Another lawsuit... this one in Oregon.

by Elsewhere 44 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Elsewhere

  Complaint: Negligence, Breach of Confidential Relationship, Intentional Infliction of Severe Emotional Distress.

  Once again the elders appointed a convicted and confessed child molester to a position of responsibility as an Officer and Ministerial Servant of the congregation. This time the accused name is Jerry Anderson Crabb of the Lancaster Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses - 4795 Macleay Road Se, Salem, OR 97301

  Sadly, as one would expect, he has been accused of sexually abusing a child on multiple occasions. The elders just stood by and watched as he developed a close relationship with his victim... while never even advising the victim's mother that her son was being stalked by a convicted child molester.

  Click Here to read the court filing
• 

  codeblue

  I hope more JW's find the strength to file lawsuits......

  Appointing a known pedophile to a position is just "wrong"...period.
• 

  Swan

  WhooHoo !
• 

  kwr

  They must establish the fact that the JW Elders knew the man was a convicted pedophile. The fact that he was convicted in 1964 in NY State may not make it easy for them to know he was a convicted sex offender. The lawyers keep saying they "should have known", but why should they have known? I'm afraid that without establishing that the JW's knew he was a sex offender this case will most likely be dismissed.
• 

  Elsewhere

  The lawyers keep saying they "should have known", but why should they have known?

  Because he was placed in a position of responsibility and trust. It is a common and expected practice for ministers, priests, rabbis, child care professionals, teachers, etc to undergo a background check before they are placed into such a position of trust and responsibility.

  The Watchtower Society is the ONLY religion I know of that explicitly opts to NOT perform such a background check on ANYONE placed into a position of trust and responsibility.
• 

  Grammy

  I worked in a daycare center for several years, I had to be fingerprinted and have a complete background check done before I was hired and I had to redo the background check every two years...it should be no less for anyone who has a position of authority over children...we certainly know JW children are taught to obey the elders!
• 

  kwr

  It all depends what Oregon case law is about this. There was no requirement in 1991 to do a back ground check on a person that worked as an employee or volunteer. This was decided in the Portland archdiocese case that is currently on going. In Oregon also the members of a Church can be sued for the acts of management.
• 

  uninformed

  Elsewhere,

  Good Job!

  Brant
• 

  Elsewhere

  Thanks for the "Good Job" however I am but a messenger! This was pointed out to me by someone who must remain anonymous. Many thanks go out to this anonymous source!

  Another anonymous source has requested I post the following information:

  Please don't use my name, but I can tell you for certainty that people knew about Jerry Crabb's past who were also in positions of authority. We are taking about family members who were Elders and Ministerial Servants. ;) The Crabb family is a very large and well known family in the Salem JW congregations. The plaintiff's attorneys are well aware of all of this. (Let the reader use discernment. :-D)
  
  The Crabb family also owned the land which was either donated or sold to the congregation for the original Lancaster Kingdom Hall (this was when it was located on Lancaster Drive, before they moved out to Macleay Road).

  I suspect some very bad things are about to start happening to these people!
• 

  serendipity

  Is it just me, or are there a lot of high profile cases in Oregon? It seems that I've seen at least four arrests or cases mentioned on this board.