Jehovah's Witnesses Hit With Abuse Suit

Parliament

Sat Jan 11,12:14 AM ET

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By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS - Four women sued the Jehovah's Witnesses claiming they were molested by a church leader in Nevada over several years beginning in the early 1970s and that church officials covered up the abuse.

Dawn Bradley, Amanda Cirone, Annette Reed and Donna Wilkes claim in the lawsuit filed Thursday in Las Vegas that they were abused by Daniel Steven Fitzwater, a former Jehovah's Witnesses congregation leader, from 1974 until the 1990s.

In seeking at least $30,000 from various Jehovah's Witnesses entities, the women now in their 20s and 30s allege church officials knew of the abuse but took no action.

"Outcries were made and they were not reported, and because they were not reported to law enforcement other children were molested afterward," said the women's lawyer, Kim Norris.

Fitzwater was arrested in 1997 and charged with lewdness with children in an unrelated case. He was convicted of two counts of sexual lewdness in 1998 and is eligible for parole in 2005. Fitzwater couldn't be reached for comment and it wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.

Church spokesman J.R. Brown said he couldn't comment specifically on the lawsuit. However, he said the church deals appropriately with reports of abuse.

"Our church policy protects children, not molesters," Brown said. "Molesters are punished, generally the most severe way, which is disfellowship or public reproof."

The plaintiffs came forward after encouragement from Silentlambs, a nonprofit organization founded by William Bowen, a former Jehovah's Witness who collects complaints about the church on an Internet site.

The church puts its membership at 6 million worldwide, including 1 million U.S. residents.

COMF

In seeking at least $30,000

Please tell me that's a typo.

imanaliento

Good one COMF!

I wonder how they fiqured that amount. seems way to small!

thanks for the news Parliament.

Edited by - imanaliento on 11 January 2003 16:9:6

dmouse

Our church policy protects children, not molesters," Brown said. "Molesters are punished, generally the most severe way, which is disfellowship or public reproof."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, it's not really funny when you think about it.

Jeez...does Brown even think about what he's saying?

ESTEE

Parliament,

Thanks for sharing this information with us here on the forum. I feel glad whenever I see news coverage such as this. It reminds me that the corruption of the jws is getting toooooo big to contain internally now, and so it naturally spills over into the world for all of us to see their reproach and shame. How inconceivable for them to think that God approves of such atrotious behaviour. Imagine, they thought they would get away with it!

I don't recall seeing you post here before, so my belated Welcome to the forum greetings seem to be in order here.

Hugs,

Esther

onthego

The court can likely award far more than the requested amount. Their seeking a relatively small amount would increase their chance of winning as not viewed as excessive, and then after the precedent had been established it can open a floodgate of more such lawsuits for substantially higher amounts. It's a matter of strategy and simple logic.

Simon

Molesters are punished, generally the most severe way, which is disfellowship or public reproof

So ...disfellowshiping and public reproof are "severe punishment" then eh? This is an interesting quote for general cases involving shunning and disagreements over doctrine or people who just want to leave.

They can't have it both ways. If it is severe punishment for molesters ... then they are severely hurting others who don't deserve it and should pay for the hurt and suffering caused.

If it is not severe punishment (as they claim about 'people who simply wish to leave') then they are not punishing abusers and ... yes, they should pay for the hurt and suffering caused.

Either way, they owe huge apologies and should pay, pay, pay

Ed

They can't have it both ways.

Vlad Tepes used a single punishment for both major crimes and minor infringements, and that seemed to work pretty well.

Beans

Another classic statement from JR Brown! But how about this............

I think the Watchtower needs to be dealt with appropriately!

Shakita

My husband saw on the cnn news scroll this afternoon......."Jehovah's witnesses deny they are soft on sex abuse".........I guess they were referring to this news article.

Looks like the WT will be doing some damage control.....again.

Mrs. Shakita

Jehovah's Witnesses Hit With Abuse Suit

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