Catholic Archbishop Convicted of Sex Abuse

An Argentine judge convicted a former Roman Catholic archbishop Wednesday of sexually abusing a seminarian in 1992.

Former Santa Fe Archbishop Edgardo Storni received a sentence of eight years, the minimum for aggravated sexual abuse, defense attorney Eduardo Jauchen said.

Storni resigned in 2002 amid various abuse accusations. Judges threw out most of the cases, but the one involving the seminarian moved forward.

He is the fourth Argentine cleric to be convicted of sex crimes.

In the most famous of those cases, a court sentenced Father Julio Grassi, who won fame running a foundation for poor youths, to 15 years in June for molesting a boy who participated in the program.

Christian Man Sentenced for Killing 2-month-old Daughter

Robert E. Harford Jr., of Rockland, was sentenced Tuesday to spend 16 years behind bars for killing his 2-month-old daughter, Ava Harford, in August 2008.

The proceedings at Knox County Superior Court were disrupted during the morning by an angry outburst from one of Ava’s relatives.

“[Expletive] murderer! [Expletive] murderer!” Justin Gushee shouted at Harford and jumped up from his seat in the courthouse gallery. He appeared to try to move toward Harford before he was escorted from the courtroom by armed bailiffs.

Ava, just 2 months old in August 2008, died of blunt-force trauma to the head after Harford threw her to the ground.

He pleaded guilty in October 2009 to domestic violence manslaughter. A murder charge was dismissed.

The violence that evening seemed completely out of character to Harford’s family and friends, many of whom spoke to the court Tuesday about his gentle, generous nature, his strong Christian upbringing and his patience with children.

Christian Brothers Sentenced for Ponzi Scheme

Two brothers from Ingham County will spend the next 10 years in prison for their roles in Ponzi schemes.

Eric Merkle, 55, and Jay Merkle, 53, both of Williamston, pleaded guilty in the spring to conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud charges. The judge also ordered the Merkles to pay their victims $21 million in restitution.

According to court records, the Merkles created a company known as Platinum Business Industries (PBI). They solicited investors by telling them PBI would use their money to fund oil and gas exploration in Oklahoma, and promised returns as high as 6 percent per month, or 300 percent during a three- to five-year span.

The judge noted the crime was especially serious in that the brothers abused their affinity with church members and extended family to gain their confidence.

Baptist Youth Group Leader Sentenced for Sex with 15-year-old Girl

A church youth group leader was sentenced to 90 days in jail as a condition of three years of probation today for smoking marijuana and having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl in the parking lot of the church.

Timothy Han, 21, Fullerton, pleaded guilty in October to one count of unlawful sex act with a minor and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

He was a youth group leader at Miracle Land Korean Baptist Church in Cypress when he met the 15-year-old girl through the church, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

On June 22, 2008, Han drove the underage girl to the church parking lot, where he engaged in sex acts with her after smoking marijuana, according to Deputy District Attorney Nikki Buracchio.

Muslim Teenager Sentenced for Brutal Murder

A Muslim teenager has been jailed for a minimum of 11 years in jail after being sentenced to life for the murder of a man in a park.

The 16-year-old, who can now be named as Mohsin Mohammed, was involved in a fight in Queen’s Park, Blackburn on May 30, which left Christopher Folkes, 36, with severe head injuries.

Mr Folkes, of Oban Drive, Shadsworth, died in hospital the day after the attack.

Today at Preston Crown Court, Mohammed, of Sussex Drive, was found guilty of murder after a week-long trial.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Neil Hunter said: "Christopher was subjected to a sustained and vicious assault.

"He was repeatedly kicked about the head whilst lying motionless on the ground in a motiveless attack."

Lutheran Church President Sentenced for Fraud

A 49-year-old Omaha man received additional prison time Tuesday in connection with his role in scamming a west Omaha church of more than $300,000.

Mark A. Mehner, who lives in the Elkhorn area, already had been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison in connection with a federal wire fraud conviction.

On Tuesday, Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon sentenced Mehner on felony theft by deception and perjury.

Mehner, a former church president at Zion Lutheran Church, approached his church’s planning commission in 2004 about a land deal. He said he had been contacted by an anonymous member of the congregation who was willing to sell land to the church — land valued at between $1.2 million and $2 million — for only $250,000.

The money didn’t go toward a land purchase. A civil court case against Mehner revealed he had transferred the church’s money to his business accounts and used it for his son’s Creighton University tuition, for Victoria’s Secret purchases and for several ATM withdrawals from casino locations.

There was no anonymous donor.

Jewish Man Sentenced for Fraud

He didn’t exactly rob a bank or hit anybody. He did participate in a bank scam — so a federal judge decided not to “put him back where he was” with no consequences. So she sent another scammer caught up in a New Haven bank fraud to jail for a year and a day.

That was the latest in a continuing series of repercussions Tuesday to the massive get-rich-quick scheme that accompanied the 2004 conversion of depositor-owned New Haven Savings Bank to publicly-traded NewAlliance Bank.

Steven E. Schleifer, 53, of Monsey, N.Y., became the latest participant in that scheme to take the fall when Judge Janet Bond Arterton Tuesday afternoon sentenced him to one year and a day in jail in U.S. District Court on Church Street.

“You are taken out of circulation,” Judge Arterton told him at the climax of an emotional two-hour court session.

In the scheme, out-of-town moneymen found an illegal way to angle in on a lucrative initial public offering when the bank went public. Only New Haven Savings Bank depositors were supposed to be able to purchase shares in the offering. The out-of-towners, who weren’t depositors, found local depositors to serve as fronts. They gave the depositors money to buy the shares in their own names. Then the depositors would immediately resell the shares and split the profits with the moneymen when the bank went public and the shares zoomed up in price.

