On January 6, 2015, the Paso Robles police department in California charged a Jehovah’s Witness, Steven Martin Lindhorst, 51, with the following offenses:

Lewd act with a child under 14 years of age (felony), possession of child pornography (felony), possession of explicit child pornography (felony), posting intimate photos of another without consent (misdemeanor).

Lt. Tim Murphy said Thursday that officers received information on Jan. 6 from “a concerned family member” of Steven Martin Lindhorst, alleging that Lindhorst was in possession of child pornography on his personal computer.

Church leaders refused to co-operate with a police investigation into a sex attack by one of their congregation on a teenage girl.

Jehovah’s witness Paul Atkin has now been jailed for five years after admitting to sexual activity with a 15-year-old

A MAN who was sexually abused by his stepfather when he was a boy has told how the ordeal had long- lasting effects.

Nick French, 42, was tormented by Gary Moscrop, inset below, as a boy growing up in Brighton, including sexual abuse and psychological cruelty. Last Wednesday, his abuser was finally convicted of the historical offences after Mr French stood up in front of a jury to recount the abuse, which happened in Brighton and Sussex between 1979 and 1985.

Silentlambs has reported multiple scandals involving the JW.org/WTBSB (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society Britian) in the United Kingdom. In 2010 an article discussed the close relationship of Ronald Drage (who served as chairman of the Board WTBSB) with a convicted elder child molester that served at the Mill Hill Bethel Branch called Michael Porter. Porter was eventually prosecuted for molesting multiple children including an infant.

Faith is a deeply personal experience, and I don't say this as a politically correct sound bite. I truly believe that I'm lucky to live in a country that values the right of its citizens to freely practice religion if they so choose. However, as a criminal prosecutor, I am repeatedly faced with situations in which people forsake reason for faith or forsake faith for reason.

A DEVASTATED mother has spoken of her pain after a Jehovah’s Witness elder was jailed for the systematic sexual abuse of her young daughter.

David Dennis, aged 60, was handed a 12-year prison sentence after admitting 23 counts of indecent assault and sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl, committed over an eight-year period.

A TRUSTED senior figure in Bournemouth Jehovah’s Witness community raped and sexually abused children over a period of nearly 17 years, a court heard yesterday.

Barry Furlong, a former fireman, attacked four girls – the youngest aged just five – who didn’t report what had happened to them for many years because they feared they would not be believed, Bournemouth Crown Court was told.

Two people who say that as children they were sexually abused by a leader in a Hillsboro Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation filed a $10.5 million lawsuit Monday – among the first in Oregon to accuse the religious organization of hiding decades of sexual abuse.

A Jehovah’s Witness elder has been jailed for 12 years at Truro crown court for sexually abusing a young girl over a period of six years
David Dennis, 60 of Chawleigh Close, Gunnislake pleaded guilty to all 25 offences of which he was accused

In Finland the JW.ORG is coming under close scrutiny for obstructing justice in criminal investigations and then shunning victims. This is a world wide practice with JW.ORG and thousands of victims have spoken to media over the last several years to try and hold them accountable for protecting pedophiles while ostracizing victims. The international nature of this problem is calling into the question the leadership of the group called the ‘Governing Body’.

Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to cover up child abuse and use donated funds to pay for their crimes against children. The first lawsuits were filed in May of 2001 on behalf of victims. At that time ten victims came forward and put their lives on the line to establish precedents that would assist future victims to have success in the courts. Many of the first lawsuits failed due to every technicality that Jehovah’s Witness lawyers could exploit. In some cases victims were strung long being told action would be taken until the statue of limitation ran out and then they were told JW.ORG would do nothing. It was only about the money all along for JW.ORG.

Three siblings allege in lawsuits that they were sexually abused by a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization when they were children living in New Haven.

The lawsuits, filed in New Haven Superior Court, allege that the siblings from the Almodovar family were sexually abused over a five-year period starting in 1988 by Orlando Afanador, a "ministerial servant." Their lawyers say it is the first lawsuits filed in Connecticut against the religious organization.

Two bombshell lawsuits filed against the Jehovah's Witnesses allege 'an insidious...epidemic' of child sex abuse within the church with roots at least as far back as the 1980s.

Two sisters in Vermont and a group of three siblings in Connecticut are suing the secretive church, local branches and the 'ministerial servants' they say molested them in the 80s and 90s with no repercussions from church elders, despite both groups having reported the abuse.

The suits are among several that co-attorney Irwin Zalkin says his firm has filed in Connecticut, Vermont and three other states.

"It's difficult to put into words the effect the sexual abuse has had on me," Miranda Lewis said.

Lewis says she suffered at the hands of a leader at the Bellows Falls congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Throughout my life, I have struggled with depression, anxiety, self-identity and countless other issues that I now realize stem from my sexual abuse," she said.

Lewis, now 23, says she was sexually abused when she was 5. Her sister Annessa, now 27, says she was also abused by the same person when she was 4.

For some time, the policies of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Society regarding the handling of child abuse have been problematic and troubling to many.

Watchtower claims that they cannot take action against an abuser when only one witness (the abused) makes an accusation, on the grounds that doing so would be in conflict with Bible principles requiring two witnesses to an act of wrongdoing. The key verses cited in this regard as are follows:

When the BBC program Panorama did an expose on child abuse within Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2002, a letter was sent to all congregations ordering member to not watch the program. Why? If members were to discover the rampant protection of sexual deviants they would be outraged against leadership. The way to keep members quiet was to pretend the problem did not exist. JW PR issued this statement

Help silentlambs.org

Would you like to help silentlambs?

The following are posters and brochures you can download for local distribution

Redesigned flyers to educate the public about child abuse!

Remorseless: Mark Sewell, 53, abused girls as young as 12 at his Jehovah's Witness church congregation in Barry near Cardiff, Wales, in a string of attacks that spanned eight years

A Jehovah’s Witness elder has been jailed for 14 years for sexually abusing girls as young as 12.

Mark Sewell, 53, raped one woman in his congregation in Barry, near Cardiff, leaving her pregnant.

He also molested one girl and abused two others in a string of attacks that spanned eight years.

The readers of Christianity Today have taught the magazine a lesson—they know more about child sexual abuse then its editors do.

Last Monday, CT published an article on its Leadership Journal website written by an unnamed pastor who is serving time in prison on sexual abuse charges. The article, entitled “From Youth Minister to Felon: My spiral of sin destroyed my life and ministry,” was intended to prevent abuse. Instead, however, it showed that CT editors can be just as insensitive to victims of abuse as many religious leaders have been.

A high-ranking Jehovah's Witness "bribed" a schoolgirl to kiss him by offering her alcohol, a court heard today.

Businessman Mark Sewell, 53, denies a dozen historic sex charges against girls and women in a period spanning more than a decade.

Today the first of Sewell's alleged victims - who was as young as 10 when she claims Sewell would kiss her on the lips and caress her back while wearing nothing but his underpants - told jurors at Merthyr Crown Court he would offer to give her alcohol in exchange for a kiss.