Tag Archives: child abuse

Mormon Leaders accused of Covering Up Abuse

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There’s an unspoken rule in large religious organizations: if you’re ever caught abusing someone, the church will go above and beyond to protect you. Now, as a decent human being, you might be curious as to why religions are so fond of covering up abuse. The reason is simple: it all boils down to money.

As we recently reported on TGA a few days ago, when the Mormon Church was threatened with a lawsuit for allowing the continued abuse of a young girl, despite having heard the confession of her abusive father, an Arizona judge decided that the church’s right to confession was more important than the good of society. Who knows how many millions of dollars they would have lost in such a suit.

Abusers are naturally attracted to organizations like Mormonism that provide not only fresh victims, but also give them the full authority of church doctrine to excuse their behavior. They also benefit from laws that protect them from legal ramifications. In the case of the Church of Latter Day Saints, it’s especially easy to get in:

Victims who spoke to DailyMail.com said [spiritual confession] was repeatedly used as an excuse for bishops to hide abuse from authorities, often allowing it to carry on for years.

Women claimed church culture acts as a breeding ground for abuse, pointing to the belief within Mormonism that local bishops – laymen with no pastoral training – are divinely called by God and led by spiritual revelations, meaning their authority cannot be questioned.

The DailyMail released a pretty scathing report on Mormon abuse, supposedly inspired by the case in Arizona. They interviewed a number of people abused by their priests, and all of them shared a familiar story: The church is more interested in squashing potential lawsuits than stopping rapists.

Keep in mind that this is the same church that has over 100 billion dollars in the bank. They could obviously afford a few lawsuits. Can you even imagine any other organization in the world that would survive this level of corruption and evil? Just imagine if a modern corporation was guilty of silencing employees, preventing them from going to the police when they find out their colleagues are raping kids. We even allow religious organizations to file for a special type of bankruptcy protection in order for their money to be protected even when they lose judgements against them!

Will there even be a time when we wake up from this abusive con game? I have a question for believers out there: how many of your kids need to be raped before you decide that maybe, just maybe, you should stop financially supporting these guys? I mean for fuck’s sake, people have boycotted companies over not liking how someone identifies, but they can’t do it for an organizations that knowingly allows the sexual abuse of children? I will never understand why the blinders of religion allows them to get away with murder. It’s a moral failing I hope to see corrected in my lifetime.

Ohio Priest Gave Opioids to addicted Children to Rape Them

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If you’re playing Catholic Rapist Bingo, then congratulations for those of you with Ohio on your card. You’re one step closer to the grand prize, which is a lifelong hatred of the church. I’ve won this prize long ago, so it’s up for grabs.

Yet another depraved human being operating under the watchful eye of the Catholic Church has been arrested and charged for the crime of sexually abusing his young flock. In this case, it sounds like the sort of dramatic fiction that belongs to serialized dramas, and not real life.

For 15 years, Rev. Michael Zacharias used his influence, and the power granted to him by his position to lure troubled kids into a life of drug addiction and sexual slavery.

Testimony and evidence at trial showed Zacharias developed relationships with the victims’ families when they were young to gain their trust, prosecutors said. As the victims got older, he exploited their fears, their housing instability and their criminal records to force them into commercial sex.

If you’ve ever wondered how these kinds of crimes can perpetuate for so long, look no further than the cult of secrecy that manages it. The Catholic Church is the master when it comes to covering up crimes. They make even the most terrifying drug lords look like rank amateurs. The fact is that reporting abuse has far reaching consequences to anyone with career aspirations. The internal “legal system” of the church allows pastors to sue each other for slander and libel if the charges are not proven (which given the timeframes of the crimes can be quite difficult). They also face excommunication in some cases, which to a believer is equivalent to being cast into the fiery pits of hell.

It angers me that even the news outlets that has covered this story didn’t publish any testimony from the victims, but allowed a guilty man to continue to preach his innocence, as though he had nothing to do with the decades of abuse he perpetuated. Every news organizations that report on priestly abuse tend to bend over backwards to publish the bullshit lies from the PR department of the Vatican, which pretends to give a crap about the abuse of children.

