Traditional Christian Family Values

LONGVIEW — A former Gladewater pastor pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He could be sentenced today.

Testimony in the sentencing trial of Larry Jackson, 55, of Kilgore will continue today in a Gregg County court. He could be sentenced up to life for each charge.

Jackson was arrested in October.

In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Jenny Huckle said Jackson molested two sisters younger than 14 in the late 1990s.

The oldest girl is now a sophomore in college, and the youngest girl soon will be a college freshman.

The Longview News-Journal is withholding the names of the girls because they are victims of sexual abuse.

Jackson was the pastor at Gladewater Church of Christ. The girls were not members of the church, but occasionally attended when Jackson supervised them.

“That preacher put those little girls through their own personal hell,” Huckle said.

The girls’ mother was friends with Jackson and his wife.

Huckle said the woman relied on the couple to take care of her daughters while she was at work and her husband, who serves in the military, was stationed out of the state.

The mother did not learn of the abuse until years later when the family moved to Virginia.

Defense attorney Clifton “Scrappy” Holmes said confession was good for the soul but not for a criminal defense.

He said testimony in the trial would discuss all aspects of Jackson’s character, and he asked the jury to remember the good as well as the bad when deciding Jackson’s sentence.

The two girls testified during the sentencing phase of the trial, and each spoke through tears as they described the abuse.

The oldest sister, who was 9 years old at the time of the abuse, said the girls would stay at Jackson’s home while their mother was working, and they would occasionally stay overnight. She said Jackson twice removed her from her sofa bed in the living room, placed her on the floor and attempted to penetrate her.

She said he stopped when she began to cry.

The younger sister, who was 7 years old at the time of the abuse, said Jackson performed oral sex on her three times and tried penetrating her once.

The sisters said they did not tell their mother about the abuse until they had moved.

The sisters’ mother will testify this morning before the prosecution rests.

The defense will have the opportunity to call witnesses today.

original story here

AMITE, La. (AP) - The former pastor of the defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula will not face charges that he sexually abused a 2-year-old girl at his upcoming aggravated rape trial, a prosecutor said.

The case involving the girl will be severed from the rape charges involving Louis D. Lamonica’s two sons, ages 11 and younger at the time of the alleged abuse, on which Lamonica will be tried next month.

Lamonica is among the seven members of the former Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula indicted in 2005 in the abuse of the three children. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 18.

Tangipahoa Parish Assistant District Attorney Don Wall told the court Monday he planned to sever the charges, but Lamonica could be tried in the girl’s rape at a later date.

Wall offered no explanation for his decision during the hearing and declined to comment afterward, citing a gag order issued last year by state District Judge Zoey Waguespack.

Another former Hosanna member, 39-year-old Austin “Trey” Bernard, is serving a life sentence after being convicted in December of three counts of aggravated rape of a 2-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.

original story here

17 July 2008

FORMER PRIEST IN COURTA TEENAGER burned down his house and had to live on the streets after his father laughed at claims he was sexually abused by a former Collaroy Plateau priest, a court has heard.

Paul Raymond Evans, a former priest at St Rose of Lima church at Collaroy Plateau, has pleaded not guilty to 20 serious child sex charges allegedly committed against seven boys in his care.

During a five-week trial the Sydney District Court has heard the alleged abuse occurred during the ’70s and ’80s while they were pupils at Boys’ Town at Engadine.

In his closing address yesterday Judge Robert Hulme said one of the alleged victims stated in evidence he was sexually assaulted by Mr Evans in 1977 and afterwards “just went to bed and cried”.

“The accused told him not to say anything because he would not be believed,” Judge Hulme said.

The then teenager, who cannot be named, later ran away from Boys’ Town and told his father who laughed at his son’s claims.

“As a response he (the boy) burned the house down then had to live on the streets,” Judge Hulme said.

One of the boys who did complain in the 1980s said the matter was brushed off by the school’s director who said “men get urges” and he should forget about what happened.

Defence barrister Peter Mcgrath said many witness statements were inconsistent and the alleged victims could be motivated by money in the form of compensation.

Mr Mcgrath said his client had told the court he would cuddle and massage the boys or rub their necks but denied ever touching them inappropriately.

The case continues.

original story here

THE Catholic Church has still not defrocked a priest five years after it concluded he was a serial sexual predator whose targets included an underage boy and a 16-year-old girl.

Documents sighted by The Australian reveal that apart from having unlawful sex with Anthony Jones, who has since attacked Cardinal George Pell for trying to ignore his case, a confidential church investigation informed Cardinal Pell in 2003 that Father Terence Goodall engaged in a range of improprieties over several years.

