Minister arrested on child abuse charges
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/08/24/1640841/minister-arrested-on-child-abuse.html
When I read this news story, my immediate thought was “ How in the world could any church employ this defendant and allow him to be alone with any child? “ While the new allegations have not yet been established as true, his prior history clearly made him unfit to hold the a position as the head of any organization, especially one dealing with children.
His case is useful in that it highlights that institutional neglect plays in so many child abuse cases. All institutions that work with children have the legal obligation to properly investigate the background of the people they employ or allow to be around children. Too often, the “investigation” or background check consists of doing little more than asking a few questions of the applicant or running a criminal records check. Several months ago, WBTV news did a report on the questions that were asked of potential school teachers. Amazingly, they found that the prospective employee was only asked to answer two questions. http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12324578. Is it any wonder that hardly a week goes by that there is another report in the media about a school teacher or employee that has been charged with sexually abusing a student? Within the past year, North Carolina school employees who have been charged or pled guilty on allegations of sexual misconduct in just Mecklenburg and its surrounding counties include the following:
Richard Priode, South Mecklenburg High School, Charlotte, NC – charged in June 2009 on allegations of taking indecent liberties with student; guilty plea entered in October 2009; sentenced to 6 – 8 months in jail with the sentence suspended with 24 months supervised probation and requirement to enter a sex offender treatment process.
Donald Larry Winger, Francis Bradley Middle School, Huntersville, NC – arrested in 2008 for allegedly sexually abusing two brothers he tutored and babysat; guilty plea and sentencing in March 2010; sentenced to 120 days in jail and requirement to register as sex offender
Tristan Russell, Providence Day School, Charlotte, NC – arrested August 2010 on allegations of molesting 11 year old boy
John Patrick Bush, Smith Academy of International Languages, Charlotte, NC – arrested September 2009 for alleged rape of 12 year old female student; guilty plea and sentencing in July 2010; sentenced to two consecutive intermediate prison terms of from 4 years 10 months to 6 years 7 months
Michael Randolph Tye, Jr., Independence High School, Charlotte, NC – charged December 2008 with first degree sexual exploitation of minor and indecent liberties with student for allegations of paying two male students to pose naked for photographs; additional charges added in January 2009; guilty plea and sentencing in May 2009
Zachary Paul Greene, North Rowan High School, Spencer, NC – charged with allegations of sexual activity with 17 year old female student and taken into custody in April, 2010
Brett Haight, Olympic High School, Charlotte, NC – arrested February 2010 on allegations of sexual activity with 17 year old female student
Heather Winchester, Weddington High School, Weddington, NC – arrested May 2010 on allegations of taking indecent liberties with female student
Ollie Van Shepherd, Jr., Monroe High School, Monroe, NC – arrested April 2009 on allegations of sex offense involving a student; guilty plea and sentencing in March 2010; will serve up to 5 months in jail and be required to wear a GPS tracking device for 30 years
Aaronson Joel Franks, assistant principal at Central Cabarrus High School, Concord, NC – arrested March 2010 on allegations of sexual misconduct with two female students
Ernest James Nichols, Ranson Middle School, Charlotte, NC – arrested in 2009 on allegations of rape of 16 year old girl; at court appearance in October 2009, assistant DA indicated investigators have videotapes showing Nichols having sex with the victim, which could lead to federal pornography charges
Matthew Price, Rowan County High School, Spencer, NC – arrested in September 2009 and charged with 40 counts of sexual activity with three female students; pled guilty in August 2010 to all 40 counts; sentenced to 5 years probation and requirements to surrender his teaching certificate and register as a sex offender
More details, including news links and comments on each of these individuals and other accused teachers can be found on www.badbadteacher.com. It is disheartening to note that most of the guilty offenders received very little jail time, if any, for their criminal violation of a child and restitution was not ordered. Unfortunately, our criminal justice system does not provide the financial means for these young victims to receive counseling and compensation for the trauma they have faced . To protect their child from further exposure and trauma, some parents choose not to pursue civil claims for their child after the criminal case has concluded. Additionally, it is not unusual for the child’s or teenager’s emotional and psychological scarring to not be fully recognized for many years. Many victims and/or their parents do not realize that there are statutes of limitations for civil actions for sexual abuse (though not for felonies involving sexual abuse in North Carolina) and that it is important to consult knowledgeable legal counsel as soon as possible.
All institutions also have the continuing obligation to properly supervise their employees and to be aware of any conduct that might occur that raises “red flags”. These are warning signs that should serve as alerts that the employee may be a child molester. They are present in most cases of abuse but usually ignored by the adults who should have known better. The duty to properly screen and then to properly supervise constitute the reasonable cause that the law requires be exercised. What it essentially boils down to are the decisions that the institution made at various stages of the process. Were they making decisions that were designed to protect children or were their decisions designed to put the institution first? It does not matter if the institution in question is a school, a church, the Boy Scouts, a little league or any other organization that deals with children. The fundamental issues remain the same.
I have found through years of handling sexual abuse cases that the only way to change both individual and institutional behavior is to make it too expensive for them to maintain the status quo. In the 1980’s and 1990”s, I handled numerous cases on behalf of patients of all kinds of therapists who had exploited their patients and had sexual relations with them. I obtained the first verdict in North Carolina against such a therapist at the local mental health center and kept the award on appeal. Eventually, the problem became so widespread nationally that the malpractice insurance carriers for all of the mental health care professionals wrote a specific exclusion into their policies stating that they were explicitly not providing coverage for any claims of sexual misconduct. This action, which was a direct result of all the successful claims that had been made against therapists, seems to have dramatically reduced the incidences of sexual abuse by therapists. It is a vivid example of how behavior can be changed by making it to expensive to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, there will always continue to be a few unethical psychotherapists who will cross boundaries by engaging vulnerable patients in sexual or inappropriate relationships. An excellent resource for individuals who have been victimized by a therapist’s despicable behavior is TELL (Therapy Exploitation Link Line) www.therapyabuse.org. TELL is a resource, referral and support network which is run by victims/survivors for victims/survivors of sexual and emotional abuse by psychotherapists and other healthcare professionals and I am proud to have been referred to them for inclusion in its state-by-state listing of attorneys.
