HelluvaHoax!
Platinum Meritorious Sponsor with bells on
.
Featured in today's Google headlines is an EVANGELICAL CHURCH that has exact parallels to Scientology.
I have taken the liberty of highlighting (in red) some of the major uncanny similarities. Perhaps this should come as no surprise that a cult is a cult--ergo, a cult acts like a cult.
Perhaps the alternate title of this thread could be: HOW CRIMINAL CULTS LIKE SCIENTOLOGY AVOID CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
It's an all-too-common tale of the boundless treachery & terror a cult will resort to in order to hide their crimes and escape justice.
Reading this, one can easily imagine and substitute the Scientological TERMS that would replace the WORDS used by the evangelical cult.
Let's begin by posting their photo op of winning cult members. Starting to seem quite familiar yet?
-----
Ex-sect members tell AP: Prosecutors obstructed abuse cases:
By MITCH WEISS
Mar. 6, 2017 4:20 PM EST
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — At least a half-dozen times over two decades, authorities investigated reports that members of a secretive evangelical church were being beaten. And every time, according to former congregants, the orders came down from church leaders: They must lie to protect the sect.
Among the members of the Word of Faith Fellowship who coached congregants and their children on what to say to investigators were two assistant district attorneys and a veteran social worker, the ex-followers told The Associated Press.
Frank Webster and Chris Back — church ministers who handle criminal cases as assistant DAs for three nearby counties — provided legal advice, helped at strategy sessions and participated in a mock trial for four congregants charged with harassing a former member, according to former congregants interviewed as part of an AP investigation of Word of Faith.
Back and Webster, who is sect leader Jane Whaley's son-in-law and lives in her house, also helped derail a social services investigation into child abuse in 2015 and attended meetings where Whaley warned congregants to lie to investigators about abuse incidents, according to nine former members.
Under North Carolina law, prosecutors cannot provide legal advice or be involved in outside cases in any manner. Violation of those rules can lead to ethics charges, dismissal and disbarment.
More egregious actions — including offering legal advice in an ongoing criminal investigation to help a person avoid prosecution — could lead to criminal charges, including obstruction of justice.
The receptionist for Back and Webster at the Burke County Courthouse in Morganton, North Carolina, said the two men were "too busy" to talk to AP reporters. They also did not respond to a note seeking comment about their roles in the church.
On Monday, their supervisor, District Attorney David Learner, declined to say if he had started an internal investigation. "As far as I am concerned, they are my employees and this is a personnel issue," he said.
Also Monday, former members held a news conference pressing anew for state and federal investigations of the church. "In recent years, I, along with others, have made several attempts to warn the local authorities of what is known today as the deteriorating conditions inside Word of Faith," said ex-congregant John Huddle. "The severity and intensity of abuses has grown more alarming in recent years."
ARTICLE LINK HERE
Featured in today's Google headlines is an EVANGELICAL CHURCH that has exact parallels to Scientology.
I have taken the liberty of highlighting (in red) some of the major uncanny similarities. Perhaps this should come as no surprise that a cult is a cult--ergo, a cult acts like a cult.
Perhaps the alternate title of this thread could be: HOW CRIMINAL CULTS LIKE SCIENTOLOGY AVOID CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
It's an all-too-common tale of the boundless treachery & terror a cult will resort to in order to hide their crimes and escape justice.
Reading this, one can easily imagine and substitute the Scientological TERMS that would replace the WORDS used by the evangelical cult.
Let's begin by posting their photo op of winning cult members. Starting to seem quite familiar yet?
-----
Ex-sect members tell AP: Prosecutors obstructed abuse cases:
By MITCH WEISS
Mar. 6, 2017 4:20 PM EST
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — At least a half-dozen times over two decades, authorities investigated reports that members of a secretive evangelical church were being beaten. And every time, according to former congregants, the orders came down from church leaders: They must lie to protect the sect.
Among the members of the Word of Faith Fellowship who coached congregants and their children on what to say to investigators were two assistant district attorneys and a veteran social worker, the ex-followers told The Associated Press.
Frank Webster and Chris Back — church ministers who handle criminal cases as assistant DAs for three nearby counties — provided legal advice, helped at strategy sessions and participated in a mock trial for four congregants charged with harassing a former member, according to former congregants interviewed as part of an AP investigation of Word of Faith.
Back and Webster, who is sect leader Jane Whaley's son-in-law and lives in her house, also helped derail a social services investigation into child abuse in 2015 and attended meetings where Whaley warned congregants to lie to investigators about abuse incidents, according to nine former members.
Under North Carolina law, prosecutors cannot provide legal advice or be involved in outside cases in any manner. Violation of those rules can lead to ethics charges, dismissal and disbarment.
More egregious actions — including offering legal advice in an ongoing criminal investigation to help a person avoid prosecution — could lead to criminal charges, including obstruction of justice.
The receptionist for Back and Webster at the Burke County Courthouse in Morganton, North Carolina, said the two men were "too busy" to talk to AP reporters. They also did not respond to a note seeking comment about their roles in the church.
On Monday, their supervisor, District Attorney David Learner, declined to say if he had started an internal investigation. "As far as I am concerned, they are my employees and this is a personnel issue," he said.
Also Monday, former members held a news conference pressing anew for state and federal investigations of the church. "In recent years, I, along with others, have made several attempts to warn the local authorities of what is known today as the deteriorating conditions inside Word of Faith," said ex-congregant John Huddle. "The severity and intensity of abuses has grown more alarming in recent years."
ARTICLE LINK HERE
Last edited by a moderator:
