Posted on 09/12/2002 12:47:05 PM PDT by Ghengis
BIG BROTHERS HAD SCREENED RAPE SUSPECT
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Thursday, September 12, 2002 NEWS 03D
By Mike Lafferty |
Illustration: Photo
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NEWARK, Ohio -- A Big Brother Big Sister volunteer charged with rape passed a background check and offered five personal references before the Licking County program accepted him as a mentor.
Scott A. Wagner, 34, of Newark, is charged with raping a 12-year-old boy visiting Wagner's home as a client of Big Brother Big Sister of Licking and Perry Counties.
Court records indicate that Wagner had no previous convictions. Authorities are investigating allegations of incidents dating from about 1997 that involve Wagner and at least six other children.
Volunteer mentors who meet one on one with children undergo checks for criminal activity and driving violations, said Kathie Fout, assistant director of the Licking and Perry counties chapter. They also are interviewed, and a home assessment is conducted.
The background for volunteers who only tutor children in school, Fout said, isn't as exhaustive. Driving violations and home assessments, for example, are not included.
Volunteers such as Wagner usually meet twice a month with children they are mentoring. They share hobbies, sports activities, baking, computer work and other interests with kids.
The Licking County agency served about 700 children in Licking and Perry counties last year. About 250,000 children nationally were involved in the program in 2001.
The accusations against Wagner hurt the entire program, said Joy Harris, who heads Big Brother Big Sisters of Knox and Morrow Counties.
Sheriff's investigators are looking into Wagner's conduct with at least six other boys during the past five years, Capt. Rod Mitchell said.
The Licking County Sheriff's Office last month began an investigation after Licking County Children's Services officials contacted detectives.
Wagner was arrested Friday and is in the Licking County jail under $150,000 bail. The Licking County grand jury will consider the case.
At least two volunteer Big Brothers were charged with sex crimes last year. In August 2001, a 52-year-old Toronto man was charged with sexual assault, sexual interference, gross indecency and sexual exploitation involving three young boys in Canada. In April 2001, a 37-year-old Newton, Mass., man was accused of filming himself having sex with an 8-year-old boy in Boston.
"These people often place themselves in positions where they'll be in contact with children,'' Mitchell said. "It's not unusual.''
mlafferty@dispatch.com
I can't fault a volunteer organization - which doesn't have anything near the resources of even a small town police department - for missing a bad apple.
I think using known homosexuals as "mentors" to troubled boys is insane - but there is a whole "Gay Industry " out there now : armed to the teeth with lawyers, media mavens, and the like- and I'm sure we're going to see a LOT more of this kind of thing !
ps: "bout that Trippy Trooper : First he claimed he was working undercover. When that didn't pan out, and he was suspended, he claimed he was being discriminated against because of his race. That didn't work either...
In short, the lamestream media opposes homosexual priests not because it opposes homosexuals but because it hates the Catholic Church more than it favors homosexuals.
Have I missed anything?
Congressman Billybob
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I could barely get through the article because of it. The first time it was used I looked up to see if it was from the Onion. Too much.
Only if he makes the decision in his heart and mind NOT to commit that sin again. If he goes to confession with no intention of changing his behavior, no words of absolution spoken by the Priest will heal him. Only God can do that.
Very important. What you call him after the fact does nothing to prevent the fact. If he calls himself a heterosexual when you meet him, what difference does it make that you call him a homosexual after he molests your son?
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