WELCOME TO THE FREEDOM BEACON!

MURRIETA: Man found guilty of molestations

Call the police not the elders is the message....

JW elders are trained by the WTB&TS to bury any thing that may bring shame no matter how dreadful or true it maybe.

By The Californian wire service | Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:28 PM
PDT БЗ

A 49-year-old man was found guilty Thursday of molesting two young sisters at his home in Murrieta.

Gilbert Simental was accused of molesting a then-9-year-old girl in 2005 and her 10-year-old sister in 2006.

It took less than a day for jurors to find him guilty of three counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14.

The jury also found true an allegation that he had multiple victims.
He faces 45 years to life when he is sentenced May 23 by Judge F. Paul Dickerson.

The emotional reading of the verdict was attended by the girls and their mother.

While testifying in his own defense Tuesday, Simental confessed to molesting the younger sister but continued to deny touching her sibling during a pool party/sleepover at his home.

"Mr. Simental is now facing the rest of his life in prison because of the courage of these little girls," Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/18/news/californian/murrieta/b419f15c917b8afd8825742f000aa6c0.txt

Next article has the same info as above, with this additional info.:

During closing arguments Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky told the jury that Simental's surprise confession was a ploy to escape a harsher sentence, which would come with a conviction for
molesting multiple victims.

"This is the defense of a desperate man," he said. "He has no credibility."

But defense attorney Miles Clark said Simental had no reason to tell the truth about one girl and lie about the other.

Church elders in the Jehovah's Witness congregation Simental attended testified during the trial that he told them he molested the girls.

The elders had tried to avoid testifying by claiming clerical privilege, but Dickerson ruled Simental talked to them not in a confessional setting but in a group setting.

The girls' mother testified during the trial that her younger daughter liked to stay at Simental's house, but late in 2005 her behavior changed and she no longer wanted to stay there.

She said that both daughters told her in late July 2006 that they had been touched by the defendant. She said she didn't call police but did call church elders.

The sisters and Simental's daughter all met at school and belonged to the same Jehovah's Witness congregation, according to testimony.

The mother said she told a teacher about the alleged molestation, and school officials called police.

Another case involving a third girl has not yet come to trial, but Strunsky had her testify in an attempt to show that the defendant has a propensity for molesting little girls.

Simental is set for arraignment on that case May 2.

Jurors deliberated for about two hours Wednesday and asked that testimony by two church elders be read back to them before being dismissed for the day.

Thursday they announced at about 2:45 p.m. that they had reached a verdict.

"Mr. Simental is now facing the rest of his life in prison because of the courage of these little girls," Strunsky said.
Copyright 2008 by KNBC.com and KNBC (NBC4 Los Angeles).

http://www.knbc.com/news/15917878/detail.html

______________________________

For someone to say that the elders are agreeable to seeing the law upheld in such situations and yet the elder will not report these nor testify in such cases, is entirely hypocritical--NOT TO MENTION that it victimizes the victim TWICE!! The appropriate thing to do would be to handle this in the way that both clergy and Mental Health professionals handle it--deliver the accused to the law enforcement authorities who can sort out the matter by investigating the situation.

Typically, when you get into this discussion, the JWs will inevitably throw the Catholic Church under the bus. YET, at least the CC cooperates with LAW enforcement in the prosecution of these culprits. What ever happened to obeying GOD in this matter?? For the Scriptures say CLEARLY:

RO 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. [2] Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. [3]For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. [4] For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. [5] Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

So even if you are not required to break clerical confidentiality (JW elders are not actually ordained by a denomination anyway) in a particular state, what about your MORAL obligations as someone who should want to see crimes handled appropriately so that these folks don't continue to victimize other people???? As it says in v 5, submit for the sake of your CONSCIENCE.

Gotta love v 3 as well: For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

So, if you are in the right, there is nothing to fear from the authorities--right??? So, let the authorities do as they must and the "innocent" person who has been slandered will be vindicated and the WTS exonerated. Seems simple to me!

