Largest dark web child porn marketplace closed, Royal Canadian Mounted Police – sex abuse/harassment, California sex abuse law -thousands of claims, Little to no oversight – 1,700 accused priests

– Feds take down the world’s ‘largest dark web child porn marketplace’

” 200,000 unique videos or almost 8 terabytes of data showing sex acts involving children, toddlers and infants”

 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a beloved national icon, rocked by sexual abuse and harassment “more than 500 potential class members”

– Diocese pays $4.4M in abuse compensation to 57 victims

– Without oversight, scores of accused priests commit crimes

“Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement”

“These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and day care centers. They foster and care for children.”

– California sex abuse law likely to spur thousands of claims

“He predicted 5,000 to 10,000 lawsuits under the new state law….

He said the church paid more than $1.2 billion to hundreds of victims in 2003″

Feds take down the world’s ‘largest dark web child porn marketplace’

Prosecutors say the vast online store was run by Jong Woo Son, currently serving a prison sentence in South Korea on charges related to child pornography.

The dark web, a section of the internet that can only be accessed via a Tor browser, is designed to protect users’ tracks online and obscure digital footprints
Oct. 16, 2019 By Cyrus Farivar and Andrew Blankstein

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors have filed multiple charges against a 23-year-old South Korean man accused of running what they call the world’s “largest dark web child porn marketplace.”

The now-shuttered English-language site, called “Welcome to Video,” contained more than 200,000 unique videos or almost 8 terabytes of data showing sex acts involving children, toddlers and infants, according to the 18-page criminal indictment unsealed here Wednesday, and processed 7,300 Bitcoin transactions worth more than $730,000.

According to prosecutors, the vast online store was run by Jong Woo Son, a South Korean citizen currently serving an 18-month prison sentence in his home country after his conviction on charges related to child pornography. The site operated from June 2015 until it was seized and shut down by U.S. authorities in March 2018.

At a press conference Wednesday morning, U.S. officials said 337 suspected users of the site had been arrested worldwide to date….

In addition to Son, more than 300 other suspects have been arrested in South Korea as of Wednesday, while still more suspects were identified in other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, including a Washington, D.C., man who was caught with the equivalent of 50 years worth of video footage he had downloaded.

The website ran solely on the dark web, a section of the internet that can only be accessed via a Tor browser, which is designed to protect users’ tracks online and obscure digital footprints. Users could purchase videos using cryptocurrency and an annual membership was priced at 0.03 bitcoins (at current exchange rates, around $300).

Members earned points by uploading new and popular videos to the site or by inviting new members. The site sought only child sexual abuse imagery, according to prosecutors — its landing page stated in red bold type: “Do not upload adult porn.” Prosecutors have also filed a related civil forfeiture case, seeking to seize Bitcoin assets held across 24 different accounts….

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/feds-take-down-world-s-largest-dark-web-child-porn-n1066511

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
South Korean National and Hundreds of Others Charged Worldwide in the Takedown of the Largest Darknet Child Pornography Website, Which was Funded by Bitcoin
Dozens of Minor Victims Who Were Being Actively Abused by the Users of the Site Rescued

Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action. Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea. An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged….

According to the indictment, on March 5, 2018, agents from the IRS-CI, HSI, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and Korean National Police in South Korea arrested Son and seized the server that he used to operate a Darknet market that exclusively advertised child sexual exploitation videos available for download by members of the site. The operation resulted in the seizure of approximately eight terabytes of child sexual exploitation videos, which is one of the largest seizures of its kind. The images, which are currently being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contained over 250,000 unique videos, and 45 percent of the videos currently analyzed contain new images that have not been previously known to exist.

Welcome To Video offered these videos for sale using the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Typically, sites of this kind give users a forum to trade in these depictions. This Darknet website is among the first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin. In fact, the site itself boasted over one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users. Each user received a unique bitcoin address when the user created an account on the website. An analysis of the server revealed that the website had more than one million bitcoin addresses, signifying that the website had capacity for at least one million users.

