cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/23428679

Pope Francis has taken the unusual decision to expel 10 people from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Po1LR

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fpope-abuse-peru-sodalicio-068c8f57dfc37aa86f14198ad08f9157

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19794487

Anthony Odiong is accused of sexual assault by at least eight women whom the priest had been counseling

The criminal case that authorities are building against a Roman Catholic priest accused of preying on women whom he met while working in south-east Louisiana and Texas is progressing, with a grand jury in the latter state indicting him on three felony sexual assault charges.

Anthony Odiong, 55, faces two counts of second-degree sexual assault as well as one of first-degree sexual assault in the charges handed up against him recently in the McLennan county, Texas, state court.

The charges against Odiong – who was first arrested in July – involve two women. He could receive up to life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree charge, a stiffer penalty that stems from the fact that the alleged victim in the case was a woman whom Odiong was prohibited from “marrying or purporting to marry” under Texas law. The second-degree counts each carry up to 20 years in prison in what is one of only about a dozen states with a law that criminalizes sexual activity between clergymen and adults who emotionally depend on their spiritual advice.

Republican West Virginia State Senator Mike Maroney was arrested this week and charged with indecent exposure after he was seen performing what local news station WTRF describes as "an overt act of self-gratification" in public.

Marshall County Prosecutor Joe Canestraro tells WTRF that a criminal complaint has now been filed against Maroney related to an alleged incident that took place at a local gaming parlor.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18627747

Emerging from the Americas and now appearing in Europe, the Philippines, Nigeria and South Africa, today’s narco-evangelists share an increasingly popular strand of Christianity: Pentecostalism. It’s the fastest-growing religion in the world, already with around 650 million followers. A branch of evangelical Protestantism, in recent decades Pentecostalism has become the faith of the world’s poor. In large part, this is because of its particular focus on the Holy Spirit’s role in health and wealth, but there is also the significant lure of the faith’s deep authenticity, rooted in local cultures. Much of this is due to the fact that there is little in the way of authority structures and pastoral oversight. Not only is there no Pentecostal pope, but all you really need to be a preacher is followers.

A former Vermont State Police trooper pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge after being accused of sexually assaulting an ex-girlfriend’s daughter over several years, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

In a plea deal, Todd Chisholm, 59, agreed to a sentence to 30 days in prison and six years of probation for lewd and lascivious behavior. In December 2020, he had initially been charged also with repeated sexual assault of a child under the age of 16 and two counts of sexual assault.

The religious leader of a “shamanistic community” in Southern California was charged with rape, child sexual abuse and other sex crimes after “multiple victims” came forward.

Ricardo Flores, 59, was accused by “multiple” alleged survivors of sexual assault on August 1, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said.

The investigation showed that the young child "suffered broken bones, severe bruising, and was the victim of sexual violence," according to a press release

A 13-month-old child was allegedly raped and physically abused by a Pennsylvania police offer.

Steven Kyle Cugini, a member of the York City Police Department, was arrested without incident on Tuesday, April 16, following an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police, Lykens Station, and Lykens Criminal Investigation Unit.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has charged a former Ottawa police deputy chief with sexual assault over an incident that occurred while he was an inspector.

Uday Jaswal is charged with a single count of sexual assault against one woman.

An Orange County woman filed a federal lawsuit Monday against an Anaheim Police Department officer, alleging that he raped her after seeing her at an In-N-Out Burger and getting her name by running her license plate number.

The woman, who is referred to as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, sued former Officer Carlos Romero, the city of Anaheim and 10 members of the police department, alleging sexual battery and civil rights violations, among other claims.

Two former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies and former members of the British and Australian militaries are facing decades in prison after they allegedly extorted an Irvine man out of tens of millions of dollars.

The four allegedly “acted as a sham law enforcement team” when they entered the home of the man, who has not been publicly identified, and threatened him and his family with violence and deportation in 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, an undercover Plano officer posed as a prostitute and placed an ad on a website that is commonly used by individuals to solicit sex for money.

On May 2, Dames called the number on the ad and offered to pay $150 for the "full service," which is a slang meaning for sex, the affidavit alleges.

Aberdeen Councilman Riley Carter, 39, was arrested Tuesday evening on suspicion of first-degree rape of a child.

Police were contacted Tuesday afternoon for a report of a sex offense against a minor, according to court documents.

The victim was interviewed in the presence of their parent, stating that Carter had touched them sexually “a lot of times,” according to court documents, with incidents occurring over the last two years, as often as several times per week.

The mayor of a Louisiana city near the state’s border with Texas abruptly resigned from her post days before authorities jailed her on suspicion of raping a boy while she served in office.

Misty Roberts became the first woman to be elected as mayor of DeRidder in 2018, and she was well into her second term in the position when she handed in her resignation – with immediate effect – to the local city council on Saturday.

The letter did not provide a reason for Roberts’s decision. But the day before, Louisiana state police had begun investigating an allegation that Roberts engaged in “sexual relations” with a minor who was too young to be able to legally provide consent, according to a news release from the agency.

Additional testimony from an alleged criminal sexual conduct victim Monday led to nine felony charges being added to Living Word Church Associate Pastor Randy Saylor’s list of crimes.

Originally charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, Saylor, 71, is now charged with four first-degree counts of CSC with a relative and two charges of CSC with victims under 13 and a defendant over 17.

...

Saylor is the second pastor and the third person involved with the church to be charged with such crimes. Randy Saylor’s son, Brandon Saylor, a church volunteer, admitted to sexually assaulting four children under the age of 13 for a decade and was sentenced in April to five to 15 years in prison for three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Living Word Church Rev. James Randolph, 58, was arrested Nov. 28 and is charged with seven felonies for crimes that allegedly occurred in 2011. He is charged with two counts of first-degree CSC involving a relationship; one count of second-degree CSC with a child under 13 while Randolph was older than 17; two counts of second-degree CSC involving a relationship; one count of second-degree CSC or subsequent offense; and one count of accosting children for immoral purposes.