Iglesia De Dios Ebenezer, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Legal, Australia, Podcast, Rajneeshpuram
Los Angeles Times: California SoCal pastor molested girls in church basement for years. Now he'll spend decades behind bars.
" ... Carlos Ramirez Valdez was sentenced to 45 years to life for molesting girls as young as 4 from 2012 to 2019.
Valdez exploited his position as an Orange County church leader to gain access to victims, whom he assaulted in a basement, his van, and a backyard shed, prosecutors say.
A former Orange County pastor will spend decades behind bars after he used his trusted position as a spiritual leader to molest girls as young as 4 over the course of eight years, according to authorities.
Carlos Ramirez Valdez, 61, assaulted three children in places such as a church basement, his van, and a backyard shed, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors say he met the victims while he was a church leader at Iglesia De Dios Ebenezer in Santa Ana and was hired as a pastor at another Santa Ana church, International Mission Church USA, before he was arrested in 2021.
His abuses took place from 2012 to 2019, prosecutors said.
One girl was molested by Valdez for seven years, starting when she was just 4 years old, prosecutors said. Valdez was accused of repeatedly assaulting the girl in a church basement and in his van.
She ultimately reported the abuse to a school counselor.
In 2020, another girl came forward to police in Garden Grove and reported that Valdez had sexually abused her in 2014 and 2015 when he offered to give her a ride home from church, prosecutors said. She was 9 years old at the time of the abuse.
A third victim reportedly told Riverside police in 2020 that Valdez had repeatedly sexually assaulted her in a backyard shed for eight months when she was 7 and 8 years old, prosecutors said.
Valdez was convicted this summer of 11 felony counts of lewd acts with a minor under 14 and three felony counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 or younger, prosecutors said. He was sentenced on Friday to 45 years to life in prison.
Investigators shared some of the tactics they say Valdez used to lure his victims into vulnerable places during testimony at his preliminary hearing, according to City News Service. He told one victim to come into his van because he needed to comb her hair or required help with something, authorities said, and then would proceed to molest her.
He was also accused of showing one of the victims an adult film while he assaulted her at his Riverside home, according to City News Service.
"Churches should be safe sanctuaries, not hunting grounds for child molesters," Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "These young girls were subjected to unimaginable abuse by someone in a position of trust. The sexual exploitation of children will never be acceptable, and predators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The Guardian: Australia's growing cult crisis
"Guardian Australia's daily news podcast examines why more people are falling prey to cults and whether the current laws are strong enough to help vulnerable people who might be lured in.
Victoria correspondent Benita Kolovos speaks to Reged Ahmad about why more 'modern' cults are using new methods to recruit and promising 'simple answers to complex problems'."
WGTC: A cult in Oregon tried to sway a local election with a bioterror attack, giving hundreds of locals food poisoning
The Rajneeshee cult hatched a plan to rig a local election by using Salmonella.
"In the 1980s, a commune was set up in an isolated region of Oregon. Followers of the spiritual leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moved from India to a 64,000-acre plot of farmland and soon developed their own community, much to the locals' vexation. Over time, tensions arose between the two groups, leading to an incident which has since been dubbed the Rajneeshee bioterror attack.
The community, named Rajneeshpuram, had a population of roughly 2,500; however, the population would often swell to around 15,000 during festivals. On the land were a hospital, water and sewage services, a police force, and even a shopping mall. However, local Oregonians took issue with how land on the former ranch was being used.
Paranoia within the commune grew as both sides became increasingly antagonistic towards each other. The cult grew, taking over more land and conquering the nearby town of Antelope, renaming it Rajneesh. They also drove out older residents with higher taxes and intimidation.
The Rajneeshee cult continued to expand, but the Oregon Supreme Court put a dent in their plans by canceling Rajneesheepuram's incorporation as an official city in Oregon. The cult decided that the best solution was to continue their expansion, but this time they would be a lot more aggressive.
After taking control of Antelope, the Rajneeshees realized they could control the entirety of Wasco County if they won two of the three judgeship positions on the three-member governing board. Of course, the Rajneeshees would be hugely outnumbered by the locals, so a plan was hatched to rig the election.
In 1984, the plan was hatched to make voters too ill to head to their nearest polling station. The Rajneesh Medical Corporation within the commune turned its resources into developing a strain of Salmonella.
They tested it by giving contaminated water to Oregon officials who visited the ranch, with one county judge becoming so sick he was hospitalized and almost died. Salmonella was also spread on doorknobs, urinals in government buildings, and even sprinkled over food in salad bars.
In September 1984, several teams were assembled to infiltrate restaurants across the county and infect as many people as possible. The first cases of food poisoning were recorded on September 9, but the link between the Rajneeshee cult and the sickness wasn't discovered until much later."
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