The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site. This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world. The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States. Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site….

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child

Jong Woo Son indictment
SEALED I
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AUG – 9 2013
Clerk. U.S. District Bankruptcy
Holding a Criminal Term Courts for the District of Columbia
Grand Jury Sworn in May 3, 2018
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
JONG WOO SON, Defendant.
Case: 1:18?cr?00243
Assigned TO Judge McFadden, Trevor N.
Assign. Date 8/9/2018….

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6477792-Jong-Woo-Son-indictment.html

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a beloved national icon, rocked by sexual abuse and harassment
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson — at a 2016 news conference with Janet Merlo, center, and Linda Davidson, right — apologized to women subject to sexual harassment and abuse. “You came to the RCMP wanting to personally contribute to your community and we failed you,” he said. “We hurt you. For that, I am truly sorry.”
By Amanda Coletta
Oct. 17, 2019

Silina Sargis showed up at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police academy in 2010 to start what she hoped would be her dream career. But soon, she says, a sergeant major began harassing and bullying her….

Like the maple leaf and the moose, the Mountie with the scarlet tunic and the wide-brimmed Stetson is one of the most widely recognized and beloved symbols of Canada. But now sexual misconduct allegations are rocking the institution.

Hundreds of women have come forward to describe the national police force as an old boys’ club, where men boorishly commented on women’s bodies and made unwanted advances. Women report finding sex toys left on their desks and pornographic images in their files. They say men exposed themselves, groped and raped them.

The RCMP has set aside $150 million to settle two class-action lawsuits over sexual misconduct — the first in 2016 with female officers, and now, with women who worked or volunteered for the agency in non-policing roles. Federal Judge Michael Phelan held a hearing on the settlement Thursday in Vancouver. He is expected to rule on whether to approve it within the next month.

Women who experienced sexual harassment within the RCMP say they were frightened into silence. When they did complain, they say, they were ostracized or suffered retaliation….

The settlements cover claims dating to 1974, when women were first permitted to join the RCMP. More than 3,100 applied for the 2016 class-action fund — three times the number expected. But that might represent just a fraction of the complaints. The true number might never be known publicly, because some are settled out of court and subject to nondisclosure agreements.

Attorney Angela Bespflug, who represents two of the three lead plaintiffs in the current action, says she has been contacted by more than 500 potential class members. If the court approves the settlement, she says, she expects the number of class members to double….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-royal-canadian-mounted-police-a-beloved-national-icon-rocked-by-sexual-abuse-and-harassment/2019/10/16/ddfeb8a8-eb8b-11e9-a329-7378fbfa1b63_story.html

Diocese pays $4.4M in abuse compensation to 57 victims October 17, 2019
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania diocese has announced a nearly $4.4 million payout to 57 victims of sexual abuse by its clergy and seminarians.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg made the announcement Thursday about the payment through the out-of-court compensation program.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that most dioceses in the state set up similar compensation funds in the wake of a 2018 grand jury report that detailed a seven-decade history of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and subsequent cover-ups by bishops.

The Greensburg diocese says it paid $4,350,000, averaging out to about $75,000 for each claimant….

https://www.apnews.com/9383f5362a98436ab9a1177fe7e7ddac

Without oversight, scores of accused priests commit crimes
By CLAUDIA LAUER and MEGHAN HOYER October 5, 2019

Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses, an Associated Press investigation has found.

These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and day care centers. They foster and care for children.

And in their time since leaving the church, dozens have committed crimes, including sexual assault and possessing child pornography, the AP’s analysis found.

A recent push by Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. to publish the names of those it considers to be credibly accused has opened a window into the daunting problem of how to monitor and track priests who often were never criminally charged and, in many cases, were removed from or left the church to live as private citizens….

The review found hundreds of priests held positions of trust, many with access to children. More than 160 continued working or volunteering in churches, including dozens in Catholic dioceses overseas and some in other denominations. Roughly 190 obtained professional licenses to work in education, medicine, social work and counseling — including 76 who, as of August, still had valid credentials in those fields…..

https://www.apnews.com/197c6234838f420ab693517fb49a215e

California sex abuse law likely to spur thousands of claims
By DON THOMPSON October 14, 2019

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of lawsuits will be filed against alleged child molesters as well as the institutions that employed them under a new California law taking effect next year, attorneys predicted Monday.

