Will Michigan Finally Tell The Truth Or Will The Attorney General Office Continue To Cover It Up?

https://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-boys-v-girls-michigan-attorney.html

During the inquisition, where did you run from persecution?

The church, because they cloak.

When you are shunned from society for doing nasty things to the tiny ones, where do you go to survive?

You go to church.

When you have never been caught you can start up youth programs and work in foster care and adoption because it is the work of the tax exempt god.

And, if you have grand aspirations, you start up a mission with a children's trust, that way you can groom them from birth to do what you want when you import them to the U.S. as students or missionaries in voting districts, to walk the streets, hang out in a coffee shop, and run real estate ops through Public Private Partnerships in Social Impact Bonds.

Records show mounting number of CSC cases tied to Gaylord Grace Baptist

Editor’s note: The Herald Times is continuing to follow investigations involving former Gaylord Grace Baptist Church staff and former congregation members who have been convicted or accused of criminal sexual conduct with minors through the years.

---

OTSEGO COUNTY — Late last year, Independent Fundamental Baptist churches nationally saw surge of attention as survivors of sexual abuse shared their stories with news outlets like the Star-Telegram of Fort Worth, Texas, that tracked church leaders who were moved from church-to-church after reported abuse.

This extended to local stories as more cases were revealed to have occurred in Otsego County as cases tied to Grace Baptist Church in Gaylord continue to move through the county court system.

In December, former Grace Baptist students publicly shared their experiences and later formed a Facebook support group known as the Blind Eye Movement, a name based on the thought that the church and associated school’s leaders had turned a blind eye to the abuse.

According to the Michigan State Police Gaylord Post, it had been investigating allegations of sexual assault “involving potential suspects who worked at Grace Baptist 10 years ago or more.”

“The investigation is ongoing, and has not yet been reviewed by the prosecutor — so no charges have been issued yet,” Lt. Travis House, public information officer for the MSP Seventh District, previously told the Herald Times in an email.

In a previous Herald Times story, Grace Baptist’s Senior Pastor Jon Jenkins commented on instances of abuse or alleged abuse involving former teachers. Jenkins said he had reported two of the school’s former teachers to police for sexual abuse of students years ago.

Aaron Willand mugshot

Jenkins said he reported former teacher Aaron Willand to Michigan State Police and later, another former teacher to the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department.

Willand was convicted in Washington state of raping a child and child molestation in 2006. The survivor, now an adult, is also pressing charges in Otsego County for abuse she said also occurred in Michigan. Willand has not been charged in Michigan.

Jenkins said he reported the other former teacher to the Otsego County Sheriff’s department in 2011. The Herald Times is not naming the other teacher until charges have been officially filed by Otsego County courts.

In an email, Jenkins said, it would be “a favorable outcome if justice can be achieved for” the alleged victim. He said, “Grace Baptist Church has always, and continues to stand in favor of justice for the victim.”

Otsego County Sheriff’s Department showed no records of Grace Baptist reporting either former teacher to police.

Herald Times’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for Michigan State Police reports filed by Grace Baptist, show no police reports filed by Grace Baptist with any references to Aaron Willand or the other former teacher. Jenkins did not respond to multiple requests for clarification.

The FOIA reports mainly show the church had called law enforcement a number of times for larceny and breaking and entering incidents through the years. There was also an instance in 2011 where a 25-year-old man allegedly grabbed a teen girl’s breast on a church bus that was in transit to Grayling.

The case did not go to court, according to the FOIA documents.

Looking back

Further exploration into county, state and federal court records show several additional cases through the last 17 years where people tied to Grace Baptist were convicted of criminal sexual conduct (CSC) with minors.

Former Grace Baptist congregation members Jennifer Mahoney and Matthew Mahoney were convicted in 2013 on felony charges against a 15-year-old girl in Indiana, according to previous coverage by the Tribune Star (Terre Haute, Indiana) newspaper and court documents.

Matthew Mahoney

According to the Indiana Department of Correction, Jennifer Mahoney was sentenced to four years for sexual misconduct with a minor and Matthew Mahoney was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexual misconduct with a minor, vicarious sexual gratification child solicitation and dissemination of matter harmful to a minor.

Jennifer Mahoney

A former Gaylord Teen Spectacular youth conference guest speaker, Jack Schaap, was convicted in 2013 in federal court in Indiana after he transported a 16-year-old girl to his cabin in Northern Michigan for the purpose of having sex with her, according to court documents.

According to previous Herald Times coverage of the Teen Spectacular, Schaap, of Hammond, Indiana, was listed as a visiting guest speaker during the 2011 youth conference, an event that draws hundreds of teens to Gaylord.

Clark Martin, a former congregation member with Grace Baptist, was convicted in 2004 for second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a person under 13, for incidents that occurred in 2002 and 2003 in Otsego County, according to court documents. (See related story here.)

Jenkins confirmed that each of the above was connected to Grace Baptist through the congregation or as a guest speaker.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©