsuit alleges the elders tell the victim not to talk to other congregation members or to report the abuse to law enforcement authorities under pain of sanction or disfellowshipping.
However, Watchtower spokesman J.R. Brown, who had not yet seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment specifically, said the church does not interfere with the reporting of a crime.
He said church elders are supposed to contact headquarters if they have questions about a case.
"When we are contacted, we tell elders if they are in a state where (reporting pedophilia) is required," he said. "We want to make sure we are legally compliant."
Brown said he is aware that numerous cases have been posted on Internet sites such as www.silentlambs.org or www.freeminds.org detailing pedophilia within the Jehovah's Witnesses church.
But he maintains most of the stories were posted by people who underwent abuse back in the 1980s, when all of society was grappling with the issue.
"Regrettably, many children probably were molested," he said.
He said the church has made strong policy changes since then, including taking suspected or convicted pedophiles out of any position in the church, not allowing them to be alone with children and various other restrictions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsday.com - January 23rd 2002:
Lawsuit claims Jehovah's Witness church protects pedophilesBy JOHN K. WILEYAssociated Press WriterJanuary 23, 2002, 1:05 AM EST
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A former Othello woman whose family was shunned after she reported sexual abuse by a Jehovah's Witness leader claims in a civil lawsuit that the denomination protects pedophiles.
The negligence lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court here on behalf of Erica Rodriguez, 23, contends the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based denomination has a policy that gives pedophiles "sanctuary, protection, sympathy and support," while blaming and shaming the victims.
She is seeking undisclosed damages from Manuel Beliz, the Othello Spanish Jehovah's Witness congregation and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the church's national governing body.
Beliz, a former church elder in Othello, was convicted last August of raping and molesting Rodriguez from the time she was 4 until her family moved to California when she was 11. Beliz is serving an 11-year sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Rodriguez currently lives in Sacramento, Calif.
Othello is located about 100 miles southwest of here.
Rodriguez's lawsuit contends the church knew Beliz was a pedophile, yet made him a ministerial servant and elder, failing to prevent further abuse of children.
Rodriguez contends her family was shunned and threatened with excommunication after her mother reported the abuse to church elders in Sacramento, Calif., and Othello. Rodriguez eventually contacted Sacramento police, who contacted Othello police, leading to Beliz's prosecution.
"What's important to her is that they knew he was a pedophile and they didn't report him, as required under Washington's child abuse reporting statute," Timothy Kosnoff, a Bellevue lawyer representing Rodriguez, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
"What gives this case broader significance is the practice within the Jehovah Witness church that, unless there are two witnesses to misconduct, it didn't happen," he said. "That's absurd, particularly in the context of child abuse, which is committed in secrecy."
Church spokesman J.R. Brown said he could not comment on Rodriguez's lawsuit because lawyers had not received paperwork.
But he said there is no policy preventing notification of civil authorities of a crime.
"What we handle is the transgression, or the sin, of child molestation. We distinguish that from the criminal aspect," Brown said. "Our view is, the church handles the sin, the secular authority * Caesar, if you will * handles the criminal activity."
The church * which has about 6 million members worldwide, including 1 million in the United States * requires two witnesses because the Bible requires it for establishing a sin, he said.
"Where the state requires that this be reported, we comply fully," he said. "We have designed a policy to protect the victim of child molestation; to protect innocent children and to not allow pedophiles to circulate among us."
Beliz, 48, was first convicted of two counts of first-degree child rape and two counts of first-degree child molestation in 1998 in the case of Rodriguez.
The Washington state Court of Appeals granted Beliz a new trial because a deputy prosecutor sought to exclude women from the jury panel.
Beliz was convicted of the same counts by an Adams County jury last August.
Rodriguez is also represented by Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., who has filed more than 400 sexual abuse lawsuits against clergy across the nation.
Rodriguez is supported by William Bowen, who resigned as an elder of a Kentucky Jehovah's Witness church last year over the denomination's handling of child sex abuse claims.
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morons.org - January 23rd 2002:
Update on Jehovah's Witnesses LawsuitPosted by samrolken on Jan. 23, 2002The Watchtower organization's authority structure is a safehaven for child molesters, and they need to be pressured to change their policies that harm children!
This article is an update on a previous article found here.
