Showing posts with label Boy Scouts of America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boy Scouts of America. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers highly ‘skeptical’ of suicide ruling, say he wasn’t ‘despairing, despondent’ before death, SMART Child and Ritual Abuse Newsletter - Issue 148 - September 2019 - Jeffrey Epstein Information


 

Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers highly ‘skeptical’ of suicide ruling, say he wasn’t ‘despairing, despondent’ before death
Tue, Aug 27 2019 Dan Mangan Kevin Breuninger
 
....Epstein, 66, was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other celebrities, whom he entertained at his luxurious residences in Manhattan, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 
....A defense lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday expressed deep skepticism that the wealthy financier died by hanging himself in a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges, as a medical examiner has ruled.
 
The injuries suffered by Epstein are “far more consistent with assault” than suicide, the lawyer, Reid Weingarten, told Judge Richard Berman in U.S. District Court in Manhattan during a hearing.
Weingarten cited the defense’s own medical sources. Broken bones were found in Epstein’s neck during an autopsy after he died Aug. 10.
 
Such fractures are somewhat more common in cases of strangulation than in hanging.
 
Weingarten told the judge that when he and other defense attorneys spoke to Epstein shortly before his death “we did not see a despairing, despondent, suicidal person.”
 
Weingarten’s comments came during a proceeding where prosecutors were seeking the dismissal of child sex trafficking charges against the Epstein as a result of his death.
 
More than 20 alleged victims of Epstein spoke or had statements read during the hearing.
 
Another Epstein lawyer, Martin Weinberg, told Berman that the defense team had prepared a “significant” motion to dismiss the case, and that the lawyers were not approaching the case with a “futile, defeatist attitude.”
 
Weingarten said Berman had a “pivotal role to find out what happened.”
“We want the court to help us find out what happened,” Weingarten said.
“We’re skeptical of the certitude” of the finding of suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, the lawyer said.
 
There are “significant doubts” regarding “the conclusion of suicide,” Weingarten said.
 
But Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor, told Berman that Epstein’s death was already the subject of “an ongoing and active grand jury investigation.”....Epstein, 66, was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other celebrities, whom he entertained at his luxurious residences on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, and on a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 
....Weeks before his death, Epstein was found semiconscious in his cell in the Manhattan Correctional Center with marks on his neck. That incident led to him being placed on suicide watch, but he was taken off of that status about a week later.
 
Epstein’s connections, vast wealth and the prior incident in the jail led to a rash of speculation about whether he was killed in his jail cell, and did not commit suicide.
 
....Weingarten also pointed out that “we’ve heard that” the surveillance video at the jail around Epstein’s cell “were either corrupted or not functioning.”....
 
 
SMART Child and Ritual Abuse Newsletter - Issue 148 - September 2019

Information in this issue includes: R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Richardson, George Mitchell, E. Jean Carroll, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, Dr. Michael Holick, Elon Musk, brain microchip, Boy Scouts of America, Catholic Church, New York Child Victims Act, Eric Lin
https://ritualabuse.us/2019/08/issue-148-september-2019/ 

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Boy Scouts of America 'Pedophilia Epidemic' 350 Alleged Abusers, R. Kelly charged engaging in prostitution, soliciting minor, Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference 2019 with Neil Brick, Alison Miller and Daniel Roemer

 
Boy Scouts of America Are Coving up a 'Pedophilia Epidemic,' 350 Alleged Abusers Have Been Named In Lawsuit
By Christina Zhao 8/7/19
 
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are covering up rampant pedophilia within their ranks, with 350 previously unknown adult scoutmasters or members identified as alleged abusers, according to a new lawsuit against the youth organization.
 
A new lawsuit, filed on Monday in Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court, accuses the BSA of facilitating "a continuing and serious conspiracy to conceal and cover up" sexual assaults against children within their organization.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of attorneys called Abused in Scouting. The group formed in February to investigate abuse in the BSA. The attorneys' investigation discovered and identified 350 alleged abusers after hundreds of former Scouts members reportedly revealed their previously unreported sexual abuse claims.
 
"It is apparent that the Boy Scout defendants continue to hide the true nature of their coverup and the extent of the pedophilia epidemic within their organizations because the vast majority of new victims coming forward involve claims of abuse at the hands of pedophiles who are not yet identified by the Boy Scouts of America," the complaint said.
 
