Spring has finally arrived – it’s hard to believe that we are already in April.
Last month, I travelled to Rhode Island after Providence’s biggest snowfall in recorded history for the launch of their “State’s Attorney General Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Providence.“ You can read our full SNAP Statement here.
The press conference showcased the statements of survivors, Ann Hagan Webb and Dr. Herbert “Hub” Brennan. It was an honor to hear their words of righteous anger and commitment to getting survivors justice after decades of hard work. You can read their full statements, and those of others like them, on our Survivors for Surviors page.
Also in March, I reached out to our community to ask individuals to support important legislation in California. Dozens of you reached out to write letters of support to help get the legislation across the finish line so that clergy will be held to the same account as doctors and other trusted practitioners. SNAP is committed to reforming archaic, predator-friendly laws that allow abuse and cover-ups to continue. By changing these laws, cycles of trauma are broken, ensuring the next generation is protected. Thank you to all that gave their support for this important effort!
I found out about the legislative push when Dr. Hermina Nedelescu reached out to me. Hermina is herself a survivor of the Orthodox Church who has turned her trauma into activism to create change and push for laws to stop clerical abuse. You can read her full Story of Strength here.
I would personally like to thank each and every one of you for all you do to support survivors in your own local communities.
If you, or someone you know, needs help, please reach out to me to get the support you need. If you’d like to send SNAP correspondence by mail, do make a note that our PO Box has changed: PO Box 42515, 5636 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20015.
Thank you for your continued engagement and support to SNAP and survivors everywhere, Angela
ALVA, FL — Law enforcement officials in Southwest Florida are seeking information from potential victims after they say a pastor was found with child pornography.
The Brief
A pastor in Southwest Florida is accused of sending and receiving child pornography.
Investigators are seeking information from any potential victims.
Pastor Robert Glossenger was arrested and charged with three counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of transmission of child pornography.
What we know:
Detectives with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children said they received a cybertip about child pornography coming from a home in Lee County.
Through analytical research, detectives said they identified the suspect as an Alva resident and executed a search warrant on a home on Apple Blossom Drive.
According to detectives, the suspect, Pastor Robert Glossenger, said he would receive and send child pornography while chatting with strangers online.
Glossenger was arrested and charged with three counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of transmission of child pornography.
What they’re saying:
“This is a disturbing case where a pastor, a person of power and trust, was searching and exchanging child porn with others online. I am disgusted and hope anyone who may have fallen victim to this man will come forward,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
What you can do:
This case is active and anyone with information about Glossenger is asked to contact the LCSO Innocent Images Unit or SWFL CrimeStoppers at 1-800-780-8477.
Tilak Nagar Police take accused Harish Bhave into custody
THANE, INDIA — A priest was arrested on Thursday in Dombivali in Thane district for allegedly sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl, a police official said.
The Tilaknagar police station official identified the accused as Harish Bhave, who visits homes to perform rituals.
“Bhave is known to the victim’s family. When the minor’s parents had stepped out for work, he allegedly entered the house and sexually assaulted the girl. He was arrested after the child narrated the ordeal to her parents, who lodged a complaint,” he said.
John Kent Tarwater, a former Cedarville University professor, is shown in his booking photo after being arrested on multiple sexual felony charges. (Photo courtesy of Miami Valley Jail)
CEDARVILLE, OH — A former Cedarville University finance professor whose writings promote a Christian ethic of marriage and sexuality was arrested Tuesday on eight sex-related felony charges involving one or more minors.
The indictment, filed March 27 in Ohio’s Greene County Common Pleas Court, charges John Kent Tarwater with two counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery and three counts of gross sexual imposition.
He was booked into Greene County jail in southwest Ohio, where he remained in custody as of Wednesday morning. No defense counsel was listed in public court records, and no hearing or trial dates were disclosed.
Tarwater, 55, has been listed in Cedarville academic catalogs as a business and finance faculty member since 2017, rising from assistant professor to professor of finance in the Robert W. Plaster School of Business.
Three years ago, a Cedarville University news release noted the school’s designation as the state’s “Most Collegiest Town” by The Washington Post. “Melding town culture with university culture” set the town apart, the release said, adding, “It’s also professors like Dr. John Tarwater, associate professor of finance, watching one of his 11 children on the (basketball) court.”