Schleifer, one of a host of such out-of-town moneymen, pocketed $137,911.73 in the scheme.

Defense Attorney Michael McGarry urged the judge to confine Schleifer in a facility where he would be able to practice his Jewish faith.

Catholic Priest Guilty of Breaking Into Nuclear Missile Silo

After only an hour of deliberation this afternoon, a Weld County Court jury found a Catholic priest guilty of damaging and trespassing on government property that housed a nuclear missile silo in northeastern Weld County last August.

As the jury was dismissed, Father Carl Kabat, 76, applauded the jury, some walking out with tears in their eyes.

While Kabat delivered his political statements against nuclear weapons and beseeched the jury to become the conscience of a city, county and country, in the end, he had admitted that he entered to property and cut the fence. The jury couldn't consider the larger anti-nuclear message.

Catholic Priest Sentenced for Theft from Church

A Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to 18 months house arrest for breaking into a Brandon church to steal collection money.

Raju Madanu, 36, received a conditional sentence today for stealing $13,200 from St. Augustine of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church between Feb. 4 and June 29.

Madanu said he took the money to help farmers and orphans in Tanzania and India.

Muslim Parents Sentenced for Encoruaging Son to Rape 12-year-old Cousin

The 54-year-old man was arrested by Scotland Yard child abuse detectives over an arranged marriage at a house in Woolwich, south east London.

Investigators discovered a 16-year-old boy was told by several family members to illegally marry the young relative and have sex with her.

The sham Muslim ceremony took place at his parents' house in front of relatives in March last year.

The victim's mother alerted police and the teenage boy, his parents and the girl's 29-year-old father were arrested and questioned.

The Metropolitan Police said the boy, now aged 17, was sentenced to an 18-month supervision order at Wood Green Crown Court today.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register after a jury found him guilty of raping a girl aged under 13.

His parents, both aged 54, and the girl's father were convicted of inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity following an illegal marriage.

The teenage boy's mother received a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, and was ordered to undertake 200 hours' community service.

Angelican Priest Advises Congregation to Shoplift

British police and retailers have criticized an Anglican priest who advised his congregation to weather economic turmoil by shoplifting.

The Rev. Tim Jones, 41, told his congregation at St. Lawrence Church in York, England, during a sermon Sunday it is better for the poor to turn to shoplifting than "prostitution, mugging or burglary," the telegraph.co.uk reported Monday.

"My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither," he said. "I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices."

The priest's sermon drew criticism from police, the British Retail Consortium and Conservative Member of Parliament Anne McIntosh.

"First and foremost, shoplifting is a criminal offense and to justify this course of action under any circumstances is highly irresponsible," a North Yorkshire Police spokesman said. "Turning or returning to crime will only make matters worse, that is a guarantee. We recognize some people find themselves in difficult circumstances but support is readily available and must be sought."

Devout Christian Sentenced for Child Porn

To those who knew him, Martin Paul Nichols was a devout Christian, a respected member of his church and a doting son.

But behind closed doors, the 50-year-old bachelor hid a dark secret - a collection of more than 500 photographs and videos of children.

He had bought the images via clandestine websites operating overseas. Many were later assessed by police as sexually explicit and in the worst category.

It was a large-scale government investigation thousands of kilometres away in the former Soviet satellite of Belarus that finally exposed Nichols and his activity in the international child pornography trade.

In Wollongong Local Court yesterday, Magistrate Michael Stoddard sentenced Nichols to nine months' jail - one of the longest sentences handed down by a magistrate in the Illawarra for a person convicted of possessing child pornography. Mr Stoddard ordered he serve a minimum of six months behind bars.

Nichols, of Madigan Boulevard, Mt Warrigal, had pleaded guilty to the charge.

Methodist Pastor Sentenced For Theft

The Rev. Vincent Navorro Meekins Jr., former pastor at Small Memorial AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Zion Church in York, pleaded guilty Monday to stealing nearly $18,000 from the church in April.

Meekins, 55 and now living in Norfolk, Va., was sentenced to five years probation after entering his plea in York County Common Pleas Court for failing to make required disposition of funds received. He faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison for the third-degree felony.

Three months after Meekins was not reassigned to the city church, elders uncovered the theft of insurance funds meant to repair the church roof which had been damaged in February. The discovery came when a bank informed them of a $126 overdraft in a previously unknown and unauthorized church bank account.

Christian Parishioner Sentenced for Theft

The 85-year-old son of philanthropist Brooke Astor was sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison for exploiting his mother's mental frailty to plunder her millions.

Anthony Marshall received the minimum allowed under sentencing guidelines. The judge gave him 30 days to get his affairs in order, but Marshall might be able to stay free on bail even longer while his expected appeal proceeds.

Marshall was convicted of 14 counts, including first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud, for looting his mother's nearly $200 million fortune. She died at 105 in 2007.

Neighbor Whoopi Goldberg told the judge in a letter that jailing him "would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose." Al Roker, a fellow parishioner at Marshall's church, praised the decorated World War II veteran as a "good son, father and patriot."

Rabbi Sentenced for Money Laundering & Tax Fraud

The head of an Orthodox Jewish group was handed a two-year prison sentence today in Los Angeles for his part in what prosecutors said was a decade-long tax fraud and money laundering scheme.

The 61-year-old rabbi, Naftali Tzi Weisz, pleaded guilty last August to criminal conspiracy charges before U.S. District Judge John F. Walter.

"I'm embarrassed beyond words,'' Weisz told the judge. "My remorse is deep and heartfelt.''

