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DIVORCE, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, AND
OTHER LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING
CHILDREN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Persons interested in this particular topic should visit the SILENTLAMBS.ORG website, which is devoted exclusively to the issue of sexual crimes committed against children by members of the Jehovah's Witnesses community. The owner/operator of that website has been featured in multiple international news reports and documentaries broadcasted on nearly every major television network over the past five years. He is a former Jehovah's Witness Elder who labels the WatchTower organization as a "pedophile's paradise".
There is no point in my trying to duplicate what that website, and now a few others, already do well. However, I will occasionally post on this webpage a few court cases and other items which those dedicated website have missed (at least as of the time that I posted the case on this webpage).
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STATE v. BAGLEY was a 2007 Connecticut appellate court decision. Around 2004/5, in a jury trial, a Connecticut Jehovah's Witness, named Raymond Bagley, was convicted of sexual assault in the fourth degree and risk of injury to a child. In July 2001, an unidentified female minor, who was visiting a male minor at Bagley's apartment, fell asleep on Bagley's bed. She awoke to find Bagley sexually molesting her.
On appeal, Raymond Bagley did not dispute his guilt, but rather disputed whether he was legally competent to stand trial. Both prior to, and during his trial, Bagley had refused to discuss his case with medical staff or his attorneys. Bagley claimed that his Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs prevented him from participating in his own defense. When questioned, Bagley generally remained silent. When he did answer, he would cite Bible passages which supposedly supported his decision not to assist his defense.
In April 2002, Bagley was initially found incompetent to stand trial, and he was committed to Connecticut Valley Hospital for 50 days. At the end of the initial period, the staff reported that he had been uncooperative with their attempts to evaluate his competency, and suggested that he remain for another 60 days. At the end of that second period, he was deemed "competent", and released from the hospital.
In December 2003, Bagley was again found "incompetent" to stand trial, because he refused to discuss his case, or assist his attorneys in preparing his defense. In January 2004, Bagley was again found "competent", because his refusal to communicate with his attorneys was deemed to be a "deliberate choice", rather than a "function of any psychiatric impairment". Bagley would cooperate and openly talk with everyone, so long as the topic was not his defense. Thus, his refusal to participate in his defense was judged to be his choice, and that he fully understood the situation.
The appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision to find Bagley legally competent to stand trial. Sentence unknown.
"Kimberly Jones-O'Brien, a police officer at G.S.'s school, testified that G.S. told her that (1) Smith began sexually abusing G.S. when G.S. was five years old, (2) Smith would enter G.S.'s bedroom in the middle of the night and fondle ... , (3) the abuse stopped when G.S. was about 14 years old, and (4) Smith physically abused G.S. throughout her childhood. Jones-O'Brien also testified that G.S. appeared afraid because Smith 'was still showing up at Kingdom Hall' and that G.S. felt that she had been stalked by Smith."G.S.'s two siblings testified that they never witnessed any physical abuse of G.S. and that G.S. never told them about the abuse. Further, Sallie Sonntag, a close friend of the family, testified that she had personally been abused as a child and that G.S. never reported any abuse to her and she saw no signs that G.S. had been abused.... ... ... ...."... G.S.'s siblings and Sallie Sonntag, who testified for the defense. G.S.'s siblings testified that they never witnessed any physical abuse of G.S. and that G.S. never told them about the abuse. Sonntag testified that she had been sexually abused by a neighbor when she was a child and that she was 'very conscious of the character that strangers, or even familiar people may show ... especially toward young girls.' She stated that she 'did not see at any time [G.S.] showing any signs of that.'... ... ..."Third, Smith claims that defense counsel should have objected to testimony that Smith violated a restraining order at the Kingdom Hall. But on redirect examination of Smith, after the prosecutor had asked about the restraining order, defense counsel asked whether any referee found that Smith violated the order. Smith replied, 'None whatsoever.' Defense counsel also asked whether Smith obeyed the order even though he did not agree with it. Smith replied that he did. ... ... "
Bus driver is held without bond, police expanding investigation
MIAMI -- With a box full of Snickers candy bars, Blow Pops and gum and a pocket full of cash, a 65-year-old man operating a private school bus service lured his victims, some as young as 7 years old, onto his lap where he would sexually abuse them.''Some he would fondle,'' said officer Warren Hardison, spokesman for North Miami Beach Police. ''I think with some of the victims there was penetration.''