The California School Boards Association called the new law an “existential threat” to smaller school districts. Attorneys said the Roman Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America and other institutions will also face a flood of lawsuits that could force bankruptcies.

They are newly possible because the law that Gov. Gavin Newsom approved on Sunday gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, up from age 26, to file lawsuits. It also gives victims of all ages three years to sue, starting Jan. 1.

More than 400 lawsuits were filed in New York state in August on just the first day that state opened a one-year window for victims to sue. New York and New Jersey this year both raised their statutes of limitations to age 55, with New Jersey’s law taking effect in December.

About 1,000 lawsuits, the vast majority against the Catholic church, were filed when California lifted the statute of limitations for one year in 2003, recalled John Manly, who represents Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and other survivors of USA Gymnastics sexual abuse, as well as alleged victims of former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall.

But victims are much more willing to speak up than they were 16 years ago, he said. And the new law allows for triple damages if victims can prove that employers tried to cover up the abuse.

“I think you’re going to see organizations that have been essentially engaging in systemic criminality by protecting pedophiles are about to be exposed. It’s not just the Catholic hierarchy, it’s private schools, it’s public schools, it’s physicians,” Manly said. “This could cause some organizations to go bankrupt. It probably will.”

He predicted 5,000 to 10,000 lawsuits under the new state law….

He said the church paid more than $1.2 billion to hundreds of victims in 2003, and hundreds of millions of dollars since then for therapy and other services to survivors. Six California dioceses last month began a new private independent compensation program for child victims….

https://www.apnews.com/ba57790c7a5e4394b10a6cfd5add775c

Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers highly ‘skeptical’ of suicide ruling, say he wasn’t ‘despairing, despondent’ before death, SMART Child and Ritual Abuse Newsletter – Issue 148 – September 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein Information

Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers highly ‘skeptical’ of suicide ruling, say he wasn’t ‘despairing, despondent’ before death
Tue, Aug 27 2019 Dan Mangan Kevin Breuninger

….Epstein, 66, was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other celebrities, whom he entertained at his luxurious residences in Manhattan, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

….A defense lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday expressed deep skepticism that the wealthy financier died by hanging himself in a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges, as a medical examiner has ruled.

The injuries suffered by Epstein are “far more consistent with assault” than suicide, the lawyer, Reid Weingarten, told Judge Richard Berman in U.S. District Court in Manhattan during a hearing.

Weingarten cited the defense’s own medical sources. Broken bones were found in Epstein’s neck during an autopsy after he died Aug. 10.

Such fractures are somewhat more common in cases of strangulation than in hanging.

Weingarten told the judge that when he and other defense attorneys spoke to Epstein shortly before his death “we did not see a despairing, despondent, suicidal person.”

Weingarten’s comments came during a proceeding where prosecutors were seeking the dismissal of child sex trafficking charges against the Epstein as a result of his death.

More than 20 alleged victims of Epstein spoke or had statements read during the hearing.

Another Epstein lawyer, Martin Weinberg, told Berman that the defense team had prepared a “significant” motion to dismiss the case, and that the lawyers were not approaching the case with a “futile, defeatist attitude.”

Weingarten said Berman had a “pivotal role to find out what happened.”

“We want the court to help us find out what happened,” Weingarten said.

“We’re skeptical of the certitude” of the finding of suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, the lawyer said.

There are “significant doubts” regarding “the conclusion of suicide,” Weingarten said.

But Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor, told Berman that Epstein’s death was already the subject of “an ongoing and active grand jury investigation.”….Epstein, 66, was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other celebrities, whom he entertained at his luxurious residences on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, and on a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

….Weeks before his death, Epstein was found semiconscious in his cell in the Manhattan Correctional Center with marks on his neck. That incident led to him being placed on suicide watch, but he was taken off of that status about a week later.

