Child Abuse Cases Allege Jehovah's Witness Cover-up!

[Mary]

CHILD ABUSE CASES ALLEGE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS COVER-UP!

Friday, January 7, 2005

Source of Article

By DAVID RYAN
Register Staff Writer

A bundle of child abuse cases may finally get off the ground at a key pre-trial hearing in Napa Superior Court this morning.

As many as 11 lawsuits filed in six counties contend that Jehovah's Witnesses covered up acts of child molestation by church officials. Today's hearing is set to determine how the court should go forward with handling the cases and even whether an attorney's potential life-threatening illness could hold up progress.

Two cases involve three alleged Napa victims who are suing Napa Jehovah's Witness Congregations and other Jehovah's Witness groups, claiming high-ranking elders and church policymakers were negligent in supervising one church leader and concealed records for more than 20 years.

Charissa Welch, 35, and two women partially identified in court papers, Nicole D., 32, and Tabitha H., 30, claim Edward Bedoya Villegas, who was an elder in the congregation, forced them to perform oral sex on him starting more than 20 years ago. Welch and Tabitha H. said Villegas penetrated them with his fingers, while Tabitha H. also charges she was raped by Villegas.

Villegas died in prison 10 years ago. In 1994, Villegas was convicted of molesting several local children at a Napa Jehovah's Witness congregation during the 1970s and '80s. During much of that time Villegas and his wife operated a Jehovah's Witness day care center.

Jehovah's Witness officials have said the facts will show that neither the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society -- the national organization of the Jehovah's Witness church -- nor local elders are responsible for Villegas's actions.

Yet whether the cases will move far enough along for both sides to present their evidence will largely be decided on whether the two sides can agree on a schedule of depositions, and even which cases should be tried first. At a Dec. 9 court hearing, Napa Superior Court Presiding Judge Scott Snowden ordered the parties to meet and confer on several pre-trial issues, including which cases to stick on a fast-track schedule, how to schedule testimony with witnesses and when pre-trial motions might be filed in those cases.

One of the most serious factors that could affect the speed of the cases is the health of Jehovah's Witness attorney Robert Schnack, who at the time of the Dec. 9 hearing was due to have a medical appointment where he would be told if he had cancer.

In addition to the chance of being sidelined while undergoing treatment for a serious illness, Schnack warned the court that even with a series of agreed-upon deadlines for taking testimony from witnesses, the sheer number of depositions could make the cases drag on.

"If we're going to pick two cases, it's still going to be 20 to 25 depositions," he said.

Napa courts are known for being able to dispatch most lawsuits within a year, but it was clear through discussions among the attorneys that the complications provided by the 11 lawsuits would expand the timeline.

"This isn't a garden variety case," Snowden said. "This is 11 lawsuits in one case and sometimes more than that."

Rudy Nolen, an attorney for the alleged victims, told Snowden he was interested in moving the cases forward as quickly and efficiently as possible, illustrating what may be underlying some of the initial conflict in scheduling that the two sides encountered when they first tried to work together.

"We don't have the resources of the Jehovah's Witness church," Nolen said, seeming to accuse the church of dragging the cases out.

[Mary]

SEX MOLESTATION CASES AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES NARROWED

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Source of Article

By DAVID RYAN
Register Staff Writer

A stack of child molestation cases filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses is due to shrink.

Lawyers representing individuals suing Jehovah's Witness organizations said Friday they would move next week to dismiss eight Sonoma County plaintiffs they believe are more trouble than they're worth.

In the case of two of the plaintiffs, lawyers had been unsuccessful in their attempts to communicate with their clients.

When finalized, the action will drop the number of lawsuits against the Jehovah's Witnesses in Napa Superior Court from 11 to seven. Three of the cases affected were originally filed in Sonoma County, but were later consolidated in Napa with cases from Napa, Tehama, Placer, Yolo and Monterey counties.

The Sonoma County plaintiffs accused the church of taking no action to stop a former Sonoma County Jehovah's Witness official named Donald Glew from molesting children, even though they claim the church knew of Glew's conduct.

