Rogers pled guilty to 1 count each of sexual abuse, and 2nd-degree violation of a minor. Under a negotiated plea agreement, Rogers was sentenced to 5 years of state-supervised probation and ordered to pay $750 in lieu of a fine; $100 court costs; 3 counseling sessions for both victims, ages 15 and 11; attend a licensed treatment facility for counseling; and register as a habitual child sexual offender.
Rogers was convicted in 1970 and 1971 of child sexual abuse in California. Source: The Morning News 7/16/96
Timmons admitted 1 felony charge and 1 misdemeanor charge in a plea bargain with Sonoma County authorities. A 3rd charge will be dismissed at the September sentencing. Originally 17 charges were filed against Timmons, but most were dismissed because the statue of limitations had expired. Timmons remains free on bail pending his sentencing.
The priest still faces a separate molestation charge involving a youth who says Timmons fondled him during an overnight visit at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Eureka, where Timmons was pastor 4 years ago.
A total of 20 men accused Timmons of molesting them as children, and 11 filed civil suits, most of which have been settled, against the priest and the Roman Catholic Church. Sources: The San Francisco Chronicle 7/11/96; San Jose Mercury News Service 6/5/96
Investigation Nets Embezzling Priest. Monsignor Patrick O'Shea was charged in June with embezzling more than $260,000 from the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Prosecutors charge, citing 8 accounts held by O'Shea at 3 banks, that the St. Cecelia's Parish priest used most of the funds to buy and maintain an upscale Californian Desert community home.
Prosecutors became suspicious of O'Shea last year while investigating Rev. Martin Greenlaw, who pleaded guilty in April to embezzling about $200,000 in church funds. Greenlaw has made full restitution and was sentenced to 1 year home detention and 3 years probation in May.
"We found a number of checks O'Shea had sent to Greenlaw, apparently because he (O'Shea) was under investigation for pedophilia charges and wanted to hide the money," said Don Sanchez, chief of special prosecutions.
Molestation charges filed against O'Shea were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired. A civil suit filed by 15 men who claim to have been molested as boys by the 3 Bay area priests -- O'Shea, Gary Timmons and Austin Patrick Keegan -- was settled in March for $2.5 million. Source: San Francisco Chronicle 6/6/96
Curtis, 87, was scheduled to give a deposition in July. Twenty people have filed lawsuits claiming they were sexually assaulted by priests while they were children. Source: Connecticut Post 6/29/96
The Orlando-area minister reportedly outlined a murder plot to an undercover agent. He faces 25 years in prison and is being held without bail in a Seminole County jail. Source: Times-Union 7/4/96
Soto was charged with 3 counts of aggravated sexual abuse for reportedly fondling 3 boys, ages 8, 12 and 17, while in his care. Source: Chicago Tribune 6/9/96
Pastor Beds Underage Girls? An investigation of Crossroads Church youth minister was launched when his wife found him in bed with another woman.
Jeffrey Hannah, 31, is accused of having sexual relationships with several underage female parishioners. Hannah was charged with 4 counts of criminal sexual assault and remains in custody in lieu of $150,000 bail.
The pastor has ties with several Christian youth groups in Illinois and one based in Colorado. Source: The News-Sun 7/4/96
The cleric faces 6 counts of 3rd-degree sexual abuse and was released on $10,000 bond pending an ongoing investigation and psychological evaluation. Source: Des Moines Register 6/22/96
The rapes began in 1985 when the boy was 8, just a few months after he became an altar boy at Melancon's suggestion, and continued until 1991, when the priest left for another church. Source: The Advocate 6/19/96
The minister was charged with installing hidden cameras in the women's bathroom at the Milford church, in his home bathroom and in the bathroom of a parishioner's home.
Horton faces up to 2 years in prison and a $2,000 fine for each count, but he will likely be permitted to serve probation from his home. Due to a class-action lawsuit filed by 3 victims, Horton was permitted to plead no contest.
"I was disappointed he offered the no-contest plea and then claims the reason was civil liability," said an Oakland Assistant Prosecutor. "It suggests to me that he is more concerned with being sued than with the victims' rights." Sources: The Oakland Press 6/4/96; The Detroit News 5/3/96
The plaintiffs, 8 black men and 1 Hispanic, who were hired to work at the Episcopal church, contend Grey "required them to engage in overt sexual contact as a term of their employment with the cathedral." Sources: Times 6/20/96; Today's Sunbeam 6/20/96
Grady was 1 of 5 men convicted in similar child molestation cases in day-care centers in the mid-80s. Four of the defendants' convictions have been overturned. Source: Newsday 7/13/96, 7/12/96
Neighbors Witnessed Fugitive Priest Chase Young Man. Priest-psychologist Thomas Morrow, 51, is wanted on drug possession charges after police responded to a 911 call.