Nearly 800 clients say they were abused by adult leaders in the Boy Scouts, the Abused in Scouting lawyers said, adding that the alleged abusers are not known to law enforcement or in the BSA's internal database, sometimes referred to as the "perversion files."
The lawsuit also claims BSA covered up incidents of sexual assault and accuses the organization of engaging in reckless misconduct, as well as failing to adequately protect its young members....

 
R. Kelly charged with engaging in prostitution, soliciting a minor in Minnesota
The musician already faces multiple federal and state sex crime charges in New York and Illinois.
Aug. 6, 2019 By Tim Stelloh
 
R. Kelly was charged with one count of engaging in prostitution with a minor and one count of soliciting a minor for sexual purposes, authorities in Minnesota said Monday. The singer is facing other federal and state sex crime charges in New York and Illinois.
 
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office said in a statement that the alleged crimes occurred on July 11, 2001, with a 17-year-old girl who was trying to get an autograph from the singer.
 
The woman, who was not identified, later went to Kelly’s hotel room and was given $200 to dance naked for the performer, according to the statement.
Kelly, who also allegedly stripped, then touched the teen "all over her body" and gave her VIP tickets to his concert, the statement said.
 
The woman contacted local authorities in January to report the incident, the statement said.....
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, was indicted in July on 18 federal sex assault charges that allegedly occurred in Chicago and New York not guilty plea
 
Federal prosecutors allege that Kelly, 52, took underage girls across state lines for sex. Kelly and two employees are also accused of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with the performer, then paying victims and witnesses to cover up the crimes.....
 
 
The Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference 2019 with Neil Brick, Alison Miller and Daniel Roemer
 
In less than two weeks, S.M.A.R.T. is having a conference August 17 - 18, 2019 in Connecticut. https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/  

Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His articles are at http://neilbrick.com  

“A Survivor’s View of Recovery from Ritual Abuse.” He will discuss how recovery from ritual abuse can take many years. This may include working through memories, building functionality and developing more effective ways of interacting and integrating emotions. He will discuss his long healing journey.
Alison Miller, Ph.D. is a retired clinical psychologist who practised in Victoria, B.C., Canada. She worked with survivors of organized abuse, including ritual abuse and mind control from 1990 to 2017. Alison is the author of Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control (for therapists), Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse (for survivors).
Alison will discuss via Skype “Deception by Organized Abuser Groups: Helping Your Front People and Your Insiders Recognize the Lies and Tricks Which Keep You Enslaved.” She will talk about how survivors of abuse by mind-controlling abuser groups have parts who have been trained to obey abusers because they believe lies the abusers told them. She will talk about how their power over survivors depends on their young parts believing the abusers’ lies. If survivors learn to recognize when their emotions and behavior are influenced by these deceptions, and to discover the ways in which they were deceived, they can increase their freedom from the abuser group. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/alison-miller/
 
Daniel Roemer’s directing has led him to receive such attention as USA Film’s Top 10 Emerging Director’s list at the age of 20, two-time Project Greenlight Best Director Finalist (Ben Affleck/Matt Damon), and student Academy Award State finalist by age 22.
 
Daniel will share his own story from his docudrama “Gray”, which digs deep into uncovering his abuse history, actual news articles from the time of the abuse, includes interviews with prominent locals and family members and his personal search for what went on.
 
Daniel will also conduct a film-making 101 class – to share the story, both technical and directorial how-to’s. Clinicians would also benefit in having these skills to share their methods of work. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1281008/
 
Special surprise entertainment will also be provided at the conference
 
Proof That Ritual Abuse Exists
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
 
 
Research and Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder) https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
 

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says, Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says
Vatican guide says ‘not necessarily’ bishop’s duty to report suspects to police despite Pope Francis’s vows to redress Catholic church’s legacy of child abuse

Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign over sexual abuse scandals in his Boston archdiocese, where 150 priests were accused of molesting children.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Wednesday 10 February 2016 

The Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.

According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds, the training document states.

The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines – which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback.

Details of the Catholic church’s policy were first reported in a column by a veteran Vatican journalist, John Allen, associate editor of the Catholic news site, Cruxnow.com.

Allen noted that a special commission created by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, had appeared to play no role in the training programme, even though it is supposed to be developing “best practices” to prevent and deal with clerical abuse.

Indeed, a church official familiar with the commission on abuse said it was the committee’s position that reporting abuse to civil authorities was a “moral obligation, whether the civil law requires it or not”. The official said the committee would be involved in future training efforts....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-abuse-vatican-says


Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims
Todd Melby Feb 10, 2016
Jim McDonough is suing the Boy Scouts of America and its North Star Council claiming he was sexually abused by his scoutmaster....

