http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.
stephanie fessler v watch tower.
stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.
This case was filed as a civil case. I believe what you are stating are the penalties if this was being brought through the criminal justice system.
Yes, exactly - and I understand that breaking the mandatory reporting laws is a criminal offense? - therefore why doesn't the State of Pennsylvania, who wrote the law, prosecute when the criminal law is broken? Maybe they have? I'm just going by what's been reported - or not - in this case.
http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.
stephanie fessler v watch tower.
stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.
I believe the following is currently the situation in the State of Pennsylvania - unless anyone knows different and can correct me please??
Penalties for Willful Failure to Report
Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance - Mandated Reporters
Penalties for Willful Failure to Report
Willful failure to report (having a reasonable suspicion of abuse and deciding not to report it) may be punished. The penalties for failure to report have been increased under the new CPSL amendments.
The first offense of willful failure to report is a second degree misdemeanor. Penalties are increased to a third degree felony if the mandated reporter willfully fails to report child abuse that is a felony of the first degree or higher and the mandated reporter has direct knowledge of the nature of the abuse. For multiple offenses, a felony of the third degree is committed, increasing if the abuse of the child is a felony of the first degree or higher.
If willful failure to report continues, while the mandated reporter knows or has reasonable cause to believe the child is being actively abused, the offense is considered a first degree misdemeanor except when the abuse to the child constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher. In this instance the penalty is a felony of the third degree.
http://www.pa-fsa.org/Mandated-Reporters/Understanding-Mandated-Reporting/Penalties-for-Failing-to-Report
Pennsylvania Code
Felony of the first degree - max 20 years prison / $25,000 fine
Felony of the second degree - max 10 years prison / $25,000
Felony of the third degree - max 7 years prison / $15,000
Misdemeanor of the first degree - max 5 years prison / $10,000
Misdemeanor of the second degree - max 2 years prison / $5,000
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/101/chapter15/s15.66.html
http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.
stephanie fessler v watch tower.
stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.
There is at least 13 people who knew about this and did not report:
Therefore, why isn't the State of Pennsylvania persuing this? Isn't that their job? What are they doing - are they upholding the law when madatory reporters don't report?
i believe this has appeared into today's edition of the cairns post print newspaper (saturday 4 february 2017) at the top of page 4 under the headline: "indecent charges for man" - the actual text of the article is apparently the same as the online version below:.
cairns post - saturday 4 february 2017. tablelands police charge former jehovah’s witness with offences against children.
an elderly tablelands man and former jehovah’s witness member will appear in court this month amid allegations he molested three young girls from the church more than 25 years ago.
And it begins.
I thought the following part of the OP article was very interesting (my emphasis)
Tablelands police detective Sergeant Kearin Corcoran said the information was provided after one of the alleged victims gave evidence during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He said police had received a report previously but had been unable to act due to a lack of evidence.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-refugees-tears-and-relief-1486165137.
double celebration.
phoenix—six years ago, yosan tesfay sneaked across the border from her home country of eritrea to ethiopia to flee religious persecution.
A Congolese family in Massachusetts....
USA: Boston Globe
A whole new world for refugee family resettling in N.E.
February 3, 2017
The Congolese refugees huddled rapt around a stove in the early morning darkness. They had never used one before, and they watched in their new home Friday as a resettlement worker flipped the burners off and on.
They had never used a refrigerator, either. Or seen water pass through a faucet. Or been told how to lock a door. Or adjust a thermostat. Or even how to squeeze shampoo from a tube.
Twenty years in a refugee camp in Uganda will insulate a family from everyday conveniences that Americans take for granted. But here they were, bewildered and grateful — a mother, father, and five children who received a waiver from President Trump’s ban on new arrivals.
...
Their vetting process took nearly three years, the family said. A total of 684 Congolese refugees arrived in Massachusetts from 2011 to 2015, according to the state Department of Public Health.
In Lowell on Friday, after hours of explanation and advice from Mansour and Denaud, 16-year-old Maria Uwimana floated a final question: Where can we find a church?
The family members are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Maria’s query was answered a short time later when a small group of well-wishers suddenly entered the living room and welcomed the new arrivals with hugs and conversation in Swahili.
They, too, are Jehovah’s Witnesses and had been at a gas station only a block away when the day’s interpreter, former Congolese refugee Kafila Bulimwengu, called to tell them about the newcomers.
Approximately a dozen Congolese have already joined Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Chelmsford, said Markus Lewis, who is part of a church group that has learned Swahili to communicate with African worshipers.
Lewis shook hands with Sendegeya Bayavuge, the family’s 52-year-old father, who gradually began to relax as the day wore on. At the airport, sitting with his children after the grueling trip, he appeared exhausted and apprehensive.
...
i believe this has appeared into today's edition of the cairns post print newspaper (saturday 4 february 2017) at the top of page 4 under the headline: "indecent charges for man" - the actual text of the article is apparently the same as the online version below:.
cairns post - saturday 4 february 2017. tablelands police charge former jehovah’s witness with offences against children.
an elderly tablelands man and former jehovah’s witness member will appear in court this month amid allegations he molested three young girls from the church more than 25 years ago.
I believe this has appeared into today's edition of the Cairns Post print newspaper (Saturday 4 February 2017) at the top of page 4 under the headline: "Indecent charges for man" - the actual text of the article is apparently the same as the online version below:
Cairns Post - Saturday 4 February 2017
Tablelands police charge former Jehovah’s Witness with offences against children
An elderly Tablelands man and former Jehovah’s Witness member will appear in court this month amid allegations he molested three young girls from the church more than 25 years ago.
