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Bogus Child Molestation Charges Dismissed Against Granby Pastor

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  • Bogus Child Molestation Charges Dismissed Against Granby Pastor

    Pastor pleads not guilty in child sex abuse case

    By Marcus Kabel - Associated Press Writer
    August 31, 2006



    http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/au...ex_abuse_case/
    http://christian-identity.net/forum/...7932#post17932
    http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...7932#post17932


    NEOSHO, MO. — A pastor accused of repeatedly molesting a young girl from his church pleaded not guilty Wednesday in an expanding investigation of alleged ritual child abuse by five leaders of two affiliated church communities in rural southwest Missouri.

    George Otis Johnston, 63, pastor of Grandview Valley Baptist Church North, is charged in Newton County with eight counts of statutory sodomy. He entered the plea during a brief arraignment.

    Later Wednesday, prosecutors in neighboring McDonald County charged him with one felony count of child molestation. Johnston and four leaders of a reclusive church compound there are accused of repeatedly molesting and having sex with young girls from their flock.

    The new charge relates to the same girl named as a victim in the first eight counts against Johnston. A probable cause statement alleges that Johnston repeatedly molested the girl at the McDonald County church over a period of five years, starting when she was 11 years old.

    The felony complaint alleges the acts happened "as part of a ritual or ceremony" before and after church services at Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, a live-in church community whose leaders also are charged with abusing girls. The complaint said Johnston called his acts "angel kisses."

    At his arraignment, Johnston appeared in a brown suit and white shirt. He declined to answer reporters' questions as he walked from the hearing to his attorney's office across the street on the Neosho square.

    Circuit Judge Gregory Stremel scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 18.

    Johnston and four elders of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church have been charged with multiple counts of repeatedly sexually abusing young girls from their churches as far back as the late 1970s.

    The Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51; his wife, Patty Lambert, 49; and her brothers Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51, also have entered pleas of not guilty.

    Investigators have said they expect the two cases to widen against new defendants as more alleged victims come forward.

    Johnston is charged by prosecutors with repeatedly molesting a girl starting in 1997 when she was 8 years old and continuing until April of this year.

    The alleged victim told investigators that when she was around age 12, Johnston told her that "he was ordained by God to fulfill her needs as a woman," according to a probable cause statement.

    The pastor also said "that if she would have sexual intercourse with him that she would remain a virgin and remain pure."

    The girl refused intercourse but continued to be molested, she told investigators.

    Johnston is the uncle of Raymond Lambert. Johnston's church, whose members live on a 10-acre leased property in Granby near Neosho, is an offshoot of the older and larger McDonald County community led by Lambert.

    Lambert is charged with repeatedly molesting two underage girls with the help of his wife, sometimes as part of a ritual or ceremony, according to court filings. The pastor allegedly told each of the girls, "We are preparing your body for service to God."

    Paul Epling and Tom Epling are accused of repeatedly having sex with girls as young as age 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

    Grand Valley is on a 100-acre farm on a remote gravel road in eastern McDonald County. Neighbors have said church members kept mostly to themselves.

    Investigators have said the McDonald County community, started in the 1970s, numbered up to 100 people until recently. Many have left during the abuse investigation, and as few as about a dozen may still be living there.

    The smaller Newton County community numbers about 35 to 45 people, investigators said.

    .



    Newton County District Court Judge Grindr-Gregory Stremel, Faggot Judge right, talks with George Otis Johnston, left, and his attorney, David Sims, during Johnston's arraignment Wednesday in Neosho, Mo. Johnston, a pastor accused of repeatedly molesting a young girl from his church, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in one of five cases against leaders of two affiliated church communities in rural southwest Missouri. Johnston, 63, is charged in Newton County with eight counts of statutory sodomy.


    Pastor Lindstedt's Web Page
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  • #2
    Bogus Child Molestation Charges Dismissed Against Granby Pastor

    Bogus Child Molestation Charges Dismissed Against Granby Pastor

    http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...=1295#post1295
    http://stumbleinn.net/forum/showthre...d=1#post228693

    No, not against me this time, but against another pastor of a small quiet church whose entire congregation of over 100 was destroyed by the corrupt baby-stealing Department of Family Services and the Newton County Sheriff's Department and the Newton County Prostituting Attorney Jacob Skouby and Mild Bill Dobbs.