Epstein’s connections, vast wealth and the prior incident in the jail led to a rash of speculation about whether he was killed in his jail cell, and did not commit suicide.

….Weingarten also pointed out that “we’ve heard that” the surveillance video at the jail around Epstein’s cell “were either corrupted or not functioning.”….

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/27/jeffrey-epsteins-lawyers-skeptical-of-suicide-ruling.html

SMART Child and Ritual Abuse Newsletter – Issue 148 – September 2019

Information in this issue includes: R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Richardson, George Mitchell, E. Jean Carroll, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, Dr. Michael Holick, Elon Musk, brain microchip, Boy Scouts of America, Catholic Church, New York Child Victims Act, Eric Lin
https://ritualabuse.us/2019/08/issue-148-september-2019/

New York joined more than a dozen states this year in significantly extending statutes of limitations for filing lawsuits over sexual abuse.

He Says a Priest Abused Him. 50 Years Later, He Can Now Sue.

A new law has created a “look-back window,” during which claims that had passed the statute of limitations can be revived.

By Rick Rojas Aug. 13, 2019

Major institutions across New York State, from the Catholic Church to the Boy Scouts of America to elite private schools, are bracing for a deluge of lawsuits now that adults who said they were sexually abused as children will be entitled to pursue formal legal action.

New York joined more than a dozen states this year in significantly extending statutes of limitations for filing lawsuits over sexual abuse. Previously, the state had required that such suits be filed before a victim’s 23rd birthday.

Under the new law in New York, the Child Victims Act, which was approved by the Legislature in January, accusers will be able to sue until they are 55.

The new law includes a one-year period, known as a look-back window, that revives cases that had expired, in many instances decades ago, under previous statutes of limitations.

The one-year period begins on Wednesday, and the impact could cause major financial stress for many institutions in New York, including the state’s eight Catholic dioceses, which have faced a series of scandals involving abuse by clergy….

In lobbying for the new law, advocates for abuse victims have highlighted the toll of sex abuse on children, and the decades it can often take before they are able to speak up about it, if they can at all.

It took Charlie d’Estries years to process the sexual encounters that he said he remembered having with a priest as a boy. They were naked together, as he recounted it, and their relationship became sexual. Still, for decades, Mr. d’Estries, 64, did not describe it as abuse, and refused to see himself as a victim.

But last year, when Mr. d’Estries returned to his Catholic school on Long Island for a reunion, a nun he had known as a student offhandedly called him “Billy’s buddy,” a reference to the priest.

In a moment, he said, everything shifted. He was deeply shaken. He realized he had been abused. He was a victim. And he wanted justice, he said.

But he discovered he could not sue until the law changed….

This year, far more than in past years, legislatures in nearly 40 states introduced proposals to expand statutes of limitations. New laws were enacted in 18 states and the District of Columbia. New Jersey was among them, passing a law that includes a two-year look-back window that opens later this year.

“The significance of it is a switch in the balance of power,” said Marci A. Hamilton, the chief executive of Child U.S.A., a think tank focused on child protection at the University of Pennsylvania. “There was a severe imbalance of power that led to their abuse in the first place. The culture shut them out of the legal system until now. For them, this is validation.”….

Lawmakers in New York had tried and failed for well over a decade to expand the state’s statutes of limitations, which were regarded as among the most restrictive in the country. “We used to call New York a ‘shut down state,’” Mr. Amala said.

Each time, the law’s supporters were thwarted in the Legislature by opposition from the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, Orthodox Jewish groups and the insurance industry.

In years of jostling over the legislation, the look-back window had been the single most disputed element.

The New York Catholic Conference said before the law passed that the look-back window would “force institutions to defend alleged conduct decades ago about which they have no knowledge and in which they had no role.” (Many of the clergy members named as credibly accused of abuse are dead, infirm or no longer affiliated with the church.)

The State Assembly had passed the legislation multiple times, but before this year, the Senate never took it up for a vote. The political calculus in New York changed, however, after Democrats won control of the Senate in November…..