Prosecutors said Weisz and other sect members helped donors avoid paying federal income taxes by having them make contributions to charitable groups run by Spinka, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Orthodox Jewish group led by the rabbi.

An assistant, Gabbai Moshe Zigelman, 62, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and was also sentenced to a two-year federal prison term.

The operation, according to the government, had two goals: to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service and to further an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Methodist Youth Pastor Convicted of Sexual Assault

via Deep Thoughts

Shane Garrett Horning, the 29-year-old former Santa Margarita Methodist Church youth pastor, was convicted today of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female parishioner and sending sexual text messages to her 15-year-old female relative.

The San Jose resident pleaded guilty to four felony counts of oral copulation with a minor for his crimes against the then-16-year-old and one felony count of attempted oral copulation of a minor under 16 for the messages to the then-15-year-old.

Horning is expected to get a year in jail and five years probation at his Jan. 22 sentencing in Santa Ana.

Church Bookkeeper Sentenced for Tax Fraud

Rejecting pleas for probation, a federal judge in Mobile last week sentenced a Grove Hill woman to two years in prison for bankruptcy and tax fraud.

Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade also ordered Sharon Deniese Jemison to pay $81,078.54 in restitution to U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which will distribute the funds to creditors of Miracle of Prayer/World Life Christian Center off U.S. 43 in Clarke County. Jemison, who worked for the church as a bookkeeper, admitted that she lied on bankruptcy forms about a bank account that the church had.

In addition, Jemison must pay $62,845.46 to the IRS. She admitted that she filed a tax return in 2006 that omitted income she earned from her business and falsely claimed dependents and a tax credit available to the working poor.

"There is absolutely no excuse for the way you have handled the affairs of this church and the affairs of these taxpayers," Granade said.

Pastor Guilty of Sexual Assault of Teen Girl

The self-described pastor of a defunct Montreal church has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Daniel Cormier, 58, was convicted of the crime in a Montreal courtroom on Friday.

He's already serving a five-year sentence, handed down last January, for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl he had claimed as his bride after a ceremony at his Downtown Church.

The victim at the centre of the latest trial was a parishioner and volunteer at the facility.

Cormier was accused of sexually exploiting the girl between 1993 and 1995 when she was 16 and 17 years old.

She told the court she was naive and had no sexual experience before meeting Cormier at his so-called church. Eventually they ended up together at a religious retreat in the Laurentians, with her sleeping in his bed.

Catholic Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

A volunteer bookkeeper at a Grosse Pointe Woods church pleaded guilty Friday to four counts of embezzlement charges that could result in up to 15 years in prison.

Frederick Anthony Petz, 59, of Grosse Pointe Woods was charged in September for taking more than $90,000 from Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church. He will be sentenced in Wayne Circuit Court Jan. 25.

Petz had been an unpaid bookkeeper given total control of church finances, according to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. Petz also worked for Renaissance Vicariate, a group of 26 parishes that collaborate on Catholic programs and services in the Grosse Pointes, Harper Woods and Detroit.

Baptist Sentenced for Racketeering

A loan closer and the owner of a Jackson real-estate investment business are going to prison for their role in a Jackson mortgage fraud scheme.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson sent business owner Angelo Williams, 46, to prison for eight to 40 years for racketeering. Teresa Wilson, 38, will spend 2 1/2 to 20 years in prison for the same crime.

A jury found the two guilty last month of racketeering and using false pretenses to acquire $20,000 or more. Williams also was convicted of filing false tax returns.

Williams, who has a prior felony record, said Mehalco mischaracterized him as a "big grizzly bear" when really he has raised a family in Jackson and helped local young people.

Members of his church, Second Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, sat through much of his trial, and his supporters filled the courtroom Thursday. Some of them cried. Others embraced. Several declined comment.

Baptist Deacon Sentenced for Bank Robbery

Judge Henry Floyd sentenced Bruce Lee Windsor to 130 months in prison in front of a standing-room-only crowd in a Spartanburg Federal Court.

The sentence was the maximum allowed and Windsor will be required to serve the entire sentence.

Church members, who arrived in a bus from Brushy Creek Baptist Church, said the Bruce Windsor they knew was nothing like the Bruce Windsor who walked into the bank last February and handed a three-page typewritten note to an employee. Windsor said the bank was surrounded by men with AK-47s who were prepared for “all hell to break loose.”

Windsor pleaded guilty in October to bank robbery and brandishing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Windsor, who was the only person involved in the crime, held two bank employees hostage for about an hour and a half. Another bank employee hid under a desk.

Windsor's fellow parishioners also spoke of his nine mission trips, his giving money to others in need.

Brushy Creek's Pastor Ralph Carter told the court Windsor was the most thoughtful husband he had ever encountered.

Christian Pleads Guilty to Beating Child with Pipe

An 80-year-old Taranaki man who assaulted a child with a plastic alkathene pipe has said he believed he was following the Bible.

The man pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting a child and assault with a blunt instrument when he appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Thursday, the Taranaki Daily News has reported.

His lawyer, Paul Keegan, says the incident was out of character.

"He is a Christian man and believes firmly in traditional methods of discipline," he says.

The man told police he had been "seeking to correct him in the manner described in the Bible", after the boy stole $1000 from him.

Muslim Convicted of Daughter's Murder

Mehmet Goren, the father of 15-year-old Muslim schoolgirl Tulay Goren, has been convicted of her murder and sentenced to serve a minimum of 22 years for the family "honour killing" in London.

Tulay, who had come to Britain from the Kurdish region of Turkey, was drugged, tortured and then killed by her father Mehmet Goren, over her relationship with an older man of whom Mehment Goren and his relations did not approve.

