IN - Allegations of child abuse at Hephzibah House, Winona Lake, 2018

[disgruntled]

How about talking with Jeff Anderson the attorney who has taken on clergy, mainly the Catholic church,

http://www.andersonadvocates.com

Jeff Anderson did contact me and said if I can find one person who saw or can testify to hormones actually being put in our food or heard someone say they were giving us hormones he would take that case pro-bono. We know the hormones were there on the premises, lots of witnesses to that, but it is simply a logical guess that hormones must have been given to get the sudden cessation of every girls period no matter her maturity, BMI, development. In fact every doctor I talked to said it had to be given in very high doses to get such a universal result. We also know that Williams had a background in cattle farming on a large ranch and experience with managing eustrus in livestock for breeding and synching breeding. We also know that Williams worked for the CDC as a public health official reaching out to sex workers and drug users to use birth control and get screening for STDs before he started Hephzibah House. I remember Williams talked about Prostitutes using the pill without a break to stop their cycles back in the 80's when no one else really seemed to know about that. Sadly, this seems damning, but it is circumstantial at this point.

 

[disgruntled]

This is one way to take them down. Get that doctor investigated, and maybe he'll sing like a bird about what's going on.

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We found one doctor that was used in the early 80's, An old missionary doctor who was a friend of Williams, but he died. The next doctor Williams used was tracked down but was either dead or unable to communicate. His son wrote to us and said his father would never give private in house pelvic exams to restrained crying girls. Dozens of victims can identify him though. We contacted the clinic and requested records. Some girls got very standard records of these exams and records of the bills sent to their parents insurance companies. As if they were in some way perfectly typical exams given with consent in a doctors office.

 

[disgruntled]

I’ve been trying to think of who could be contacted do some investigative work on what’s going on at HH? According to the Anderson Cooper piece, sadly it seems that local and state LE/government hands are tied as these people are being protected by their *religion*.
So maybe the best bet would be reporting them to a team of investigative reporters that specializes in investigating and exposing these types of cases?

The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team consists of six reporters and other staffers who join the team from time to time for special projects.

“Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests.” They’ve also investigated and exposed many other cases over the years besides the priest sex abuse case.

The team can be contacted confidentially at the link below.
https://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/tips/


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Excellent! I will contact them today.

 

[disgruntled]

I agree with Gitana about the how the letter needs to be written. How the letter opens is crucial to getting their attention. I highly suggest running it by Gitana or me (preferably both) prior to sending it.

I write to grab attention on a regular basis through fundraising newsletters for abused animals. I have an MA in English, but I also took PR and marketing classes and worked in PR for a bit, as well as lots of writing classes. So I can help. Gitana has a legal background, and is also a really good writer in general, as you can see from her posts over time.

Often you have one shot - the first sentence or two - to grab the attention of editors.

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I would appreciate any help and input. I am ridiculously uneducated and quite busy with many school age children still at home. I have recurring nightmares that flare up badly when things like the Turpin children come to light or I delve into the Hephzibah House thing deeply. Last night, every time I woke up I tried to work out how to start this letter. The start is the most important thing. So far I have not come up with anything I like.

 

[osu]

This is a great idea. It is actually AMA (standing for Ask Me Anything), not IMA. But people typically start by saying "I am a..."



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Oh, you are so right! It is AMA.


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[bestill]

I've thought of air dropping flyers to the girls informing them of their rights and that there are people out here waiting to help them. Megaphones?

You could use a drone and maybe get an aerial photographer to do some shots at a time you know there's activity.

I don't know that Pence would say anything. His whole thing is the religious right, and he won't want to intervene or say a word that might upset his base, not when the presidency is within a stone's throw for him.

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The president signed this executive order in December and his administration is cracking down on human trafficking. Reaching out to both sides would be a good thing. The democrats will bite because they would love to embarrass the administration and the republicans will react because of that. This may be a great time to reach them.

POTUS executive order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presiden...volved-serious-human-rights-abuse-corruption/

 

[disgruntled]

Disgruntled, just to head off any issues since this is not in the private forum, we probably ought to get you verified as an insider on this case in websleuths.

Here's how to do that:

I'm just waiting to hear back from them

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167277

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I am just waiting to hear back from them.

 

[Hope4More]

Dear Disgruntled:

First of all, you write beautifully well. Your first post detailing your horrific experiences was exceptionally eloquent and powerful. Please don't doubt your ability to either write well, or to move your audience. You can and you do.

Second. I agree with Gitana and those who think seizing upon the Turpin story to draw attention to this HH obscenity is a great idea.

The caveat to that , though, is that the Turpin story won't stay in the headlines for much longer, imo, before there is a long pre-trial (or plea settlement) stretch of relative headline silence.

