Religion & Child Abuse News archive update

My last post may not have been clear enough as some people have mistakenly thought my Religion & Child Abuse News archive was no longer active. Although I am not regularly updating Religion & Child Abuse News here on Blogger.com, I continue to keep the same blog on my own website.

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ATTENTION: I WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATING THIS ARCHIVE ON A DAILY BASIS.

ATTENTION: I WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATING THIS ARCHIVE ON A DAILY BASIS.

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Mosque Child Abuse in America

Front Page Magazine - March 23, 2009

by Jamie Glazovy

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dave Gaubatz, the first U.S. civilian (1811) Federal Agent deployed to Iraq in 2003. He is currently the Director of the Mapping Sharia Project and the Owner of DG Counter-terrorism Publishing (dgaubatz.blogspot.com). He can be contacted at davegaubatz@gmail.com.

FP: Dave Gaubatz, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

You have been conducting some Counter-Terrorism (CT) field research during the last month. Tell us the results.

Gaubatz: I want to thank FPM for the opportunity to bring an issue to the attention of the American public.

In early Feb 2009, I went to a prayer and lecture at a Sunni mosque in Richmond, VA. I was informed a group of Muslims originally from Somalia, had relocated to Nashville, TN. This subsequently led me (with support from concerned citizens) to conduct first-hand research in Nashville.

My CT researchers and I conducted ‘first-hand’ research at a predominately Somalia based mosque, Al-Farooq Masjid, 1421 4^th Ave. S. Nashville, TN. Initially I conducted a pre-assessment of the various Islamic Centers within the area. Although there are other mosques in the area advocating the ideology of Sharia law for the U.S. and advocating the same ideology as Islamic terrorists groups, our research uncovered more frightening and disturbing intelligence. Not only does Al-Farooq provide materials by convicted Islamic terrorists to their worshippers, they practice polygamy (per statements made by Al Farooq worshippers) as allowed under Sharia law, which also advocates children to be taken as ‘child brides’ married to older men. One need only research how often this occurs in Somalia.

In Feb 09, I obtained evidence and there were several indicators the children were being physically and emotionally abused. I immediately provided my analysis and concerns to authorities. Almost immediately First Amendment religious freedom rights came up and their fear of being sued by Islamic organizations. I knew from the beginning when I had to explain the basics of Sharia law and who Islamic scholars such as Ahmad Sakr (U.S. based scholar who lectures to children and informs them to not follow the U.S. Constitution, but instead to follow Sharia law) are, it would be useless to rely on them alone to protect the innocent children of al Farooq, which ultimately means our country is not being protected. The objective of my company is to simultaneously provide the research intelligence to the American public and to Law Enforcement (LE). In our current times it is often necessary for news organizations and the public to become involved before issues are taken seriously.

In Mar 2009, I sent two researchers (male and female) to Al Farooq to obtain further information. On 9 Mar 2009, a female child informed one of our female researchers she and other children are ‘hit’ at the ‘Al Farooq School’ by a teacher and ‘her’ legs hurt. Additional lectures by convicted terrorists and their supporters were provided to my team. Again I notified authorities, but received no encouragement the allegations of child abuse or the evidence pertaining to Al Farooq leadership advocating violence would be responded to.

Authorities wanted ‘hard evidence’ children were being abused and Islamic leaders at Al Farooq were educating the worshippers to commit violence against innocent people, America, and Israel. Respectfully I advised authorities Americans rely on them to take the lead and conduct investigations pertaining to allegations. My organization is limited in manpower and funds. Taxpayers pay our LE and elected officials to protect our country. It is beyond my capability to convince authorities that distributing material by Al Qaeda, Mawdudi (JI), and Ali Al Timimi to children can lead to violence and is dangerous for all concerned. One need only look at the Palestinian schools who are educated by Hamas.

FP: Do Islamic leaders of Al Farooq, Nashville, TN, advocate and encourage the worshippers of the mosque to hate America and to follow the teachings of convicted Islamic terrorists such as Ali Al Timimi?