The trial heard how Tulay, who came to Britain at the age of 12, was assaulted by her father, a Shia Muslim, who was angered by her relationship with Mr Unal, who was twice her age and a Sunni Muslim.

In the weeks before her disappearance, Tulay ran away from home twice and personally reported two attacks on her by her father. Her boyfriend also reported an assault.

Rabbi Convicted of Drug Possession

Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 54, who has a personal fortune of £7 million, admitted one count of possessing cocaine and was found guilty of a further count of possession after a six-day trial.

Judge Michael Henshell, sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court, imposed a six month supervision order, ordered him to complete 60 days of community work and pay court costs of £3,899.22.

The rabbi was an "eminent and leading" member of Manchester's Jewish community who stuffed money-filled envelopes through the letterboxes of those less fortunate, his trial heard last month.

He spent £1,000 a week on "the best cocaine in town" and partied alongside GPs and surgeons while paying prostitutes for sex.

Self Proclaimed Prophet Convicted of Stalking

A self-proclaimed prophet who spouted biblical passages to rail against a Lower Pottsgrove couple showed no emotion as a jury determined her conduct caused emotional distress for the couple.

The Montgomery County jury deliberated just 10 minutes on Wednesday before convicting Sharlene Andreyko, 50, of Lenape Road, Bechtelsville, of a misdemeanor charge of stalking in connection with incidents that occurred between December 2008 and March 2009.

"(She) is a very powerful witch, it's true. She has grown more insolent," Sharlene Andreyko bellowed in a Montgomery County courtroom on Tuesday as she stared at the Lower Pottsgrove woman who prosecutors say she repeatedly stalked. "I am here making an accusation that I do not do lightly. This is very, very real. I am not a crazed lunatic."

Andreyko, 50, of Lenape Road, who is representing herself at trial, spoke to a riveted jury in a narrative fashion as she denied the stalking charge and tried to explain the reasons she sent religious-themed letters to the Maple Glen Court woman and her husband.

"The reason I went this far with this is I really am a prophet. I spent a tremendous amount of time studying the Scriptures," said Andreyko, claiming the Holy Spirit advised her to "instruct" the woman's husband that his wife is a witch and that he is being deceived.

At one point during the trial, Judge Steven T. O'Neill cleared jurors from the courtroom and scolded Andreyko for flashing props such as a miniature Bible in view of jurors.

"I work for God, not you. This is my Bible and the United States of America," Andreyko bluntly replied before agreeing to put away her props and to refrain from future outbursts.

Irish Catholic Priest Sentenced for Sexual Assault

Paedophile priest Fr Thomas Naughton has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment following his conviction on charges of sexual assault.

In June this year, Naughton pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault in relation to a complainant from the Wicklow parish of Valleymount.

The 78-year-old priest was sentenced to three years' imprisonment with the final year suspended on each of five counts of sexual assault committed between 1982 and 1984.

During sentencing, Judge Michael O'Shea said the offences were at "the higher end of the scale" and described the offences as "shocking and horrific abuse". He said Naughton abused his position of trust and said the abuse was "premeditated".

Mormon Convicted of Child Rape

A resident of a polygamist compound in Texas was convicted Tuesday of sexually assaulting a child, a teenager given to him as a wife.

Allan Eugene Keate, 57, was led from a Schleicher County courtroom in handcuffs, The San Angelo Standard-Times reported. The penalty phase of his trial begins Wednesday, and he could get a life sentence.

Prosecutors said Keate was married to the underage girl in 2006 at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a compound founded by the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints, a dissident Mormon group.

Keate was arrested after a 2008 raid on the ranch inspired by a telephone call that later proved to be a hoax.

Methodist Church Treasurer Admits to Theft

An accountant from Heywood funded a gambling addiction by conning clients, friends and a local church out of a combined £1.5 million in a scam that lasted five years.

David John Atkinson, 59, of Walton Street, faces jail after convincing dozens of people to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in a scheme that he said would reap huge returns.

Atkinson also stole money from Spotland Methodist Church, where he was treasurer.

Baptist Church Music Director Pleads Guilty to Setting Church on Fire

A former church music director has pleaded guilty in federal court to setting fire to a Leavenworth church where he worked in order to collect kickbacks from contractors.

Carva Lee White admitted Monday that he set fire to the Sunflower Missionary Baptist Church on Oct. 31, 2008, as part of an attempt to commit mail fraid.

Prosecutors say the 45-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man told a church pastor a week before the blaze about a plan to burn the building and collect kickbacks from contractors.

Pastor Sentenced for Murder of Wife

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Reeves sentenced a former Vincent pastor to life in prison on one count of murder during a Dec. 14 sentencing hearing.

Timothy Tillman, the former pastor of the Revival Church in Vincent, will spend the rest of his life in the Alabama Department of Corrections for murdering his wife, Janet, with a shotgun Oct. 26, 2005, at the couple’s house.

Reeves also added an additional 10 years to the life sentence for one count of possession of a forged instrument, a charge which came when a jury found Timothy Tillman signed Janet Tillman’s name to a check after her death.

Catholic Priest Sentenced for Sex With Teen Boy

A former priest has been sentenced to 90 days in prison and three years probation for his guilty plea to a sex charge alleging he had sexual contact with a teenage boy 12 years ago.

Patrick O’Connor, 51, pleaded guilty in September to a single count of corruption of a minor as part of a plea agreement. O’Connor had originally been charged with sexually battery, a crime that could have sent him to prison for five years.

O’Connor was indicted in August after an investigation of more than a year into allegations that he had touched the boy — now in his late 20s — during the summer of 1997.

The victim came forward to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland in June 2008, and the allegations were turned over to Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will.