The church last night provided no evidence that it had passed on its knowledge of Father Goodall’s alleged activities to police, or acted to correct what Cardinal Pell yesterday described as a “mistake” in how it dealt with Mr Jones, The Australian reports.

While Cardinal Pell yesterday denied he had engaged in a cover-up, his agents made legal entreaties to the ABC and Mr Jones warning they could be in contempt of court if they broadcast or aired certain information.

At a press conference yesterday, Cardinal Pell, who as Archbishop of Sydney is the church’s most senior leader in Australia, rejected calls to resign or step aside over the Goodall affair.

The move followed revelations on the ABC’s Lateline program on Monday night that showed Cardinal Pell had, in 2003, over-ruled an independent investigation into claims by Mr Jones concerning a sexual encounter with Father Goodall.

Mr Jones claims he was sexually abused by Father Goodall in 1982 at the age of 29 and pressed his case to the church 20 years later.

An investigation by a former policeman regularly employed by the church to look into allegations of sexual abuse, Howard Murray, found Mr Jones’ allegations soundly based.

Mr Murray’s report also found that Father Goodall had admitted to indecently assaulting a boy in the sacristy.

But weeks later, in February 2003, Cardinal Pell wrote to Mr Jones saying “as no other complaint of attempted sexual assault has been received against Father Goodall and he categorically denies the accusation, Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to have been substantiated”.

Cardinal Pell told journalists, “I differed from Murray, because I did not believe there was sufficient evidence of rape.”

In 2005, Father Goodall pleaded guilty to two acts of sex with Mr Jones under antiquated laws that banned sexual contact between men, even if it was consensual, but he served no prison time.

A spokesman for Cardinal Pell, Jim Hanna, last night said Father Goodall had been stood aside from religious duties in mid-2003, and that it “took a long time” to expel a priest from the ministry.

But a document obtained by The Australian shows that more than a year after he was supposedly stood aside from ministry, Father Goodall delivered the opening prayer at a meeting of Kogarah Municipal Council in August 2004.

original story here

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A Kentuckiana youth volunteer accused of molesting young girls he met at the church turned himself in to authorities Tuesday afternoon.

In February, 28 year old Scott Grose pled guilty to asking a 13 year old girl for sex on the internet. He received 6 years probation in that case and was placed on Indiana’s sex offender registry.

Tuesday afternoon, while protected by the arms of his family, Grose turned himself into authorities at the Clark County courthouse on new charges.

Police had been looking for Grose ever since they issued a new warrant for his arrest Thursday. That came after two more girls from First Baptist Church in Sellersburg, ages 13 and 14, came forward claiming the former youth volunteer forced them to perform sexual acts.

Court records indicate the girls claim Grose would play hide and seek with them, taking them one at a time to the basement where he would abuse them.

Grose’s attorney told WAVE 3 why his client decided to turn himself in.

“He knew that this had been outstanding since last Thursday when this was filed and he was upset by the allegations against him,” said Chris Sturgeon. “He wanted to contact an attorney and make arrangements to turn himself in as opposed to the police coming and knocking on his door.”

Grose maintains his innocence. A judge set bond and placed him on home incarceration while he awaits trial. Grose was also ordered not to contact any of the victims or any one at the church.

original story here

ST. LOUIS (Map, News) - A victims’ advocacy group said Monday that $312,500 is being paid to men who claim they were sexually molested by five St. Louis-area Catholic priests as far back as the late 1960s.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the priests sexually preyed upon six boys between the ages of 8 and 15 at parishes and grade schools from the late ’60s to the late 1980s.

SNAP said the settlements were finalized in recent weeks through mediation.

Attorney Bernard Huger confirmed that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis had resolved several cases as a result of effective mediation.

SNAP named the priests in the settlements as Robert Johnston, James Funke, Donald Straub, Joseph Lessard and Michael McGrath. No criminal charges have been filed.

Funke was formally removed from the priesthood in 2006. He was sentenced in 1987 to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 counts related to the molestation of two teenage boys while teaching at DuBourg High School in St. Louis.

Straub, defrocked in 2005, reportedly admitted in 1978 that sexual misconduct allegations by parents the previous two years were true. Despite the confession, Straub remained an active priest through at least 1991. After two years in Kansas, he returned to St. Louis but was barred from performing any duties as a priest, officials have said.

Straub was sent away for counseling and treatment. Church officials have said now they would protect society from an individual diagnosed as a sexual predator.

