Tag: child abuse

Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims

Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.

When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.

It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.

Rytting had flown into Hailey, Idaho, that morning from Salt Lake City, where the church is based, to meet in person with Chelsea and her mother, Lorraine.

After a quick prayer, he introduced himself and said he was there “to look into” Chelsea’s “tragic and horrendous” story.

Chelsea and Lorraine had come to the meeting with one clear request: Would the church allow a local Idaho bishop, which in the Mormon church is akin to a Catholic priest, to testify at John Goodrich’s trial? Bishop Michael Miller, who accompanied Rytting to the meeting, had heard a spiritual confession from Chelsea’s father shortly before John Goodrich was arrested on charges of sexually abusing her.

While the details of his confession remain private, the church swiftly excommunicated Goodrich.

Audio recordings of the meetings over the next four months, obtained by The Associated Press, show how Rytting, despite expressing concern for what he called John’s “significant sexual transgression,” would employ the risk management playbook that has helped the church keep child sexual abuse cases secret. In particular, the church would discourage Miller from testifying, citing a law that exempts clergy from having to divulge information about child sex abuse that is gleaned in a confession. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges, telling Lorraine that her impending divorce and the years that had passed since Chelsea’s alleged abuse might prejudice jurors.

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“Non-Binary Queer” Artist And Former VICE Contributor Sentenced For Child Pornography Possession After Arranging To Meet 9-Year-Old Boy For Rape

A “non-binary queer” artist and former VICE contributor has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison for the possession of child pornography after arranging to sexually abuse a 9-year-old boy. Efrem Zelony-Mindell, 35, was initially arrested in Manhattan, New York, on December 16, 2022.

According to the criminal complaint reviewed by Reduxx, Zelony-Mindell began communicating with an undercover FBI agent in early 2022 after meeting him on Scruff, a hook-up app for homosexual men. During these conversations, Zelony-Mindell slowly began to introduce more extreme topics, and questioned the agent if he was “into taboo.”

Soon after, Zelony-Mindell asked if the agent had a Telegram account, where the two then began corresponding. He expressed an interest in “[young] incest,” and repeatedly stated his desire to sexually abuse children.

Approximately one month later, the undercover agent offered to introduce Zelony-Mindell to another agent posing as a father of a 9-year-old boy offering his son for rape. He immediately affirmed his desire to sexually abuse the child, and arrangements were made for the two to meet after they had spoken both through an encrypted messaging service, text message, and on the phone.

Zelony-Mindell also sent videos and images of child pornography to the undercover agent after admitting his interest in pedophilia. Within the FBI special agent’s complaint, graphic descriptions of the materials Zelony-Mindell sent to the first undercover agent were provided.

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Oklahoma teen testifies how a former pastor referenced the Bible during abuse

A teen who says she was sexually abused testified for almost two hours on Tuesday. She told the court how a former pastor would dialogue with her about biblical issues while allegedly abusing her.

Fred Gammon, Jr, 42, of Miami, is charged with child sexual abuse.  His trial in Ottawa County began its second day on Wednesday (11//29) before a 7-woman, 5-man jury.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Gammon was serving as Wayside Assembly of God pastor. 

The jury listened to prosecutor Chris Garner methodically question the teen as she outlined the abusive behavior that began when she was 15 years old, allegedly at the hands of Gammon. Three witnesses, including the teen, testified for the state on Tuesday.

The accuser, now 19 years old, is studying to be a missionary at a faith-based college..

“He would come into my bedroom and make small talk about the Bible while touching me,” the teen testified.

The alleged sexual abuse began after Gammon saw photographs of the teen wearing a bikini, according to the accuser’s testimony.

She said they were photographs sent to her boyfriend.

“He treated me differently – he was more interested in me,” according to her testimony.

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Trump-boosted conspiracist guilty of assaulting FBI agent investigating him for sex crimes

A Maine falconer who floated a bizarre conspiracy theory boosted by Donald Trump has been convicted of assaulting a federal officer.

Alan Howell Parrot was found guilty by a jury Wednesday of kicking an FBI agent in the stomach when investigators attempted to execute a search warrant June 22 at his Hancock home to determine whether he was in possession of child sexual abuse materials, reported the Bangor Daily News.

“While the agents were trying to enter the residence, Parrot attempted to close the door and became combative, kicking one agent in the abdomen and pushing her backwards, resulting in injuries to her arm and elbow,” federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The 68-year-old Parrot faces up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, although the status of the child pornography investigation was not made clear by federal prosecutors.