O’Connor was a priest at St. Jude Church in Elyria in 1997 and also once served as Elyria police chaplain.

The victim in the 1997 case wasn’t a parishioner, but rather a boy from the neighborhood whom O’Connor knew, according to prosecutors.

O’Connor resigned from the priesthood after the allegations surfaced last year. He had been working as chaplain to the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity and Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, both in Euclid, jobs that were deliberately designed to keep him away from children.

Five Hindus Convicted of Burning Elderly Woman's Home

A fast track court in Orissa Friday convicted five people to four years' jail term each in a Kandhamal riot case, an official here said.

"Five people have been convicted in one case. Each has been awarded a jail term of four years and a fine of Rs.4,000 each," said P.K. Patra, public prosecutor.

The case relates to an elderly woman, Kiaphula Digal, of Tenela village under G. Udaygiri police station filing a case against 10 people accusing them of torching her house on Aug 28, 2008," said Patra.

All the five were awarded punishment under sections 454, 436 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code by Fast Track Court-II judge C.R. Das. However, five others were let off for want of evidence.

Kandhamal district, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread violence after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram Aug 23 last year.

More than 25,000 Christians were forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs, which held Christians responsible for Saraswati's killing, although police blamed the Maoists.

The government has set up two fast track courts to try cases related to the communal violence.

Pastor Admits Fathering Child With Teen Girl

via Deep Thoughts

Court documents show local pastor Darrell Gilyard has confessed to fathering a child with a teenage girl who accused him of rape in 2004.

Gilyard admitted impregnating the girl after completing a court-ordered paternity test.

However, police never charged him with her rape.

Gilyard is no stranger to having legal troubles. In May, a judge sentenced the former pastor to three years in prison after pleading guilty to crimes involving two other female members of his church.

Baptist Youth Advisor Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault

A former youth advisor at a Bridgeport church pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Trumbull girl he was counseling to abstain from sex.

Vernitt Hoheb, 31, of Barnum Terrace, Stratford, who at the time was youth advisor at Mount Aery Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and first-degree failure to appear in court.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein told Superior Court Judge George Thim he will recommend Hoheb serve two and a half years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 29.

Hoheb's lawyer, Eroll Skyers, has the right at that time to argue for a shorter sentence.

According to police, Hoheb supervised a group of youths at the church called People Living Under God, or Plug.

Baptist Pastor Convicted of $10,000 Theft

Pastor Gaston Smith was found guilty of grand theft Friday after a Miami-Dade jury agreed with prosecutors that Smith stole thousands of dollars in public grant money, WFOR-Ch. 4 reports.

The jury came to a verdict shortly after noon.

Prosecutors accused Smith of looting $10,000 in county grant money that was intended for his community.

Smith is the pastor at Liberty City's historic Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

Christian Minister Sentenced for Child Pornography

A former local minister has been sentenced to 70 months in prison on child porn charges.

For almost two years, the minister at Bridge Street Church of Christ in Chillicothe was Gary Kendall. What Kendall's flock didn't know was that he also had a secret identity. He was Misty 26... a screen name Kendall used when he accessed child pornography through computers at his home and the church.

Investigators searched a computer at his house in May, 2009 and found nearly 300 images depicting prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Christian Convicted for Botching Home Circumcision

A B.C. man who botched the circumcision of his four-year-old son — a few years after managing to infect his own penis while circumcising himself — should be jailed for 12 to 24 months, a prosecutor says.

A sentencing hearing began Thursday for the Lower Mainland man, who called the case against him a "miscarriage of justice."

The man, who can only be identified by the initials D.J.W., was convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm after the April 2007 incident.

B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Marion Allan found that D.J.W. had given his son honey wine before placing him on some garbage bags on the kitchen floor.

He told his son the circumcision would grant DJ "extra special protection from God" and allow him to eat Passover lamb, ice cream and that the boy could then pick all the movies he wanted for a week.

"You're just taking advantage of me because I'm poor," said D.J.W. "You're taking advantage of me because I didn't have money to compel rabbis and other experts to come here and testify. What you're doing is rotten and wicked. This is a miscarriage of justice."

D.J.W.'s mother raised him as a Jehovah's Witness, but he left the church. He now follows the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and believes circumcisions are required for religious reasons.

Muslim Sentenced for Sexual Abuse of Young Girl

A Muslim tutor who sexually abused a young girl as she read the Koran to him, was on Thursday sentenced to 30 months behind bars at Leicester Crown Court.

Yusuf Mangera, 56, was convicted in October on six counts of indecent assault relating to a two-year period in the late 70s and early 80s when he was employed by the girl's parents to teach their children to read the Koran.

At the time Mangera, who was in his 20s at the time, would come to the family home to tutor the girl and her younger brother.

During the trial, the woman, who was about 12 at the time, said Mangera initially touched her knee underneath the Koran as she read but became more bold and touched under her clothes and eventually inside her underwear.

Methodist Youth Director Sentenced for $14,000 Theft

A man has been convicted for stealing funds from the United Methodist Church in Hudson.

Terrance J. Anderson, 45, Hudson, was found guilty of one felony count and two misdemeanor counts of theft last Wednesday (Dec. 2). He entered a deferred agreement on the felony theft charge.

Judge Edward F. Vlack ordered Anderson to serve two years probation, 100 hours of community service, pay court costs and make a public apology to the congregation. Court records said he had paid restitution.

The criminal complaint said Anderson, who was hired as permanent youth director at the church on April 30, 2007, wrote some 33 checks payable to cash, endorsed and cashed them for his own use. The checks on the youth programs accounts totaled more than $13,955. He wrote the checks between June 13, 2007, and Oct. 25, 2008.

