National Geographic

Over the last seven days...

Belgium: Brussels Archdiocese promises to compensate 500 victims of molestation by church workers. At least 13 suicides are thought to have resulted from the attacks.
North Carolina: Pastor John Jackson charged with additional felony counts of embezzling from his church. Last month Jackson was charged with using church funds to insure his five Cadillacs.
Ontario: Pastor Emmanual Animodi charged with sexual assault on a parishioner.
Alabama: Pastor James Hunter and his wife charged with dealing morphine.
New York: Rabbi Saul Kassin let off with two years probation in massive $50M international bank fraud scheme.
New Mexico: Pastor Steven Perez charged with child molestation.
California: Father William Myers placed on leave after following a minor boy into the changing room at a department store.
Texas: Pastor Theodore Baines sued by congregation for threatening them, abusing alcohol, and making lewd comments to young female parishioners.
Minnesota: Pastor David Radtke charged with molesting a foreign exchange student staying in his home.
Missouri: Diocese of Kansas City sued for covering up the actions of Father Shawn Ratigan, who is accused of taking photos of a nude underage girl.
California: Pastor Carlton Hammonds sentenced to four years in prison for child molestation.
Iowa: Pastor Patrick Eduoard charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse.
New York: Molestation trial of Pastor Joe Flowers delayed due to revelation of a second victim.

This Week's Winner
New Jersey: Members of the Walking With Christ sect have pleaded not guilty of causing the death of an eight year-old girl after forcing the child to fast in order to achieve holiness. Pastor Emanyel Kris told followers that even to swallow one's own saliva was a "sin" and a violation of his fasting edict. The victim's mother is charged with aggravated manslaughter. Pastor Kris has not been charged with anything.

Over the last seven days...

Wisconsin: Pastor David E. Radtke charged with sexual assault on a 16 year-old student.
Georgia: Pastor David Pope charged with child molestation.
Wisconsin: Father Michael Nowak charged with making obscene phone calls to underage girls.
Kentucky: Pastor Jeremy Caraway charged with child rape.
Arizona: Two Mormon bishops will not be charged for failing to report a church member who confessed to child molestation.
Missouri: Father Shawn Ratigan pleads not guilty to taking pornographic photos of young girls.
Nevada: Pastor Raymond Mosely charged with compelling a four year-old to touch his genitals.
Michigan: Pastor Christopher Settlemoir sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault on a minor.
Delaware: Father James O'Neill has confessed to molesting a pre-teen boy hundreds of times over several years. The victim, now 43, has settled a lawsuit with the Diocese of Wilmington.
West Virginia: Pastor Matthew Jarrell kills himself in jail after being charged with rape.
New York: The ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel of America has ruled that rabbis must first be consulted before notifying police about child molestation.
Louisiana: Youth Pastor Angelo Golatt indicted on multiple counts of molesting children as young as nine years old.

This Week's Winner
Netherlands: A Dutch Catholic priest identified as Father Van B. has admitted to serving on the board of directors of a group lobbying for the legalization of pedophilia. The priest's superior says that he was aware of Father Van B's involvement with the group. The church is said to be investigating.

Over the last seven days...

South Carolina: Pastor Charles Ledford arrested for embezzling over $250K from his church.
Louisiana: Pastor Elijah Mealancon busted for stealing $100K from an elderly parishioner.
New Brunswick: Father Charles Jean Picot found guilty of child molestation.
Georgia: Pastor Kenneth Terrell pleads guilty to embezzling $200K from his church. Terrell has been arrested 27 times in the past.
Missouri: Father Martin T. Sigillito charged in $52M Ponzi scam.
California: Father Antonio Cortes sentenced for child molestation.
New York: Rabbi Gavriel Bidany found guilty of groping the genitals of a sleeping female on a flight from Tel Aviv to JFK.
North Carolina: Pastor John Jackson arrested for using church money to insure his five Cadillacs.
Nevada: Pastor Raymond Mosley charged with molesting a four year-old girl.
Britain: Father Wojciech Jasinski charged with exhuming the corpse of a child saint in order to move the bones closer to his mother's grave. Happy Mother's Day!
Wisconsin: Pastor Travis Gandy convicted of child molestation and possession of child porn.
Arizona: Christian school teacher Joshua Carroll charged with child molestation.
Arkansas: Pastor Joel Church pleads guilty to possession of child pornography.
Wisconsin: Pastor Leon Piepenbrink charged with embezzling $68K from his church.
Missouri: White supremacist Pastor Robert Joos loses federal appeal on weapons possession conviction.
Virginia: Pastor Steve Dean charged with child molestation.