Trump boosted a conspiracy theory propagated by Parrot weeks before the 2020 election that alleged Osama bin Laden had survived the raid on his compound nearly a decade earlier by using a body double, and then claimed that then-vice president Joe Biden had ordered the murder of Navy SEALs to cover up that purported failure.

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Instagram Videos Sexualizing Children Shown To Adults Who Follow Preteen Influencers

In June, we noted that Meta’s Instagram was caught facilitating a massive pedophile network, by which the service would promote pedo-centric content to other pedophiles using coded emojis, such as a slice of cheese pizza.

According to the the Wall Street Journal, Instagram allowed pedophiles to search for content with explicit hashtags such as #pedowhore and #preteensex, which were then used to connect them to accounts that advertise child-sex material for sale from users going under names such as “little slut for you.” And according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Meta accounted for more than 85% of child pornography reports, the Journal reported.

Companies whose ads appeared next to inappropriate content included Disney, Walmart, Match.com, HIms and the Wall Street Journal itself.

And yet, no mass exodus of advertisers…

They haven’t stopped…

According to a new report by the Journal, Instagram’s ‘reels’ service – which shows users short video clips of things which the company’s algorithm thinks users would find of interest – has been serving up clips of sexualized children to adults that follow preteen influencers, gymnasts, cheerleaders and other categories that child predators are attracted to.

The Journal set up the test accounts after observing that the thousands of followers of such young people’s accounts often include large numbers of adult men, and that many of the accounts who followed those children also had demonstrated interest in sex content related to both children and adults. The Journal also tested what the algorithm would recommend after its accounts followed some of those users as well, which produced more-disturbing content interspersed with ads.

In a stream of videos recommended by Instagram, an ad for the dating app Bumble appeared between a video of someone stroking the face of a life-size latex doll and a video of a young girl with a digitally obscured face lifting up her shirt to expose her midriff. In another, a Pizza Hut commercial followed a video of a man lying on a bed with his arm around what the caption said was a 10-year-old girl. -WSJ

A separate experiment run by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection had similar results after running similar tests. 

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Mormon leaders ignored our family’s ‘rampant’ incest abuse: Devastating claims of two young sisters assaulted by the same family member – and accuse the church of a cover-up to PROTECT their abuser

A few months before her 18th birthday, Katie Wallace hatched a plan to overdose on heroin.

She and a male friend who had her hooked on the drug would do it together, ending years of misery to which the 17-year-old saw no way out.

It was not the path the Mormon church, in which Katie had been raised, had ordained for her.

But it was one that she holds the religion responsible for, after church leaders allegedly covered up years of rampant sexual abuse and incest within her family.

For Katie, now 39, it began when she was four. Unbeknown to her, her abuser, a close relative, had assaulted her older sister, Becky, years before.

The church knew but did nothing, allowing a ‘vicious circle’ of abuse to break out within the family, the sisters claim.

They have bravely shared their story with DailyMail.com to expose what they believe is an ‘epidemic’ of sexual abuse in Mormon homes, which they and countless other victims claim is buried by ecclesiastical leaders in a bid to protect the church’s reputation.

It comes after our investigation revealed last week that the church is facing legal action over allegations it has ‘maintained a pattern and practice’ of hiding abuse from authorities.

More than a dozen current and former members of the church have come forward with shocking claims of a culture of ‘cover ups’ – defying leaders who are alleged to have ‘silenced’ and ‘threatened’ those who speak out.

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Mormon leaders accused of ‘silencing and THREATENING’ families who tried to expose sex offenders in their communities – as victims claim church ‘covered up’ an ‘epidemic’ of abuse

Mormon families who tried to expose cases of sexual abuse within their communities have alleged they were ‘silenced’ and threatened with disciplinary action by church leaders, DailyMail.com can reveal.

In one instance, two Idaho members claim they were warned they could be punished after the pair alerted others in their congregation to the fact that their former bishop faced child sex abuse charges dating back 10 years.

In another case in Minnesota, a church member and social worker claims he was stripped of his positions within the church after he spoke out about a registered sex offender who had been placed in a leadership position.

On both occasions, the dissidents felt compelled to raise the alarm after church leaders allegedly kept the abuse under wraps.

It comes after DailyMail.com revealed that victims have accused Mormon leaders of hiding an ‘epidemic’ of sexual abuse that rivals scandals within the Catholic church.

Around a dozen victims have taken the brave decision to tell their stories of abuse within the church, exposing decades of alleged cover-ups.

Meanwhile, the Utah-based religion faces a bombshell lawsuit in which it is alleged to ‘maintain a pattern and practice’ of ‘concealing’ sexual abuse from the police in a bid to avoid costly legal action and protect its reputation.

