In Aldan, Delaware County, there was no answer at the home of Erroll William Hall.
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In total, the attorney general has charged 14 men in a series of arrests, all with links to the church. "The five defendants that we’ve charged today were all adults in positions of trust with their victims who violated that trust and abused these children," Attorney General Henry commented. Terry Booth, 57, of Florida, abuse of a 16-year-old boy while living in Pennsylvania and Luis Manuel Ayala-Valasquez, 55, of Reading, abuse of a 12-year-old girl. Shaun Sheffer, 45, of Butler County, accused of abusing a seven-year-old girl. Never seen him as that kind of person," Graham replied.Īlso charged, Erroll William Hall, 50, of Aldan, Delaware County, with touching a 16-year-old girl. "He’s been charged with sexual assault by the Attorney General," FOX 29’s Jeff Cole stated. The district will now send letters to all the principals of those 10 schools and those principals will alert the school communities. They went on to say he taught in the district more than a decade at 10 different schools. The School District of Philadelphia confirms he’s a teacher at South Philadelphia High School who has taught French.
"When she did that, he took the opportunity to pull her onto his lap and sexually abuse her," Henry detailed. A 35-year-old man living in the basement of a family he met through a Jehovah Witness congregation, who sexually abused their 4-year-old daughter during a basement visit. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General has a different description. A 35-year-old man living in the basement of a family he met through a Jehovah Witness congregation, who sexually abused their four-year-old daughter during a basement visit. We talk about soccer," neighbor Nigel Graham said.Īttorney General Henry has a different description. Neighbors describe the 62-year-old longtime resident as quiet, living alone and bookish.
No one came to the door at the home of David Balosa, in Philadelphia’s Logan section. It was not immediately clear if any of the new defendants had lawyers representing them. One of the nine earlier defendants killed himself before he was arrested, she said. Others involved less serious charges of inappropriate touching.įour of the five suspects are in custody, with bail set, while the other person is being sought, she said. One person said that she was raped 50 or more times between the ages of 7 and 12 by a church member who was 18 when the assaults began. In the charges announced Friday, Henry said that the men had groomed or gained access to the children through the church, sometimes when the child’s family took the person into their home. Dozens of witnesses then testified before the secret grand jury in Harrisburg or provided information to the attorney general’s office.
The grand jury probe of Jehovah’s Witnesses began with a referral from a county district attorney who felt the state should take a broader look at the issue. Lopes did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.Īttorney Matt Haverstick, who has represented the church, did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday. He has also said the second-witness rule applies only to internal church discipline.
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And they say the church often required a second witness to substantiate a complaint, a standard that can be impossible to meet when perpetrators often isolate their victims.Ĭhurch spokesperson Jarrod Lopes has challenged those conclusions, saying that elders comply with reporting requirements and that members are also free to report sexual assault to authorities. All of the defendants, and their victims, were members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, according to officials.Ĭritics say that Jehovah's Witnesses elders have treated child sexual abuse as a sin rather than a crime, documenting complaints in internal files but not reporting them to authorities. Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced charges against five Pennsylvania men for the sexual assault and exploitation of children. 5 charged in probe of child sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses in Pennsylvania
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