Please Pray for Tina

I'd appreciate it if you would take a few moments and pray for Tina. Most of us can only imagine the stress that a survivor of abuse deals with throughout their entire lives but then imagine that your life is lived in the media for the world to see and that stress just multiplies. Sometimes the story dies down and you can go on to live a semi-normal life but for Tina her life's struggles just keep popping up into the public through the newspapers, courtroom proceedings, Facebook, survivor groups and blogs, religious organizations, and the list goes on. It's very overwhelming.

You may have heard that Ernie is appealing his conviction.
Cached text version of Concord Monitor article

      In the article it says, "Willis’s lawyers, though, believe those conversations should have been off limits, protected by a religious privilege that allows a minister to not disclose confessions made to him in his 'professional character as a spiritual advisor.' On Wednesday, they’ll argue the issue before the state Supreme Court, asking that the justices overturn Willis’s convictions."

Tina needs your prayers. Even though some say it's highly unlikely that the conviction will be overturned, just the chance that it might can really cause some sleepless nights.

Here are some specific things you can pray for.

1. God's peace in Tina's heart.
2. God's wisdom and strength in Tina's life to go through the challenges that she must face.
3. God's healing of Tina's body, soul, and spirit.
4. Wisdom for the State Supreme Court that justice will continue to be served.
5. Whatever else God lays on your heart.

Please pray and I'm sure she could use some words of encouragement.

Thank you for all your prayers. Thank you for your love and concern for our family. It is greatly appreciated.

Daniel Leaf Indicted for His Abuse of Tina Anderson

Daniel Leaf has been indicted for his abuse of his stepdaughter, Tina Anderson, when she was a young child.

"Man named in rape trial now indicted:  Stepfather faces sex assault counts"
by Maddie Hanna on August 23, 2012

A few quotes:

"When she testified last year to being raped and impregnated as a teenager in 1997 by a married man who attended her Concord church, Tina Anderson told jurors she also had been sexually assaulted by her stepfather years earlier. 

Anderson said at trial that her mother and her pastor at Trinity Baptist told her to forgive her stepfather, Daniel Leaf, for the abuse, and he never faced charges in connection with her allegations. 

That changed last week, when a Merrimack County grand jury handed down two aggravated felonious sexual assault indictments charging Leaf with assaulting Anderson between 1990 and 1992, starting when she was 10 years old." 

The topic of "Forgive & Forget" was brought up at the trial of the man who was convicted of raping Tina. You can read more about that here.

Tina's biological mother, Chris Leaf allowed Daniel Leaf back in her home even though he had been imprisoned in Arizona and NH for abusing the children (convicted of assault with evidence of extensive bruising). In addition, Daniel Leaf was a convicted child sex offender. She continues to live with him today in NH. Clearly, she chose her pervert, pedophile, child abusing husband over the well-being of her children.

More from the article...

"He was also convicted of second-degree assault in 1992, according to the registry. Christine Leaf, his wife and Anderson's mother, testified in court last year that her husband had been found guilty of the assault for spanking her son. She said he spent seven years in prison for the sexual assault conviction, which she said related to a victim who wasn't one of her children.

Yesterday afternoon, Christine Leaf answered the door at the couple's house in Tilton and said she did not think her husband, who was inside, would wish to comment.

"Really, I don't think we have anything to say," Christine Leaf said, asked whether her husband maintains his innocence."

Hopefully, Daniel Leaf will finally be held accountable for the abuse of Tina. She deserves justice, as do all children abused by anyone. Children should be safe in their homes, churches and schools. In my opinion, pedophiles should never be released from prison. I believe the recidivism rate demonstrates that they just cannot be trusted to be around children ever again. Keeping them locked up seems to be the only way to protect children from them.

Ernie Willis will have appeal heard by NH Supreme Court

As reported in the Concord Monitor, on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Ernie Willis will have his appeal heard by the NH Supreme Court.

Quoted from the article:

Headline: "Church rape appeal goes to high court"

Before jurors convicted Ernest Willis of forcibly raping his teenage babysitter twice in 1997, they heard testimony from his former pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, who said Willis confessed to twice having sexual contact with the 15-year-old girl and described himself as the "aggressor."

The appeal issues surround whether or not the convicted rapist was "confessing" to the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church at the time, Chuck Phelps (now the pastor of Colonial Baptist Church, 8140 Union Chapel Road  Indianapolis, IN 46240, Phone: 317-253-5597). During the trial, Judge Larry Smukler ruled that Ernie Willis was NOT making a "confession" to his pastor, Charles "Chuck" Phelps, because Phelps learned the details as part of an "investigation" into what Tina Anderson had told him the night before. Also, Smukler ruled that since Willis continued the conversation with Phelps at a later time in front of his own wife and Phelps' wife, "Willis waived any privilege to keep the statements confidential" (as quoted from Concord Monitor article).