Christian Sentenced for Child Pornography

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Dec. 3 sentenced James David Carroll, the former custodian at Los Altos Christian School, to 12 months in county jail on felony child pornography charges.

Police arrested Carroll, 60, in December 2008 at his Sunnyvale home for incidents that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Carroll pleaded no contest Sept. 28 to one felony count of possession of child pornography and one felony count of distribution of child pornography.

Lisa Maxe, whose son attended Los Altos Christian when Carroll worked as custodian there, said she and several other parents had lodged numerous complaints about Carroll’s “suspicious” behavior with children – especially boys – long before his arrest last December. But Maxe said school authorities refused to believe their claims and in fact discounted their concerns.

Although Carroll officially retired from the school effective Nov. 1, 2008, and was arrested a month later, the church rehired him to work on campus part-time last spring and failed to notify parents of the charges against him until June 12, according to a San Jose Mercury News article.

“I saw him on campus even after he was arrested,” Maxe said. “And school was in session, so there were children on campus.”

Carroll’s supporters defended him in court.

“I have known James since 1980,” said Doug Ericsson, a Sunnyvale resident. “All my four children – all grown up now – know him well and were part of his youth groups and have been on trips with him.”

Carroll, who was granted an opportunity to speak, recounted his experiences working with youth throughout his life.

“I am a Christian,” Carroll said. “I’ve worked with children in many churches.”

Christian Man Sentenced for Brutal Murder

Justin L. Rice, 23, stood before a judge yesterday dabbing tears from his eyes, sobbing, and struggling to find the words, he said, "that I have been thinking I would have to say" for the year he has been in jail.

"I stripped something precious from a lot of people," he finally admitted.

Rice pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder in Jamerson's death, explaining he'd become enraged by fears that Jamerson was leaving him.

Rice, who outweighed his victim by 140 pounds, had so butchered the young woman, said her aunt Kathryn Jamerson, that "I couldn't identify her" when police asked her to undertake the task.

Outside the courthouse, Rice's disabled mother, Cecilia, moving toward the parking lot with the assistance of a walker, said her son had never been violent, went to church two times a week, and "is a good boy."

Pentecostal Church Choir Director Sentenced for Attempted Rape

A 52-year-old Big Island man convicted of trying to rape a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for each of four counts of first-degree attempted sexual assault.

The terms for Peter Kalani Bailey are to run concurrently.

But Circuit Judge Glenn Hara also held Bailey will serve the sentence after completing a life sentence for the 1979 shooting death of 17-year-old Carol Olandy. She was found dead in a Leeward Oahu pineapple field.

Bailey was paroled for the murder in January 2003. His parole was revoked when he was charged in the case involving the 12-year-old girl.

Bailey attacked the girl in the office of the Hamakua Coast Assembly of God Church in 2007. He was the church’s choir director. She was a member of the choir.

Christian Woman Sentenced for $100,000 Theft

A La Fox woman was spared prison time after a judge sentenced her to probation this morning for stealing more than $100,000 from her St. Charles law firm partner.

Ann Day, 52, was convicted on multiple theft and forgery charges earlier this year. Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon sentenced Day this morning to four years of probation and 180 days in jail. Because of the time she's already served and sentencing laws, Day likely will remain in jail for another 26 days and then be released, prosecutors said.

Although prosecutors asked for prison time, saying Day as an attorney should be held to a higher standard, Sheldon disagreed.

Instead, he sentenced her to jail time and probation, saying she shouldn't be "punished for her accomplishments."

"I don't believe I should hold Ms. Day to a higher standard," he said.

Prosecutors say that in 2004 Day took about $137,000 from her law firm – Day and Tietz, P.C. – by forging Tietz's name on checks and taking money from the firm's account and depositing it into her own.

Her former partner, Karen Tietz, reported the thefts to police. She appeared in court this morning and said the incident has cost her $50,000 in legal fees and her trust in people.

The two were friends from a St. Charles church before becoming partners.

Christian Pastor Sentenced for Rape Video

A British Columbia pastor has been sentenced to 15 months in jail after he admitted making an explicit video that simulated the rape of a young teenager -- the latest incident involving a Canadian member of the clergy and child pornography.

Larry Robert Collins, 45, a pastor from the Church of Nazarene in Surrey, B.C., was nabbed following an investigation that began back in June 2008.

Investigators found a video showing a teenage victim in sexually explicit scenes, interspersed with photographs of the girl covered in writing that encouraged her "rape," said Const. Rosiane Racine of the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit.

After the evidence trail led to Collins, the pastor confessed to making the video and distributing it on the Internet.

Angelican Sentenced for Theft of Cell Phone

The son of a police officer who wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps will have to serve community service first for stealing a policeman’s cellular phone.

Nigel Jackson, 25, found the Nokia cellphone in a vehicle he was cleaning in San Fernando back in September.

The $600 phone was found in his bedroom during a police search on November 22.

Jackson was charged for larceny by officer Kazim Ali-the owner of the phone.

The magistrate placed Nigel Jackson on $1,000 bond to keep the peace. She also sentenced him to perform 240 hours of community service. which will be worked out with the Anglican church he attended.

Youth Minister Sentenced for Child Pornography

A former youth minister at Malaga Assembly of God Church accused of possessing more than 100 images of child pornography was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison.

Robert Kevin Carlino, 32, pleaded guilty to the crime in August, several months after FBI agents and Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office investigators raided his Newfield home.

Carlino was a youth minister at the Malaga church from 2007 until his arrest this past March.

Baptist Deacon Pleads Guilty to Sexual Misconduct w/ Child

A High Point man pleaded guilty Monday to charges of sexual misconduct involving a child in incidents dating to the 1970s.

