Free Republic

FULL TITLE: Iowa pastor, 44, is arrested on child sex abuse charges just hours before his Christian rock band was due to perform at Minnesota music festival An Iowa pastor was arrested for child sexual assault, just hours before he was due to perform with his Christian rock band at a music festival on Saturday. Emanuel J. Rodriguez, 44 is accused of inappropriately touching two girls known to him, believed to be 11 and 12. The alleged incidents took place while he and they were covered in blankets. Rodriguez also assaulted the minors inside two of his former homes in...

Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein socialized with the rich and powerful, harboring a sordid hidden life that came to light in 2008, landing him in prison for the solicitation of underage girls for sex. Epstein was infamous for his private Boeing 727 airliner nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” which ferried guests including Bill Clinton and a bevy of young girls allegedly pressed into prostitution at his Caribbean estate dubbed “Orgy Island.” His laughable 13-month sentence after being accused by more than 40 minor girls of sexual abuse is a testament to his connections in high places. Those guests included the aforementioned former...

A local Islamic schoolteacher who cultivated sexual video conversations with a 15-year-old student will go to prison for 10 years. Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, 30, was convicted at trial in Alexandria federal court earlier this year of sending pornographic images to the girl and trying to persuade her to respond in kind. “Your case is an unusual one,” Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told Kokayi. “You had an absolutely improper infatuation with this child, and you acted inappropriately on it.” But, she said, “it’s not the typical pornography case.” Federal guidelines calling for a life sentence were “way out of proportion” for...

Suspected sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was handed another break by the Department of Justice on Monday when federal prosecutors rejected his victims’ efforts to throw out his plea deal and prosecute him for abusing dozens of underage girls. In the 35-page motion, filed in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia, federal prosecutors said that there is no legal basis to invalidate Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement — and they warned the federal judge in the case against doing the same. U.S. Attorney Byung “B.J.” Pak said that because Congress did not outline specific penalties in the Crime Victims’ Rights Act...

The lead prosecutor arguing to sustain the conviction of Cardinal George Pell struggled Thursday in presenting the Crown's case... [Lead prosecutor Christopher] Boyce repeatedly found himself either struggling to articulate his own argument or lost for words under judicial questioning, at one point conceding that "it's not good enough for me to say what I said before," and that rehearsing the platitudes may not be all that helpful."... Asked how it was possible that a figure of Pell's stature and visibility could have approached, sequestered and assaulted two boys at the cathedral's most busy time, Boyce said that the prosecution...

FULL TITLE: Kentucky pastor, 26, arrested after ‘sending messages trying to set up a threesome with two underage girls who worked at his restaurant' A Kentucky pastor has been accused of trying to set up a threesome with two underage girls. Bobby J. Blackburn, 26, the pastor of the Elevate Church in Prestonsburg, was arrested last week and charged with using an electronic communication system to get a minor to commit a sex act, according to Prestonsburg police. On May 24, police obtained an arrest warrant for Blackburn after receiving a complaint that he allegedly messaged a minor and asked...

An orthodox evangelical church has closed down following a series of historical cases of sexual abuse. Six men from the Jesus Fellowship Church - formerly known as the Jesus Army - have so far been sentenced for the indecent and sexual assault of 11 victims between the 1970s and 1990s. Northamptonshire Police said about 200 complaints of various types of abuse were made. Its investigations continue. The JFC said it was "appalled" by the abuse and apologised to those affected. A lawyer representing two alleged victims said he was concerned the closures may mean his clients do not receive compensation....

ORLANDO, Fla. - Attorneys for two victims abused by Orlando Seventh-day Adventists pastor Billy Leveille have filed a lawsuit against the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, alleging the church was negligent after the Orlando pastor was convicted of sexual activity with a minor and child abuse. The women who wanted to be named and tell their stories had attended Bethel Elise Haitienne Des Adventists Church in Orlando, where Leveille was the senior pastor. Kenia Gilles said she was 16 years old and Jeny Desronvil said she was 21 when the abuse began, shortly after they were both elected and appointed...

A doctor working at the Ohio State University abused at least 177 men during his tenure at the school, OSU officials said today as they released the findings of an investigation undertaken by a private law firm hired by the university. What's more, school leaders at the time knew about the abuse, the report states. Team doctor Richard Strauss abused athletes playing at least 16 sports at the university plus others who attended a campus health center and an off-campus clinic between 1979 and 1997, according to the investigation. Strauss was employed at OSU from 1978 to 1998. OSU President...

FULL TITLE: Tennessee pastor who was facing 72 years in prison for repeatedly raping his adopted daughter, 14, is jailed for just 12 after dozens of parishioners show up to court to support him A former Tennessee pastor who repeatedly raped his adopted teenage daughter has been given an effective 12 year prison sentence after dozens of parishioners showed up to court to support him. Prosecutors had sought the maximum term of 72 years behind bars for 41-year-old David Richards, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports. But a judge cited his longtime ministry and the support he still receives as mitigating...