As more information becomes available on this appeal it will be posted here.

New Article: Tina Anderson story mentioned

ABC has posted a new story detailing the abusive teachings believed to be related to the death of three children. Tina Anderson's story is mentioned because Trinity Baptist Church, the church where she was made to stand in front of hundreds of adults and "confess" her "responsibility" in her rape, is an IFB church.

Quoted from the article:

When Melissa Fletcher was little her mother would dress up in a gray wig and horn-rim glasses, ring the doorbell and pretend she was "Myrtle" from the child protective services.

"Where did this bruise come from?" she would ask systematically. "Myrtle," a United Airlines shift control manager and devout Christian, made it a game, quizzing and recording her five little ones, drilling them to say, "I fell" or "I bumped into something."

She didn't want authorities to find out about the two- to three-hour beating sessions that her husband carried out on his children in the name of God -- so-called "breaking the will of the child".

Melissa Fletcher has been a supporter of Tina Anderson since her story first became public in May of 2010. Melissa's sister, Jocelyn Zichterman, also a strong supporter of Tina Anderson, is also mentioned in the article.

Quoted from the article:

Fletcher is now a 36-year-old mother and lives in Hawaii, but she is in therapy reserved for soldiers of war because of the ritualized trauma.

"My father found a great position," she said. "Most people bend over. I would lie on the bed on my stomach and he would put my face in the pillow so no one would hear me scream. Our hands were underneath our stomach."

Years later, when her father became pastor, he brought the rod and pillow in to demonstrate it to his parishioners.ABC's "20/20" called her father for comment last year, but he refused.

Fletcher's sister, Jocelyn Zichterman, was also abused. They two became activists, and their group, Freedom From Abuse, reaches out to other "survivors" who were indoctrinated into the faith and now want out.

One survivor, Tina Anderson, made headlines when she was raped and impregnated by fellow parishioner at Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, N.H., in 1997 when she was only 14.

Anderson was forced to confess to her pregnancy congregation and was then sent to live with another IFB family in Colorado where she was homeschooled, kept from other teens and eventually put her daughter for adoption.

Anderson's rapist, Ernest Willis, 51, was convicted earlier this year and is now in prison.

Many other survivors have come forward since Tina Anderson allowed her name to be used when her story became public. Some have indicated their own abuse and sought help and healing on a Facebook group organized to show support for abuse survivors from within the IFB.

Lynne Tuohy's Article in Atlanta paper

NH convict in shamed girl's rape gets 15-30 years

Highlights:

"It's a huge amount of vindication for me," Anderson, now 29, told The Associated Press. "I was never really believed, no matter how many times I said it was not consensual. Now it's been proven in a court of law that he's guilty and he's been given a significant sentence."

"Willis, wearing bright orange prison garb and shackled at the ankles, also apologized to his ex-wife and their children for the embarrassment and financial ruin they've suffered and to Concord's Trinity Baptist Church for the ridicule his case has wrought."

In my personal opinion, Trinity Baptist Church and former pastor Chuck Phelps deserved every bit of censure, ridicule and blame they received from the community and around the world. Chuck Phelps had the chance to do the right thing for the victim and he instead chose to consider the needs of a child rapist first. 

"The case remained unsolved for years because Concord police could not locate the teen. Unbeknownst to them, the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church helped ship the girl to Colorado, with her mother's consent, to live with a Baptist couple she did not know and put her infant daughter up for adoption."

"The teen babysat Willis's children and, a prosecutor said Tuesday, considered him a father figure. 'Her trust and admiration were repaid with violence and rape,' prosecutor Wayne Coull told the judge. Coull said the most aggravating factor of all was Willis's reaction upon learning the teen was pregnant. 'He offered to punch her in the stomach so hard as to cause a miscarriage,' Coull said. 'For the defendant to be so cruel and selfish as to recommend such actions upon a child is just outrageous.'"

Tina, I applaud your courage and celebrate with you the justice you are finally receiving from the court today. Though due to the statute of limitations, not all people that should have been held responsible were, there will be a day of final hearing for them. May God show them more mercy than they showed you.

Convicted Rapist Sentenced To 15-30 Years

Convicted Rapist Sentenced To 15-30 Years
Ernest Willis Convicted Of Raping Fellow Church Member

"MERRIMACK, N.H. -- A New Hampshire man convicted of raping and impregnating a 15-year-old church member more than a decade ago was sentenced Tuesday to 15 to 30 years in prison.
Ernest Willis, of Gilford, 52, robbed the girl of her childhood, the judge said in sentencing Willis, who had admitted to having sex in 1997 with the teenager, who also babysat his children, but he claimed it was consensual."