Guy Ellis Carr Jr., 66, of W. Parkway Avenue, will be sentenced later this week on eight counts of indecent liberties with a child stemming from a series of sexual assaults between 1973 and 1981 that were committed against a girl from the time she was 4 or 5 years old until she was about 12.

Each count carries a maximum possible prison sentence of 10 years. Superior Court Judge Brad Long of Randolph County postponed sentencing until Friday.

Carr, the owner of Carr Mill Supplies on Manley Street and a deacon at Emerywood Baptist Church in High Point, was arrested in June 2008 after a Guilford County grand jury indicted him on 32 total counts of sex crimes, including first-degree rape of a child, first-degree sexual offense and crime against nature. Pursuant to his plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed all but the indecent liberties charges.

Baptist with Children's Foot Fetish Sentenced

A man with a self-proclaimed "foot fetish" who got sexual pleasure from touching children's feet was sentenced to 35 years in prison, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office announced Monday.

George Fey, of Hobe Sound in Martin County, was sentenced for burglary of a dwelling, two counts of burglary with assault or battery and two counts of lewd or lascivious conduct.

Fey befriended his now 9- and 17-year-old victims' family at the First Baptist Church of Tequesta about five years before the April 2008 incident that led to his arrest.

Catholic Woman Pleads Guilty to Perjury That Jailed Innocent Man

A 27-year-old new mother — saying she "wanted to do the right thing" — suddenly copped a guilty plea to perjury charges today after lying about being raped and sending a Bronx man to prison for four years.

Biurny Peguero Gonzalez had confessed to her Catholic priest that she had lied, and the clergyman convinced her to talk to a lawyer, who then went to the Manhattan DA’s Office.

"This is just an awful situation of somebody telling a lie and then being locked in the lie as the system proceeded," her lawyer, Paul Callan, said outside Manhattan Criminal Court after Gonzalez at first pleaded not guilty and then had him enter a guilty plea to the two counts as part of a negotiated deal.

Christian Parents Convicted of Child Abuse

Their supporters singing in Russian, two immigrants from Ukraine were escorted from the courthouse in Salem after being found guilty of abusing three of their children with wires, cords, belts and sticks.

"We believe, even if we receive some punishment, God will deliver us," the children's mother had testified, saying they were punished according to Scripture.

A jury returned verdicts Friday against Oleksandr Kozlov and Lyudmila Kozlova.

Kozlov, 41, and Kozlova, 39, each were convicted on nine counts of criminal mistreatment for the abuse of the three children. The couple came from Ukraine in 2003, according to testimony.

Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Accepting $50,000 Bribe from Catholic Church

A former police officer on Friday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and implicated two former officials in ex-Mayor Kwane Kilpatrick's administration in a kickback scheme tied to the $3.5 million sale of a city camp.

Jerry Rivers, 39, of Taylor, said during a hearing in U.S. District Court that he and brothers DeDan and Kandia Milton shared $50,000 after Camp Brighton in Livingston County was sold to the Chaldean Catholic Church in 2007. No one else, including the Miltons, has been charged in the case.

Rivers, who once was on Kilpatrick's security unit, said he was approached by a representative of the church in 2006 seeking help on the deal. He said he introduced the representative to the Miltons, and the money later came from a priest through a middleman.

Update (December 10th, 2009):

Former Detroit Deputy Mayor Kandia Milton pleaded guilty to a federal bribery conspiracy charge this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Milton was implicated last week when former Detroit police officer Jerry Rivers pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit to bribery in connection with a real estate deal.

Rivers told a judge he took a $50,000 bribe and split it with Milton and Milton’s younger brother DeDan Milton to ensure that the Detroit City Council approved a $3.5-million sale of Camp Brighton, city-owned land in Livingston County, to the Chaldean Catholic Church.

Rivers told Judge Rosen during his plea that a representative of the church, Eddie Bacall, approached him in 2006, seeking help in getting the council to approve the sale. Camp Brighton was owned by Detroit and had been used as a summer camp before it closed in 1995.

Rivers said he introduced the representative to the Miltons and they later received a $50,000 payment from a church priest through a middleman that he identified as a relative of the Miltons.

Catholic Deacon Sentenced for Theft of $330,000 from Church

A former church bookkeeper in Ohio has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing $330,000.

Deacon Lawrence Cermak, 59, was sentenced Wednesday in Cleveland on his guilty plea in the thefts at Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Garfield Heights over the last six years. He was ordered to make restitution.

An audit of church books done recently when a new pastor arrived showed 69 suspicious checks written between October 2003 through last May.

Jewish Man Sentenced for Drug Smuggling

An avreich from Betar Illit was sentenced by a London court to six years in prison for carrying drugs. After all the consideration in the case, it is believed that he will actually serve 23 months.

The avreich, 37, the father of nine children, was arrested a number of months ago in Heathrow Airport on suspicion of smuggling drugs. He was found to be carrying 7 kilograms of cocaine.

He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. It is believed that three years will be removed from the sentence for good behavior and an additional 9 months for being a foreign resident as well as the 4 months that he has already been in prison.

The avreich traveled between Brazil and London as a m’shulach, raising funds for mosdos torah.

Lutheran Sentenced for Luring Teenage Boys for Sex

A Durango man who used the Internet to lure teenage boys for sexual encounters was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison and 10 years to life on parole.

Tom Helm, 60, broke down crying while apologizing for his actions. Much of his prepared speech sounded muffled in the courtroom gallery. His wife and a handful of friends attended the sentencing hearing held in 6th Judicial District Court in La Plata County.