Gaubatz: Yes. My team and I were provided several hours of Ali Al Timimi lectures (and others) I had previously never heard, and I have listened to hundreds of hours of lectures by ‘Islamic scholars’.

FP: Do Islamic leaders distribute material in America encouraging Muslim men to violate U.S. laws in regards to ‘polygamy’ and to force children (6 -16 years old) to marry older men?

Gaubatz: Yes. Al Farooq has these materials and polygamy is being practiced. On my blog at www.dgaubatz.blogspot.com, I have attached a one minute clip showing the library of al Farooq. I will update my blog continuously to show exact materials obtained and being distributed at Al Farooq.

FP: Do they (Al Farooq leaders) advocate an Islamic nation in America to be ruled under Sharia law?

Gaubatz: One need only review lectures/materials by Mawdudi, Timimi, Sakr, and Siraj Wahhaj. My team collected evidence supporting the above and can provide sworn affidavits to law enforcement/Department of Justice Officials (DOJ) at any level, but first the American public must convince Nashville authorities that advocating innocent Muslim children to be involved in ‘physical Jihad’ against America is illegal. If we do not have elected officials who can and will do this, then our government should discontinue the double standards of convicting some Islamic scholars (such as Timimi) and ignoring the actions of others.

LE, criminal justice officials, elected officials, and Americans must also understand Islamic Jihadists and their supporters are well educated and understand U.S. law better than most U.S. attorneys do. After 11 Sept. 2001, they will no longer stand at the podium and advise worshippers to commit treason, sedition, and to commit terrorist acts against America. They will provide you lectures advocating the same on professionally manufactured DVD’s and written materials funded by Saudi Arabia. Islamic scholars understand Americans will look at books and DVDs as protected materials under our laws.

FP: Will you continue CT research in other cities across the U.S.?

Gaubatz: Yes. Each week I will conduct first-hand research at a different Islamic Center and will provide the results on my blog. Based on my analysis I will provide a ranking of 1 – 10, pertaining to violence being advocated by the Islamic scholars. LE, elected officials, and Americans can ignore, or they can work together to obtain legal action against the scholars who advocate the destruction of our country and the futures of our children. Again, it is beyond my capability or means to convince authorities that providing material by Islamic terrorists to children can lead to violence.

I would like to again stress my team consists of researchers from various faiths and cultures, to include Muslims. Thank you again Jamie and I have completed reading your book, “United In Hate”. Highly recommended reading for all.

FP: Thank you Dave Gaubatz. We cherish your fight for the security of this country and also your effort to protect abused children.

---

Jamie Glazov is Frontpage Magazine's editor. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Russian, U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He is the author of Canadian Policy Toward Khrushchev’s Soviet Union and is the co-editor (with David Horowitz) of The Hate America Left. He edited and wrote the introduction to David Horowitz’s Left Illusions. His new book is United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror. To see his previous symposiums, interviews and articles Click Here. Email him at jglazov@rogers.com.

This article was found at:

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=5D1BEAC8-5543-4113-AFB6-7A0E79972081

Powerful impact of 'open window' church sex abuse laws

NewsDay.com March 22, 2009

by BART JONES |bart.jones@newsday.com

In Los Angeles, the Roman Catholic archdiocese cut its central staff in half and sold its 12-floor headquarters. In Tucson, the diocese sold 85 pieces of property in the Arizona desert. In Davenport, Iowa, church officials posted a "for sale" sign on the bishop's residence - then moved him into a modest bungalow.

Catholic dioceses across the United States have been hit with hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from child sex abuse cases in the past decade. Now, as lawmakers in Albany consider legislation that would create a one-year open window for victims to sue regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred, church officials warn it could bankrupt the Catholic Church in New York.

If the bill passes, it would become the third child sex abuse "open window" law in the country, after California and Delaware, whose two-year window closes in July. Legal experts said that in New York they anticipate hundreds of abuse victims, whose claims could involve not just the Catholic Church but also other religious institutions, public agencies and even long-ago cases of incest.

Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the 1.5-million member Diocese of Rockville Centre, said recently that the bill, sponsored by Assemb. Margaret M. Markey (D- Maspeth), could be "catastrophic" for the church.

"Financially it could bankrupt the Diocese of Rockville Centre," he said. "It could decimate Catholic education. It could decimate Catholic health care. It could decimate our parishes."

Advocates and trial lawyers who have represented sex abuse victims say churches have not gone out of business because of the claims, and that the potential consequences are being exaggerated. "No diocese has gone belly-up or even close," said Marci Hamilton, a professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a leading church/state expert.

Nonetheless, "open window" type legislation or even the simple accumulation of sex abuse lawsuits in places without such laws has had a powerful impact. Like Los Angeles, some locations have been forced to sell their headquarters and cut back on central office staff. But most also say no schools or parishes closed, and the cutbacks shielded most outreach services such as health care or programs for the elderly or homeless.

Dolan said it is difficult to compare different dioceses, and no one knows how an "open window" law would play out in New York. And Hamilton predicted numerous victims could come forward in New York because advocacy groups and lawyers representing victims are so much better organized now than they were in 2002 when the church sex scandal broke.

California cases To date, six dioceses in the United States have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of the sex abuse cases, though in California - which passed a New York-style law in 2002 - only one of 12 dioceses filed. The total settlement bill in California was $1.2 billion for about 1,000 cases that included about 200 that did not involve the Catholic Church.

Church leaders in California say the payout was devastating.

"What happened here was a financial tsunami," said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which was hit with a $720-million bill to settle 553 abuse cases. "We took a tough hit, and I don't think we could take another."

Still, he said no parishes or schools were closed as a result of the settlement, and outreach services generally survived. Tamberg said that was partly the result of a deliberate decision by the 5-million-member archdiocese - the largest in the country - to protect its core ministries.

Selling the headquarters in downtown Los Angeles was a sign that "the hit is going to be taken by the administration first to protect the schools and the parishes," he said. The staff at headquarters has dropped from 450 to 200, he added.

Los Angeles survived the settlements partly because insurance covered about one-third, or $236 million, of the bill. The archdiocese was responsible for $292 million, which it raised in part by selling 51 properties including the headquarters. The rest of the settlement was covered by religious orders or others involved in the cases.

Tamberg said one case dated to 1929, demonstrating what he called the unfairness in the process.

"How do you defend a case that is a dozen years before Pearl Harbor? You can't," he said.

Irwin Zalkin, one of the lead plaintiff attorneys in the Los Angeles and San Diego cases, said that sales of church properties would easily raise billions to pay off any settlements and prevent any diocese from shutting down large parts of its operations. He also noted that church institutions, such as Catholic Charities that provide outreach services, receive substantial government funding.

He called talk of the church's potential demise in New York a "PR ploy. . . . I think they are crying wolf." He said he believes many of the dioceses that have gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - San Diego; Portland, Ore.; Spokane, Wash.; Tucson; Davenport; and Fairbanks, Alaska - did so in an attempt to pay out less in settlements to victims.

Zalkin noted that the judge who handled the San Diego bankruptcy case, Louise DeCarl Adler, at one point warned the diocese against misusing bankruptcy proceedings.

"I decided this morning to reacquaint myself with the exact definition of 'disingenuous,' " the judge stated in court in 2007. "Chapter 11 is not supposed to be a vehicle or a method to hammer down the claims of the abused."

Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia said the Diocese of San Diego had no comment on the judge's statement.

'Crippling' times Dioceses that have gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings say it hasn't been easy. In Spokane, officials shut down the diocesan youth ministry office and another that was in charge of evangelization.

In Davenport, where the headquarters went on the market last month and the staff has been halved, church officials aren't even sure where their new offices will be.

The bankruptcy proceedings were crippling, said Davenport diocese spokesman David Montgomery. "We're trying to provide services and it's hard to do if you are trying to get out of bankruptcy."