In future cases, the Child Victims Act allows prosecutors several more years to bring criminal charges, and decades more to victims weighing lawsuits. But advocates and lawyers stressed that the new law does not apply retroactively, meaning that virtually every abuse survivor older than 23 must bring any claims through the look-back window.

In the Rockefeller University case, the endocrinologist, Dr. Reginald Archibald, who died in 2007, is accused of abusing scores of boys and teenagers….

The Rockefeller University Hospital, through a spokesman, declined to comment. In a statement last year, the hospital acknowledged reports of “certain inappropriate conduct during patient examinations,” and sent a letter alerting about 1,000 former patients to the allegations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/nyregion/child-victims-act-lawsuit.html

The 2019 Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference with Alison Miller, Neil Brick and Daniel Roemer

S.M.A.R.T.’s conference on August 17 – 18, 2019 in Connecticut Special low income prices are available.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-2019-annual-child-and-ritual-abuse-conference-with-alison-miller-neil-brick-and-daniel-roemer-300885349.html

https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Boy Scouts of America ‘Pedophilia Epidemic’ 350 Alleged Abusers, R. Kelly charged engaging in prostitution, soliciting minor, Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference 2019 with Neil Brick, Alison Miller and Daniel Roemer

Boy Scouts of America Are Coving up a ‘Pedophilia Epidemic,’ 350 Alleged Abusers Have Been Named In Lawsuit
By Christina Zhao 8/7/19

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are covering up rampant pedophilia within their ranks, with 350 previously unknown adult scoutmasters or members identified as alleged abusers, according to a new lawsuit against the youth organization.

A new lawsuit, filed on Monday in Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court, accuses the BSA of facilitating “a continuing and serious conspiracy to conceal and cover up” sexual assaults against children within their organization.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of attorneys called Abused in Scouting. The group formed in February to investigate abuse in the BSA. The attorneys’ investigation discovered and identified 350 alleged abusers after hundreds of former Scouts members reportedly revealed their previously unreported sexual abuse claims.

“It is apparent that the Boy Scout defendants continue to hide the true nature of their coverup and the extent of the pedophilia epidemic within their organizations because the vast majority of new victims coming forward involve claims of abuse at the hands of pedophiles who are not yet identified by the Boy Scouts of America,” the complaint said.

Nearly 800 clients say they were abused by adult leaders in the Boy Scouts, the Abused in Scouting lawyers said, adding that the alleged abusers are not known to law enforcement or in the BSA’s internal database, sometimes referred to as the “perversion files.”

The lawsuit also claims BSA covered up incidents of sexual assault and accuses the organization of engaging in reckless misconduct, as well as failing to adequately protect its young members….

https://www.newsweek.com/boy-scouts-america-are-coving-pedophilia-epidemic-350-alleged-abusers-have-been-named-lawsuit-1452933

R. Kelly charged with engaging in prostitution, soliciting a minor in Minnesota
The musician already faces multiple federal and state sex crime charges in New York and Illinois.

Aug. 6, 2019 By Tim Stelloh

R. Kelly was charged with one count of engaging in prostitution with a minor and one count of soliciting a minor for sexual purposes, authorities in Minnesota said Monday. The singer is facing other federal and state sex crime charges in New York and Illinois.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the alleged crimes occurred on July 11, 2001, with a 17-year-old girl who was trying to get an autograph from the singer.

The woman, who was not identified, later went to Kelly’s hotel room and was given $200 to dance naked for the performer, according to the statement.

Kelly, who also allegedly stripped, then touched the teen “all over her body” and gave her VIP tickets to his concert, the statement said.

The woman contacted local authorities in January to report the incident, the statement said…..

Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, was indicted in July on 18 federal sex assault charges that allegedly occurred in Chicago and New York not guilty plea

Federal prosecutors allege that Kelly, 52, took underage girls across state lines for sex. Kelly and two employees are also accused of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with the performer, then paying victims and witnesses to cover up the crimes…..