This Week's Winner
Ontario: Bishop Raymond Lahey has pleaded guilty to possession and importation of child pornography. Lahey was arrested at the Ottawa airport after nervously denying that he possessed a laptop. Noting that his passport contained stamps from countries infamous for child pornography, customs agents confiscated a computer and a memory stick found to contain over 500 images of young boys being "enslaved and degraded." In 2009, Lahey had brokered a $15M settlement from his diocese to victims of molestation by priests, saying at the time, "I want to formally apologize to every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those young people who were entitled instead to the trust and protection of priests of the church."

Over the last seven days...

Texas: Pastor Julio Perez charged with murder for hiring a hit man to shoot his wife.
Mississippi: Pastor Eddie Prince charged with downloading child porn on a public library computer.
Washington DC: Whistleblower lawsuit filed against Catholic Charities for charging the poor for flu shots meant to be free under a government-funded program.
New York: Father Francis McCloskey busted in stolen car after attempting to elude pursuing cops. McCloskey is a renowned anti-abortion activist.
California: Father Alejandro Castillo charged with seven felony counts of child molestation.
New Jersey: Rabbi Mordchai Fish pleads guilty to money laundering.
New York: Pastor Jeremy Fulton pleads guilty to molesting five girls as young as ten years old.
Pennsylvania: Archdiocese of Philadelphia sued for wrongful death in suicide of molestation victim.
Oklahoma: Pastor Tommy Pitts charged with 70 felony counts of child molestation. The victims are his adopted daughters.
Wisconsin: Father John Dahlberg charged with embezzling from church fund meant for families in crisis.
Texas: Pastor Owen Davis charged with sexual assault of an undocumented woman he had forced to sign a contract agreeing to sex on demand.
California: Pastor Joe David Nelms charged with sexual assault on a child.
New York: Pastor Joe Flowers charged with molesting an 11 year-old boy.
Illinois: Father John Regan to face trial for embezzling $400K in church funds to support his gambling addiction.

This Week's Winner
Wisconsin: The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is accused of transferring $55M into a cemetery trust account in order to shield assets from suing molestation victims. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January and this week proposed settling 22 molestation suits at $700K each. In February a lawyer for the victims accused New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan of hiding $130M while assigned to Milwaukee in 2008.

Over the last seven days...

Alabama: Pastor Barry Albert Cook charged with sexual abuse and torture of a child.
South Carolina: Pastor Jonathan Roberts charged with felonious theft of church money.
New York: Father Thomas Kreiser charged with using $25K in church donations for online gambling.
Wisconsin: Pastor Philip Caminiti charged with eight felony counts of child abuse for beating children as young as two months old.
Oklahoma: Pastor Vincent Brookfield charged with seven felony counts of molesting a seven year-old girl.
North Carolina: Pastor Paul Burke Johnson charged with four counts of sexual battery on a mentally impaired woman.
Iowa: Pastor Patrick Edouard charged with raping three women in his congregation.
Utah: Pastor Aaron Witcher sentenced to five years to life in prison on two counts of rape of a minor.
Pennsylvania: Father Ralph Johnson sentenced to four years in prison for child molestation. Johnson is 84.
New York: Rabbi Saul Kassin confesses to multimillion dollar money laundering scheme involving sales of human organs and counterfeit handbags.
Florida: Teacher at private Christian school charged with beating a 12 year-old boy unconscious with a broomstick.
Wisconsin: Father Joseph Gibbs charged with fondling a teenage girl. Gibbs allegedly threatened to sue the girl's family if she told.
Illinois: Imprisoned child molester Father Donald McGuire reveals evidence that his parish knew of his crimes and did nothing.

This Week's Winner
Oregon: In one of the largest settlements ever paid by a religious group, Northwest's Jesuits have agreed to pay $166M to nearly 500 victims of sexual abuse by priests. Most of the victims are Native Americans abused as children at Jesuit parish schools across the Pacific northwest and in Alaska. The settlement, which will largely be paid by an insurance company, is part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Over the last seven days...