Zacharias had been moved several times during his career. These types of shuffles are not uncommon for priests who start getting complaints from upset parents. I’d like to hear impact statements from the victims, not the crocodile tears of the very institution that had this man on paid leave while the investigation into the abuse continued. They had access to the same information the police did, and no doubt more, and yet they chose to stand by him until he was found guilty.

Now if there is any credit to be given to the church (and very little should be), it’s that they quite literally invented the word for pedophilia. In their twisted view, they want credit for discouraging the practice societally. I would grant it except for the fact that there are plenty of other cultures that reject it, so it does not take a great deal of moral fortitude to be against the abuse of children. Given that I know from my own father’s experience in the Catholic educational system, I can assure you that sexual abuse was only one of the forms of torture visited upon children by this vile institution. Decrying something, and then performing these same actions in the safety of the worlds most secretive organization should impress no one. It only highlights the failings of the priestly class to live up to the most basic moral precepts. Who else but a group of sexless men would want to be congratulated with inventing the word for abusing kids? As this generation’s youth would say, that’s highly sus.

Richland Pastor convicted of sexual Abuse

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In yet another case of a religious leader using his position to perpetuate abuse, a jury of his peers in Richland, Mississippi found Samuel Lamar Taylor guilt of sexual battery, and the antique sounding “gratification of lust” (the state doesn’t like the word “molestation” apparently).

The victim was an 11 year old child that this monster was the legal guardian for. When the boy approached a councilor at his school, to their credit, the school called the police. They acted quickly to arrest the Taylor and have the child was immediately removed from his custody. Had this happened a few decades ago, I’m sure nothing would have become of it. Keep in mind that people were always reluctant to believe children over adults, especially when these people cloak themselves in religious garb. Luckily, we now know better.

It’s impossible to know just how many victims he raped, as at least one person also came forward saying that had been sexually abused as far back as 1990, when Taylor was working an a YMCA councilor.

The good news is that this vile sack of crap will be spending the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole. He’s also in for a a bad time in prison. Typically, child rapists are considered the lowest form of life behind bars, and it’s not uncommon for these people to be regularly beaten, terrorized or sometimes even outright killed. While I’m not usually a fan of vigilante justice, I won’t be losing any sleep over this guy. I doubt anyone else will either.

Judge Dismisses Child Abuse Lawsuit due to “Privilege”

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If I was a criminal organization, I would definitely cloak myself with the veneer of religion. Regardless of your egregious actions, if you’re associated with a recognized faith, there is no crime serious you won’t get away with.

Take a recent example in Arizona, where a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Mormon Church on the grounds that spiritual confessions are a sacred right, regardless of what crimes are being confessed. This means that any church official who fails to report serious and ongoing abuses are immune from any responsibility. How outrageous is the crime in question? How about a father who perpetually raped his daughter, confessed to it, and the church did nothing to stop it.

When a young girl was being habitually raped by her father, his confession to his pastor did not warrant the church to communicate with authorities to put a stop to it. He was able to continue to abuse his poor daughter for another 6 years, and had even begun to turn his attention to her 6 week old baby sister.

The church decided to excommunicate the man instead of calling the police, and washed their hands it. Since the man (if he can be considered one) had confessed to his monstrous actions in the presence of a another man trained in the art of make-believe, when the girl finally grew up and tried to sue the church for doing nothing to stop her sexual torture, an Arizona judge made sure that the one being protected was the mega powerful Mormon Church:

In a ruling on Friday, Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson said the state’s clergy-penitent privilege excused two bishops and several other officials with the church… from the state’s child sex abuse mandatory reporting law, because Paul Adams initially disclosed during a confession that he was sexually abusing his daughter.

“Church defendants were not required under the Mandatory Reporting Statute to report the abuse of Jane Doe 1 by her father because their knowledge of the abuse came from confidential communications which fall within the clergy-penitent exception,” Dickerson wrote in his decision.

 

Let me remind you that this type of immunity is unique to religion alone. The closest analog we have to this privilege would be that of a lawyer, who is allowed to know about your crimes, without having to reveal details to the authorities. It is not without limitation, however. If there is a possibility of the furtherance of a crime, then your lawyers have a legal (not to mention moral) obligation to notify the police of your future plans. No such limitation exists when it comes to religious “confession”.