Bus driver Cesar Gonzalez-Rubio of North Miami Beach was denied bond Friday on charges he sexually abused four of his young passengers. Police later announced they would charge him with additional counts of child abuse after interviewing more children.
''One child gives us names of other kids. This just keeps mushrooming,'' said Hardison. ''Picture an organizational chart. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.''
The FBI has joined the investigation into Gonzalez-Rubio, who was arrested Wednesday for sexually abusing four girls on his bus route. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 7 on charges of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious behavior, and threatening a witness.
Gonzalez-Rubio was arrested Wednesday for molesting the girls he would shuttle around in a large yellow bus to and from public schools in North Miami Beach.
Police interviewed at least 13 students after parents contacted police fearing their children were abused at the hands of Gonzalez-Rubio, who owned and operated Ceasar's Bus Service.
''It's possible it could be a large scale investigation,'' Hardison said. ''We have to check the 13 thoroughly. We've got to make sure definitely that these victims are victims.''
These aren't the first such charges against him. In June, Miami-Dade Police charged Gonzalez-Rubio with lewd and lascivious acts on an 11-year-old, but he accepted a plea bargain to a reduced charge for his prior offense.
The 11-year-old girl in the June case initially claimed that the bus driver had inserted his hand into the waistband of her uniform skirt and fondled her. She later changed her story, and that affected how the system treated Gonzalez-Rubio.
''We probably wouldn't have let him drive a school bus'' had he been a convicted sex offender, said John Edwards, circuit administrator for the state probation and parole office. ''He would have been under a much more stringent set of rules.''
The deal meant Gonzalez-Rubio was allowed to go back to driving the bus. The father of two alleged victims is surprised the bus driver could continue working.
''I can't believe he still had a license,'' the father said in Friday's editions of The Miami Herald.
Although the father talked to his 7- and 11-year-old girls about telling a trusted adult about improper touching by strangers, the girls promised their alleged molester that they would not tell.
Both girls struggled with breaking the pledge and stopping the abuse that had gone on for more than a year until the younger girl let a recent incident slip.
Their father's call to authorities led police to set up surveillance that caught Gonzalez-Rubio Wednesday as he coaxed a little boy with candy into performing sexual favors for him.
Once news of Gonzalez-Rubio's arrest became public, parents began calling police.
''With the guy going on the news, people started saying 'I think my child may be a victim,''' Hardison said.
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FLORIDA v. MARTIN and FLORIDA v. MARTIN were related 1994 Florida criminal court decisions. In February 1995, a Jehovah's Witness Elder, named Hugh Benjamin Martin, then age 61, pleaded "guilty" to the charge of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under the age of 12, and was sentenced to a mere two years of house arrest, followed by 13 years' probation.
Hugh Benjamin Martin was an Elder at one of the Clearwater Florida Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. On June 24, 1993, during the 1993 summer WatchTower Convention, held in St. Petersburg, a fellow Jehovah's Witness GrandMother, who had known Hugh Martin for over 30 years, allowed Martin to take her fidgety 9 year-old grand-daughter for a stroll around the ThunderDome. Martin allegedly fondled and twice digitally penetrated the child while she was in his care at the stadium.
Hugh Benjamin Martin was separately charged for the same offense, later that same day, at his home in Clearwater. Outcome unknown. Apparently, the JW GrandMother allowed Martin to take the girl home with him???
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ILLINOIS v. ROLOFSON was a 1995 Illinois criminal court decision. In December 1995, a Jehovah's Witness, named Louis Paul Rolofson, Jr., 51, of Dewitt, Illinois, was convicted on aggravated criminal sexual assault charges, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Louis P. Rolofson was among several JW adults who took a group of youngsters from the Clinton, Illinois Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses on a congregation field trip to Grant's Farm and Six Flags near St. Louis, Missouri. Apparently, Rolofson was rooming with the two sons of a divorced JW Mother, named Barbara Harris, when he sexually assaulted the younger ten-year-old. The ten-year-old testified that the assault occurred at the Collinsville, Illinois Holiday Inn, in August 1994.