In Los Angeles, most essential missions were preserved, but Tamberg said he doubts that would be the case if another large settlement came.

"If this were to happen to us again," he said, "without a doubt I believe it would be catastrophic for the archdiocese."

This article was found at:

http://www.newsday.com/iphone/ny-liabus2212568955mar22,0,1546177.story

Mennonite abuse survivor speaks out against church

The Vancouver Sun - March 20, 2009

by Gerry Bellett | Vancouver Sun

When Susan Duncalfe summoned the courage to report her father’s sexual assaults on her, her story would uncover not only the calamity of a childhood’s stolen innocence, but also how a religious fellowship in the Fraser Valley failed her.

Over the past 20 years, scandals involving illicit sexual relations within churches and the way they were either ignored or covered up have caused untold damage to reputations of churches in Canada and resulted in civil damages that have entered the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In an Abbotsford courtroom earlier this month, Provincial Court Judge John Lenaghan sentenced Susan’s father, Kenneth Duncalfe, now a frail 69-year-old, to nine months in jail.

Lenaghan passed judgment, too, on Duncalfe’s Mennonite church, the Abbotsford Church of God in Christ, for knowing of his transgressions since 1990 but failing to report them to the police.

His behaviour had first been reported to the church’s minister 19 years ago by another family member. As a result, he was summoned before a church assembly and excommunicated for “lasciviousness,” a punishment that lasted for a number of months, at the end of which he was allowed to rejoin the congregation.

Assaults started at 14

In a telephone interview from her home in Nelson, Susan Duncalfe, 43, said she had been subjected to hundreds of sexual assaults and molestations starting in 1980, when she was 14.

“It began the night I became a Christian and it lasted until the very day I left the church when I was 22,” she said.

“I left the church because I realized once I left, he would stop touching me. Being a member of the church was a very sheltered thing, men were the authority figures, and while I was a member he could touch me with impunity because he knew I wouldn’t complain,” she said.

“The night I told him I had left the church, it stopped.”

By the time he was “outed” to the church assembly, she was 24 and not living at home.

It would take her years before she took the matter to the police. But in 2006, after becoming concerned for the safety of grandchildren who were within her father’s orbit, she gave police a statement.

Asked why she didn’t complain earlier, she said she was too naive. “I was scared. You don’t know if anyone would believe you,” she said.

It was the failure of the church to help her — “I was made to feel like I was not worth looking after” — that caused her to have the court-imposed ban on publication of her identity lifted when the issue finally came to trial.

“They have to open their eyes and change their practices,” she said.

Susan had initially avoided going to the police and wrote a letter to her parents saying the family needed counselling, and that her father needed psychiatric help and therapy.

“Our whole family is dysfunctional and we all needed help. I thought if he got help, and we got help, we could get through it and heal the family,” she said.

The letter resulted in a visit to her home by Pastor Bev Toews of the Abbotsford Mennonite Church of God in Christ.

“He came to Nelson and wanted to see reconciliation between myself and my dad, and didn’t think laying charges against him was the way to go. He told me he was going to get Dad the help he needed and so I left it at that,” she said.

However, she would later discover that Toews was the one doing the counselling, not an outside professional.

“That wasn’t good enough. I went to the police. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Kenneth Duncalfe pleaded guilty to two counts — sexual assault and indecent assault against his daughter.

His lawyer urged the judge to impose a conditional sentence that could be served at home, but Lenaghan rejected that as inappropriate.

“The degree of culpability of this defendant is enormous. Instead of nurturing and protecting his vulnerable young daughter, he callously and selfishly exploited her for his own sexual gratification,” Lenaghan said.

“The effects his criminal behaviour has wrought on his daughter’s person and life are manifest and tragic. Every child is entitled to an innocent childhood, and to believe that his or her parents are wonderful people who will take care of and protect him or her from harm.

“The defendant robbed his daughter of such a childhood and inflicted great harm upon her. As a result, her life has been characterized by physical and psychological problems, some of which persist,” the judge said.