The major problem with this kind of immunity isn’t only that it allows criminals to continue to act with impunity. It’s far more sinister than that. Confession is also a way for these monsters to be absolved of their crimes morally. Faiths like Mormonism may claim that believers are bound by an objective morality, but in practical terms, churches have always found ways to involve themselves in the absolving of immorality, if not primarily because it has such good financial returns. It was indulgences that paid for the St. Peter’s Basilica, and the monetary benefits of offering salvation that has the the full power of secular law on its side, with legal protections of such magnitude, continues to fill coffers and puts asses in pews.

There is no end to my discuss when it comes to the privileges afforded to religions, especially when we know for a fact that they are so underserving of it of them. There are few world organizations that should have LESS protection than the major religions, who have fought for years to protect the rapists that live among their ranks. Remove their fancy vestments, or shave their overgrown beards and you would see them for what they are: a bunch of gangsters, rapists and embezzlers that would be right at home in a place that has bars on the windows.

Church Punishes Priest that Exposed Abuse

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If you ever believed Church rhetoric that they’re working hard to purge abusers from among their ranks, than I have a bunch of magic beans I can sell you.

Take the case of a Portuguese priest named Joaquim Nazaré, who recently exposed a dozen of his colleagues by reporting them to an Independent Commission specifically set up to investigate priestly abuse. When his employer found out, they reacted the way you would expect: they punished him for it.

You see, the problem was that one of the priests, Nuno Aurélio, had committed his vile acts 19 years ago, which meant that it passed the statues of limitation (which I should stress, was the result of the Church pushing hard to impose these limits). As a result, Aurélio claimed that the accusations amounted to slander, which the church agreed:

“Given that the burden of proof is on the accuser, it is clear that the defendant’s statements are defamatory and slanderous”, the ruling, reached last summer, continued.

“Nazaré – who had never appeared before the court – was condemned in two forms: he had to apologize not simply “personally” to Nuno Aurélio, but “publicly through diocesan channels” as a form of “reparation for the scandal”, and pay a month’s salary out of his pocket..

So imagine that your coworker sexually abused a child to the point that this person later kills themselves, and when you tell a commission specifically created to expose this kind of monstrous behavior, you’re forced to apologize to the abuser, and pay a month of your salary in punishment. I’m sure you would be thrilled.

Luckily, Nazaré is a badass who refuses to back down. He’s been removed from any position of authority as punishment as a result. His career prospects are now dead, but in my opinion, its better for him this way. Who wants to work for such a corrupt organization anyways? He’s obviously too good for them.

Keep in mind that not a single priest has actually faced any justice as a result of this investigation that found that over 5,000 people has been abused since 1950. That’s the equivalent of one kid getting raped every week (with some change left).

Madrassa teacher Arrested for Mollesting Students

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Over the years, we’ve covered a lot of child abuse by pastors and priests. It’s an almost daily occurrence, so much so that the phrase “youth pastor arrested for molestation” has become a bit of a meme these days. Because Christianity is so dominant in our society, we forget that other religions have the same tradition of molesting their flock, and protecting their abusers.  Take for instance a recent story out of India. A 25 year old madrassa teacher was arrested after he was accused of “sodomizing” almost a dozen students (that we know about). They also arrested the trustee, who had not only failed to take any action to report the abuse, but he also helped the teacher to flee when word came that police were going to arrest him. Both had tried to flee when the accusations were made, but they were eventually apprehended.

The whole affair came to light after one of the students was brave enough to do something about the abuse.

The offence came to light after one of the students of the residential school called his mother using the mobile phone of another maulana a few days back and complained about the teacher’s sexual gestures and acts with students, the police statement said.

It’s a reminder that only the courage of victims will finally stop these religious organizations from providing shelter, aid, and a fertile ground for their depravity. As the stigma of abuse sheds, I have no doubt that there will be more stories of this kind. Here’s hoping that the victims get some form of justice in all of this.