Typically, the ten-year-old was forced to give "unshakable testimony" at the trial, because numerous Jehovah's Witnesses from Louis Rolofson's congregation lined up to testify in his behalf.
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ILLINOIS v. JENKINS was a 1995 Illinois criminal court case. Incomplete details. In January 1995, a 28 year-old Jehovah's Witness, named Derrick A. Jenkins, was charged with molesting a 12 year-old boy in the boy's apartment. Allegedly, Derrick Jenkins had first made the acquaintance of the 12 year-old boy while Jenkins was selling WATCHTOWERs door-to-door in the boy's Chicago area apartment building. The alleged molestation supposedly occurred a couple days later when Jenkins performed what JWs refer to as a "return visit". Outcome of prosecution unknown.
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NEW JERSEY v. MADRID was a 1995 New Jersey court case. Incomplete details. In 1995, 36 year-old Edgardo Heriberto Madrid, a/k/a Eddie Madrid, of Prospect Park, New Jersey (originally from Honduras), pleaded guilty to charges that he had sexually exploited, molested, assaulted, and/or raped 19 minors, ages 9 to 14, including only two females, whom he purposefully befriended at a abandoned quarry swimming hole, from 1989 through 1991. Madrid Police first charged Madrid in 1991, and he apparently was even released on bail, but the more that police investigated, the more victims who turned up.
Interestingly, Madrid decided to plead guilty during the middle of his then ongoing criminal trial. Madrid declared that he had had an epiphany, and had become a Jehovah's Witness, stating: "I can prove I changed my life around and I'm different now." Although unclear, there are "hints" that Madrid was being influenced by one or more family members, who may have been JWs, which has the "smell" of Edgardo Madrid possibly having had previous JW association.
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CALIFORNIA v. BURNS was a 1992 California juvenile court decision. In February 1992, an 86 year-old Jehovah's Witness Male, named Luther Louis Armstrong, Sr., was found stabbed to death in his Modesto area home. Armstrong's neighbors and fellow JWs decried the murder of this elderly man, whom they described as "gentle", "easy-going", "religious", and "thoroughly devoted to the Jehovah's Witnesses".
Within a few days, a 14 year-old girl from Los Banos, California, named Virginia Burns, was arrested and eventually convicted of Armstrong's murder. Given the nature of this case, few details are available. However, it was disclosed that "Ginny" had once lived in Armstrong's neighborhood when she was younger. In fact, in 1988, Ginny had reported to Modesto authorities that she had been sexually molested by Armstrong. Although a warrant had been issued for Armstrong's arrest, that warrant had never been served. The family's move from the neighborhood possibly influenced such??? Burns was sentenced to to the California Youth Authority presumably until she reached majority.
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COMMONWEALTH vs. JOHN DOE was a 1979 Massachusetts appellate criminal court decision. Sketchy details. "John Doe" was an adult male member of the Hampden, Massachusetts Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Doe was convicted on charges of rape and abuse of a child under sixteen years of age, incest, indecent assault and battery on a child under fourteen years of age, and being a lewd, wanton, and lascivious person in speech or behavior. Specifically, John Doe was convicted of engaging in (possibly four) acts of intercourse with his then eleven year old adopted daughter, and in sexual activity falling short of intercourse with his then eight year old natural daughter. The criminal prosecution was for acts which were alleged to have occurred in 1976. John Doe's wife, the children's mother, was killed in an automobile accident in latter 1976.
John Doe even attempted to commit suicide when he was indicted in April 1977. Apparently, Doe was convicted primarily due to the testimony of his by-then twelve year old adopted daughter. On appeal, Doe unsuccessfully contested the exclusion of testimony at his trial, by a by-then 17 year old JW male, who supposedly would testify that Doe's two young daughters had supposedly falsely accused to the deceased mother that the then 15 year old male JW teenager had raped the then ten year old daughter, when he had babysat for the pair and two other JW children, in 1975.
I certainly would like to know more of the trial details which led the jury/judge to convict, because the sketchy details in the appellate opinion certainly raise more questions than they answer.
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