Now here is an interesting question: why do the elders really think they can deal with pedophiles on their own, when it is proven that such criminals cannot permanently be rehabilitated?? Pedopheilia is, apparently, a compulsion and very hard to control through sheer will power and any attempts to "unlearn" the behavior. The law recognizes this and, so, puts extra monitoring restrictions on pedophiles who are released from the prison system. Do the elders really think they have the capabilities to do such monitoring or to punish offenders in such a way that they are truly afraid to act on their compulsion due to the consequences? A few mental health treatment options have seen limited success, but the elders, who have no mental health or other training are, again, sorely misdirected if they think they can handle these cases on their own.

By way of example:

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/wolfenbarger_64140___article.html/owen_count\
y.html

'He certainly didn't learn'

Psychologist: Wolfenbarger still a violent sexual predator
May 20, 2008 11:55:00 PM
By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

A psychologist told Yuba County jurors Tuesday that a man who abducted
and sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in 1987 should still be
considered a sexually violent predator.

Jim Dean Wolfenbarger, 48, is petitioning for release from a state
mental hospital where Judge James Curry sent him more than five years
ago. Wolfenbarger was sentenced in 1988 to 27 years, 10 months in prison.

Clinical psychologist Robert Owen of San Luis Obispo testified that
Wolfenbarger had been out of prison for only 37 days in November 1987
when he grabbed the girl from a Yuba County bus stop and forced her to
perform oral sex.

Wolfenbarger had been in prison for kidnapping a 34-year-old Reno cab
driver and taking her to Nevada County, where he raped and sodomized
her, said Owen.

Two weeks before the assault on the 6-year-old, Wolfenbarger tried
unsuccessfully to abduct a 16-year-old girl on a Yuba County road,
Owen said.

"He certainly didn't learn any lessons" in prison, said Owen. "The
problem was escalating, not getting better."

Wolfenbarger's history of assault makes him a paraphiliac who is
aroused by abducting and controlling vulnerable females, the
psychologist said.

Wolfenbarger's attorney, David Vasquez, said defense psychologists
will counter Owen's opinion during the civil hearing, which is
expected to continue into next week.

While in prison in 1996, Wolfenbarger, a Jehovah's Witness, said he
underwent a religious conversion. But in a 2002 prison interview,
Wolfenbarger continued to lie about his crimes and blame his victims,
Owen said.

"It was a big ruse, a big sham for everyone," he said.

Even if the conversion was genuine, studies have shown "no relation"
to sex offenders reoffending, said Owen.

In the 2002 interview, Wolfenbarger admitted being aroused by memories
of a TV movie in which actress Sela Ward was bound to a bed. In a
second interview early this year, Wolfenbarger tried to "sanitize" the
story by saying he was aroused by the actress's underwear, not by the
bindings, said Owen.

"That's not my idea of progress. The ongoing denial is troubling,"
said Owen, who has evaluated hundreds of sex offenders.

Although Wolfenbarger dealt with his anger management and alcohol
abuse problems while in prison, he attended sex offender sessions only
briefly before dropping out, Owen said.

"Paraphilia is not a problem that magically goes away," said Owen. "I
think the problem is entrenched. He hasn't done anything to make it go
away."

Some paraphiliacs learn to control their impulses, but Wolfenbarger's
self-control "has been very, very poor," he said.

While the case continues in Yuba County Superior Court, Wolfenbarger
is pursuing a federal lawsuit against the county, former Sheriff
Virginia Black, Sheriff Steve Durfor and others.

Wolfenbarger claims his civil rights were violated while he was held
in Yuba County Jail from July to December 2002, from November 2003 to
February 2004 and from December 2004 to April 2005.

Earlier this year, a federal magistrate judge in Sacramento tossed out
much of Wolfenbarger's case, which he filed in 2003, but some claims
still remain.

JW news 3 items Larry king CNN pedophile crusader

If anyone has anything to contribute to the inquiries of the sites below, you are welcome to

submit your comments.

1. CONTACT Larry King show (the whole CNN network is blasting pedophiles all day today)
larryquestions@cnn.com

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.lkl.html http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_

reporters/grace.nancy.html

Nancy Grace (female counterpart of Larry king
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5c.html?24
EMAILCONTACT Nancy at CNN
http://www.courttv.com/contact/nancy_grace/index.html
Nancy at CourtTV

2. Congregation says county denying religious rights comment preregistration needed
Naples Daily News, FL - 7 hours ago
By Tracy X. Miguel
A Jehovah's Witness congregation wants to expand in Golden Gate Estates but has been

rejected, claiming it's being denied religious ...

