JW's hit with another lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse
by yalbmert99 19 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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aintenoughwiskey
They are a lawyers wet dream. Stupid, arrogant, and rich! Zalkin will be milking this cash cow for years! I think I see some new light coming?
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ohiocowboy
Thank you for the info about the cases in Oregon.
It seems like the Watchtower is in the news on an almost daily basis when it comes to child abuse. There are another 6 child molestation lawsuits just in the last month in Dallas, TX too, with the victims seeking at least a million dollars each in damages. Below is the link to an article about it.
No wonder the WT is constantly begging for money.
Sunday, October 26, 2014 9:30 am
Posted on Oct 26, 2014
On Thursday, Dallas-based Turley Law Firm filed a civil lawsuit against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc. (WBTS) – one of the legal corporations that presides over the Jehovah’s Witness faith in the U.S. – stemming from allegations of appointed members of the organization sexually exploiting and abusing children in Metroplex congregations in Plano, Dallas and Greenville.
The local congregations are also defendants in the lawsuit, as well as Reginald Jackson and an unknown individual - elders who were directly appointed by the WBTS to oversee congregations in the area’s regional circuit.
“[WBTS is] the top of the chain of command; they oversee and are involved in the decision-making ... daily function – everything has to be approved,” said Steven Schulte, a lawyer with the Turley Law Firm. “They are intimately involved ... have absolute authority over the congregation and had every reason to know [of the abuse].”
Officials at WBTS did not return calls for comment.
According to the lawsuit, six individuals from the Dallas, Plano and Greenville congregations were sexually, physically and emotionally abused in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when they were between the ages of 4 and 14. The plaintiffs in the case are unnamed due to the nature of the allegations.
The six plaintiffs in the case did not report the alleged abuse while it was occurring because they and their families were threatened by Jackson and the other individual with discipline and harm if they spoke to anyone about the acts, the lawsuit states. Within the Jehovah’s Witness faith, members are told to handle issues within the organization. However, the organization’s policy requires leaders to hold internal investigations of claims of abuse and wrongdoing.
“[Jackson] was directly appointed to that position, which is a leadership position in the organization. ... There would have been a circuit overseer who would have oversaw ... and would have reported,” Schulte said. “At some point you reach a point where it’s your time to come forward.”
Schulte said the male plaintiff was likely a member of the Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witnesses of Plano. However, it is likely that the alleged abuse occurred at multiple locations since he “regularly took them on trips and other religious outings.”
In addition to sexual exploitation and abuse, the lawsuit claims that the defendants were involved in negligence and various forms of fraud stemming from allegations that congregation leaders misrepresented themselves as people of trust and that the WBTS should have been responsible for oversight since its “authority flows down from it to the local levels.”
Each of the six plaintiffs in the case are seeking about $1 million in damages for the alleged lasting psychological and emotional damages that the abuse has caused in their lives since the instances described in the lawsuit took place. The suit says they are also seeking punitive and exemplary damages in hopes that it will deter future acts from occurring.
“Sex abuse victims oftentimes suffer lifelong pain and drama,” Schulte said.
And here's a youtube video of the case in Texas...
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steve2
At a "mere" educated guess, the $13.5 million awarded to one of the victims in another case cited in the above report is easily 4 to 5 times greater than what the organization sold the New Zealand Bethel for last year when the local Bethel operation closed in NZ and "m
oved" to Australia.
This has got to hurt the organization big time financially, to say nothing of its growing reputation as a morally decrepit religion in which secular measures to protect children are arrogantly rejected.
As others have predicted, I also sense there will be an "adjustment" in the organization's rigid application of the Mosaic law code to matters of child sex abuse pertaining to the 2 witness rule.
When that happens - not if - watch the magical way the literature will "spiritualize" the change -and it will be made to appear Jehovah has guided the necessary change.
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scoobydont
Sorry, people, I just have to come back to this. Still at work but can't afford to miss this thread.
Interesting topic and contributions.
Thanks everyone here !
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yalbmert99
No problem!
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truthseekeriam
Wow! The WTS is really being hammered! I'm sure they hate the name Zelkin.
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flipper
YALBMERT99 - Thanks for posting this. Velicia Alston is a very brave woman to fight for justice not only for herself but for thousands of other potential victims of WT Society sponsored and Jehovah's Witness sponsored child abuse. And her attorneys are doing the right thing by PUBLICIZING it so that news media on television as well as in print can expose these crimes as the felonies that they are. The arrogance of WT leaders in not cooperating with courts to reveal child abuse crimes is coming back big time to bite them in the proverbial ass. They deserve it, what comes around goes around . Karma's a bitch- right WT leaders ? Choke on it . Tell everybody you know - spread the word
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solitairelife
" I say don't open your doors to the JWs when they knock on them until they close their doors to pedophiles." Interesting quote from the comments section in the article cited above provided by AndersonsInfo: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/12/jehovahs_witnesses_under_fire.html
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Heaven
"These guys will deny and deny. They are belligerent, they are arrogant, they treat victims as adversaries," Zalkin told UT San Diego. "This is not an organization that is ready to accept the reality of what they have been doing."
Before my Dad's dementia set in, I'd had a couple of discussions with my him about the pedophilia in the org, particularly what went on in his former congregation. These things upset him greatly, which is saying something because my father usually keeps his emotions close to his chest -- he doesn't usually show grief or sadness openly. But he did during these discussions.
I said to him quietly "If these people are allowed to remain as Jehovah's Witnesses, then this cannot be God's organization."
I am so hoping some laws will be enacted to protect people from groups like the Watchtower. We need to take away their ability to hurt people.