In a criminal proceeding, Glew was convicted of child molestation in 1989 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

In a hearing Friday, lawyers representing plaintiffs and the church agreed to divide the remaining cases into tracks. The parties agreed to try two Tehama County cases with similar claims to the Sonoma County cases before focusing on the remaining cases. No trial date has been set.

Two of the remaining cases involve three Napans who are suing Napa Jehovah's Witness Congregations and other Jehovah's Witness groups, claiming high-ranking elders and church policymakers were negligent in supervising one church leader.

Charissa Welch, 35, and two women identified in court papers as Nicole D., 32, and Tabitha H., 30, claim Edward Bedoya Villegas, who was an elder in the congregation, forced them to perform sex acts with him starting more than 20 years ago. Tabitha H. also charges she was raped by Villegas.

In 1994, Villegas was convicted of molesting several local children at a Napa Jehovah's Witness congregation during the 1970s and '80s. During much of that time Villegas and his wife operated a Jehovah's Witness day care center.

Villegas died in prison 10 years ago.

Jehovah's Witness officials have said the facts will show that neither the national organization of the Jehovah's Witness church -- the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society -- nor local elders are responsible for Villegas' actions.

[Mary]

Witness Abuse
Are Jehovah's Witnesses Covering Up Child Molestation?

By Joy Lanzendorfer
From the April 6-12, 2005 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.
Article Source

As Michael Jackson--raised as a Jehovah's Witness--stands trial for child molestation in Southern California, another controversy involving the apocalyptic religion and child sexual abuse is unfolding in Napa Superior Court.

A string of lawsuits accuses Jehovah Witnesses of repeatedly covering up cases of child molestation. The plaintiffs say that not only were they sexually abused by church elders, but that other church officials knew about the abuse and refused to take the necessary steps to report it, instead allowing sexual predators to retain positions of power in the congregation. The alleged abuses span 27 years, from 1970 to 1997.

The Napa case names three plaintiffs, Charissa Welch, 35; Nicole D., 32; and Tabitha H., 30. They are suing the Napa Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses as well as Jehovah's Witness headquarters in Pennsylvania and New York for an unspecified amount of money.

Originally, Sacramento law firm Nolan Saul Brelsford brought 17 cases against Jehovah's Witness churches throughout California, including one in Sonoma County. The firm has dropped 11 cases and the remaining six lawsuits span several counties, including Napa, Santa Clara, Yolo, Placer and Tehama. Because the Napa case was the farthest along in the proceedings, the lawsuits were coordinated and are now being tried in Napa as one large case.

Attorneys for the Jehovah's Witnesses deny the cover-up.

"The church abhors child abuse," says defense council Robert Schnack. "And it denies any liability in these cases, both factual and legal."

So far, the church has lost two motions in court. First, it claimed its status as a religious institution protects it from lawsuits under the First Amendment. Then it claimed it could not be held responsible for what its members did. On April 8, it is expected to argue that church officials had no knowledge of the abuse.

In the Napa case, the alleged abuser was church elder Edward Villegas, who was convicted for child abuse in 1994 and died in prison soon afterwards. Much of the abuse happened in the 1970s and 1980s. During that time, Villegas operated a church-sponsored daycare.

The complaint claims that the church not only knew about the alleged abuse, but "intentionally concealed" it from the police and the congregation and "continued to place Edward Villegas in positions of authority where he could abuse children while pursuing activities within the scope of his appointment."

In 1970, Charissa Welch, then an infant, was placed in Villegas' daycare, which the church used to attract new members. Welch's mother, Betty Hopkins, converted to the religion soon afterward. According to the complaint, when Welch was three or four years old, Villegas allegedly began molesting her by "fondling her genitals, penetrating her vagina and forcing her to have oral sex." The abuse lasted 13 to 14 years. Tabitha H. alleges that she endured similar abuse by Villegas from 1977 to 1980.

In 1971, Nicole D.'s family met Villegas through a church function. Nicole was placed under the elder's guidance. Her family even spent time at his home. In 1978, when Nicole was seven, he allegedly forced her to have oral sex with him.