Courts overrules JW parent’s fight to prevent blood transfusion for child

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Religious folks baffle me. Imagine that your child is dying, and in order to save their life, a simple blood transfusion is needed. For the vast majority of us, this is simply a no-brainer; people have been receiving blood transfusions for almost 400 years, and it’s a relatively benign form of aid.  Sure, there are some minor risks involved, but for the most part, thousands of transfusions happen without incident. Not so in the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have interpreted the Bible’s disgust in spilt blood into a generalized philosophy that outright bans their members from receiving transfusions, even when it would save their lives. It’s estimated that almost 600 JW’s lose their lives every year from their refusal, and since their adoption of this ridiculous practice, over 30,000 of them have perished needlessly.

If you want to let yourself die over the ridiculous belief that your god disapproves of this life saving medical procedure, and you are an adult, there’s nothing stopping you from throwing your life away. However, this certainly does not mean that you have a right to decide for others whether or not they get to live. That’s something that the courts in Australia also seem to agree, as a recent ruling from a judge is forcing a JW couple to allow their three year old toddler to receive blood for her upcoming medical surgeries. For months the couple has been fighting her doctors, and so the courts had to get involved to save her life.

The court took into account the parents’ strongly held convictions. “However, based on the medical evidence and the submissions advanced by the parties it was clearly in JI’s best interests and welfare to authorize the proposed treatment in advance of her upcoming surgeries”

Why is someone’s conviction important? Anyone can have a conviction, but it does not mean that their beliefs are righteous. You could have a strong conviction that everyone on earth is the devil and needs to be destroyed (a belief that’s held by quite a few religious groups, I might add). The fact that the court and even the doctors were trying to bend over backwards for these types of ludicrous beliefs is beyond me. Only the veneer of religion can make people this weak and pathetic in the face of such stupidity. By just concentrating on the facts, it boils down to a child’s life hanging in the balance, all because her parents think that a Bronze Age god gives a crap what gets put in your body.

Texas Pastor impregnated girl he abused for years

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It is undeniable that one of the major reasons for the prevalence of abuse in churches is that due to the privileged status granted by religion. Anyone associated with a church is often seen in a trusting light, even when this trust is unwarranted. This guarantees an innumerable amount of tragedy, a fact we are regularly reminded of on a daily basis.

Just a few days ago, pastor Robert L. Carter was arrested in Huston. His crime? Over the span of a decade, he repeatedly raped one of his parishioners (that we know about), beginning his assault when she was only 6 years old. The abuse was an almost daily occurrence, ending only when the victim decided that the abuse had to stop. This was 3 years after she had given birth to a child she was forced to give away.

The victim is now damaged for life, and is fighting to get custody of a child that was wrongly taken from her. This will no doubt add to this tragedy, with a new family being torn apart to undo past wrongs.

With all of these lives destroyed, you would think that perhaps a little self reflection had occurred. You would be wrong. Rather than take responsibility for his crimes, and for destroying multiple lives, Carter is quick to blame his monstrous deeds on outside forces beyond his control:

“I need you to understand that it is not about my flesh because my flesh causes me to do the things that I would not do. Paul said the good that I would I just can’t seem to do because he said whenever I [go to do good] evil is always present because I’m in my flesh,” he said. “Your flesh will send you right to Hell. Your flesh will get yourself in trouble.”

What a load of utter nonsense, straight from the mouth of a deeply troubled individual that barely qualifies as human. This gobbledygook might mean something to the faithful, but when someone not beholden to this word salad hears this, they see it only as a disgusting omission of responsibility. So long as religion continues to give lowlife scum like Carter a safe space to operate, these tragedies will continue to be a daily occurrence.

 

Youth Pastor gets 20 years for child abuse

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How many times are we going to do this? I’ve run out of ways to write “Another Youth Pastor sentenced to jail for child abuse”, so I’m just going to give you the facts in this case and hopefully keep my lunch down.

Jordan Huffman, 52, has been convicted of child abuse and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He drugged his 12 year old victim with alcohol and pot, with the court acknowledging that there were undoubtedly more victims that had not yet come forward. The District Attorney said:

“This defendant groomed, manipulated, and sexual assaulted a child who came to him for support and guidance in his capacity of a youth pastor. He continued this course of abuse over years. The damage this defendant has inflicted over the years cannot be overstated and his conduct has earned him every day of the sentence imposed today.