A larger "hook," and one that has already demonstrated staying power & the power to topple what once seemed immovable, is the "MeToo" movement. (I'm not suggesting this as a political statement, btw).

Many women activists see MeToo as a movement that can (and is) much larger than a campaign against sexual harassment, or even rape. It is and can be a campaign for the right of women to speak up about many ways in which men use their power to abuse women.

How about making this kind of connection:

"Many women are speaking up to say "Me Too," and those words, unspoken for too long, are shaking the foundations of power from Hollywood to Washington.

But what of girls and young women who are being abused by men of power, right now, who are not free to speak those words?........."

The Turpin case can readily be linked to a MeToo argument.....as in, if it's against the law for parents to abuse their power over their children to harm them, how can it possibly be justifiable to ever allow other adults with power over children to harm them, for young girls to be subjected to abusive, degrading, & soul destroying "discipline" by men whose power goes unchallenged?"....

Last. One obvious possible very sympathetic media source came to mind for you (or someone else) to approach: The Intercept. This is their kind of story.

 

[LostOldUserName]

Just an idea... Maybe a tweet to the Lady who played Nellie (I think this is right) who was outraged over the Turpin Children. Something to the effect of "real life abuse still happening #Hephzibahhouse ( I don't really use twitter so I am not sure how it works)

 

[scandinavian girl]

Just an idea... Maybe a tweet to the Lady who played Nellie (I think this is right) who was outraged over the Turpin Children. Something to the effect of "real life abuse still happening #Hephzibahhouse ( I don't really use twitter so I am not sure how it works)

Allison Arngrim, I have no knowledge of twitter either but I do know my little house on the prairie

 

[Betty P]

I have made friends with enough locals that want to help. My children are getting old enough that I have considered protesting and handing out flyers right on the HH property. Williams would have me hauled off for trespassing right away, but maybe if I resisted peaceful~just sat down and refused to leave. I might get handcuffed and arrested. *gulp* but maybe that would get some attention on the problem. The courthouse has allowed us to hand out flyers several times right in the town square. The people were very receptive. Most had no idea HH was right there. Some came and told me about weird and terrible things they had seen or heard over the years.

This might not be a bad idea, especially if you could get regional and national news coverage. You could see about getting a group of protestors to stand across the road or at an adjacent property. Sometimes, nearby property owners will be sympathetic. I'm thinking of some of the anti-war protests at the beginning of the Iraq War, when protestors had permission from property owners nearby President Bush's retreat/home in rural Texas.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.91fkxCff08E#imgrc=_

It will probably help more to get attention and support from outside Indiana. The state leaders & news media appear to have ignored this problem for quite some time. The social media suggestions (Reddit AMA) may also help.

 

[Hope4More]

Disgruntled- is it accurate that Williams has made substantial donations to "ultra-conservative" elected reps in Indiana?

In your years-long activism & research, have you uncovered & documented a pattern of major political donations by the owners of other private "religious" "correctional" institutions to their elected reps?

I doubt it's possible to shame reps in Indiana (sorry if that's offensive to anyone) about receiving donations from the likes of Williams, but if you can demonstrate a broader pattern beyond Indiana, that might be another angle to present to investigative journalists for them to pursue ("Campaign donations to legislators by owners of these institutions for girls has helped ensure the abuse goes unscrutinized and unchecked.")

 

[Midge Montana]

I think that a letter to Dr. Phil would be an excellent idea.
I can totally see him digging into this, and we all know that he has an audience in the millions, the most watched TV show out there.

 

[ocgrad]

So let me get this straight. We can go into other countries to intervene on behalf of children who are treated like this, and we can fight to have institutions across the world such as these shut down, but we can’t police it in our own backyard? There has got to be some sort of government institution that would be in charge of such facilities. We need to find out who that might be, and be a thorn in their side.

I was thinking the same thing. We do not allow Sharia Law, clitorectomy, etc because it is abuse, even though we respect religious freedom. Abuse at HH and similar homes should not be protected under religious liberty. Even Indiana's Religious Liberty Law was not enough to hold up as a defense for someone beating their own child. I cannot believe a group home would be given any more protection under the law.

 

[disgruntled]

Addressing this to Gitana and disgruntled specifically:

I know that one of the state reps in Indiana has been contacted and says he won't do anything more to regulate religious schools in the state.

But back to striking while the iron is hot, with the Turpin case fresh in everyone's minds, maybe we should write to others in the Indiana state legislature. Are there any democrats? (I'm not making this political, but the fact is that we need to approach someone who is not dependent on the religious right for reelection.) Or are there any who clearly have an interest in children's issues?

Right now would be the time to put a bug in their ear about new legislation regarding some kind of oversight.

I know when I was researching homeschooling, I found a pro-homeschool site that talked about wanting to push for at least some regulations. They mentioned what various states do and do not have, which ones they believe take it too far or not far enough in terms of oversight.