In a victim impact statement, Susan said the attacks had left her afraid of the dark. She sleeps with her back to the wall, usually on a couch, still needs counselling, suffers flashbacks and has experienced difficulty establishing intimate relationships, she told Lenaghan.

Nine-month sentence

Crown counsel Laura Berman asked for a jail sentence of a year to 18 months for each count.

Lenaghan found a sentence of 15 months for sexual assault to be appropriate, but taking into account the accused’s age and bad health, he reduced it to nine months, with the indecent assault warranting six months. The sentences will be served concurrently.

But Lenaghan was clearly disturbed by what he had heard regarding the church’s response to Duncalfe’s confession, “which occurred in 1990 when he admitted his sexual involvement with his daughter to members of his church.”

Had Duncalfe owned up to his crimes [to the civil authorities] at that time, his daughter might have enjoyed a happier life and “been relieved to some extent of the horrors that bedevil her to this day,” the judge said.

“It is clear from the letters of reference written by members of the defendant’s family and members of his church that ... they seem to regard his actions as sins and to be of the opinion that the actions taken by the church should suffice as far as punishment is concerned. ...

“The defendant’s actions were not merely sins which could be expiated by confession to spiritual mentors, but crimes, offences against the social order which fall to be dealt with by civil society,” he said.

“Both the defendant and members of his church appear to have forgotten or ignored the biblical injunctions to render unto Caesar those things that properly belong to Caesar,” Lenaghan said.

Judge quite right

Prof. Ross Hastings, who teaches pastoral ethics at the University of B.C.’s Regent College, said Lenaghan couldn’t have put it better.

“The judge was quite right in viewing it like that,” said Hastings, who teaches clergy their ethical responsibilities at the college, an interdenominational Christian graduate school.

“There is no question these were crimes and should have been reported by the church to the civil authorities,” he said.

Any pastor who is told such a thing must report it to the police, he said.

“It’s simple and clear. This sort of thing can’t be dealt with in-house, although the Mennonite church is of the Anabaptist tradition and tend to be ‘antinomian,’ that is, to put the church above the law. They have the tendency to believe everything can be solved in-house,” he said.

“I categorically tell pastors they can’t guarantee confidentiality when someone comes into their office. If they are going to confess a crime — if they tell them, for instance, they have molested a child — the pastor has to tell them he is duty-bound to report crimes to the police.

“That position is supported in the gospel, where it is clear that Christians have to obey the law of the land, except when any law violates the law of God,” Hastings said.

He said he knows of an instance where a person confessed to a murder “at the communion table.”

“The pastor sought advice from a lawyer and in the end, counselled that person to go with him to the police where he confessed his crime,” he said.

The Vancouver Sun was unable to contact Pastor Toews for comment.

But he was interviewed by the Abbotsford News following Duncalfe’s sentencing, and said the church didn’t inform police of the abuse because the victim was an adult at the time and no longer a member of the congregation.

As for Susan, has the experience shaken her faith?

“I still believe in God. I know what’s right and wrong, but my church now is my beliefs. I’m not suggesting the church didn’t teach me good things, it did. But I hold on to the more powerful things,” she said.

This article was found at:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Mennonite+abuse+survivor+speaks+against+church/1411903/story.html

Suit alleges Catholic schools withheld evidence of abuse

Seattle Post-Intelligencer March 18, 2009

By LEVI PULKKINEN | SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Seven former students at Seattle-area Catholic schools have filed suit against the archdiocese, claiming the church order operating the schools withheld crucial evidence of clergy abuse during earlier lawsuits.

In three actions, former students of O'Dea High School in Seattle and a now closed Kent orphanage allege that officials with the order affiliated with the schools, the Christian Brothers of Ireland, failed to release documentation showing that two priests had previously sexually abused students. Each of the plaintiffs had previously settled with the order and the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese, but now assert that they would have pursued the litigation had the information on the decades-old abuses been available.