Many stories like McDonough's have come to light in the nearly three years since the Legislature passed the Minnesota Child Victims Act. Most have been focused on the hundreds of claims made against priests accused of sexually abusing children.

But the law, which extends the statute of limitations for older abuse claims, wasn't written to respond exclusively to clergy abuse. And the Catholic Church hasn't been the only target of lawsuits aimed at shedding light on a hidden past. Boy Scout organizations are also grappling with accusations of child molestation.

McDonough decided to use the law to sue the Boy Scouts of America and one of its local affiliates, the Northern Star Council. At least 16 lawsuits are pending in Minnesota against the Boy Scouts, including McDonough's civil action. Most target the Northern Star Council. Three other lawsuits list another council as a defendant. At least 12 additional suits are expected to be filed before the law's May 25 deadline....

McDonough's suit seeks at least $50,000 from the Scouts. The Northern Star Council, which represent troops in 21 Minnesota counties and four counties in western Wisconsin, declined to talk about abuse suits filed by McDonough and others....

One of McDonough's lawyers, Peter Janci, won a $19.9 million verdict against the Boy Scouts in 2010 in Portland, Ore. Janci says that when it comes to sexual abuse against children, the Boy Scouts have some things in common with the Roman Catholic Church.

"They both involve organizations that really believe in their mission. At times, that has led to them to make decisions where they put reputation of the organization above safety and health of individuals," he said.

In the case of the Boy Scouts of America, that included the creation of what it called "ineligible volunteer" files, Janci said. When the Scouts learned that a volunteer had sexually molested or raped a child, it often created a file so it could bar that person from volunteering in another city or state.

Between 1955 and 1984, the Boy Scouts of America created 1,300 of these files. A judge ordered those files released, with some information redacted, after the Portland trial.

A small percentage of the "ineligible volunteer" files were atheists or homosexuals. The Scouts barred gay men and lesbians from the organization until just recently. But the vast majority of files focused on sexual molestation. They became known as the "Perversion Files."

The Boy Scouts has been keeping secret tabs on suspected abusers since the 1920s, but it didn't routinely report those people to police. The organization began requiring "mandatory reporting of suspected abuse" in 2011....
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/02/10/ex-boy-scouts-tap-minnesota-sex-abuse-law

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

17 Former Connecticut Boy Scouts Allege Sexual Abuse

17 Former Connecticut Boy Scouts Allege Sexual Abuse   

The plaintiffs' lawyer said that one child was molested more than 1,000 times by now-deceased scoutmaster Donald Dennis.   Dave Altimari  

Seventeen former Boy Scouts have filed a lawsuit charging that their scoutmaster in Ridgefield sexually abused them from 1963 to 1975.

The plaintiffs' lawyer said that it was the largest single lawsuit filed against the Boy Scouts of America and that one child was molested more than 1,000 times. In addition to listing the 17 former Scouts, the lawsuit lists two girls allegedly sexually assaulted by the scoutmaster, Donald Dennis, who died two years ago.

The 850-page lawsuit alleges that the two girls were forced to watch Dennis sexually abuse some of the scouts in his home. Most of the victims were 11 to 14 years old, although some were as old as 17, according to attorney Brooke Goff, who is representing all 19 plaintiffs.

"We were only made aware of these allegations last month and had never before received any reports or accusations against this individual by youth members, parents or adult volunteer leaders,'' the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. "This individual has not been registered in our programs for many years and is now deceased."....

Goff said that Dennis was an assistant scoutmaster from 1963 through 1968 and became scoutmaster until he moved out of Connecticut in 1975. Dennis was a local businessman in Ridgefield and also was an auxiliary state trooper during the same time period, Goff said....

The lawsuit claims that the national and local Boy Scout groups deliberately ignored signs that the organization was a haven for pedophiles.

In 2012, it was revealed during a lawsuit in Oregon that the national Boy Scout organization kept secret records of potential pedophiles who were called "ineligible volunteers." Dennis is not listed, but Goff said that is because he had not been sued.

The lawsuit alleges that the local Boy Scout organization allowed Dennis to be alone with groups of boys for hours at a time at Camp Mauwehu with no supervision, failed to put in safeguards to protect the children and failed to do background checks on Scout leaders.