I believe we could look at some of the homeschool oversight regulations in various states as a jumping off point to suggest kinds of legislation that could be introduced to create some oversight for these private religious schools.

I don't want to say, hey Gitana, you do this. But I'm thinking you might be the most capable of writing this kind of letter with disgruntled as a co-signer.

Ultimately, yes, we need to expose and shut down this school. But we also need to look at the big picture and come up with ways to prevent the ones we don't know about from continuing in the same way. And that has to be done through state legislation.

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Karlee Macer 9th District D is not from the district where Hephzibah House is, but she is a strong child advocate. She met with One of the young women who got out of HH most recently 2009 if I remember right. I was supposed to be there, but my daughter got pneumonia. She seemed to give us the brush off for almost a year, first she promised to meet with us when the legislative session ended, then she was on vacation. I had written her off when I got a call from someone helping me who works in Indiana that she would see us Dec 27th. Poor Mary had to go without me. She was terrified, but did a great job and Ms Macer was very interested in helping us. It would be nice if she got a bunch of feedback from people encouraging her to pursue this further. I'd love it if she were buried in messages from concerned citizens. Indiana knows about Hephzibah House and Ron Williams. It is time they did something to protect those children. It is time they quit looking the other way.

 

[disgruntled]

Disgruntled- is it accurate that Williams has made substantial donations to "ultra-conservative" elected reps in Indiana?

In your years-long activism & research, have you uncovered & documented a pattern of major political donations by the owners of other private "religious" "correctional" institutions to their elected reps?

I doubt it's possible to shame reps in Indiana (sorry if that's offensive to anyone) about receiving donations from the likes of Williams, but if you can demonstrate a broader pattern beyond Indiana, that might be another angle to present to investigative journalists for them to pursue ("Campaign donations to legislators by owners of these institutions for girls has helped ensure the abuse goes unscrutinized and unchecked.")

Williams is quite wealthy and very involved in IN politics. His granddaughter is married to Charles Wesley whose brother is or was a state rep in IN. Two or three of Williams boys are police officers. Williams always bragged to us that he was friends with the local police and he was right. Amy Krueger's story is a harrowing example of how he could work the system, even when Amy managed to escape Hephzibah house and run to the police dept where she showed them her buttocks which had 3" deep scars and bruising from beatings so bad her bottom was reduced to hamburger for months. They took pictures as evidence and then released Amy BACK TO THE CUSTODY OF RON WILLIAMS.

It is Tim Wesco that is the state Rep. His brother is married to Ron Williams granddaughter Stephanie. Dave Wolkins is the state Rep who is Ron Williams buddy.

 

[scandinavian girl]

didn´t suceed to get a link

I just had to google Hephzibah, it sounded so biblical and ancient. Translated from the original Hebrew, Hephzibah literally means, “My delight is in her.” In this case that made me cringe.

 

[Doghairrules]

Let me know if you need any help. I'll be glad to call, too.

Can a report be made to CPS? Who actually has jurisdiction over the welfare of these kids?

 

[disgruntled]

didn´t suceed to get a link

I just had to google Hephzibah, it sounded so biblical and ancient. Translated from the original Hebrew, Hephzibah literally means, “My delight is in her.” In this case that made me cringe.

I know, right?? makes me shudder.

 

[Margo/Mom]

Any ideas of what can be done?

I do believe that legislative action is required. Indiana seems to be particularly lax when it comes to regulation of schools and other institutions that claim a religious connection. When I first became aware of HH, I was following another child abuse/neglect case that had a strong religious component to it.

There have been a number of similar institutions following a similar pattern and going back decades. They tend to have two sources of funding. One is support from churches where congregations earnestly believe that the places are doing good work to save lost souls (orphans, unwed teens, children on the wrong track, children who are gay). And the other is "tuition" paid by desperate parents who also earnestly believe that their child can be straightened out. From time to time there are news stories, which sometimes lead to changes in state laws, prompting some places to simply move to another state. Others start up outside the US.

Indiana finally shut down/drove out one such "residential facility" that was actually receiving public money through court-ordered referrals (I am thinking it was Gotherd operated).

The religious angle frequently gets a lot of people all stirred up when their are regulatory attempts. I think that there have even been attempts to get federal legislation. Perhaps what will be required in the end is to get support from multiple denominations who oppose maltreatment of children. The cause of many legitimate religious schools and facilities is NOT well-served by setting them outside of legal regulation of the health and safety of their facilities, reasonable staffing criteria (including background checks), etc.

My understanding of where things stand for HH and similar facilities is that unless there is probable cause to suspect abuse or maltreatment, which can trigger a warrant, LE cannot even enter without the permission of the facility.

We do need to do better.