Pastor Charged With Over 100 Counts Of Child Porn

Ohio: Rev. Dr. Mark Griggs, pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Olmsted Falls, has been charged with trading in child pornography.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason announced that Griggs, 48, faces 112 counts that include downloading, trading and possessing child pornography.

Griggs is one of 27 adults, along with three juveniles, charged in a six month investigation called "Operation Lake Effect." The investigation has been conducted by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

 

Couple Guilty In Sons Death

Pennsylvania: The Rhawnhurst couple who put their faith in prayer as their 2-year-old son died of bacterial pneumonia were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday.

The Schaibles' are members of the First Century Gospel Church of Juniata Park, which teaches healing through prayer and eschews medical care as evidence of a lack of faith in God.

The Schaibles' 2-year-old son, Kent, died after fighting what began as a cold and progressed over two weeks to bacterial pneumonia. According to testimony, Herbert Schaible, 42, and Catherine Schaible, 41, prayed for their son and thought he might be getting better.

But on the night of Jan. 24, 2009, the Schaibles discovered that Kent was dead. They called the church's assistant pastor, Ralph Myers, who came to the house, joined the parents in prayer, and then called a funeral director.

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"We tried to fight the devil, but in the end the devil won," Herbert Schaible told homicide detectives in a statement read to the jury during the trial, which began Tuesday.

Nun Accused Of Embezzling $850,000

New York: Sister Marie Thornton, a Catholic nun who ran the finances of Iona College embezzled more than $850,000 and spent it on herself, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan said Thornton used funds from the suburban New York City school for her personal expenses from 1999 to 2009. As vice president of finance, she submitted false invoices and had Iona pay her credit card bills, the complaint said.

Thornton's religious order, the Sisters of St. Joseph, said Thornton had been recalled and her activities had been restricted. It said she has been ordered to cooperate with investigators and is being given "emotional and spiritual support."

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Thornton, 62, was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty in federal court in Manhattan. She was allowed to remain free.

Pastor Charged With Abuse Of Underage Girl

Illinois: A 63-year-old former pastor is set to appear in DuPage County Circuit Court next week on charges he sexually abused an underage girl.

James W. French, 63, of Dakota was arrested at his home by Naperville police on the morning of Dec. 2. He was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and assigned a bond of $250,000.

Authorities are not releasing many details about the incident, other than to say it occurred in Naperville on Nov. 12. The victim has not been identified, but police say she is under the age of 13. The crime was brought to the attention of police by the DuPage County Children’s Center, which investigates abuse allegations involving children.

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French is a founder and former pastor at Indian Grove Country Church in Rock City. He was also reportedly an adjunct professor of history at Rock Valley College in Rockford, according to the Naperville Sun. French does not have a criminal record, police say.

Report Reveals Thousands Of Accusations

Netherlands: The Roman Catholic Church is still struggling to cope with the fallout of sex abuse scandals from Germany to the U.S., but it now faces a flood of damaging new allegations from the Netherlands.

According to a report from an independent commission, almost 2,000 Dutch people have reported being sexually and physically abused by priests when they were children -- a huge number for a country with only 4 million Catholics.

The church set up the investigative commission in March after scandals involving pedophile priests surfaced in neighboring Belgium and Germany. The panel published its interim report on Thursday -- its findings show that 1,975 people had come forward over the past year to lodge abuse allegations.

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This sudden flurry of accusations means that the Netherlands is ranked second only to Ireland for the number of alleged abuse cases involving the church, Reuters reported.

Father Donald McQuire Loses Appeal

Illinois: The 7th Circuit upheld the conviction of a Jesuit priest on charges that he crossed state lines to have sex with a teenager. Donald McGuire is serving 25 years in jail.

McGuire began serving as the spiritual director of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa's order of nuns, in 1983. He was convicted of molesting a boy who accompanied him on several religious retreats.

McGuire allegedly recruited young teens to act as his pages on these retreats by carrying his bags, giving him massages and washing his feet. Religious superiors became suspicious in 1991 and barred McGuire from traveling with minors. The order was gradually extended to include anyone under the age of 30.

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McGuire was stripped of his priesthood in 2008. He was convicted of crossing state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor. McGuire was 67 at the time.

Father Thomas Marr Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement

Wisconsin: A Watertown priest charged with two felonies for allegedly stealing church funds and deceiving people into giving him money pleaded guilty Tuesday to both counts.

The Rev. Thomas Marr, 66, who led St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Watertown for 24 years, faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine on each count.

Court documents in Jefferson County accused Marr of soliciting money from dozens of parishioners and friends and turning it over — perhaps as much as $613,000 — to another parishioner, Arthur Eith, who claimed to be investing the money in Nigeria.

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The plea agreement lists 43 victims who gave Marr money. Only 13 of them, representing a combined $117,318, have requested restitution.