In one of the cases, officials with the Christian Brothers initially denied the accused priest had ever served in Washington, said Michael Pfau, a Seattle attorney representing all seven clients. Only after the case was settled did they provide documentation from Rome showing the priest had been kicked out of the order following abuse allegations, he said.

"It really begs the question about whether the comments made by church leaders about transparency are accurate or not," Pfau said. "We don't know if they are at this point."

At issue in two of the cases is former O'Dea teacher Edward Courtney, a disgraced priest who was forced from teaching in 1988 after at least 31 years as an educator with the order.

In court documents, six of Courtney's former students allege that he sexually abused them while he was a teacher at O'Dea in the 1960s and 1970s.

Courtney left O'Dea in 1976 to enroll at a Canadian sex offender rehabilitation program, according to court documents. He returned to the area two years later, holding positions at Our Lady of the Lake school in Wedgewood and St. Alphonsus Parish school in Ballard before being convicted of a sex crime in 1988.

In 2004, Pfau's clients filed suit against the Christian Brothers order and the Seattle Archdiocese claiming that church authorities failed in their duties to protect students from a known sexual predator. As a result of the action, the order and archdiocese were ordered to surrender any documentation regarding abuse perpetrated by Courtney.

Pfau now contends in court papers that the church withheld key documents either intentionally or through negligence. Lacking that information, Pfau said, his clients settled for smaller payments then they otherwise would have received.

"We're not accusing these defendants of fraud, per say," Pfau said. "Whether it was fraud or poor bookkeeping, we don't know. But what we're saying is that the defendants had information in their possession that they were required to provide to us that they didn't."

Repeated calls to a Seattle Archdiocese spokesman were not returned Wednesday.

Asked to elaborate on the new evidence, Pfau declined to comment in detail because of concerns about the ongoing litigation.

Similar revelations prompted another clergy abuse survivor to file a second suit against the Christian Brothers and the archdiocese for sexual assaults he endured while at the Briscoe Memorial School, a church-run orphanage formerly located in Kent.

In that case, the former attendee claimed he'd been abused by Brother George Dwyer while enrolled at the orphanage in the 1940s.

Facing the allegations, officials with the order initially denied that Dwyer had ever worked at the school, Pfau said. When photos of the priest surfaced through litigation, the order began to claim that no evidence existed that Dwyer had abused children.

With very little evidence to support his claim, Pfau's client opted to settle with the order. Month later, Pfau said, the order released documents from a Rome archive showing Dwyer had been expelled from the Christian Brothers in 1947 following an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

Without offering details, Pfau said all seven clients expect to see a "significant" increase in the amount of compensation they receive, more than additional compensation. More than that, though, he said they want to see justice done for the abuse they suffered as children.

"It's not just about the money. They're really angry," Pfau said. "They went through a very difficult litigation process, and they believe they were not treated fairly."

Neither the order nor the archdiocese has responded to the lawsuits, which have been filed in King County Superior Court.

This article was found at:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/403997_suits18ww.html

Fresno Diocese Continues to Let "Accused" Child Molester Work with Children

InjuryBoard - March 19, 2009

by Paul Kiesel

A little over two years ago, a Fresno jury found Father Eric Swearingen guilty (9-3) of molesting a former altar boy, however, Bishop John J. Steinbock has continued to allow this man to work with children at the Holy Spirit Parish in Fresno, California.

What is Bishop Steinbock thinking? Would a school district allow a teacher faced with the same situation as Swearingen (I find it inappropriate to refer to him as "Father," as it shows deference to a man who, frankly, doesn't deserve it) to continue working with children? As a parent, would you want your children around a man like that?

Bishop Steinbock, based on his actions, could care less about the future safety of children within any of his parishes and this was especially punctuated yesterday, as he waltzed into a Fresno courtroom, for another clergy sexual abuse case involving one of his former priests, and casually winked at the jury. His attitude, though, changed almost immediately after being questioned by the plaintiff's attorney, Jeff Anderson.