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/r-kelly-charged-engaging-prostitution-soliciting-minor-minnesota-n1039416 

The Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference 2019 with Neil Brick, Alison Miller and Daniel Roemer

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-annual-child-and-ritual-abuse-conference-2019-with-neil-brick-alison-miller-and-daniel-roemer-300897751.html

In less than two weeks, S.M.A.R.T. is having a conference August 17 – 18, 2019 in Connecticut. https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/ 

Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His articles are at http://neilbrick.com

“A Survivor’s View of Recovery from Ritual Abuse.” He will discuss how recovery from ritual abuse can take many years. This may include working through memories, building functionality and developing more effective ways of interacting and integrating emotions. He will discuss his long healing journey.

Alison Miller, Ph.D. is a retired clinical psychologist who practised in Victoria, B.C., Canada. She worked with survivors of organized abuse, including ritual abuse and mind control from 1990 to 2017. Alison is the author of Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control (for therapists), Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse (for survivors).

Alison will discuss via Skype “Deception by Organized Abuser Groups: Helping Your Front People and Your Insiders Recognize the Lies and Tricks Which Keep You Enslaved.” She will talk about how survivors of abuse by mind-controlling abuser groups have parts who have been trained to obey abusers because they believe lies the abusers told them. She will talk about how their power over survivors depends on their young parts believing the abusers’ lies. If survivors learn to recognize when their emotions and behavior are influenced by these deceptions, and to discover the ways in which they were deceived, they can increase their freedom from the abuser group. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/alison-miller/

Daniel Roemer’s directing has led him to receive such attention as USA Film’s Top 10 Emerging Director’s list at the age of 20, two-time Project Greenlight Best Director Finalist (Ben Affleck/Matt Damon), and student Academy Award State finalist by age 22.

Daniel will share his own story from his docudrama “Gray”, which digs deep into uncovering his abuse history, actual news articles from the time of the abuse, includes interviews with prominent locals and family members and his personal search for what went on.

Daniel will also conduct a film-making 101 class – to share the story, both technical and directorial how-to’s. Clinicians would also benefit in having these skills to share their methods of work. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1281008/

Special surprise entertainment will also be provided at the conference

Proof That Ritual Abuse Exists
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/

Large List of Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse References
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/

Research and Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder) https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says, Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says
Vatican guide says ‘not necessarily’ bishop’s duty to report suspects to police despite Pope Francis’s vows to redress Catholic church’s legacy of child abuse

Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign over sexual abuse scandals in his Boston archdiocese, where 150 priests were accused of molesting children.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Wednesday 10 February 2016

The Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.

According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds, the training document states.

The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines – which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback.

Details of the Catholic church’s policy were first reported in a column by a veteran Vatican journalist, John Allen, associate editor of the Catholic news site, Cruxnow.com.

Allen noted that a special commission created by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, had appeared to play no role in the training programme, even though it is supposed to be developing “best practices” to prevent and deal with clerical abuse.

Indeed, a church official familiar with the commission on abuse said it was the committee’s position that reporting abuse to civil authorities was a “moral obligation, whether the civil law requires it or not”. The official said the committee would be involved in future training efforts….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-abuse-vatican-says

Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims
Todd Melby Feb 10, 2016
Jim McDonough is suing the Boy Scouts of America and its North Star Council claiming he was sexually abused by his scoutmaster….

Many stories like McDonough’s have come to light in the nearly three years since the Legislature passed the Minnesota Child Victims Act. Most have been focused on the hundreds of claims made against priests accused of sexually abusing children.

But the law, which extends the statute of limitations for older abuse claims, wasn’t written to respond exclusively to clergy abuse. And the Catholic Church hasn’t been the only target of lawsuits aimed at shedding light on a hidden past. Boy Scout organizations are also grappling with accusations of child molestation.

McDonough decided to use the law to sue the Boy Scouts of America and one of its local affiliates, the Northern Star Council. At least 16 lawsuits are pending in Minnesota against the Boy Scouts, including McDonough’s civil action. Most target the Northern Star Council. Three other lawsuits list another council as a defendant. At least 12 additional suits are expected to be filed before the law’s May 25 deadline….