Today, DailyMail.com can reveal police records suggest church leaders failed to report a bishop who had confessed to sexually abusing a minor.

The church allegedly allowed him to remain an ‘active member of the church’ months after they had been made aware of the allegations against him, the records show.

Members of the congregation – known as a ward – in Nampa, Idaho, who tried to speak out about the case claim they were threatened with disciplinary action.

Kolby Reddish, 35, told DailyMail.com that the church’s silence was motivated by its desire to protect its reputation ‘at all costs’.

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Texas A&M University Employee Arrested on Child Pornography Charges, FBI Uncovers Use of “PIZZA” as Code Word in Chats

A Texas A&M University (TAMU) employee, Clinton Harnden, has been arrested by the FBI on charges related to child pornography.

The arrest came after agents executed a search warrant at Harnden’s residence and found evidence of his involvement in receiving and possessing child pornography materials, KBTX reported.

Harnden held the position of Senior Administrative Coordinator at Texas A&M University. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he had been employed at the university for more than a decade, but only took on the senior administrative role in July 2020.

Harnden’s profile is still available on TAMU’s website.

According to the FBI affidavit obtained by Current Revolt, the investigation began following the arrest of Sarah Chadwick in Michigan on November 8 for possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

During her post-arrest interview, Chadwick revealed her communication with Harnden via WhatsApp, where they exchanged significant amounts of CSAM.

Further analysis of the chat between Chadwick and Harnden revealed that Harnden used the term “pizza” as a code word to discuss CSAM.

According to FBI Special Agent Dimitri Willis, “CHADWICK and HARNDEN used the term “pizza” to talk about CSAM during this interaction. I know from my training and experience that “pizza” and/or “cheese pizza” is a known slang/code-word used by individuals to discuss CSAM in public forums without detection. After sharing the CSAM, CHADWICK asked HARNDEN if he thought she was horrible because of all the “pizza.” HARNDEN replied that “Pizza is one of my favorite foods.””

The investigation further revealed Harnden’s involvement in online communities dedicated to sharing CSAM, including groups on Tumblr and Wickr.

“Agents reviewed HARNDEN’s “ATXAGGIE2007” Tumblr page. The page was filled with posts and responses about pornographic material, including CSAM. One post by HARNDEN on Tumblr asked “Anyone give out free pizza today.” As stated before, I know from my training and experience that “pizza” and/or “cheese pizza” is a known slang/code- word used by individuals to refer to CSAM,” the affidavit read.

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Inside forced reunification camps: A court-ordered program for kids who have been abused by a parent, which involves them being held against their will until they admit that they made it all up and ultimately sent back to their abusers

A new documentary has laid bare the horrific trauma that children have claimed to have endured at the hands of forced reunification camps. 

The court-ordered program is designed to ‘safely’ and ‘timely’ help kids who have accused a parent of abusing them return to their homes without having to go into foster care.

But a series of teens and children who spent time at reunification camps claimed that the program lead to them being taken away and completely isolated from the people they trust, held against their will until they admitted that they made it all up, and ultimately sent back to the parents who they had accused of abuse.

In October 2022, a video that showed two kids being dragged into a car as they sobbed and pleaded for help while police officers watched on silently made its way around the web.

The devastating footage featured a group of men surrounding and carrying the visibly terrified children into a waiting vehicle, as they kicked, screamed, and begged not to be sent back to their ‘child molester’ mother.

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Former Maryland mayor, prominent Democrat sentenced to 30 years for possession and distribution of child sex abuse images

Disgraced former Maryland mayor and prominent Democrat Patrick Wojahn was sentenced to 30 years of prison after he pleaded guilty to dozens of child porn charges. 

Wojahn, who formerly served as the first openly gay mayor of College Park, Maryland received the sentence after he was arrested for possession and distribution of child pornography in March, reports Fox News.

Court documents said that Wojahn used the social media app Kik to load and distribute child pornography. Police later confiscated a storage device, several cell phones, a computer, and a tablet from his residence all due to suspicions they contained child pornography. 

The longtime Democrat was a mentee of Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who himself was also a small-town mayor. Wojahn also has made numerous appearances at the White House, often being seen in photographs with Buttigieg in Washington, DC.

Wojahn has referred to Joe Biden as “the most pro-LGBTQ President in US history.”

Despite Wojahn’s charges, the City of College Park put out a public statement thanking him for “his many years of dedicated service.”

CBS reports that Wojahn pleaded guilty to over 100 counts linked to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material back in August. 

This plea deal calls for Wojahn to serve 30 years in prison, according to the office of Prince George County State Attorney Aisha Braveboy.

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