Lessard, now in his 80s, admitted in a 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article that he abused a dozen boys in three parishes from the late 1960s to the late ’70’s. Then-St. Louis Archbishop Justin Rigali said at the time that Lessard’s assignments “were made according to the common psychological and professional practice of the time, which we now know to have been inadequate and, by current standards, unacceptable.”

McGrath was removed from public ministry in 1997 and was defrocked in 2005.

SNAP maintains that McGrath has faced more sex-abuse lawsuits than any other St. Louis cleric.

original article here

A cleric in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese who won reinstatement after being accused of sexually abusing a minor has resigned from the priesthood and may face criminal charges in the wake of a new allegation of sexual misconduct.

The Rev. Patrick J. O’Connor, former chaplain to Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Euclid, resigned following an allegation he abused a minor in 1997 while an associate pastor at St. Jude Catholic Church in Elyria, the diocese announced Monday.

O’Connor submitted his letter of resignation June 6, shortly after he was placed on leave in response to the new allegation, the diocese said in a release. The diocese said it also contacted Lorain County authorities.

The Elyria Police Department has nearly completed its investigation and is working with the Lorain County prosecutor, Lt. Andrew Eichenlaub said Monday. Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said his office is reviewing the case.

O’Connor, 50, could not be reached for comment.

In an earlier case, he was placed on leave from a teaching position at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe in September 2003 following an accusation that he sexually abused a minor in the late 1980s while he was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Cuyahoga Falls. The diocese said a subsequent investigation by the Diocesan Review Board revealed no abuse. The case was sent to the Vatican, which concluded that O’Connor should be allowed to return to ministry.

read more here

Senior Catholic cleric George Pell allegedly misled a victim of sexual assault and sought to dismiss his complaint, according to documents obtained by ABC TV.
The allegation comes just days before the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney for World Youth Day.

According to last night’s ABC Lateline program, Cardinal Pell, the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, gave misleading information to a sexual-abuse victim in 2003.

The victim, Anthony Jones, claimed to have been abused by Catholic priest Terrence Goodall 20 years earlier.

In a letter obtained by the ABC, Cardinal Pell told Mr Jones the allegation had not been substantiated because the Church had not received any other complaints against Goodall.

But another letter from Cardinal Pell, signed the same day and obtained by the ABC, was sent to a second man who also claimed to have been abused by Goodall. In the second letter, Cardinal Pell told the man his complaint had been substantiated.

Mr Jones accused Cardinal Pell of getting it wrong.

”I now hate Catholicism because of what Cardinal Pell has done to me, more so than what Father Goodall did to me,” he said.

Goodall was later convicted of indecent assault, according to the ABC. The ABC said Cardinal Pell had not responded to a request to appear on Lateline or make a comment.

Cardinal Pell said yesterday the Pope was likely to apologise to victims of sexual abuse during his visit to Australia. The Pope will be in Sydney from July 15 to 20.

original article here

KELSO, Wash. - Police have arrested a Kelso pastor who is accused of sexually abusing two girls when he was a leader of a Portland church.

Maximo Akebe, also known as Max Ake, is facing 20 charges, including rape, sodomy and sex abuse.

According to Portland police, the victims recently reported that Akebe sexually assaulted them between 1998 and 2000 while he was a leader of the Peach House ministry, a private, in-home church located near Northeast 53rd Avenue and Northeast Hoyt Street. The girls were 8 and 12 at the time.

In 2006, he became senior pastor of Iglesia De Dios in Kelso. Though the church shares space with High Praises Fellowship Church, police said no one at the High Praises Fellowship Church is involved with the investigation.

Following an investigation, police arrested Akebe in Kelso on June 26.

Church members expressed shock at the revelations released after Akebe’s arrest.

Detectives think there may be more victims and anyone with information is asked to call (503) 823-0182.

original story here

The Columbus Dispatch
A Catholic priest who once served in the Columbus diocese has been charged with child abuse in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The Rev. Aaron Joseph “AJ” Cote is accused of sexually abusing 14-year-old Brandon Rains while Cote served as youth minister at a Catholic church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He faces as many as 15 years in prison.

The Dispatch generally does not publish names of sexual abuse victims, but Rains has chosen to speak publicly.

Cote was pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Somerset from 1987 to 1989.

Rains, now 21, reached a $1.2 million settlement with Cote’s Dominican order in August.

Cote turned himself into the Montgomery County Sheriff last night, said Jeff Anderson, Rains’ attorney.

original story here