Virginia: Pastor Jason Bolton charged with stalking an underage girl. He has a previous arrest for statutory rape.
New York: Rabbi Nechemya Weberman arrested for molestation of 12 year-old girl.
Georgia: Pastor Albert Turnell charged with possession and distribution of child porn.
Alabama: Pastor Michael Wilkerson charged with writing a bad check to purchase $111K Mercedes. He previously served time in prison for defrauding the builders of his mansion.
Scotland: Sihk priest Surinder Singh convicted of child molestation.
Wisconsin: Father Thomas Marr sentenced to only nine months in jail for stealing over $600K from parishioners.
California: Christian college sued for knowingly placing a convicted child molester ministry student with a family whose children he then molested.
North Carolina: Pastor Greg Metcalf charged with assaulting his daughter and then denying her medical care.
Massachusetts: Father Franklin E. Huntress resigns in face of numerous molestation accusations.
Britain: Pastor Albert Odulele charged with indecent sexual assault on a child.
Arkansas: Pastor Shane Montgomery sentenced to one year in prison for sexual assault on a teenager.
Tennessee: Father William Casey to stand trial for child molestation.
California: Pastor Alonzo McGowan pleads guilty to stealing over $400K from an 87 year-old parishioner.
Ohio: Pastor Daniel Monk sentenced to six years in prison for sexual battery on an underage girl. Monk says he was out of his mind because he'd been fasting.
New York: Father Richard Nachajski charged with stealing $476K from his parish to finance luxury vacations to the Caribbean and Thailand.

This Week's Winner
Illinois: The Belleville Diocese of Southern Illinois is appealing a $5M molestation judgment, saying that they have zero responsibility to warn parishioners about known pedophile priests. In response, a local group of Catholic priests took the unprecedented step of denouncing the appeal as a "disastrous policy" that makes "no common moral sense." The judgment was ordered in the case of Father Raymond Kownacki, who has been sued numerous times for molestation, but has never been arrested due to the statute of limitations.

Over the last seven days...

Washington: Pastor Dirk Jackson arrested for the rape of a 12 year-old girl.
Tennessee: Pastor Ronnie Powe charged with aggravated statutory rape.
Kentucky: Pastor Jerry Cannon charged with posting hundreds of child porn images to Facebook.
New York: Rabbi Milton Balkany sentenced to four years in $4M hedge fund extortion.
Minnesota: Father Christopher Wenthe charged with felony sexual abuse of female parishioner.
Virginia: Father Felix Owino sentenced to nine months for molesting 11 year-old girl.
Britain: Imam Ebrahim Kazir charged with multiple counts of sexual assault on girls under the age of 14.
Washington: Pastor Royce Shorter charged with multiple felony counts of child molestation.
Massachusetts: Pastor Angel Morales on trial for rape of 14 year-old girl.
California: Pastor Alonzo McCowan pleads guilty to swindling $300K from an elderly parishioner.
North Carolina: Pastor Timothy Bailey charged in $670K Ponzi scheme.
Alabama: Pastor Steven McQueen charged with stealing $250K from his own church.
Massachusetts: Father Gary Mercure sentenced to 20-25 years in prison for the rape of two minors.
Britain: Pastor Lucy Adeniji charged with beating immigrant children and using them as personal slaves.
Kentucky: Archdiocese of Louisville sued for allowing known child molester priest to head parish.
Hawaii: Unnamed Catholic priest charged with kidnapping and sexual assault.

This Week's Winner
Florida: The Archdiocese of Miami and Father Neil Doherty have been sued for the alleged drugging and rape of an eight year-old boy. According to the suit, Doherty assaulted the boy more than 50 times over a three year period and was kept in his position by the Archdiocese despite sexual abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s. Doherty has previously been sued by 25 other victims and in 1994 the Archdiocese of Miami paid a $50,000 settlement to one of them.

Over the last seven days....

California: Pastor Tommy Gene Daniels held on $6M bail for six felony counts of molesting girls as young as five years old.
Massachusetts: Father Gary Mercure on trial for molesting two altar boys.
South Carolina: Pastor Daniel Belcher charged with embezzling $200,000 from a former employer.
Britain: Catholic Church settles lawsuit filed by three brothers molested by the same priest. Amount undisclosed.
Pennsylvania: Pastor Jeffrey Lynn Crosley charged with two counts of child molestation.
New York: Father Christopher Turczany resigns over sex-offender volunteer.
Kentucky: Episcopal Diocese and Boy Scouts sued for covering up child molestation.
Britain: Pastor David Morrison convicted of operating immigration fraud scam.
Delaware: Father Cornelius J. Breslin charged with embezzling $350,000 from his parish.
Massachusetts: Rev. Charles Abdelahad charged with rape and assault.
Wisconsin: Vatican refuses lawsuit filed on behalf of students molested at school for the deaf.
Britain: Imam Mohammed Hanif Khan convicted of molesting two boys.
Washington DC: Father Garrett Orr charged with two counts of child molestation.
Florida: Friar William C. Wert charged with child molestation.
Texas: Archdiocese of San Antonio settles molestation suit for $1M.