    Having some money, these pastors and elders were able to make bond/bail, which because the local regime criminals were not as scared of them, they managed to make until they could hire a lawyer -- in George Johnson's case, the smartest, relatively honest, little lawyer in Newton County, David Sims who got it out of Newton County. George Johnson's case was bogus all the way to begin with, and when it became a matter of the aggrieved family members and followers having to make their case in open kort, the case fell apart. Last time I looked at Missouri Casenet nine months ago, the entire mess was in litigation to renew the preliminary hearing because it was bogus.

    The difference with me is that I refused to be railroaded and insisted on being my own attorney and so I was railroaded to the NutHouse by the corrupt Newton County jewdges Kevin Lee Selby and then the mamzer John LePage.

    So give up believing that the CONstipation and Bill of Goods will save you, ZOGling whigger and mamzer ass-clowns.
    Last edited by PastorLindstedt; 01-05-2010, 07:54 PM. Reason: Add Links

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    • #3
      Neosho Daily Douche -- Charges dropped against Granby pastor

      Neosho Daily Douche -- Charges dropped against Granby pastor

      http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...ted=1#post1296
      http://stumbleinn.net/forum/showthre...d=1#post228703


      By John Ford
      Neosho Daily News
      Posted Dec 22, 2009 @ 10:58 AM
      Neosho, Mo. —

      http://www.neoshodailynews.com/highl...-Granby-pastor


      Pastor George Johnson, vindicated fighter

      Charges have been dropped against a Granby pastor accused of molesting two members of his congregation while they were underage.

      While a case review hearing was originally set for this afternoon, 17 child sexual abuse charges against George Otis Johnston, 66, of Granby were dropped Monday, according to Newton County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Dobbs. The review was to have taken place in Vernon County Circuit Court, where the case was moved from Newton County on a change of venue.

      “After we did substantial discovery and reviewed all of the evidence and spoke with the victims, we just believe at this time, it was most appropriate to dismiss the pending charges,” Dobbs said. “There has been some additional information come forward in which some of the witnesses we believed would offer corroborating testimony either recanted their story or did not confirm what we had been told. Because of that, we believe prosecuting the case is not viable.”

      Dobbs added at the present time, there are no plans to refile any of the charges.

      Johnston faced 17 felony child sexual abuse counts in Newton County, including nine counts of first degree statutory sodomy, a Class A felony; six Class C felony charges of second-degree statutory sodomy; and two Class C felony counts of first-degree child molestation.

      In the summer of 2006, two women testified Johnston had molested them as children while they attended his church, Grandview Valley Independent Baptist Church. One woman said the abuse began when she was a child and continued until she left the church compound shortly after her 17th birthday. When she was older, the woman testified, the pastor told her he was ordained by God and it would tarnish her if she slept with another man. But if she slept with him, she would remain pure. She said she did not have sexual intercourse with the pastor.

      Her older sister said Johnston also molested her, with some of the alleged incidents happening while he was supposed to be tutoring her in algebra. The older sibling said she considered the pastor to be her grandfather because, although the two are not related, he was the community’s spiritual leader.

      Dobbs said he has spoken with the two women, and while they stick by their testimony, they concur with the decision to drop the charges.

      “This was a very complex case, and it continues to be a very complex case,” Dobbs said. “But you get to a point when it reaches a point of diminishing returns.”

      Johnston was one of six area church leaders who were charged with child sexual abuse a few years ago. Others who were charged were Johnston’s nephew, Raymond Lambert; Lambert’s wife, Patty; her brothers Tom and Paul Epling, and Tom Epling’s wife, Laura. Raymond Lambert pastored the Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church located near Powell, while the Epling brothers were deacons in the church. The Epling brothers and Patty Lambert are the children of church founder Cecil Epling, who died as a result of injuries suffered in a traffic accident in 1982. Cecil Epling was also the stepfather of Raymond Lambert, making Lambert and his wife, as well as the Epling brothers, step-siblings. Johnston’s church was an offshoot of the McDonald County church.