“The sentencing court acknowledged the likelihood of other victims of this defendant.”

The court is so worried that he might re-offend that when he gets out as a 72 year old man, he’ll continue to be supervised until he is dead and in the ground. This is assuming he’ll survive his prison sentence, which is doubtful.

Honestly, if you’re a Christian and you have children, you’ve got to wake up to the fact that youth camps are just disgusting orgies of sex for depraved human beings. Pray all you want, but it’s not going to protect them from these child rapists.

South Korean pastor charged with molestation of defectors

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Did you know that there are now more Christians in South Korea than there are Buddhists? Since it’s late arrival in the 18th century*, Christianity has been growing steadily in the country. Many converts see it as a defacto way of adopting a more “western” lifestyle. Hell, in my neighborhood, there are TWO Korean churches within only a few hundred meters of one another, and they’re the only ones that seem to regularly attend services, as opposed to the empty catholic cathedrals in desperate need of maintenance.

Well, since they are busy taking on our religious tradition, it seems as though their priests are also engaged in one of the oldest traditions of the church: molesting kids.

The victims of the alleged abuse were 13 to 19 years old and were all enrolled at his school between 2016 and 2023, prosecutors said. One of the allegations pertains to the alleged abuse of a 16-year-old student while they were sleeping in the school’s dormitory in Dec. 2022.

Pastor “Chun”, as he’s been identified, is believes to have assaulted more children under his care. Keep in mind that these students had escaped the hell of North Korea, only to face their own nightmare from someone claiming to want to help them. Isn’t it just like a religious organization to hurt the ones they claim to want to help?

* It was introduced earlier, but had been banned for over 200 years

“Sound of Freedom” producer sexually assaults child

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A couple days ago I reported on the stupidity of one Jim Caviezel, and lambasted his ridiculous movie “Sound of Freedom” as a QAnon wet dream. The film, for those of you luckily ignorant of this cinematic turd, revolves around the supposed life story of an ex-Homeland Security operative who was sick of the bureaucratic red tape and decided to rescue victims of child trafficking. Keep in mind that the man who inspired the film, Tim Ballard, admitted that the events in the movie had never happened. He also alleges to have broken up Satan worshiping cults, which just sounds like the rehashed moral panics of the 1980’s (in QAnon, the old is new again).

If you thought that wasn’t bad enough, now there is credible evidence that Paul Hutchinson, an executive producer for “Sound of Freedom”, was one of the people captured on film fondling a young girl in Mexico during a 2016 undercover operation.

Footage of the incident and its aftermath was captured by videographers working with Operation Underground Railroad, or OUR, the private anti-trafficking group Ballard founded. An investigator with the Davis County Attorney’s Office obtained the footage and wrote detailed descriptions of it as part of a criminal investigation into Ballard and OUR carried out with the FBI. That investigation was closed this year without any charges being brought.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me just how the people who cloak themselves in good deeds in an effort to divert attention away from their bad ones. A man spreading false information about child trafficking (which is a real problem that needs solutions) is implicated in the very crime he pretends to care about.

Dentist called pastor instead of 911 during botched procedure

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Going to the dentist is never pleasant. The needles they put in your mouth, or the high pitch drill they use to remove parts of your teeth, ranks pretty high up there in terms of nightmare fuel. However, for a 4 year old little girl, it was far worse than simply having a bit of pain. It basically ruined her life forever.

During a routine procedure back in 2016, Nevaeh Hall began to have seizures as soon as she was administered a sedative. Rather than call emergency services, Bathaniel Jefferson telephoned both her pastor and a pharmacist instead, and for several hours, the lack of oxygen to Nevaeh wrecked havoc on her brain and nervous system. She is confined to a wheelchair, is now blind and deaf, and will never fully recover from this dentist’s negligence.

A jury has found her guilty of one count of recklessly causing body injury to a child. The prosecution wanted 20 years. The sentence itself is only worth probation, so anyone hoping for more was greatly disappointed.