(This is the abusive Hall my friend, Danny, went to 1970-1978 Naples Florida)
letters@naplesnews.com
send your 200 word letter

3. This is HUGE on the news wire
Reform Movement Disproves Core Doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses
PR Web (press release), WA - 1 hour ago
The "1914 doctrine" of Jehovah's Witnesses has been a source of debate and controversy

because it misleads adherents into believingthat the first ...
http://www.topix.net/content/prweb/2007/08/reform-movement-disproves-
core-doctrine-of-jehovahs-witnesses
add comments here

Watchtower Jehovah's Witness Whistleblower
Remember-You just can't fool all the people all the time,you can only fool all of the people

some of the time, or some of the people all of the time.

http://kcbs.com/pages/270226.php?contentType=4&contentId=352202
Posted: Thursday, 01 March 2007 12:40PM

Church Leader Sentenced for Molestation
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KCBS) --
A man from San Jose has been sentenced to twelve years behind bars for repeatedly molesting the daughter of a fellow church member. The man, an elder of the Jehovah's Witness church, was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a minor. He pleaded no contest to the charges, which reduced his sentence to only 12 years in state prison. "He accepted responsibility fairly early on, prior to the victim actually having to come to court, well she came to court but she didn't have to testify and there's a lot of value in that I think for a child especially and that's not always the case," said prosecutor Sumerle Davis with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office. The victim and her family have since moved out of state.------------------------------------

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16813746.htm
Posted on Thu, Mar. 01, 2007

Former San Jose church elder sent to prison for molesting young girl
Bay City News Service

A former Jehovah's Witness elder was sentenced today in a San Jose courtroom to 12 years in state prison for the repeated molestation of a young congregant. Armando Ortiz, 36, stared intensely at the ground throughout his hearing. Ortiz gave a list of personal, financial and immigration problems that plagued him from 2001 to 2003, when he molested his friend's daughter, who was 8 to 11 years old at the time. Ortiz claimed his position as an elder in the church made it difficult to seek help for his many problems at the time of the crimes. At the time, Ortiz was living in the home of a close friend and was involved in a romantic affair with the man's wife, who was the mother of the victim.

Judge Brian Walsh acknowledged Ortiz's comments but said they were nothing more than a list of excuses and said he did not hear an apology to a girl to whom Ortiz most likely caused irreparable damage.`I think that justice was done and that it was a fair sentence,' Deputy District Attorney Sumerle Davis said. `It's a very unfortunate and sad situation. 'The victim's family has since moved out of state to `put this behind them,' Davis said. Ortiz received the maximum 12-year sentence for continued sexual abuse of a child and will have to register as a sex offender.

й 2006 by Bay City News, Inc.

BLOG AUTHOR'S COMMENTS: [SEE bold type added above by blog author]--

This is a major problem within the Jehovah's Witness organization pertaining to mental illness. Once upon a time, seeking help from Mental Health professionals was expressedly forbidden. Today, it is said to be a "matter of conscience".

The problem is that, when the Society tells it's members that something is "up to the individual's conscience", they make it obvious that the individual is expected to make the "right" choice--the one that is in line with the goals of the Watchtower Society. The WT says it is a personal choice issue but then qualifies that statement by saying something to the effect of: "An individual who is truly concerned with his or her relationship with Jehovah will decide accordingly". Or, "an individual in good standing will do such and such". Such phrases leave no real room for personal choice or conscience, if the individual wants to remain in a "favorable relationship" with Jehovah or the organization. The individual then submits to the veiled threat, and it is obvious what decision the he/she will have to arrive at.

The question the individual is left to ask his/herself is whether living with the guilt of not making the "choice" the Society promotes is worth the consequences, especially when he/she could simply choose the path of least resistance by falling back into line with WT doctrines. For the average JW, there is simply too much at stake (i.e. shunning) should he/she choose to do something off the beaten path as proscribed by the WTS. This is NOT personal choice, it is simply coercion disguised as "personal choice" and is a favorite ploy used by all cults.

Counter-cult evangelism & ex-cult member support network.

MURRIETA: Man found guilty of molestations

JW news 3 items Larry king CNN pedophile crusader

Jehovah's Witness Molesters in the News