Detectives from the Tablelands Child Protection and Investigation Unit charged the 74-year-old, who cannot be identified to protect the alleged victims, on Thursday after an investigation which spanned almost a year.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/tablelands-police-charge-former-jehovahs-witness-with-offences-against-children/news-story/171e96b1f09ec89faab6ba22a505726c
http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.
stephanie fessler v watch tower.
stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.
If proved true, it should be a slam dunk.
Well, already the OP article states that "Terry ultimately plead guilty to indecent assault and corruption of a minor and was sentenced to prison and probation"
But, what about the Mandatory Reporting issue? Well, the elephant-in-the-room is:
Why on earth isn't Pennsylvania State themselves prosecuting for failing to mandatory report?? It's their law, it's there.... RESPONSIBILITY to uphold that law - so why evidently aren't they?!?
Who are 'Mandated Reporters'? Although the OP is a relatively recent case - the current law includes:
An adult family member who is a person responsible for the child's welfare and provides services to a child in a family living home
http://www.pa-fsa.org/Mandated-Reporters/Understanding-Mandated-Reporting/Who-are-Mandated-Reporters
The perpetrator's daughter - who apparently was the first to raise her suspicions with the victim's mother - does not seem to be a 'mandatory reporter'? (and evidently, neither is the perpetrator's adult husband?) , but the victim's parents would appear to be 'mandated reporters' - and they would also seem to have been the first 'mandated reporters' to become aware of the (OP) "intimate nature of the relationship".
Although there was a court case only a couple of years ago, and the perpetrator pleaded guilty - there appears to be scant information regarding the case online - fyi there is the following, though I can't vouch for the reliability of the website:
PENNSYLVANIA v. TERRY JEANNE MONHEIM was a 2012-13 Pennsylvania criminal court case in which a Female Jehovah's Witness named Terry Monheim, aka Terry Jeanne Seipp, then age 58, then of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with statutory sexual assault, indecent assault on a person younger than 16 years old, and corruption of a minor. Outcome unknown.
In 2011, the alleged Female victim, by then age 22, whom had been reared as a third-generation Jehovah's Witness, reported to law enforcement that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Terry Monheim between 2003 and 2005, when the alleged victim was 14 to 16 years-old, and while the alleged victim and Monheim had been fellow members of the Spring Grove Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, in York County, PA. The alleged victim further alleged that both she and Terry Monheim had been "publicly reproved" by the Congregation -- for what the Elders at the Spring Grove Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses apparently had considered to have been a consensual homosexual relationship. The alleged victim thereafter publicly alleged that she also had been sexually assaulted by an unidentified Male Jehovah's Witness when she was only 4 years-old. Outcome unknown.
i was on a job last week and the p.o from my old congro was there and told me they had just re modled the k.h.the r.b.c quoted them $240.000 they did it for $120.000 so why the big diffrence in price??
?.
For the Kingdom Hall in my area which is on lease, INR 1.5 million was given by the branch to the landlord as the lease deposit and INR 900,000 is paid yearly to the landlord by the WT as rent.
for information - 1 Indian Rupee equals 0.015 US Dollar
INR 1.5 million =$22,319 US Dollars
INR 900,000 = $13,391 US Dollars
wondering if simon or anyone else have statistics for this site?i.e.
how many users are there?
how many posts have ever been made?perhaps a graph showing how many users there were at a given time?
I think a facebook group and a 'stand-alone' discussion forum are two rather different beasts. I believe on facebook you used to be able to 'force add' friends to a group without them knowing, but that's a different story....
Using the 'Users' tab up top it looks like 80 or so members joined in the last month - so I suppose a good 1,000-per-year?
Using the posting stats on the front page - and ignoring the 'forum issues', 'social' and 'adult' sections - it looks like, over the last 17 years, there's been something like 219,326 threads containing 6,241,821 posts - which seems to work out at an average of around 1,000 posts-per-day - though as the forum has matured and grown over the years, I'd expect that daily posting number will be somewhat higher now...
fyiengland and walesthe independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (iicsa)https://www.iicsa.org.ukhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/independent_inquiry_into_child_sexual_abusescotlandscottish child abuse inquiryhttps://www.childabuseinquiry.scotnorthern irelandthe historical institutional abuse inquiryhttps://www.hiainquiry.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/northern_ireland_historical_institutional_abuse_inquiryrepublic of irelandcommission to inquire into child abusehttp://www.childabusecommission.iehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/commission_to_inquire_into_child_abuseaustraliaroyal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abusehttp://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.auhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/royal_commission_into_institutional_responses_to_child_sexual_abuseany others?...
does your country, state or province have one?....
FYI
England and Wales
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
https://www.iicsa.org.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Inquiry_into_Child_Sexual_Abuse
Scotland
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry
https://www.childabuseinquiry.scot
Northern Ireland
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry
https://www.hiainquiry.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_Historical_Institutional_Abuse_Inquiry
Republic of Ireland
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
http://www.childabusecommission.ie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_to_Inquire_into_Child_Abuse
Australia
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_into_Institutional_Responses_to_Child_Sexual_Abuse
Any others?... Does your country, state or province have one?...