McDonough’s suit seeks at least $50,000 from the Scouts. The Northern Star Council, which represent troops in 21 Minnesota counties and four counties in western Wisconsin, declined to talk about abuse suits filed by McDonough and others….

One of McDonough’s lawyers, Peter Janci, won a $19.9 million verdict against the Boy Scouts in 2010 in Portland, Ore. Janci says that when it comes to sexual abuse against children, the Boy Scouts have some things in common with the Roman Catholic Church.

“They both involve organizations that really believe in their mission. At times, that has led to them to make decisions where they put reputation of the organization above safety and health of individuals,” he said.

In the case of the Boy Scouts of America, that included the creation of what it called “ineligible volunteer” files, Janci said. When the Scouts learned that a volunteer had sexually molested or raped a child, it often created a file so it could bar that person from volunteering in another city or state.

Between 1955 and 1984, the Boy Scouts of America created 1,300 of these files. A judge ordered those files released, with some information redacted, after the Portland trial.

A small percentage of the “ineligible volunteer” files were atheists or homosexuals. The Scouts barred gay men and lesbians from the organization until just recently. But the vast majority of files focused on sexual molestation. They became known as the “Perversion Files.”

The Boy Scouts has been keeping secret tabs on suspected abusers since the 1920s, but it didn’t routinely report those people to police. The organization began requiring “mandatory reporting of suspected abuse” in 2011….
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/02/10/ex-boy-scouts-tap-minnesota-sex-abuse-law

17 Former Connecticut Boy Scouts Allege Sexual Abuse

17 Former Connecticut Boy Scouts Allege Sexual Abuse   

The plaintiffs’ lawyer said that one child was molested more than 1,000 times by now-deceased scoutmaster Donald Dennis.   Dave Altimari

Seventeen former Boy Scouts have filed a lawsuit charging that their scoutmaster in Ridgefield sexually abused them from 1963 to 1975.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer said that it was the largest single lawsuit filed against the Boy Scouts of America and that one child was molested more than 1,000 times. In addition to listing the 17 former Scouts, the lawsuit lists two girls allegedly sexually assaulted by the scoutmaster, Donald Dennis, who died two years ago.

The 850-page lawsuit alleges that the two girls were forced to watch Dennis sexually abuse some of the scouts in his home. Most of the victims were 11 to 14 years old, although some were as old as 17, according to attorney Brooke Goff, who is representing all 19 plaintiffs.

“We were only made aware of these allegations last month and had never before received any reports or accusations against this individual by youth members, parents or adult volunteer leaders,” the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “This individual has not been registered in our programs for many years and is now deceased.”….

Goff said that Dennis was an assistant scoutmaster from 1963 through 1968 and became scoutmaster until he moved out of Connecticut in 1975. Dennis was a local businessman in Ridgefield and also was an auxiliary state trooper during the same time period, Goff said….

The lawsuit claims that the national and local Boy Scout groups deliberately ignored signs that the organization was a haven for pedophiles.

In 2012, it was revealed during a lawsuit in Oregon that the national Boy Scout organization kept secret records of potential pedophiles who were called “ineligible volunteers.” Dennis is not listed, but Goff said that is because he had not been sued.

The lawsuit alleges that the local Boy Scout organization allowed Dennis to be alone with groups of boys for hours at a time at Camp Mauwehu with no supervision, failed to put in safeguards to protect the children and failed to do background checks on Scout leaders.

The lawsuit also claims that many of the accusers had repressed memories of the attacks that resurfaced when the records of the pedophiles became public in 2012….

Last December, a Waterbury jury awarded an unidentified accuser $7 million in a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America. Court records show that the jury found the national organization negligent and reckless in its failure to take steps to protect the plaintiff from repeated abuse at the hands of his scoutmaster. That verdict has been appealed by the national group.

