How to report a Jehovah‘s Witness Child Molester

There is a great concern within the organization among fellow brothers and sisters as to what to do when they find a pedophile in their midst.  The dilemma is further escalated with the policy elders are required to enforce which allows molesters to remain innocent and unknown to fellow members, thus putting their children at risk.  In many cases elders protected their children while following directives on “confidentiality” and allowed other children in the congregation to be molested.  Recently a pioneer sister was removed for simply trying to alert other brothers and sisters to a man that had molested multiple children.  Why? Elders were simply enforcing policy that requires them to silence anyone unless two credible eye witnesses can testify to the guilt of a child molester.  The elder’s hands are tied by this policy and they have little in the way of options to take appropriate action as they are required to obey the directives given by the Service and legal Departments or face removal and possible expulsion.

The Watchtower has had a long standing policy that was actually stated after we required them to.  Any member in good faith can report to authorities the criminal act of child molestation.  You just cannot tell anyone in the congregation or face punishment.  Since the inception of Silentlambs we have helped hundreds of brothers and sisters report pedophiles in their respective congregations without being disciplined or disfellowshipped.  How do you do this? 

Please carefully follow these guidelines for the best results.  The important factor to remember is to make it a matter or record.  When this is done it opens the door for present or future prosecution.  Please understand that not all allegations are prosecuted and your effort may be more making it a matter of record to protect children in the future.  In any event it can remove a tremendous amount of responsibility from your shoulders and allow you to move forward knowing you have done the best you can to see that this person is prosecuted.

The first step is to write a statement with the date, your name and contact information at the top.  Next write the names of all victims involved, the dates, times, and extent of each abuse occurrence.   Include the name of the molester, their address, and where as far as your knowledge they are currently located.  Add the names of anyone else that might know of what happened and their contact information.  Further details as to any elders names involved in the investigation and any other information that relates to the crime should be given.  Sign it. 

Make four copies of this statement and at the bottom make a “cc”.  This means carbon copy of all whom the statement was sent to, after the “cc” write, Service Department Jehovah’s Witnesses, Body of Elders (Name of molesters congregation), and Police Department.  Three copies are sent and the fourth you keep as your personal copy.    Send the letters certified mail with return receipt requested.  Why? On several occasions brothers and sister have written the Service Department about such matters and they will routinely claim they never got the letter, this way they cannot say that.  The Police Department address should be the one in the community where the child molester is currently residing as well as the congregation.  The address of the Service Department is: Watchtower Service Department,
1 Kings Drive, Tuxedo Park NY 10987   

Doing this will require the organization to take action, it will give the police the authority to investigate, it will automatically put the local congregation on notice that there is a molester in their midst, and most importantly is will help you to know you have done all you can do to bring this person to justice.  If you are a former Jehovah’s Witness the same guidelines can apply.  It is never too late to make known a pedophile.  Statistics show the average pedophile will abuse two hundred children in their lifetime.  If you make the report you will be protecting children you will never meet.  We hope this information is helpful and if you need assistance to write the statement or have any questions on how to do this please contact Silentlambs.org  / 877-982-2873 we will be happy to provide support.

If you need help with child custody contact jwdivorce.com