A civil suit was filed in Washington district courts this week aiming to change the policies of the Watchtower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses which protect child molesters. Erica Rodriguez was raped and abused on an almost weekly basis from age four to age eleven by an appointed congregation elder. She was threatened with disciplinary action from the congregation if she told anyone about the abuse.
I spoke briefly with the plaintiff in the case, Erica Rodriguez on Wednesday evening. She said that she wasn't aware of how much of a persistant problem sexual molestation within the congregation was because Witnesses aren't allowed to take in information from sources like the Internet. Erica said that she felt shocked and betrayed because the Watchtower headquarters, congregation elders, and dozens of congregation members showed up to support the convicted rapist. Erica went on to say that the elders felt that the disciplinary system set up within the church was enough to deal with the problem, and that it wasn't even necessary for the proper authorities to know about it, and deal with it.
Erica also spoke of the way the congregation authorities tried to protect Beliz, the rapist. They threatened not only her, but also her family, friends, and anyone who supported them with punishment if the police were informed. She was told to keep quiet, as was everyone who knew about it. Meanwhile, Manuel Beliz was allowed to continue in his role as a leader within the congregation.
Erica was quite expressive of the emotional toll taken by all this. She said that she felt guilty and horrible, not only because of the abuse, but because of the betrayal of trust brought on with the way the congregation authorities protected Beliz and supressed the truth. She also lamented over the toll that it has taken on her family members, especially her mother. She felt that if she didn't tell others though, the would be partially at fault if Beliz were to molest other girls( Ezekiel 3:20). She was also shocked that dozens of Witnesses, instead of helping her, showed up at the trial in support of Beliz, and wrote letters claiming they trusted him enough that they would even let Beliz care for their kids.
Beliz has already been convicted of his crimes, and is currently in prison. This lawsuit is directed not only at him, but also at the central authority of Jehovah's Witnesses. Erica said that the criminal trial was her way to try to stop Beilz from further harming children, and this civil suit is her way of trying to change the policies of the Watchtower organization. I am sure we all hope she succeeds.
I was also able to speak to William Bowen, the founder of silentlambs.org, the first nonprofit organization founded to bring attention to the problem of child molestation within Jehovah's Witnesses, and to bring support to the victims of this problem. Bowen is in a position to know a great deal about this problem.
I have lived as a Jehovah's Witness for over 43 years and served in an appointed capacity for over 20+ years. I pioneered [served full-time in the door-to-door service], served at bethel[the headquarters of the Watchtower Society], served as a ministerial servant, elder, taught elder schools, served on well over 100 judicial committees, worked in many administrative and managerial positions, given talks at circuit and district conventions.
He gave a little more details on the problem as a whole, and Erica's case in particular. Something he said that struck me as disturbing and hypocritical. He said that before the criminal trial, Beliz stood on the steps of the courthouse and read from the Bible about the trials of Jesus. He must have imagined that he was going through these trials for similar reasons Jesus went through his supposed trials, and equated himself to Jesus, elevating himself to the status of a persecuted hero. About 60 of his fellow witnesses were there, smiling up at him and supporting him. He also said the same thing Erica did about the elders testifying that the disciplinary actions of the congregation were enough, and that punishment by the criminal system wasn't necessary.
I hope that as more details come out about this, the Watchtower Society will change their rules regarding child molesters so that the system is no longer one that protects child molesters. Keep an eye out for the Dateline NBC airing about this situation, and if anyone would like to do anything, they can send letters to the Watchtower Society asking them to change their policy. I haven't detailed the specifics of this dangerous policy because Mr. Bowen has it outlined well on his site.
Further information is available at silentlambs.org. There you can find all sorts of information from an authoritive source. They have court transcripts, audio segments, and many different features. Silentlambs.org, its founders, and its purpose have the full endorsement and support of morons.org.
--Sam Kennedy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 23rd 2002:
Jehovah Witness Coddle PedophilesOTHELLO -- A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the Othello Spanish Jehovah's Witnesses congregation and its New York governing body, alleging they covered up the sexual abuse of a child.
January 23, 2002 - Shirley Wentworth (Herald Basin bureau)
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane by Erica Rodriguez, 23, now of Sacramento, Calif., also seeks unspecified damages from Manuel Beliz, the man who abused her, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
Rodriguez, who testified in Adams County Superior Court that she was raped weekly between the ages of 4 and 11 by Beliz, won two criminal court trials. Beliz, 49, first was convicted in 1998, but that conviction was overturned. He was convicted a second time last year, and his 11-year sentence was reinstated.