The lawsuit also claims that many of the accusers had repressed memories of the attacks that resurfaced when the records of the pedophiles became public in 2012....

Last December, a Waterbury jury awarded an unidentified accuser $7 million in a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America. Court records show that the jury found the national organization negligent and reckless in its failure to take steps to protect the plaintiff from repeated abuse at the hands of his scoutmaster. That verdict has been appealed by the national group.

The jury found that the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and the Connecticut Yankee Council were not liable.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-boy-scout-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-20151117-story.html 

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Inside the 'perversion files' Tracking decades of allegations in the Boy Scouts

Boy Scout files on suspected abuse published by The Times

Viewable online: about 1,200 previously unpublished files kept by the Boy Scouts of America on volunteers and employees expelled for suspected sexual abuse.

By Jessica Naziri and Nell Gram, Los Angeles Times
December 25, 2012

The Times on Tuesday released about 1,200 previously unpublished files kept by the Boy Scouts of America on volunteers and employees expelled for suspected sexual abuse.

The files, which have been redacted of victims' names and other identifying information, were opened from 1985 through 1991. They can be found in a database along with two decades of files released by order of the Oregon Supreme Court in October. The database also contains summary information on about 3,200 additional files opened from 1947 to 2005 that have not been released publicly.

Together, the material in the database represents the most complete accounting of suspected sexual abuse in the Scouts that has been made public. All of the material was obtained as a result of lawsuits against the Scouts by alleged abuse victims or by media organizations. The Boy Scouts kept the files for nearly a century for internal use only, to keep suspected abusers from rejoining.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scouts-data-20121226,0,6477648.story


Inside the 'perversion files'
Tracking decades of allegations in the Boy Scouts

This database contains information on about 5,000 men and a handful of women who were expelled from the Boy Scouts of America between 1947 and January 2005 on suspicion of sexual abuse. The dots on the map indicate the location of troops connected in some way to the accused. The timeline below shows the volume of cases opened by year; however, an unknown number of files were purged by the Scouts prior to the early 1990s. Last up­date: Dec. 26, 2012
http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases/

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

History of Survivorship, Suffer the Children - Father Ratigan and Bishop Finn

History of Survivorship and its Present Day Activities - 2012 conference transcript

Survivorship Presentation

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/the-history-of-survivorship-and-its-present-day-activities/
 
Suffer the Children By FRANK BRUNI Op-Ed Columnist September 10, 2012

Just how flagrant does a pedophile need to be before the people around him contact the police? Just how far beyond seeming to force himself on a boy in a shower or loading up his laptop with photos of little girls’ crotches does he have to go?

In the first instance I’m referring to Jerry Sandusky, whom Penn State officials allowed to continue working with children even after they were told that something was seriously amiss. In the second I’m referring to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a Catholic priest in Missouri whose superiors acted no less despicably.

In May 2010, the principal of a parochial school next door to the parish where Father Ratigan served sent a memorandum to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, as Laurie Goodstein reported in The Times. It flagged his odd behavior, including his habit of instructing children to reach into his pockets for candy. In December 2010, hundreds of troubling, furtively taken photographs were found on his laptop, according to court testimony given too long after that fact. One showed a toddler’s genitals. In what jail or prison cell, you might ask, did Father Ratigan spend the first half of 2011? None.

After the photos were discovered, he attempted suicide, received counseling and was reassigned by Bishop Robert W. Finn, the head of the diocese, to a new post as a chaplain to an order of nuns. There he was allowed to celebrate Mass for youth groups and host an Easter egg hunt, and he was caught taking a photograph under the table, up the skirt of the daughter of parishioners who had invited him into their home.

In May 2011, a diocesan official finally told police about the extent of Father Ratigan’s cache of child pornography. He was convicted of possession of it last month. And last week Bishop Finn was convicted of failing to report him to law enforcement authorities, and got two years of probation....

The Boy Scouts of America covered up sexual abuse in its ranks. A recent Los Angeles Times review of files dating from 1970 to 1991 identified more than 125 cases of alleged molestation by men whom the organization had previously had reason to suspect of abusive behavior. “In some cases,” The Times noted, “officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place.” In others, it failed to involve the police.

Over the last two decades the Catholic Church has spelled out stricter policies, including the prompt notification of law enforcement officials. And its defenders have complained that newly revealed instances of wrongdoing are usually old cases that predated better awareness of child sexual abuse, better education about it and a toughened resolve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/bruni-suffer-the-children.html