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.wmur.com/r/29091082/detail.html

Willis Prison Sentencing: WMUR Reports

Highlights from the news story here: NH Man In Church Rape Case Facing 54 Years At Sentencing

"A convicted rapist, accused of impregnating a 15-year-old church member, faces up to 54 years in a New Hampshire prison.
Ernest Willis, 52, of Gilford is to be sentenced Tuesday in Merrimack Superior Court..
Willis and the teenager, who also babysat his children, attended a fundamentalist Baptist church in Concord that made her apologize to the congregation when she became pregnant. The pastor helped ship her to the home of a Colorado couple she didn't know - with her mother's consent - and arrange for her baby to be adopted.
A jury in May convicted Willis of forcibly raping the girl twice in 1997
'She got shamed, shunned, silenced and sent away,' prosecutor Wayne Coull told jurors."

Sentencing for Convicted Rapist Postponed to July

June 29, 2011 “Sentencing for Convicted Rapist Postponed to July” Associated Press

"Sentencing is being postponed for a man convicted of raping and impregnating his children's 15-year-old baby sitter more than a decade ago.
The case of 52-year-old Ernest Willis of Gilford drew national attention because the fundamentalist Baptist church he and the girl attended made her apologize to the congregation."

"Willis faces up to 54 years in prison when sentenced in July. No date has been set.
A jury convicted Willis on May 27 of forcible rape and statutory rape after deliberating a full day.
His sentencing had been scheduled for tomorrow, but it was postponed to give probation officers more time to prepare a presentence report."

"Anderson, now 29, was permitted to give her impact witness statement after the jury returned its verdicts so that she would not have to travel back to New Hampshire from her Arizona home. She said Willis left her feeling guilt-ridden and ashamed.
"When he decided his sexual gratification was the most important thing in his life, he shattered mine," Anderson said.
Willis's bond was automatically revoked upon his conviction."

You can show your support for Tina Anderson by joining this Facebook group.

News Articles Page UPDATED

I'm sure this will continue to be a work in progress, but as of now, the News Articles Page (also linked at the top of the blog) is updated.

Trial of Ernie Willis: Day of Verdict

I will never forget the tension building up the last day I was in NH for the trial of Ernie Willis (Friday, May 27, 2011). It was a long day just sitting there waiting.

Around 3:45 p.m. we went up to the courtroom. The DA had informed us that the judge would be revoking Ernie's bail and sending him to jail for the one count to which he had already pled guilty before the trial started (since there was a baby and he had already accepted paternity for the adoption there was no question that statutory rape had at least occurred).

At 3:51 p.m. the judge went through the process of declaring bail revoked.

About 3:53 p.m., the judge allowed Tina to read the victim impact statement she had prepared. Because there was a strong possibility at this time that the jury had not reached a verdict, the judge was allowing Tina to read her statement while Ernie was still in the courtroom and before she had to fly back to her home. There were many tears as the supporters there in the courtroom for Tina listened to her read her statement.

At 4:02 p.m., Ernie was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

At this point, the judge left the courtroom to ask the jury if it was close to a verdict. While we were sitting in the courtroom waiting, all of a sudden, we heard a message come over the shoulder radio of one of the bailiffs, "the jury has a verdict."

There was an audible gasp all across the courtroom. The DA cautioned us to wait, because it could be a mistake, but no--the jury HAD reached a verdict on all four remaining counts.

At 4:15 p.m. the jury began filing back into the room and took their seats. The jury foreman read the verdicts: guilty on ALL FOUR COUNTS!

There were many tears as the verdicts were all read one at a time, and I'm tearing up now typing this as I remember.

The defense attorney asked the judge to poll the jury, so each one of them--one at a time said, "GUILTY."

Though we were all told not to type, tweet, facebook, e-mail or text anything specific from the courtroom, I did live tweet very general comments here: http://twitter.com/#!/moodyfastlane. You'll have to scroll way down to May 23-27 to read the tweets from that week.

Here is a list of the big media stories after the trial was over. Since AP carried the story, it was in hundreds of newspapers all across the United States and even around the world. I'm just linking to the major ones.

