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Posted on 05/14/2011 4:54:31 AM PDT by Gamecock
WASHINGTON — A volunteer..has been charged with sexually abusing an autistic child.
Alvaro Daniel Guzman, 25, was charged with indecency with a child over a February 2010 incident at a Lakewood Church activities program for special needs children, according to local media reports in Houston. The arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday but Guzman is still free.
Lakewood is a Protestant "megachurch" run by pastor Joel Osteen, whose weekend services draw more than 40,000 people. Osteen's television ministry is broadcast in dozens of countries.
Guzman allegedly fondled an 8-year-old autistic boy while he helped him climb into a play structure. Another adult volunteer allegedly witnessed the event and reported it to church officials and authorities.
The arrest warrant was issued this week. As of Saturday, Guzman was not in custody, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Guzman had passed a criminal background check, according to the church. It said there were three adult volunteers in the Champions Club room at the time of the incident, which occurred during a church service.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Another adult volunteer allegedly witnessed the event and reported it to church officials and authorities.The arrest warrant was issued this week. As of Saturday, Guzman was not in custody, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Lakewood Church, in a statement posted on its web site, said Guzman was "immediately removed" from volunteer services and that state authorities were "notified immediately."
Interesting that when this was discovered they didn't quietly transfer him to another megachurch.
Now for other news..........Mega President accused of gay affairs, shadowed by murders of his ex-lovers and trysts with hard-core communists.....continues to occupy the WH....
We had a latino by the name of Guzman here in our town
here in mid-Tn...he was taken back to Houston for
bashing in a 10 yo`s head 11 yrs ago
For those who say it is only Catholics.....huh! So there.
Public school teachers do this all the time. Men. Women. Yeah, it sometimes makes the news but the media doesn’t imply that public education is broken and needs to be shutdown. However, when it happens at some kind of religious institution it always seems to be a general condemnation of the whole institution, not just the sicko who was actually involved. Weird, huh?
Perhaps a Satanist infiltrating the church to damage it? It has been know to happen. Google “Presidio affair”.
That's it? No way in the world would I ever vote to convict based on this "evidence". The guy was helping a kid get on on a play structure. If he wanted to fondle kids, he wouldn't be doing it doing this in front of other adults in a very public area.
I hope you don't believe that.
You’d vote to convict based only on what’s in the article?
If so, it’s people like you that sat on juries in all the false abuse cases in the past. Not saying the guy didn’t do anything, but you’ve got to have more than that for a conviction.
That is the way we handle sin GC , bring it to the light ... That gives the sinner time to repent and keeps the church children safe ..
Who said that? Not me.
What I have said is the Roman Catholic Church has, at some level, fostered the abuse of children by moving those engaged in this sin from one parish to another. No church discipline, no involvement of the authorities. Just moved priests who rape children from one unsuspecting house of worship to another.
I have no love lost for the above mentioned church, but they did the right thing.
I didn’t see anyone saying Osteen’s church should be shut down for this.
I can say it needs to be shut down for other reasons, but not that....
I'm all for punishing criminals. But I see some cases where people use individual crimes as a lever to fight Christianity. If they can do that, then I would want to end government schools because Ms Suzy in Baton Rouge slept with a kid on the football team.
Articles like this do not belong in the Religion Forum. This is a crime story, period. The victims happen to be children, churches, congregations, Christianity, and ultimately Jesus.
Huh?? No one has said that ...what is significant about the Catholic issue is that there was a conspiracy at the highest level of Catholicism to cover up and deny the abuse and thus to foster the continuation of it by their actions..
Ya think?
When starting new threads, and selecting the topic line, the following option is given: Current Events. Which is defined as: Religion or religion-related news of the day.
This happened in a church, that makes it religion related news.
“Guzman allegedly fondled an 8-year-old autistic boy while he helped him climb into a play structure. Another adult volunteer allegedly witnessed the event and reported it to church officials and authorities.”
That statement is very vague and I can see where a perfectly innocent physical contact could be misconstrued in such a circumstance. How likely is it that someone would inappropriatly fondle a child in the presence of witnesses?
I would take no joy if any church employee or pastor truly was guilty of sexual abuse.
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