Although the Herald usually does not report the names of people who report sexual assaults, Rodriguez has gone public in her quest to save other children from pedophilia.
Rodriguez said after she moved to California at age 12, an elder in the church she attended there also began abusing her, which went on for four years. She said when she reported the abuse to church elders, the man was removed as an elder but not disfellowshipped from the church.
When she told the elder that she planned to go to the police, she was told she'd be disfellowshipped. She did contact Sacramento police, who contacted Othello police, who arrested Beliz. Rodriguez also has filed criminal charges against the Sacramento elder, but that case has not yet gone to court.
Although Beliz was disfellowshipped from the church, he was reinstated as an elder shortly before the trial. Rodriguez said she called the Watchtower legal department to ask why. "This guy said, 'It's none of your business, don't call again,' " she said.
Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., the lead attorney in Rodriguez's suit, said he has sued just about every church denomination for covering up child sex abuse over the last 20 years.
This is the second such suit he has filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses, with the other in New Hampshire.
"The vast majority have been Catholic; I stumbled over that phenomenon in the early 80s," Anderson said. He filed the first pedophile case against the Catholic Church in 1982.
Anderson said pedophilia is most likely to occur in "hierarchical, insular, religious organizations that are paternalistic and sexist and repress healthy sexuality."
"They are secret ... they are run by one male or a small group of men," he said.
Under Jehovah's Witness church policy, congregation members report transgressions of other members to a judicial committee made up of three or more church elders -- none of whom are women.
The committee decides what disciplinary action to mete out, often using disfellowshipping as punishment. Disfellowshipping means the congregation -- including family members and friends -- shuns the culprit, who becomes invisible to them.
When allegations of misbehavior are taken before the elders, at least two witnesses are required if the accused denies the charge -- which is particularly difficult to provide in accusations of sexual abuse.
Rodriguez's lawsuit alleges the elders tell the victim not to talk to other congregation members or to report the abuse to law enforcement authorities under pain of sanction or disfellowshipping.
However, Watchtower spokesman J.R. Brown, who had not yet seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment specifically, said the church does not interfere with the reporting of a crime.
He said church elders are supposed to contact headquarters if they have questions about a case.
"When we are contacted, we tell elders if they are in a state where (reporting pedophilia) is required," he said. "We want to make sure we are legally compliant."
Brown said he is aware that numerous cases have been posted on Internet sites such as www.silentlambs.org or www.freeminds.org detailing pedophilia within the Jehovah's Witnesses church.
But he maintains most of the stories were posted by people who underwent abuse back in the 1980s, when all of society was grappling with the issue.
"Regrettably, many children probably were molested," he said.
He said the church has made strong policy changes since then, including taking suspected or convicted pedophiles out of any position in the church, not allowing them to be alone with children and various other restrictions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morons.org - January 22nd 2002:
Signs of Intelligence: Jehovah's Witnesses Sued For Harboring Sexual AbusersPosted by Pleased samrolken on Jan. 22, 2002Victim raped from age four to eleven on an almost weekly basis, and threatened by the congregation elders to ensure her silence...
A while back on morons.org, I wrote a few rants about how Jehovah's Witnesses are dangerous, and one area in which this is true is in the case of sexual molestation. The way the organization is set up, child molesters are protected. This lawsuit is an attempt to bring attention to this problem in order to change the harmful nature of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.
I contacted the lawyer handling the case, Timothy Kosnoff. He send me a copy of the lawsuit that was filed. The lawsuit charges that the offender in this case, the (now convicted in a criminal trial) rapist Manuel Beliz was protected as a sexual molester. Beliz was promoted to the position of ministerial servant, then elder, the highest level of authority within the congregation. When the victem, Erica Rodriguez complained about the problem she was threatened with the shunning punishment of Jehovah's Witnesses to ensure her silence. The lawsuit also charges that the congregation failed to inform the proper authorities, such as law enforcement and child protection agencies.