Cedarville executive director of public relations Mark D. Weinstein told The Roys Report (TRR) via email that the release was prepared by his department. “I am aware of John Tarwater having 10 children, not 11,” he added.
Tarwater’s scholarly work includes two books: a 2005 volume, “Marriage as Covenant: Considering God’s Design at Creation and the Contemporary Moral Consequences,” and a 2019 book, “Business Ethics: A Christian Method for Making Moral Decisions.”
He has also written peer-reviewed journal articles on business ethics and Christian sexual ethics, including a 2021 piece for the “Journal of Markets & Morality” on transgenderism in the marketplace.
In national evangelical media, Tarwater adapted his Themeliosarticle into a 2022 piece titled “Does Sexual Self-Gratification Glorify God?” for The Gospel Coalition, addressing masturbation within Christian ethics. The shortened article has been pulled from the TGC website and the Themelios piece is only available as a PDF; other journal articles can be accessed online.
Regulatory disclosures and academic records show Tarwater holds separate doctorates in ethics and theology as well as in finance, with a 2018 dissertation on financial and commodity markets in NAFTA and Latin America.
An author’s biographical note on his 2019 business ethics book states Tarwater “previously served as the Vice President and CFO for the Rio Grande Bible Seminary (now College) in Edinburg, TX, and was a professor of biblical ethics at SETECA (Central American Theological Seminary) in Guatemala City, Guatemala.”
The Greene County indictment accuses Tarwater of engaging in sexual conduct and sexual contact with a victim younger than 13 during part of the alleged period and younger than 18 in later times.
Prosecutors allege the conduct occurred between August 2019 and July 2025, with at least some occurring in Greene County, including at a Cedarville address identified as 3302 U.S. Route 42 East, a property county records indicate he once owned.
The indictment states that, in several counts, Tarwater allegedly compelled the victim by force or threat of force.
The charges include first-degree felony rape, second- and third-degree felony sexual battery and third- and fourth-degree felony gross sexual imposition, under various sections of the Ohio Revised Code.
Each of the eight counts carries a related specification seeking forfeiture of the Route 42 property as alleged contraband, proceeds or an instrumentality of the offenses.
TRR contacted Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David D. Hayes for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Cedarville University informed the campus community Tuesday of the indictment and arrest in an email from Associate Vice President for Human Resources John W. Davis.
“We were informed in July 2025 that Dr. Tarwater was under investigation for concerning allegations,” Davis wrote in the message to the “Dear Cedarville community.”
“Due to the nature of the investigation, he was immediately placed on administrative leave and restricted from coming on campus,” Davis wrote.
“In October, he was dismissed from his contract,” the email added, referring to Tarwater, who “previously served as professor of finance at Cedarville University.”
“Today we were informed that Dr. Tarwater was indicted by a Greene County Grand Jury and arrested on eight felony counts, including rape, gross sexual imposition, and sexual battery,” Davis wrote.
The university told students, faculty and staff it shared the information “given the indictment and the specific nature of the charges.”
“Our understanding is that these charges do not involve anyone Dr. Tarwater met or interacted with as a University professor,” Davis wrote. “Even so, we desire to be transparent and ensure the safety of everyone on campus,” the message continued.
In an email to TRR, Weinstein reiterated the main points of Davis’ letter and called the arrest a “grievous situation.”
Tarwater’s academic background includes degrees from Carson-Newman University, Duke University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he completed a doctorate in finance in 2018.
His 2002 theology dissertation at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, cited in later literature, examined “The Covenantal Nature of Marriage in the Order of Creation in Genesis 1 and 2.”
In addition to his university work, Tarwater served in financial-services roles, including with Regent’s Wealth Planning LLC and firms associated with Valmark in recent years, according to regulatory filings.
Cedarville urged anyone aware of “any inappropriate behavior from this former professor” to contact the institution’s Title IX office at a university-provided email address.
“This is difficult news that is grievous to read, but we share it because the safety and well-being of our students will always be a guiding priority,” Davis wrote.
“We encourage you to pray for healing for all affected by this situation.”
LITTLE FALLS, MN — When David DeMenge arrived in Little Falls in 2025, he came with a public testimony about brokenness, secrecy and redemption. In a September 2025 profile in the Morrison County Record, he spoke openly about a pornography addiction he said grew out of trauma, and about the depression and shame that once pushed him to the brink of suicide before he embraced faith and ministry.
