Crime

Harrisburg’s Fox affiliate reports: An Ephrata man is charged with possessing child pornography—and it’s not his first offense. Brandon S. Dasilva, 29, of Ephrata, was also charged in February 2021. Police say they found two images and one video of child pornography on Dasilva’s phone on March 1 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited …

South Carolina’s The State reports: A youth pastor faces new charges of video recording girls — some as young as 14 — in the bathroom of the church he was fired from recently. Daniel Kellan Mayfield, 35, was arrested Saturday and charged with using his phone to video record a woman while she was showering at her mother’s home in …

Reuters reports: An investigation by the Spanish Catholic Church into child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and non-clerical staff has so far identified 728 alleged abusers and 927 victims since the 1940s, according to its first report. “We acknowledge the harm caused,” said Jose Gabriel Vera [photo], the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. “We want to help …

Spartanburg’s CBS affiliate reports: A now-former Upstate youth pastor is accused of videoing a woman while she was showering in Greenwood County. Once deputies arrived on the scene, they spoke with the victim who said while she was taking a shower at her mother’s house, she saw a light outside the bathroom window. She said she got out of the …

The CBC reports: A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl in Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Manitoba RCMP say. Arul Savari, 48, is charged with sexual assault, sexual interference, sexual exploitation of a young person, luring a child and forcible confinement. He remains in custody, Supt. Scott McMurchy, Manitoba acting …

The Roys Report reports: Soul Survivor Watford has formally suspended Mike Pilavachi, founder of a large Christian youth festival in the U.K., who’s facing allegations he spiritually and sexually abused young men under him. The suspension comes amid revelations that ministry leaders in the U.K. knew about allegations concerning Pilavachi for nearly two decades but did nothing. On Saturday, Soul …

Religion News Service reports: Southern Baptists have been dogged by leadership scandals for years. Now they have a different kind of abuse scandal on their hands. James David “Jim” Goldston III, 71, and his wife, Agnes, 73, are accused of poisoning their neighbor’s three dogs. Two of the dogs, Labrador retrievers, died. A veterinarian confirmed that all three dogs were …

The New York Post reports: The family of the homeless man put in a fatal chokehold on the F train by straphanger Daniel Penny plans to file a wrongful-death lawsuit against the former Marine, The Post has learned. The May 1 death of Jordan Neely was caught on video and has sparked a firestorm. Penny — who last week told …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: The Norman Police Department says a caregiver has been arrested after a report of a child under the age of 12 being molested around Christmas time. Officials say they responded to a home in Norman on December 28, 2022, where the original report was made. That caregiver was 45-year-old Christopher Fourcade, who was arrested Thursday …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: A Utah man arrested last year in Idaho with members of a white nationalist group has admitted to possessing child pornography. Jared M. Boyce, 28, of Springville, pleaded guilty in a Utah court last month to nine felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He faces up to 30 years in prison when …

The Roys Report reports: The longtime campus pastor of a Christian college ministry at Baylor University has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of two boys. The crimes allegedly involved convicted sex offender Daniel Savala, who’s at the center of a widening sex scandal involving Chi Alpha Campus Ministries. On Tuesday, authorities in Waco, Texas, arrested Christopher “Chris” Hundl, …

The Fresno Bee reports: A Tulare man was sentenced on Friday to 300 years in prison for molesting a group of children in the late 1990s. Steven Brian Arey was convicted in April on 20 counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. Each count carried the special …

The Catholic news site Crux reports: A new sexual abuse scandal in Italy, featuring a prominent former official of the country’s largest Catholic organization, has raised questions both about responsibility when the alleged offender is a lay person rather than a cleric, and also about when suspicions should be publicly disclosed in an effort to prevent further abuse. Mirko Campoli, …

“Mr. Penny was trained to defend the innocent, his training as a Marine — I think it was probably instinctive when he saw people being threatened and menaced on that train – he sprang into action. He mitigated the threat. “He obviously didn’t intend to kill Mr. Neely, otherwise he wouldn’t have helped the cops perform CPR, as his lawyer …

CNN reports: A New York state judge has set a trial date for Steve Bannon’s fundraising fraud case for May of next year. In a brief court hearing Thursday, the judge said Bannon’s trial would begin May 27, 2024 – roughly two months after former President Donald Trump will be on trial before the same judge, Juan Merchan, in a …

NBC News reports: The 19-year-old Missouri man accused of deliberately driving a rented box truck into a White House barrier allegedly told authorities that he admires Nazis and wanted to “seize power” and “kill the president,” court documents released Tuesday show. Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the U-Haul truck Monday night immediately after flying from St. Louis to …

From the Justice Department: Elie Floradin, 59, the self-described head pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for participating in a fraudulent scheme seeking more than $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Floradin caused an intermediary to …

ABC News reports: The driver of a rented box truck that collided with a security barrier near the White House on Monday who told law enforcement that he wanted to seize power of the government and kill the president was arrested and charged, officials said. The FBI interviewed suspect Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, and told law enforcement …

The New York Times reports: More than 450 credibly accused child sex abusers have ministered in the Catholic Church in Illinois over almost seven decades, the office of the state’s attorney general, Kwame Raoul, said Tuesday in an investigative report. That is more than four times the number that the church had publicly disclosed before 2018, when the state began …

Washington DC’s Fox affiliate reports: Authorities have identified a man who was arrested and charged after he allegedly crashed a U-Haul truck into security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square near the White House Monday. U.S. Park Police say Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, was taken into custody at the scene. Kandula faces multiple charges including …