https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/12/04/charges-dismissed-against-jehovahs-witness-accused-molesting-4-year-girl/2203041002/
harges against a man accused of
molesting his 4-year-old cousin in a York County Jehovah’s Witness
Kingdom Hall in 2005 have been dismissed partly because the alleged
offenses occurred when he was a juvenile.
John
Logan Haugh, now 26, who now lives in Delaware, was charged in May of
this year with two counts of indecent assault of a person under the age
of 13 in a case that shed light on the how the Jehovah’s Witnesses
handle child sexual assault cases.
When John Haugh appeared in court Tuesday morning for a
pre-trial conference, his attorney and the prosecutor had a discussion
with Judge Maria Musti Cook out of earshot of the gallery in courtroom
7006. When court resumed, the prosecutor moved to dismiss the charges.
The reasons were not elaborated.
John Haugh’s
lawyer, Jeffrey Marshall, said “a number of factors” played into the
prosecution’s offer to dismiss the charges. He would not elaborate,
saying that he didn’t want to jeopardize the agreement reached with the
district attorney’s office.
The district attorney's office released a statement
that said, "Due to the defendant's age at the time of the offense and
compliance with the parameters of the agreement, both parties felt it
was an appropriate resolution."
The girl’s father,
Martin Haugh, a former elder in the Jehovah’s Witnesses who told police
he had witnessed the abuse, said an assistant district attorney called
his wife on Friday to inform her that the charges would be dismissed.
Martin
Haugh said the assistant district attorney explained that since the
alleged molestation occurred when John Haugh was a juvenile - about 13
or 14 at the time - the law in the case was different than if he had
been an adult at the time. Because the younger Haugh had cooperated with
authorities and had undergone evaluation and therapy, Martin Haugh
said, he had been determined “not to be a threat to society.”
Martin
Haugh said his family was “very disappointed” that the charges had been
dismissed, but he understood why it happened. He didn’t fault the
district attorney’s office, that they were simply following the law.
“They did more than the elders did,” he said. “At least, they attempted to do something.”
The alleged abuse occurred at the Kingdom Hall in
Windsor Township. Haugh has reported that his wife had left him and his
daughter to use the bathroom and during that time, John Haugh had lured
the girl into “a secluded area where he assaulted her,” according to the
criminal complaint filed in the case.
When Martin
Haugh went to look for his daughter, he found her in a room sitting on
John Haugh’s lap. He had his hand on her genital area under her
clothing, according to the complaint.
Less than a week later, Martin Haugh said, it happened again.
In the criminal complaint, police said John Haugh "allegedly...molested other children."
Martin
Haugh reported what happened to the church elders at the time,
believing that they were mandated to report it to authorities under
state law. The elders did not report it to police and John Haugh
transferred to a different Kingdom Hall, Martin Haugh said.
Martin Haugh became disillusioned with the church and left it in 2016. He reported the abuse to police in 2017.
The
dismissal of the charges does not affect Martin Haugh’s civil lawsuit
filed against the church for not reporting the abuse to police, he said.
That suit is pending.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses
face, and have faced, other civil suits filed by survivors of abuse who
allege that the church’s elders failed to report the crimes to
authorities as mandated by law. The church often handles such cases
internally, allowing its lay elders to decide punishment for offenders.
Critics say that the church’s insular nature and its
rejection of secular authority creates an atmosphere that allows such
crimes to go unreported.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses
have responded to such suits by saying that it abhors child sexual abuse
as a sin against Jehovah and that its policies are consistent with
secular laws.
