My experience with the Bethel Legal Dept. regarding a Ministerial Servant molesting a boy

by BonaFide 59 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  AllTimeJeff

  Bonafide

  Thank you for sharing. We had a similar incident in my old congregation. We called the Service Dept, were encouraged to go to a phone booth, were asked in a very paranoid fashion if we were on a cordless phone, then had to go over the story again with Legal.

  Here's a great clue that things aren't exactly kosher: When your religious superiors have a policy to instruct elders to talk to the police from a pay phone, then something is very very wrong.

  In my old state, it wasn't required to inform the police of anything, so the Legal Dept said we didn't have to do anything else. This implicitly gave us elders permission to handle the pedophile the same as a case of fornication, and to use our best judgment to determine repentance.

  The pedophile I dealt with directly had molested several boys in the 70's. One committed suicide some years later. Others were alcoholics. One is still in jail. All the lives were ruined. He has still never had to deal with the consequences of his actions, other then (finally) being disfellowshipped for a couple of years.

  The parents over the decades were told that it "was handled" and that to talk about the elders decision in a derogatory manner could put them in line for judicial action.

  SICK!

  Surprisingly not uncommon though among JW's.
• 

  flipper

  BONAFIDE- So when the police ask, " How did you hear about this incident ? " The Bethel legal department said to " just keep quiet." ?????????

  Well that's certainly WT society reasoning . It's much more convenient for them to disable the police from getting certain important evidence required to get a CONVICTION of the witness pedophile that way ! You know- important little details like HOW did you hear of this child abuse ? Like giving out names of victims, eyewitnesses, elders involved in confessions- all the important little details to prove a crime of child abuse in a court of law !

  It's very apparent the WT society only has one entity they are concerned with - their own false illusion of respectability to their own members and the public. They don't give a rats a$$ about children being abused and the pain it causes. I'm so worked up - find me a covert operation to infiltrate Bethel secretly- I'll take care of them
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  runningonfaith

  In these situations you can really see the hypocrisy and double standards of the cult.

  The wts has being throwing dirt at the whole world with their publications but,when it comes to them,they don't use the same measuring stick.

  I'm referring to the elders being told to keep quite when the paticular question was asked.
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  wha happened?

  I just love how "Satan", (the governments of the world), sets their barometer of moral standards. To tell, or not tell the police?
• 

  Roski

  In some 'developing countries' the traditional way of dealing with such behaviour is to ignore it because the victim/victim's family simply hope the trauma will mend itself (as they do not have the skills or support to deal with such situations in an official way) , or due to shame will not pursue it so as not to lose face.

  In her country this possibly is 1. not considered a crime or 2. avoided by the police and the victim blamed - particularly if the perpetrator is older and has more to lose. The woman no doubt felt disempowered, and the fact that she was from another country may be why the elders felt it acceptable for this particular brother to teach her son (just a guess).

  No doubt the brothers at Bethel are aware of such cultural differences and in this case used those differences to their own advantage.
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  MissingLink

  They are told to go to the police ONLY IF THE STATE requires it. They have no interest in the police protecting the children or justice, only covering their own asses.
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  Mary

  She obviously did not view the situation as a molestation of her son, she seemed to be mad that her son got the Ministerial Servant in "trouble." She had an idea her son liked boys, but thought the Ministerial Servant would help him by studying the Bible. We told her he would never come to the house again, and she objected to that. She said not to worry, she would "scold" them and tell them to stop it.

  Oh dear god in heaven ........is this mother for frigging real??? She catches a 20 year old 'minister of God' in a homosexual act with her underage son but objects to his being banned from ever coming over again? Ya....let the guy continue to come over some more until he actually ends up 'going all the way' with a 14 year old. This woman needs to have her face bashed in just for being so f**king stupid and irresponsible.

  Question: Why is head office so worried about if you're phoning from a cell phone or a land line phone?
• 

  wunce_wuz

  Question: Why is head office so worried about if you're phoning from a cell phone or a land line phone?

  They think others may listen it. Cordless phones, the older analog, units could be monitored if you were close enough with a scanner. Under ideal conditions these units might transmit up to a mile. The newer digital phones are digital, which makes it far more difficult to eavesdrop. If your cordless phone has spread spectrum or frequency hopping technology it is virtually impossible for the conversation to be monitored. This applies to cell phone technology also.
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  Hope4Others

  This is all pretty shocking really, but the actions of the mother are even worse...

  1> Scolding? What the heck is that?

  2> Why would she not sit down and talk with him to what actually happened? How many times has this happened, and has there been anyone else before. What are his feelings towards the same sex. Hard as it may be for some I would want to know if my son was gay. The mental anguish they will go through growing up needs to be addressed.

  3> Why would she want the servant even near her son and to keep studying with him, really blows my mind.

  4> And going to the police would be foremost, she's burying her head in the sand to what just happened. What if the boy is not gay? Now he has a lot of trauma to deal with.

  I guess all this kind of stuff really bothers me, I have a sister who went through pedophile issues against her child. The reactions from elders and Bethel appalls me....

  h4o
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  hamsterbait

  I think that the cellphone vs landline is to do with courts later asking for the records of the calls.

  Providers of internet, and phone companies now have to keep a record of all digital calls and internet communication for 5 years. This was brought in after 9/11.

  It means the courts can order the company to give them the details for use in a trial. The last thing WT wants of course.

  To tap a landline you need to get a judges permit. At least thats how things stood last time I read anything.

  HB