I also was able to speak to Laura Barrett, of the Southern Midwest SNAP Regional Office (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), who is also involved with the case. She said that this sort of problem is quite common within the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. Erica Rodriguez and her mother were shunned for reporting the abuse, says Barrett. Barret went on to explain how the Jehovah's Witnesses organization is closed and tightly controlled, which is no good for victims of sexual abuse.
This is a situation that is recieving national attention. It's estimated that thousands of children are put at risk because of this situation, and it's time that this problem gains wide-spread attention. Soon a segment about this problem with Jehovah's Witnesses will air on Dateline NBC. There is more information at Silent Lambs.
I am optimistic to be able to speak to the victim herself, Erica Rodriguez. If anyone has any questions they would like her to be asked when (and if) I am able to speak to her, post them below as comments, and I will report her answers in a follow-up story. I was told by her lawyers that she is available for interviews, but I have had some trouble getting ahold of her.
As expected, the Jehovah's Witnesses office of public information had nothing to say when I contacted them.
--Sam Kennedy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Newswire - January 22nd 2002:
Sexual Abuse Suit Filed Against Jehovah's Witness Leaders; Denomination's NY Headquarters Called 'Negligent'Tue Jan 22,12:48 PM ETTo: National and State deskContact: Laura Barrett, 314-645-5915 or 314-443-5915 (cell) Jeff Anderson (attorney), 651-227-9990 or 612-817-8665 Timothy Kosnoff (attorney), 425-637-3070, or David Clohessy, 314-869-7436, ext. 2426, 314-903-3498 pagerRITZVILLE, Wash. Jan. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Child molesters in the Brooklyn-based Jehovah's Witness church are "routinely given sanctuary, protection, sympathy and support" from church officials according to a new civil sexual abuse lawsuit filed today in Washington state. The leadership of the 1 million member denomination was charged with negligence in the suit.
A Sacramento woman is seeking damages from a Jehovah's Witness leader who repeatedly raped her during childhood and from the New York-based denomination.
Erica Rodriguez, 23 years old, is suing Manuel Beliz, the Othello Washington Spanish Jehovah's Witness congregation, and the church's official national governing body. Last August, Beliz was convicted of raping and molesting Rodriguez and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Rodriguez says that Beliz abused her approximately once a week from the time she was four until she was 11, when her family moved to California.
The case is significant because it is one of a relatively small number filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses' national headquarters.
"The criminal case was to protect other kids from a dangerous molester," said Rodriguez. "This case is to protect many more kids from a dangerous denomination." She contends that "perhaps thousands" of youngsters are victimized because official Jehovah Witness policies enable known molesters to avoid detection and criminal prosecution.
During the three-day criminal trial last year, Rodriguez testified that she reported the abuse to two Jehovah's Witness elders in Sacramento, Carlos Chicas and Milton Malendez. The men pressured Rodriguez to keep quiet, threatened to "disfellowship" or excommunicate her, and promised "we will take care of it," the lawsuit indicates. Chicas contacted Othello elder John White but no action was taken.
After hearing Rodriguez' allegations, the Othello congregation protected Beliz as an elder within the church and shunned her family, Rodriguez said.
Eventually, Rodriguez contacted the Sacramento police and Beliz was questioned and later prosecuted.
"This pattern of forbidding abuse victims to contact police or 'outsiders' is standard operating procedure all Jehovah's Witnesses must follow, by direction of the national organization in New York," said Rodriguez' attorney, Timothy Kosnoff of Bellevue, Washington.
By failing to contact civil authorities, the Jehovah's Witness elders violated Washington's mandatory child abuse reporting law, Kosnoff said.
Rodriguez is also represented by Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minnesota, who has filed more than 400 cases of sexual abuse cases against clergy across the nation. Last summer, Anderson filed a civil suit against Jehovah's Witness leaders in New Hampshire for failing to report two women's abuse allegations to civil authorities.
"The Jehovah Witness church and the Watchtower Society must protect kids and not molesters," said Rodriguez. "A lot of pain and suffering could be prevented if they would forget about the church's image, take sexual abuse seriously and start reaching out to the victims."
Rodriguez believes Beliz molested other girls too and hopes her suit "will encourage them to seek justice and begin healing as I have."
Two juries found Beliz guilty of victimizing Rodriguez. His first conviction was overturned when the deputy prosecutor admitted trying to exclude younger women during jury selection. An appellate court then ordered a re-trial.