A civil trial soon followed, with the family being awarded a 95.5 million dollar lawsuit. Unfortunately, it is unlikely the family will ever see this money, as Jefferson’s insurance is unable to cover such a large amount.

Why the hell would anyone call a pastor in a time like that? Was she hoping for some magic prayers to fix he fuckup or something? Bizarre.

Father tries to drown child to appease his God

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I’m sure most of you have used Lyft or Uber at some point in your lives. It’s become so normalized that most people barely think about it. In fact, it was so routine that when a customer by the name of Jeremiah Campbell climbed aboard his Lyft, he carried on his day like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Jeremiah was acting strange, however, which prompted the driver to call the police.

When the cops arrived at the scene, they attempted to knock on the suspect’s door, with no success.

Chicago police officers responded to the location and knocked on the door but no one answered. They looked inside a window and saw a man bending over the bathtub and making suspicious movements. Believing there was a drowning in progress, officers forced their way inside the home. With the cops inside, Campbell took the boy out of the bathtub. Officers could hear the boy coughing and saw him “coughing up water,” the report said.

The good news is that his 2 year old son is recuperating from the attempted murder. Jeremiah’s little attempt to recreate Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac is luckily over, and the man is set to appear in court in the next few days. Here’s hoping his little boy finds a home that isn’t inhabited by some religious psycho trying to win brownie points with his bronze age god.

New York Youth Pastor caught with Child Porn

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I probably should be more specific in my headline, since this kind of thing has become so common, it’s almost impossible to come up with news titles.

In the case of a youth pastor at a Christian camp being caught for child pornography, I would say that apart from his name, Nathan Rogers, and his age, 39, everything about this story is what you’ve come to expect. The specifics are as follows: Rogers invited a young girl to his camper to change, and had setup a video camera beforehand to capture the moment. The girl noticed, and tried to delete the video out of a sense of humiliation, no doubt. Since we are no longer living in a society that keeps this kind of thing secret anymore, he has since plead guilty, and will be a registered sex offender when he gets out of prison. He faces up to 20 years for what he did.

Christian school owes 100 million in abuse lawsuit

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We keep thinking that children being abused by Christian institution is something that was prevalent in the past. To be sure, when religious institutions were in control, it was a damn epidemic. But that’s not to say that there are still major abuses that are happening even in this modern, highly connected world.

For instance, take the Miracle Meadows School in Virginia. It was founded in the 1980’s, selling itself as an educational institute for troubled teens, run by Seventh Day Adventists. Judging by how it operated, it sounded more like Shawshank prison than a school:

I was on a what I thought was a family weekend away, headed home. Until I arrived at a big tan building instead. When we got there, I was dragged out of the car by a really tall man and lady. I cried and screamed for my mom , dad and brother to help me. The staff told them to drive off. As I kicked and screamed for “what felt like forever ”, I watched them drive off. I was wrestled to the ground and placed in handcuffs. From there I knew that this was it. I was stuck.

Their education techniques involved basically physically breaking kids down and mistreating them on a continual basis:

If you look at the videos for MMS it looks like a quaint little place in West Virginia, run by Christians. What they did not show was the staff waking us up in the middle of the night to run laps until we threw up, or being locked in isolation for weeks while copying down “social rules,” and memorizing many verses, or entire chapters, of the Bible. We were digging ditches for hours then told to fill them back in. Digging the feces-covered rocks out of the sewer, and wheeling them a mile up the road.

They just lost a lawsuit for over 100 million dollars which detailed horrible sexual and physical abuse. This was after losing another lawsuit from another group of victims for roughly 52 million. Attorneys said that there were countless victims, and that like in most cases of abuse, only a small minority of victims were willing to come forward about it. The list of accusations is truly harrowing:

The latest suit included allegations that some students became pregnant after being raped and were given abortions. Some children ranging in age from 7 to 12 were infected with sexually transmitted diseases after being assaulted by staff members, the suit claimed.

I mean how young can these victims get? Is there a limit to this kind of depravity? This institution operated for almost 40 years, spreading misery, STI’s, and mental scaring troubled teens that needed love, and received misery. How many more of these kinds of institutions are hiding in plain sight even today?