Man Found Guilty Of Raping Girl: WMUR

New Hampshire Man Found Guilty of Rape of Tina Anderson: ABC

NH man convicted of raping teen church member: Fox News

Rape victim who gets justice 14 years later speaks out: AZFamily.com

Applaud Anderson for speaking out: Concord Monitor Editorial

Willis guilty of rape: Concord Monitor

Photo taken during the press meeting just after the verdict was announced.
photo credit: Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) Cult Survivors (and Their Supporters)

Tina Anderson, left, and Jocelyn Zichterman, center, talk with supporters after a Merrimack Superior Court jury found Ernest Willis guilty of forcibly raping and impregnating his children's 15-year-old baby sitter, who belonged to the same church, more than a decade ago. (AP Photo/Alexander Cohn, Pool) AP

Former Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church (Chuck Phelps) issues statement to ABC 20/20

From http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2011/04/a-religious-sub-culture-many-americans-have-never-heard-of-yet-has-thousands-of-churches-across-the-.html

Former Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church (Chuck Phelps) issues statement to ABC 20/20

‎

"Pastor Chuck Phelps, the former pastor at Tina Anderson’s New Hampshire church, denies Tina was disciplined by the church or that there was any attempt to cover up a crime. He declined repeated interview requests but provided a statement: “Tina was involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with Mr. Ernie Willis… Tina lied to her mother and to me about this relationship.” He also said he brought the allegations to the attention of police who failed to investigate further. Ernie Willis, Tina Anderson’s alleged attacker has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. "

My opinion in response to that statement:

Anyone with common sense can see thru what Phelps said. It wasn't his job to be judge and jury. A minor cannot consent to an adult 20+ years older that has power over her!! Has Phelps not taken any time at all in the last 13-14 years to educate himself about the dynamics of sexual abuse?? Maybe he's been too busy influencing young pastors-to-be in college? The FBI and dozens of advocacy organizations could have provided Chuck with everything he needed to know. Maybe he just didn't want to learn? Maybe it's just easier to blame a victim that's already endured other abuse and whose mom wouldn't stand up for her. Maybe he'll never believe the innocent can be bullied and coerced until it happens to someone he actually cares about. Who knows?

And why after all these years... Why would Tina even talk to the police when they called her? She was happy! She had a different life far away from NH! Why would the police lie? Why would Tina lie? Why would she put herself through this?? The noble reason--that she simply complied with police requests is the only answer that makes sense. The noble answer--that maybe her story could protect others--prevent future victims--that makes sense! So Tina and the police lied, Chuck?? But YOU are the only one telling the truth? Right... I sincerely hope that God grants you more mercy than you have given to Tina. You don't deserve it, but fortunately for you, God is just like that. On the other hand, I just wish accountability for you--jail time would be nice.

Watch Tina Anderson's Story on ABC 20/20 with Elizabeth Vargas

Watch Tina Anderson's Story in the IFB on ABC 20/20 with Elizabeth Vargas

Friday 10:00pm

ABC - 20/20 on your TV!

Our courageous friend, Tina Anderson told her story of growing up in the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church (Trinity Baptist Church, Concord NH), being raped at 15 by a member of the church, and being put up for "church discipline" - which included being kicked out of her Christian School, having to publicly apologize to church members for 'her 1% guilt in the situation (according to Pastor Chuck Phelps), then was sent away against her will to another IFB church in Colorado to deliver and give her baby up for adoption. Tina told her story to the Concord Monitor last year, http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/woman-i-was-afraid-to-tell-of-rape - and appeared on CBS The Early Show and is now a part of Elizabeth Vargas’ yearlong investigation into The Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, Airing On “20/20,” Friday, April 8, 10-11 PM ET

Come watch it with us in support of Tina Anderson and other Victims of the IFB Churches.

From 20/20:

Try to imagine the pain and humiliation of a teenage girl, just 15 years old, who says she was forced to stand in front of a New Hampshire church congregation and confess her "sin" of being pregnant. She says not only was she forced to confess her pregnancy, but also to ask for their forgiveness – with no mention of the man she says sexually abused her. After all, she says, the pastor told her it's better than being stoned to death as the bible describes. That is what Tina Anderson alleged happened to her at her ultra conservative Independent Fundamental Baptist, or IFB, Church. The IFB has thousands of congregations across the country, but many people have never heard of it. That was, until another woman, Jocelyn Zichterman, began a public campaign – armed with nothing but a computer and memories of her own alleged abuse that she says church beliefs can foster. And survivors are now coming out of the woodwork, to say she's not alone.

Elizabeth Vargas’ yearlong exclusive investigation into a religious sub-culture that critics claim can foster – even cover up – physical and sexual abuse airs on “20/20” on FRIDAY, APRIL 8 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network. Critics say the church teaches a strict interpretation of the bible including the practice known as breaking the will of the child, with some advocating that it even be applied to infants as young as two weeks old.

Full details here:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2011/04/a-religious-sub-culture-many-americans-have-never-heard-of-yet-has-thousands-of-churches-across-the-.html