The jury found that the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and the Connecticut Yankee Council were not liable.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-boy-scout-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-20151117-story.html

Inside the perversion files Tracking decades of allegations in the Boy Scouts

Boy Scout files on suspected abuse published by The Times

Viewable online: about 1,200 previously unpublished files kept by the Boy Scouts of America on volunteers and employees expelled for suspected sexual abuse.

By Jessica Naziri and Nell Gram, Los Angeles Times
December 25, 2012

The Times on Tuesday released about 1,200 previously unpublished files kept by the Boy Scouts of America on volunteers and employees expelled for suspected sexual abuse.

The files, which have been redacted of victims’ names and other identifying information, were opened from 1985 through 1991. They can be found in a database along with two decades of files released by order of the Oregon Supreme Court in October. The database also contains summary information on about 3,200 additional files opened from 1947 to 2005 that have not been released publicly.

Together, the material in the database represents the most complete accounting of suspected sexual abuse in the Scouts that has been made public. All of the material was obtained as a result of lawsuits against the Scouts by alleged abuse victims or by media organizations. The Boy Scouts kept the files for nearly a century for internal use only, to keep suspected abusers from rejoining.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scouts-data-20121226,0,6477648.story

Inside the ‘perversion files’
Tracking decades of allegations in the Boy Scouts

This database contains information on about 5,000 men and a handful of women who were expelled from the Boy Scouts of America between 1947 and January 2005 on suspicion of sexual abuse. The dots on the map indicate the location of troops connected in some way to the accused. The timeline below shows the volume of cases opened by year; however, an unknown number of files were purged by the Scouts prior to the early 1990s. Last up­date: Dec. 26, 2012
http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases/

History of Survivorship, Suffer the Children – Father Ratigan and Bishop Finn

History of Survivorship and its Present Day Activities – 2012 conference transcript

Survivorship Presentation

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org

http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/the-history-of-survivorship-and-its-present-day-activities/

Suffer the Children By FRANK BRUNI Op-Ed Columnist September 10, 2012

Just how flagrant does a pedophile need to be before the people around him contact the police? Just how far beyond seeming to force himself on a boy in a shower or loading up his laptop with photos of little girls’ crotches does he have to go?

In the first instance I’m referring to Jerry Sandusky, whom Penn State officials allowed to continue working with children even after they were told that something was seriously amiss. In the second I’m referring to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a Catholic priest in Missouri whose superiors acted no less despicably.

In May 2010, the principal of a parochial school next door to the parish where Father Ratigan served sent a memorandum to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, as Laurie Goodstein reported in The Times. It flagged his odd behavior, including his habit of instructing children to reach into his pockets for candy. In December 2010, hundreds of troubling, furtively taken photographs were found on his laptop, according to court testimony given too long after that fact. One showed a toddler’s genitals. In what jail or prison cell, you might ask, did Father Ratigan spend the first half of 2011? None.

After the photos were discovered, he attempted suicide, received counseling and was reassigned by Bishop Robert W. Finn, the head of the diocese, to a new post as a chaplain to an order of nuns. There he was allowed to celebrate Mass for youth groups and host an Easter egg hunt, and he was caught taking a photograph under the table, up the skirt of the daughter of parishioners who had invited him into their home.

In May 2011, a diocesan official finally told police about the extent of Father Ratigan’s cache of child pornography. He was convicted of possession of it last month. And last week Bishop Finn was convicted of failing to report him to law enforcement authorities, and got two years of probation….

The Boy Scouts of America covered up sexual abuse in its ranks. A recent Los Angeles Times review of files dating from 1970 to 1991 identified more than 125 cases of alleged molestation by men whom the organization had previously had reason to suspect of abusive behavior. “In some cases,” The Times noted, “officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place.” In others, it failed to involve the police.

Over the last two decades the Catholic Church has spelled out stricter policies, including the prompt notification of law enforcement officials. And its defenders have complained that newly revealed instances of wrongdoing are usually old cases that predated better awareness of child sexual abuse, better education about it and a toughened resolve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/bruni-suffer-the-children.html