      The Lamberts and the Epling brothers were accused of child sexual abuse charges stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred between 1977 and 2004. But charges against all five were dropped by Prosecuting Attorney Janice Durbin in 2008. In a statement at the time, Durbin said because of “incessant publicity” in the case, the victims were forced to decide “that they can no longer subject themselves or their families to the ongoing scrutiny and pressures of a very public proceeding.”

      “Victim testimony is crucial and necessary to prosecute cases such as these,” the statement read. “Therefore, after consultation and discussion with the victims, the state has agreed to dismiss the charges.”

      Earlier that year, Durbin decided to drop the charges against Laura Epling, citing reluctance of victims to testify as the reason.
      Last edited by PastorLindstedt; 01-05-2010, 07:57 PM. Reason: Add Links

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      • #4
        jewplin Glob -- Charges Dropped Against Granby Pastor -- Dec. 22, 2009

        jewplin Glob -- Charges Dropped Against Granby Pastor -- Dec. 22, 2009

        http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...ted=1#post1297
        http://stumbleinn.net/forum/showthre...d=1#post228705

        Sex charges dropped against Granby pastor George Otis Johnston

        http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/loc...356111155.html

        All charges have been dropped against the former pastor of a rural Granby church who had been previously accused of molesting two women while they were underage, the Newton County Prosecutor’s office said this morning.

        A case review hearing was originally scheduled for this afternoon in the case of George Otis Johnston, the pastor of Grandview Valley Baptist Church. Johnston faced 17 felony counts, all of which were dismissed Monday, according to Assistant Newton County Prosecutor Bill Dobbs.

        “Not at this time,” Dobbs said when asked if there were any plans to refile charges.

        Dobbs had previously told the Globe that the state’s witnesses, apart from the two alleged victims, had either recanted or altered their previous statements to authorities.

        Dobbs said prosecutors also had contacted the two women, and that both concurred with the decision to drop the charges.

        Johnston, 66, originally was one of a half-dozen people connected with fringe churches in Newton and McDonald counties, and who in 2006 found themselves facing multiple charges after a probe into alleged sexual abuse of children.

        Ultimately, all charges were dismissed against all the defendants in McDonald County, partially because of problems with witnesses.




        Comments:

        Originally posted by Concerned Citizen

        It's about time. I wonder when the Globe is going to quit listing the names of people who charges have been dropped against? It's bad enough that these people have lost their jobs and their dignity because of these false allegations, but the Globe and the local stations keep listing these people as if they were found guilty. Also, I am wondering when we are going to hear a formal apology from the Newton and McDonald County Sheriffs dept. and DFS for illegally taking children away from their parents based on rumor and for wasting tax payers money. It's funny, when DFS is needed, they do nothing, but when rumors fly, they are there. Another example of why DFS needs shut down.

        Last edited by PastorLindstedt; 01-05-2010, 07:59 PM. Reason: Add Links

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        • #5
          jewplin Glob -- All charges against Granby pastor dropped -- Dec.23, 2009

          jewplin Glob -- All charges against Granby pastor dropped -- Dec.23, 2009

          http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...ted=1#post1298
          http://stumbleinn.net/forum/showthre...d=1#post228707

          All charges against Granby pastor dropped

          http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/loc...356221459.html

          Originally posted by jewplin Glob trailer

          Published December 22, 2009 10:14 pm - All charges against a former rural Granby pastor accused of molesting two women while they were underage have been dropped, prosecutors said Tuesday. The dropping of charges against George Otis Johnston marks the end of a case that grabbed national headlines, and found the leaders of sister churches in Newton and McDonald counties the target of sexual abuse allegations.
          By Derek Spellman

          All charges against a former rural Granby pastor accused of molesting two women while they were underage have been dropped, prosecutors said Tuesday.