Jeff Anderson: Bishop, when did you first realize or learn that when an adult lays his hands on the genitals of a child and manipulates the genitals of a child and places them on the body of a child for sexual purposes, it was a crime? When did you first realize that?

Bishop: You know, it's really hard for me to say. I think society --

Anderson: No, you.

Bishop: Me?

Anderson: You.

Bishop: I think I thought along with society for so many years it was --

Anderson: Bishop, I'm going to ask you to focus on the question. When did you first learn that it was a crime for an adult, a person over the age of 18, to engage in sex with a kid?

Bishop: Well, I think we would all think that was always a criminal case.

Anderson: If you knew that, then why didn't you turn it over to the law enforcement for them to determine whether or not a crime had been committed and the statute of limitations had passed or not?

Bishop: Because I do not have an allegation of that against him. This is way back in 1995. As I said, I had no cause to take his faculties or away. There was no allegation.

Anderson: You were concerned about a civil suit because you go on to say [in the Bishop's own notes from 1995], "There can always be a civil suit," right?

Bishop: Well, there can always be a civil suit. But I'm also thinking of his, you know, that might be a civil suit against him. I mean, I wasn't aware that they'd probably just come at the Diocese alone. I figured they would also go after the priest.

Wow! Steinbock's responses at one point show that back in 1995, when the current allegation was brought to his attention, he was more concerned with a civil suit than turning over any evidence of wrongdoing by his clergymen to the authorities.

Again, what is Steinbock thinking and who above him (i.e. the Pope, Cardinal Mahony) would allow for this type of behavior to continue in ANY Catholic diocese throughout the world?

This article was found at:

http://losangeles.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/fresno-diocese-continues-to-let-accused-child-molester-work-with-children.aspx?googleid=259428

Borough Park man Moshe Spitzer charged with years of sexual abuse of teen neighbor

New York Daily News - March 20, 2009

By Simone Weichselbaum | Daily News Police Bureau

A Borough Park man was slapped with a 135-count indictment Thursday after a teen neighbor charged he had endured years of sexual abuse.

Moshe Spitzer, 24, was indicted in Brooklyn Supreme Court for sex acts and sex abuse, and similar charges, a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

The victim, now 18, confided to a neighborhood Yeshiva principal about the abuse, said law enforcement sources.

The principal encouraged the victim to speak to his parents about the illegal meetings inside various motel rooms and apartments. Spitzer was 20 when he started taking his younger neighbor out.

"Open lines of communication between communities and law enforcement are essential to fighting crime, and we are pleased that this victim came forward," said Hynes spokesman Jerry Schmetterer.

Authorities are hoping the case will prompt more help from the usually tight-lipped leaders of Brooklyn's Hasidic sects about sexual abuse in their communities.

"The principal did the right thing and didn't try to cover anything up," said one law enforcement source.

In one notorious case, Borough Park rabbi Yehuda Kolko was accused of molesting his students at Yeshiva Torah Temimah. Some victims said the school purposely kept the abuse quiet and hit the yeshiva with multimillion-dollar lawsuits.

"The whole issue is that yeshivas were covering these up," said Orthodox Jewish community child abuse advocate Mark Appel of Am Echad. "Because of the publicity, schools are getting frightened. They don't want to get sued."

Since October, at least five men living in Brooklyn's Hasidic enclaves have been charged with sexually abusing children ranging in age from 7 to 15.

"It is remarkable progress," Appel said.

Investigators said they are seeing more families willing to cooperate and think more abusers will end up behind bars.

"People are starting to realize, teachers and the rabbis, that the only way to stop this is to go to the authorities," said another police source.

"It takes a lot for a teenage boy to stand before a grand jury," the source said. "The system is accommodating to the victim. The district attorney's office and the police department are trying to make it as comfortable as possible."

This article was found at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/03/19/2009-03-19_borough_park_man_moshe_spitzer_charged_w.html

Lawyer: Evangelist too weak, old for sex crimes

Miami Herald - March 19, 2009

by Jon Gambrell | Associated Press writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The new defense lawyer for jailed evangelist Tony Alamo said Thursday that his client's poor eyesight and diminishing physique would have made it impossible for him to have had sex with underage girls, as federal prosecutors claim.