At both trials, dozens of Othello Jehovah's Witnesses and Beliz' family members spoke or wrote to the judge urging a lenient sentence. At the second trial, fifteen current and former Jehovah's Witnesses from across the country came to support Rodriguez and express their disapproval of the church's hierarchy.
Rodriguez' backers were led by church elder William Bowen of Calvert City, Kentucky, who quit his job last year to lobby for improvements in Witness policies towards abuse victims. Bowen heads "Silent Lambs," the only national support group for men and women abused by Jehovah's Witness officials ( http://www.silentlambs.org, 1-800-WTABUSE).
"It took a lot of courage for Erica to overcome her trauma and speak out," said Bowen. "She should be praised for helping to save other children. Instead, her church has vilified her. Witnesses have treated other victims in the same way, and this 'shooting the messenger' has to stop."
Today's civil suit, filed in federal court in Washington's Eastern District, seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Beliz is now incarcerated at the Washington penal institution in Walla Walla.
There are approximately one million Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States and six million across the world.
-0-
/© 2002 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Daily Record (U.K.) News - January 15th 2002:
DAD'S JEHOVAH WITNESSES DID NOTHING TO STOP MY SEX ABUSE NIGHTMAREVictim's agony claimsA TEENAGE GIRL has told how Jehovah's Witness elders failed to help her nail her pervert father.Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - Daily RecordAlison Cousins turned to the elders of her family's church after devout dad Ian abused her for three years.
The elders knew Cousins had preyed on another girl. He confessed to them two years earlier but police were not informed.
Alison said she was given no help or encouragement to get justice.
She recalled yesterday: "I was scared and confused. I needed courage to go to the police and I spoke to the elders hoping they would back me up.
"Instead, they brushed it under the carpet.
"I got no encouragement to go to the police, even though my dad had already told them what he did to the first girl.
"I will never have any faith at all in Jehovah's Witnesses."
Alison's abuse began when she was only 13 and continued until she was 16.
She went to the elders of the Kingdom Hall in Stevenston, Ayrshire, in November 1999.
Alison, now 18, later found her own strength to report her father. And Cousins, 43, was jailed for five years on Friday for indecent acts involving Alison and two other girls.
One elder admitted yesterday that Cousins told them about his perversion in 1997.
Colin McCreadie said: "We were informed by Ian Cousins what he had done with the first one. But he assured me that he did not do anything after that.
"We did discuss Alison's claims. But we decided we would stand back, we were not sure.
"You don't know a person's heart, you don't know what's in there. What is the truth?
"I believe Alison was informed by the elders that she should go to the police. I can't recollect who it was."
One former member of the congregation, Paul Wynn, said elders had tried to "whitewash" the issue.
And he told how he quit in disgust at being asked to forgive Ian Cousins.
Mr Wynn, 38, said: "Ian Cousins told elders in 1997 that he had abused the first girl. But no one did anything about it, and because of this the abuse of Alison continued.
"I was told that I was not welcome at the Kingdom Hall unless I could embrace Ian Cousins as my brother.
"I could not even look at him, never mind embrace him, after the disgusting things he did.
"Elders Alex Stewart and Colin McCreadie were told of the two eldest victims but did nothing.
"All that happened was that Cousins was demoted from his rank as a Ministerial Servant, which is in effect a trainee elder."
Alison has waived her legal right to anonymity in the hope of saving other girls from abuse.
Asked about her case, elder Alex Stewart said: "I do not know the outcome of the court case so I cannot comment."
Since the police were told about Ian Cousins in February 2000, a senior Jehovah's Witness has arrived in Stevenston as Presiding Minister.
It's claimed Jonathan Briggs is a "troubleshooter"sent to bring stability back to the congregation.
Mr Briggs told the Record: "It is unfair to ask questions of the individual elders. This is something which needs a response from the church as a whole."
At the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower UK headquarters, spokesman Paul Gillies said: "We have strict procedures and guidelines that matters like this should go straight to the secular authorities.
"It is the role of the police to investigate. Our policies put the needs of victims first.
"There is already a new Presiding Minister at Stevenston. And if, as a result of this case, it becomes apparent that elders are in need of further direction, that will happen.
"The victims are in need of love and understanding and that is what we want to offer them."
Police said the Kingdom Hall in Stevenston is not the subject of any investigation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------