This Week's Winner
New York: Sister Mary Turcotte of the Apostles of Infinite Love convent has confessed that she was not raped by a big scary black man, as she told police, but had invented the attack in order to cover up a consensual fling with a convenience store worker she'd snuck in the back door of the convent. Upon Turcotte's description, the NYPD had distributed a sketch of a tall, heavy black man in his 40s.

Over the last seven days...

New York: Pastor Michael Clare charged with first degree rape of 12 year-old girl.
South Carolina: Pastor Ronald Satterfield charged with running a $3.3M Ponzi scheme that wiped out dozens of his congregants.
Texas: Pastor Larry Gene Martin charged with aggravated sexual assault on a 12 year-old girl.
Texas: Pastor Randy Carl Russell charged with making a terrorist threat for saying he was going to kill his daughter's boyfriend and his family.
New Brunswick: Father Albert LeBlanc charged with 40 counts of sexual assault on boys between the ages of seven and eleven.
Florida: Pastor Jason Allen Roberts charged with felony child molestation.
New York: Santeria priest Miguel Leon convicted of child molestation.
Indiana: Father Wayne Wigglesworth sentenced to ten years in prison for attempted molestation of a 15 year-old boy.
Wisconsin: Pastor Travis Gandy pleads no contest to possession of child pornography.
Georgia: Pastor Kenneth Terrell indicted on charges of embezzling $200K from his church. Last year Terrell was also charged with child molestation.
Tennessee: Pastor Samuel Peters charged with theft of donations to the Lions Club, which aids visually-impaired children.
Britain: Father Alexander Bede Walsh charged with four counts of molesting boys.
Nunavut: Father Eric Dejaeger charged with three counts of molesting Inuit children.
Utah: Pastor Aaron Witcher pleads guilty to two counts of raping a minor.
Michigan: Father Herbert Richey is still working for the Detroit Archdiocese despite having been defrocked for child molestation.

This Week's Winner
France: Father Antoine Videau has been convicted of stealing £2 million from church charity boxes intended for the poor. Videau used the cash to buy himself a Ferrari and take lavish Las Vegas vacations with his young mistress. Investigators found 28 separate bank accounts holding stolen parish money and discovered that Videau had also helped himself to £500,000 from the estate of a deceased archbishop.

Over the last seven days...

Nevada: Pastor Otis Holland arrested for molesting a seven year-old girl. Holland was arrested last year on similar charges.
New York: Pastor Jason LaPierre arrested for embezzling over $400,000 from a credit union.
Ontario: Father James Boudreau arrested for sexual assault on a child.
Belgium: Father Eric Dejaeger accused of molesting multiple children in Canada. He has already served five years in prison for the same crime.
California: Pastor Dino Cardelli charged with intimidating a victim prior to his trial for child rape.
Missouri: Pastor David Love pleads not guilty to murdering the husband of his mistress.
Minnesota: Pastor William Neal Matthews charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person.
Britain: Father Paul Shannon pleads guilty to 16 counts of producing child pornography.
Michigan: Rev. Sarah Jane Samuelson charged with serving alcohol to over 100 minors attending a party she hosted in her home.
Florida: Pastor Gordon Libby charged with kidnapping a 14 year-old from a Walmart and then masturbating in the victim's presence. Libby is the founder of the clergy recruitment firm Pastors4U.
Britain: Imam Mohammed Hanif Khan charged with rape of a 12 year-old boy.
New Jersey: Pastor Enoc Sotelo charged with 17 felony counts of defrauding immigrants in a green card scam.
Massachusetts: Father Donald Provost sued for sexual assault of an eight year-old boy. The Worcester Catholic Diocese and ten other unidentified individuals are named in the suit. Provost has been previously convicted of photographing a ten year-old boy in a public locker room.
Wisconsin: Pastor Lewis Givens charged with sexually assaulting a mentally challenged nine year-old girl.

This Week's Winner
Minnesota: The Catholic Diocese of New Ulm is being sued for covering up the crimes of Father Francis Markey, who was twice arrested for child molestation. Markey was suspended three times after accusations of sexual assaults on children and all three times he was later reinstated as a priest. The lawsuit also names the treatment facilities to which the Catholic Church referred Markey, as well as the Diocese of Clogher in Ireland, where he once worked.