Helm accepted full responsibility for his behavior and touted his volunteerism, church service and clean criminal record.

Methodist Preacher Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Two Young Boys

A former Methodist lay preacher with Morris County ties has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two young boys in the United Kingdom.

Keith Morton, a graduate of the Madison-based Drew Theological School in 2000 with a master's of theological studies degree who was a preacher in Darlington, admitted a series of child sex offenses at Stafford Crown Court this week.

Morton committed the offenses before he moved to Darlington, while he was at a village church in the Lichfield Methodist district and at his former home in Staffordshire.

The 43-year-old, whose last address was in Carmel Road, Darlington, admitted a total of 10 offenses involving two boys, aged 12 and 13, between 2002 and 2004. Darlington is in the north of England.

Angelican Priest Sentenced for Indecent Assaults

Kenneth Gibbs was handed a three-and-a-half-year sentence today for indecently assaulting five now-grown women when they were girls and he was an Anglican priest in Chapleau and Elliot Lake.

Gibbs, now 77, was convicted last month of eight indecent assaults that occurred during the 1960s and 70s.

Gibbs fondled the children inappropiately, sometimes telling them it was a special "tickle game" that was never to be discussed with others.

He was at Elliot Lake's St. Peter the Apostle Church from 1971 to 1980 and at Chapleau's St. John's Anglican Church from 1966 to 1971.

Update (1/7/09): Former Anglican priest Kenneth Gibbs, imprisoned last month for molesting five young girls decades ago, has been convicted of two more dated sexual offences.

Episcopal Church Secretary Sentenced for $90,000 Theft

A Killeen woman was sentenced Tuesday to six months in Bell County Jail and ordered to pay restitution for stealing more than $90,000 from St. Christopher's Episcopal Church when she was its secretary.

Judge Joe Carroll of the 27th District Court also sentenced Paula Marie Cecil, 42, originally of Evadale, to 10 years probation following her incarceration and 350 hours of community service.

Between April 16, 2007, to Jan. 7, 2008, Cecil wrote 95 fraudulent checks, up to $1,500 each, from the church to herself. Most checks were between $500 and $900, and they were signed with the stamped signature of the church's rector, the Rev. Paul Moore.

Episcopal Church Treasurer Convicted of Embezzlement

A former local attorney who embezzled almost $40,000 from an Episcopal church while acting as its treasurer got three years probation in a plea bargain when she was tried in Circuit Court on Tuesday.

The money was returned to the church less than a year after it disappeared.

Anne Marston Lynch, 34, was treasurer at St. John's Episcopal Church near Chuckatuck in 2007 when a new treasurer took over. The man asked for an audit of the accounts, and evidence was presented that the church was missing $39,786.20.

Mormon Bishop Pleads Gulty to Mail Fraud

A former stockbroker accused of running a $21 million Ponzi scheme from his suburban Denver home for 15 years has pleaded guilty to felony mail fraud.

Shawn Merriman entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Denver. The 46-year-old faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced May 10.

Authorities alleged Merriman, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told investors he was using their money to buy and sell securities. They say he actually used the money to take safari trips and buy antique cars and artwork.

Prosecutors say the cars, a pitching machine and other items seized from Merriman, including art by Rembrandt, will be used to compensate victims.

Church Leaders Convicted of Money Smuggling

The Brazilian church leaders who were imprisoned in the United States for money smuggling have been convicted of the same crime in Brazil.

A judge sentenced Estevam Hernandes Filho and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes to four years in prison for taking more than $56,000 into the United States hidden in their luggage in 2007. The judge will allow the couple to remain free if they do work for philanthropic institutions.

The decision released Wednesday also says the couple can only leave the country with an authorization from judicial officials.

The couple returned to Brazil earlier this year after pleading guilty to the smuggling in the United States.

A lawyer for the couple says he will appeal.

Irish Police Protected Catholic Priests Accused of Child Abuse

That the Catholic church covered up sexual abuse by priests for years is hardly news anymore. But the highest-profile investigation into abuse allegations yet in Ireland found another breach of public trust: The Garda Síochána, the police force for the republic, failed to investigate reports of priest abusing children and conspired to protect Catholic officials in Dublin for 30 years.

The commission on child abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin led by Judge Yvonne Murphy released its long-awaited report on the matter last week. Justice Murphy's commission investigated how allegations of child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin were dealt with by both state and church authorities from 1975 to 2004. The report slammed the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland and, for the first time, reprimanded state agencies, particularly the Garda.

Unlike the Catholic sex abuse scandal uncovered by The Boston Globe in the archdiocese of Boston in 2002 where, instead of reporting the incidents to police, the dioceses directed the offenders to seek psychiatric treatment, in Ireland children, parents, and others reported suspicions of abuse to police but investigations did not follow. Many cases were simply referred back to church authorities instead.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said that the report exposed "misguided or undue deference" shown by the police to religious institutions and said, "That has no place in criminal investigations, it certainly has no place in 2009 under my watch."

Catholic Priest Sentenced for Downloading Child Porn

A former Grand Prairie priest who pleaded guilty to downloading hundreds of images of nude boys on a church computer in 2005 was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay ordered Matthew Bagert, 40, who was married last year and has a 9-month-old son, to report to prison Jan. 19.

Bagert will remain on supervised release for three years after serving his 51-month prison sentence. He is likely to have to register as a sex offender for life, officials said.

Bagert pleaded guilty in April after being indicted in federal court last fall after downloading sexually explicit photos of nude boys as young as 4.

Prosecutors say investigators found more than 600 images on his computer at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Grand Prairie. Bagert told investigators he had been viewing child porn since he was a priest at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano in 1997.