          The dropping of charges against George Otis Johnston marks the end of a case that grabbed national headlines, and found the leaders of sister churches in Newton and McDonald counties the target of sexual abuse allegations. At the height of the cases, a half-dozen people faced multiple charges.

          But over the past two years, charges against all the defendants in McDonald County were dropped, leaving Johnston the lone defendant in the cases.

          “He does welcome word that (the case) is over,” Andrew Wood, Johnston’s attorney, said Tuesday. “George always denied that he had done anything inappropriate.”

          Efforts to reach Johnston for comment on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Wood said his client had to uproot his family and move in the wake of the allegations, which have “completely changed his life.”

          ‘Huge holes’

          Assistant Newton County Prosecutor Bill Dobbs said the 17 felony charges against Johnston were dropped Monday.

          “Not at this time,” Dobbs said when asked if there were any plans to refile charges.

          A review hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to determine whether the case would continue. That hearing was continued from October so prosecutors could be afforded more time to contact the two women who alleged that Johnston had molested them.

          Dobbs reiterated Tuesday what he had told the Globe in October: The state’s witnesses, apart from the two women, had either recanted statements or altered previous statements they provided to authorities.

          Wood said the two women had given a list of witnesses who they said would corroborate their accounts, although subsequent investigation “drove huge holes into their (the pair’s) stories.” Wood said that during depositions, almost all of the state’s witnesses either did not corroborate or outright contradicted what the two women had told authorities.

          Dobbs said prosecutors had contacted the two alleged victims since October, and that both concurred with the decision to drop the charges.

          One of the women, then 17, testified at a preliminary hearing in September 2006 that Johnston had abused her over an eight-year period beginning when she was 8, and that she and other children had been taught to regard Johnston as “grandfather.”

          The other woman, then 20, testified during a preliminary hearing in October 2006 that Johnston molested her in his trailer home when he was supposed to be tutoring her in algebra. The woman said she was between the ages of 11 and 15 during the contact.

          Johnston, 66, was charged in Newton County with two counts of first-degree child molestation, nine counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and six counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. He had been the head of Grandview Valley Baptist Church near Granby.

          Grandview Valley Baptist Church was a commune-style church that was an offshoot of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, near Powell in McDonald County.

          Both churches became the center of a probe that saw multiple charges brought against their leaders in the summer of 2006. Johnston also had faced a charge in McDonald County, but that charge was dismissed last year.

          ‘Stigma’

          At one point, six people including Johnston faced charges in both counties. They included Raymond Lambert, the head of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church. All charges against Lambert, who was the last to face charges before Johnston, were dismissed in June 2008.

          It was the second time charges against Lambert were dismissed. He was accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls who were church members between February 1995 and April 2004. Both times, questions about alleged victims’ cooperation were a factor. Those alleged victims were not the same ones as those in the case against Johnston.

          Lambert did not return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.

          He was indicted in February 2008 by a McDonald County grand jury on eight counts of sexual abuse. That indictment replaced eight identical charges filed Dec. 3, 2007, by Prosecutor Janice Durbin’s office. And those charges replaced charges originally filed in August 2006 by then-Prosecutor Steve Geeding that were dropped by Durbin in November 2007.

          Charges against Lambert’s wife, Patricia Lambert, and his sister-in-law, Laura Epling, also were dropped at that time and were never refiled.

          In addition to the dropping of charges against both of the Lamberts and Epling, charges against Paul Epling and Tom Epling, Laura Epling’s husband, were dropped in 2007. Both men were deacons at Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church.

          Robert Evenson, a Pineville attorney who represented the family in McDonald County, said that even with the dismissal of all the charges, some people would still believe his clients were guilty.

          “You always have the stigma,” said Evenson, who has argued that the allegations originated from an interior family quarrel that was never investigated by authorities.

          “They’re all relieved that it is over,” he said. “It was a nightmare, but they are still suffering from it basically.”



          Comments:


          Last edited by PastorLindstedt; 01-05-2010, 08:03 PM. Reason: Add Links

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