US Grand Jury Reportedly Probing Jehovah’s Witnesses Over Alleged Child Sex Abuse Cover-Ups
A former Jehovah’s Witness claims a Pennsylvania grand jury is investigating the Christian denomination’s leadership over allegations of failing to carry members’ reports of child sex abuse to the authorities in recent decades.
Mark O’Donnell, a 52-year-old former Jehovah’s Witness who left the religion after 30 years, revealed to USA Today last week that the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office has launched an investigation regarding the governing Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s alleged cover-up of child sex crimes within the denomination.
While Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office expressed that they “cannot confirm nor deny” the investigation’s existence, O’Donnell provided USA Today with a copy of the grand jury subpoena, which is dated June 11, 2019.
According to O’Donnell’s February 8 article on JWSurvey, a website which publishes content critiquing the religion’s inner workings, he first testified in front of 23 grand jurors on August 22, 2019, for over two hours regarding subjects ranging from his personal history with Jehovah’s Witnesses to the governing body and its network’s protocol for handling sex abuse allegations.
“They made it clear that they wanted to go to the top of the organization,” the 52-year-old told Reveal News. “That even if an organization is headquartered in another state or country, they were not going to let it be a barrier to their investigation.”
https://sputniknews.com/us/202002101078280312-us-grand-jury-reportedly-probing-jehovahs-witnesses-over-alleged-child-sex-abuse-cover-ups/