According to the complaint, Nicole told her father about the abuse. He immediately informed the church. The elders removed Nicole from Villegas' care, but allegedly "took no other steps to hold him accountable or to otherwise notify members. . . . Instead, they intentionally concealed this information. Therefore, Edward Villegas was able to continue to use his position of authority."

The three plaintiffs say they were told they should let the elders handle the abuse. The complaint also says the church keeps "secret archival files regarding sexual abuse" by leaders. By not involving the police and keeping Villegas in charge, the plaintiffs are arguing that the church assumed a level of liability in the abuse.

The Jehovah's Witness church hierarchy has three levels. The first level, pioneers, are the familiar members who go door-to-door attempting to convert people. The second level, ministerial servants, are men who act as deacons, doing grunt work for the church. After three years, a ministerial servant can advance to the third level, elder. The elders make up the church's governing body.

"Elders are viewed as a direct representation of God on earth," says Bill Bowen, a former Jehovah's Witness elder. "To question an elder is to question God."

Because elders develop a trusting relationship with members, they take on the responsibility of protecting and molding character and behavior, especially in the case of children, says attorney Bill Brelsford, who represents the plaintiffs.

"The church takes these children and trains them in how to act," he says. "Through this undertaking as an organization, it has a certain responsibility here."

The Napa cases are not the only ones. In fact, lawsuits accusing Jehovah's Witnesses of covering up child abuse have been popping up all over the country. Spearheading the lawsuits is Texas law firm Love and Norris, which initially approached Nolen Saul Brelsford about the California cases.

Bill Bowen was an elder at a Jehovah's Witness church in Paducah, Ky., when he learned that a fellow elder had molested a child. He reported the incident, but the other leaders told him that since the elder claimed the abuse happened only one time, nothing should be done about it.

"I spoke to the victim and found out it happened multiple times and places, and that the current allegations pointed to another child," Bowen says. "I said to them, ‘Look, apparently he lied to us, there's even physical evidence pointing to another child,' and they said, ‘Well, he denied it, so we have to leave it in God's hands.'"

Bowen went to all the other leaders and even wrote Watchtower headquarters. Eventually, he was told that though the church would remove the man as an elder, Bowen was not to report the crime to the police. In response, Bowen officially resigned as an elder, went to the police, and then started a website, SilentLambs.org, to help Jehovah's Witnesses who have been sexually molested.

As is its custom with all so-called heretics within its ranks, the church excommunicated or "disfellowshipped" Bowen. Family and longtime friends soon started shunning him.

"I haven't spoken to my parents or sister in three years," he says. "If I had any contact with them, they would be disfellowshipped, too."

Over 1,000 people have reported on SilentLambs.org that Jehovah's Witness members allegedly sexually abused them. According to the site, inside sources at the Watchtower office in New York say it has a computer database of reported incidents of child abuse that lists nearly 24,000 child molesters.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York did not respond to interview requests for this article.

Bowen believes that child abuse within the church began as a small problem and has gotten worse over time.

"It probably started out somewhat like it was with the Catholic Church, with the church thinking if we ignore this problem, it will go away," he says. "But it hasn't. And the Jehovah's Witnesses are nastier about it than the Catholic Church was, especially to abuse survivors. They know that if they don't cover it up, it will expose major problems in the religion."

The allegations against the Jehovah's Witnesses are different from the Catholic Church in several ways. For one thing, with just 1 million members nationwide, there are far fewer Jehovah's Witnesses than the 60 million-member Catholic Church. For another, with its door-to-door conversion policy, a sexual predator who is a Jehovah's Witness has more contact with the public at large.

While the church's responsibility in these cases is still up for debate, in some cases--such as with Villegas in Napa, who was convicted of molestation--the abuse is not. At the very least, Bowen feels the Jehovah's Witnesses should make more of an effort to protect its congregation.

He says that in 1992, church members made recommendations to the New York office for a new policy dealing with child molesters. The policy stated that elders should report the abuse to the police first, that abusers should be removed from positions of responsibility within the church and that abusers should not be allowed to go door-to-door.

"That was in 1992," Bowen says. "To this day, not one of those recommendations has been followed up on."