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (AP) — A filmmaker who co-founded the Sundance Film Festival and produced an Oscar-winning movie in the mid-1980s pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual abuse of a child. Sterling Van Wagenen, 71, entered the plea as part of an agreement that includes a sentence of six years to life. He plans to plead guilty to a second charge involving the same victim later this week, his attorney Steven Shapiro said. His acceptance of the plea deal was a surprise since he had just been charged earlier this month and it came during his first court appearance. Shapiro said...

300 NEW reports!!! LANSING, MI – State Attorney General Dana Nessel said law enforcement has received more than 300 tips of alleged sexual misconduct in Michigan’s seven Catholic dioceses since her office began investigating the issue in 2018. She added Thursday, Feb. 21, that the investigation will take “in the neighborhood of two years” and that upwards of 1,000 sex-abuse victims could be uncovered. She did not elaborate on how her office arrived at that potential number of victims.... More 'catholic pedophilia' news at link above. CHILDREN, molested....in the name of the 'catholic church'!! THIS is the face of the...

A man told his story to Big League Politics about an encounter with Fox News host Shep Smith in 2004 in New York City. The man describes how he woke up with Smith on top of him with his tongue down his throat, how he tried to push the Fox host off him, and how Smith lunged at him three or four more times while continuing to force the unwanted physical encounter. In a revelatory interview with Neil McCabe for Big League Politics, John Doe #1, 35, says that Smith took advantage of him. Here is audio from the interview:

A former second-grade teacher In Jersey City admitted Wednesday she sexually assaulted a 15-year-old student in her Lyndhurst home more than three years ago. Lauren Coyle-Mitchell, 36, pleaded guilty in Bergen County Superior Court to aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, a court official said. Under a plea bargain, Coyle-Mitchell faces five years in state prison, parole supervision for life and will be required to register as a sex offender, according to a report on NorthJersey.com. She is also barred from public employment and must forfeit her teaching certificates, according to the report. Coyle-Mitchell worked at...

An Oakland priest placed on administrative leave after accusations of inappropriate sexual misconduct with a minor has now reportedly fled the country, officials confirmed. Father Alex Castillo was living at a rectory in Oakland and reportedly was looking to live with friends for a few days immediately after he was placed on leave Jan. 30, the San Jose Mercury reported. The diocese said they last spoke with him Feb. 20, then were unable to reach him the following day. A missing persons report was later filed on Feb. 23, after calls to jails and hospitals in the area failed to...

Do not turn a blind eye. Pedophilia goes far beyond the walls of the church, and spreads much like the plague, infesting local communities and infiltrating daycares, schools, and foster care, while many remain protected by local community leaders and officials. Child sex trafficking and church pedophiles are rampant, and the lists being disseminated by churches across the country, pointing to pedophile priests and clergy, most of which have long been deceased, is a swift way to clean their hands of it, with false transparency. What they don’t want people to know, is just how far this truly reaches, and...

Lawyers for Cardinal George Pell are working to keep the 77-year-old Australian prelate out of jail pending an appeal of his convictions of sexually abusing minors. The highest ranking churchman to be charged with sexual offenses, Pell was convicted in December 2018, but details of his trial were under a publication ban until Tuesday. It has now been revealed that Pell was convicted of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16, the BBC reported. Judge Peter Kidd lifted the ban after prosecutors dropped a second...

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — State Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) has introduced a bill, SB 360, to end the “penitential communication” exemption to child abuse reporting. Currently, 43 categories of adults are required to report to the police if they know or “reasonably suspect” a child is “has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.” (Cal. Penal Code 11166(a).) There is an exception for clergy who gain knowledge of abuse during “penitential communication,” sometimes referred to as “confession.”  (Cal. Penal Code 11166(d).) Hill says “those in the clergy have been able to abuse and get away with it,”...

Frédéric Martel says papal entourage told him that Archbishop Viganò informed Francis about allegations involving seminarians Archbishop Carlo Viganò told Pope Francis about allegations against Theodore McCarrick, but the Pope dismissed them because they did not concern minors, a writer has claimed in an explosive new book about the Vatican. The book, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality and Hypocrisy, contends that there is an extensive gay sub-culture within the Vatican. Author Frédéric Martel writes: “When the Pope dismissed the allegations, his entourage indicated to me that ‘Francis was initially informed by Viganò that Cardinal McCarrick had had...

How can I petition every state, but particularly New Jersey, with this request: Following the lead of the Catholic Church, I would like to ask the State of New Jersey to release a list of all public school teachers and administrators and school employees in every school district in New Jersey since 1930 that have molested a child, including the nature of the offense and whatever discipline was taken. I would also like to ask the State of New Jersey to adopt the SAME zero tolerance policy as the Catholic Church and immediately FIRE any teacher or administrator or school...