California lawyer Danny Davis told The Associated Press that "it would be physically impossible" for the 74-year-old man to have sex with girls in showers and buses - accusations lodged by authorities who arrested Alamo on Sept. 25.

"As a younger man, he was a strong bull of a man. At 74, he's close to half of the weight," Davis said of his client.

Alamo faces a 10-count federal indictment accusing him of transporting young girls across state lines for sex.

Davis, 63, said that the young girls in Alamo's case may have "cross-contaminated" each other's stories with similar allegations. The lawyer also said Alamo's poor eyesight showed he couldn't have driven any vehicle across a state line and that his followers likely crossed on their own.

Whether Alamo could take part in a sex act would be examined and possibly included in his defense, Davis said.

Davis recently took over Alamo's defense from Little Rock lawyer John Wesley Hall Jr. Davis said Alamo worried that Hall's busy practice might prevent him from focusing on his case.

Davis also represented Alamo in 1991, when the evangelist was accused of child abuse in California stemming from a 1988 beating of an 11-year-old boy at an Alamo compound north of Los Angeles. The case didn't go to trial after Alamo went to federal prison over tax evasion charges.

Davis claimed that case "went away under its own failed merits."

This article was found at:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/959018.html

Teens given longer time to serve suit on Alamo cult "enforcer"

Arkansas Democrat Gazette - March 19, 2009

by Andy Davis

A judge's ruling Wednesday gives two teenagers an extra three months to find the man they say beat them while they were members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and serve him with a copy of their lawsuit.

But the teenagers' attorney, W. David Carter of Texarkana, Texas, said he doesn't expect to wait that long to move forward with the lawsuit, which seeks damages against the ministry's leader, Tony Alamo, and John Kolbeck, whom authorities have identified as Alamo's "enforcer."

If he can't find Kolbeck in the next month, Carter said, he'll ask U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes for permission to serve Kolbeck by publishing a notice of the lawsuit in newspapers in Texarkana and Fort Smith. Kolbeck would have 30 days after the notice is published to respond or risk having a judgment entered for the teenagers by default.

"Since he's on the run and not going to show himself, apparently, voluntarily, that's typically the best way to get reasonable notice to them that they've been sued," Carter said.

In the lawsuit, Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna, who were both 18 when the suit was filed in November, say Kolbeck, 49, beat them with a board, at the direction of Alamo, on multiple occasions while they were in the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Fouke and Fort Smith. Both teenagers left the ministry last year.

Kolbeck is wanted on a second-degree battery charge in a beating that police say Calagna received at a ministry warehouse in Fort Smith last year and on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He is being sought by the FBI, Fort Smith police and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Under federal court rules, the teenagers had until March 25 to serve Kolbeck with the suit. In January, Carter asked the judge for the deadline to be extended by four months, saying the teenagers hoped Kolbeck "will be apprehended by law enforcement officials during that time and will be available for personal service of process."

In an order Wednesday, Barnes extended the deadline, but by a month less than Carter had requested.

Carter said he has been checking with authorities for any news on the search for Kolbeck, and he has been in talks with a producer for the Fox show America's Most Wanted, which plans to feature the case.

America's Most Wanted producer Diana Nolan said the show has been working on a feature about the case since November and tentatively plans to air it in May, when Alamo is set for trial on sex charges.

"Obviously, any violence against children strikes a chord with our show," said Nolan, noting that the show's host, John Walsh, became an advocate for crime victims after his son Adam was killed in 1981.

Sgt. Levi Risley, a spokesman for the Fort Smith Police Department, said authorities haven't received any recent leads on Kolbeck's whereabouts. He said anyone with information can call the Fort Smith Police Department at (479) 709-5000.

Alamo, 74, has denied ordering beatings. His trial, on charges that he transported five underage girls across state lines for sex over the past 15 years, is set for May 18.

This article was found at:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/255228/