NE- More child sexual abuse victims come forward
For immediate release: Thursday, October 02, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])
A man who was convicted of child sex crimes in Nebraska is being sued for more such offenses in Connecticut. We are grateful to the brave survivors who have come forward and are demanding justice not just from the alleged perpetrator, but also from the religious organization.
Orlando Afanador, who is on the sex offender registry for sexually abusing a boy in Nebraska, allegedly abused at least 4 more children when he was an ordained minister with Jehovah’s Witnesses at the time of the abuse.
We are grateful that more victims have found the courage to speak up and expose a potentially dangerous individual and an organization that allegedly did not due their due diligence to keep children safe. We suspect that there are others in Nebraska and Connecticut who were assaulted by Afanador and are still suffering in silence, shame and self-blame. We hope they will find the courage to step forward, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.
Jehovah’s Witness officials should immediately reach out to anyone else who may have been hurt by Afanador.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])
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