Witnesses say they saw a bloodied young man run screaming from Morrow's office in early July. According to reports, Morrow, who was recently released on $75,000 bail after being charged with stabbing a potential sex partner in his home in June, pursued the young man, 16-20 years old, in his car. Neither of the men have been seen since. The condition of Morrow's office indicated there was a struggle and a smokable form of cocaine was found.
Morrow was charged June 12 with obscenity for taking photos of a nude boy, 15. The cleric counseled troubled youths referred to him by the Family Court and has been on leave of absence from the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens since 1987. Source: Newsday 7/10/96
The Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church minister was charged in July with 2nd-degree rape 6 months ago and released without bond. Parks reportedly raped a Virginia woman 3 months after he was released from jail. Source: Winston-Salem Journal
The assistant pastor and the woman began a sexual relationship in '92 when she went to Peregrin for guidance after her mother died.
"We're talking about taking advantage of a vulnerable lady," said Howard B. Krug, the victim's attorney. "That is no protected conduct and they cannot wrap themselves in the First Amendment."
The suit says the woman would not have been able to give consent to the relationship considering the psychological problems she suffered that led her to Peregrin, who is suspended from ministerial duties for violating his vow of celibacy. Source: The Tribune-Democrat 5/29/96
Gaspar pled no contest in February to 7 charges of rape involving 2 boys and a girl between 1979-85. He was ordered to receive counseling and register as a sex offender. Source: hartford Courant 6/15/96
The Central Baptist Church music and youth minister was convicted 4 years ago on 13 sex offenses, including rape, involving 4 boys ages 12-15.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds that testimony from a man who claims he was molested by McCary as a child was permitted although the pastor was never charged with crimes involving the witness. Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel 6/25/96
The girl, 16, testified that John Perry Chaney, a 39 year old excommunicated Mormon, forced her to become another man's concubine after she was caught stealing food. She also said Chaney arranged for her to marry one of his disciples, who was 30 years her senior, when she was 13. The girl left disciple Don Beaver, who is charged with rape and remains a fugitive, in February '94.
Chaney is charged with aiding and abetting the rape of a child and conspiracy to commit rape of a child. Source: Kenosha News 6/30/96
More than $13,000 was discovered missing from the church's organ transplant fund after Flippo, who had sole access to the account, was charged with 1st-degree murder of his wife. Source: Charleston Gazette 5/23/96
The spiritual leader faces a total of 20 charges of sexual assault against 11 women. Shearing surrendered to authorities in January and was released on $25,000 bail. The offenses, which range from indecent assault to engaging in sex with a minor, reportedly occurred during the past 30 years while Shearing was the leader of the Vancouver-based cult. Source: The Vancouver Sun 5/29/96
Native Wins Abuse Claim. Willie Blackwater, Presbyterian reform school survivor, won the first disability claim in British Columbia for the abuse he suffered by school supervisor Arthur Plint, 77.
Plint was convicted last year on 18 counts of sexual assault on 18 boys, ages 6-13, for incidents that occurred between 1948-68.
Blackwater is 1 of 15 men who have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Ottawa and the United (Presbyterian) Church. Source: The Province 6/20/96
Apology Gets Stormy Reception. Ontario's attorney general Charles Harnick apologized to more than 1,000 men in June for the physical and sexual abuse they endured at 2 Ontario reform schools.
Harnick expressed the Ontario government's "regret and condemnation" for the actions of the Christian Brothers, who ran the schools, but some men say the apology came too late and should have been made by Premier Mike Harris, not Harnick.
"There's a lot of frustration out there," said a protester. "This process has taken longer than the Second World War lasted to complete and there's hundreds of more people out there who are suffering."
A $23-million agreement between St. John's and St. Joseph's school victims and the province, the Christian Brothers and the Roman Catholic Church and was signed in '92. Victims also received counseling as well as medical and dental benefits and job training.
Sixteen of about 30 Christian Brothers and staff charged with sexual abuse have been convicted, and at least 8 cases are still before the courts. Source: The Province 6/26/96