Now, DeMenge is facing much more serious allegations. DeMenge, who came to Little Falls from Hutchinson to serve as a pastor, has been charged with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct — a case that casts last year’s introduction in a much different light.
According to a criminal complaint filed in McLeod County District Court, DeMenge, 33, is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges allege the offenses occurred between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2018, in McLeod County.
The complaint alleges the victim was younger than 13 during some of the abuse and that DeMenge was more than 36 months older. It also alleges he had a significant relationship with the victim and that the abuse involved multiple acts over an extended period.
According to the probable cause statement, Hutchinson police began investigating after receiving a report Jan. 24, 2026, of a sexual assault disclosure involving a minor child. A forensic interview was conducted Jan. 27. During that interview, the victim described repeated abuse that allegedly began when she was younger than 7.
Investigators later contacted DeMenge about the report. According to the complaint, he initially said he would be willing to meet with law enforcement in Little Falls, but later said he was retaining legal counsel and would not give a statement at that time.
Court records show the complaint was signed March 25 and that DeMenge was charged by summons rather than by arrest warrant. A booking order also directs him to report to the McLeod County Jail for fingerprinting and warns that failure to appear could lead to an arrest warrant. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 4.
DeMenge and his wife, Kristen DeMenge, were introduced last year as pastors at Trinity Chapel in Little Falls. The church is now known as Dominion Church.
The charges are allegations, and DeMenge is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty in court.
LIVINGSTON, SC — A South Carolina preacher who worked in Louisiana two decades ago has been jailed in Livingston Parish on a pair of molestation charges, court records show.
Douglas Zeb McDaris, 74, was pastor at the Oakview Baptist Church in Livingston Parish from May 2005 to May 2006, according to McDaris’ LinkedIn profile. He later became pastor at the New Beginnings Baptist Church in Six Mile, South Carolina, his LinkedIn and his Sermon Central online profile show.
Livingston Parish jail records show that McDaris was booked last Friday on two counts of molestation of a juvenile, who was identified as an acquaintance.
Livingston Parish deputies say that a person contacted them Feb. 6 and filed a complaint about a previous sexual assault. No further details were given.
Bond was set at $100,000. Judge William S. Dykes said that, if McDaris is released, he will be required to wear an ankle monitor, Livingston Parish court records show. McDaris was also told not to contact the victim or the victim’s family, and he cannot go within 100 yards of the victim.
South Carolina records showed that McDaris had been stopped by police for a seat belt violation on March 3 in Pickens County, and that a “hold for out of state agency” filing was made less than two weeks later. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the traffic citation ultimately led to McDaris’ being held for the Louisiana charges.
He is due in court in South Carolina on April 28. A future court date in Livingston Parish was not immediately available.
ALBANY, NY, March 30, 2026 – SNAP decries the paltry amount that the Diocese of Albany proposes as a settlement to hundreds of abuse survivors who had filed lawsuits under the state’s Child Victims Act of 2019. Those who participated in these bankruptcy proceedings have endured years and sometimes decades of therapy only to receive just over $300K as recompense for a lifetime of emotional trauma.
Although the long-awaited $148 million to survivors is one of the largest settlement payments in the state of New York, it took years of negotiations while many alleged victims were dying before they could see justice or any compensation for the abuse they endured. The delayed settlement appears to be more about erasing accountability instead of acknowledging survivors’ suffering.
Moreover, the process itself is inherently flawed. Allowing churches to hide behind bankruptcy denies survivors the right to have their voices heard in a court of law and demand accountability from their perpetrators as well as the institutions that protected them. These institutions are effectively using bankruptcy laws to avoid legal and financial consequences for ignoring or covering up child sexual abuse.
SNAP urges continued accountability for every clerical official – Catholic or otherwise – whose actions allowed abusers to harm children and vulnerable people.
“When institutions try to absolve themselves of a history of systematically concealing child sexual abuse with dollars, then the process is broken,” said Angela Walker, SNAP Executive Director. “Survivors deserve more to help them rebuild their lives.”
SNAP stands with all survivors of Albany as this process continues to unfold, and we applaud their ongoing courage and resilience.
We urge federal lawmakers to reform bankruptcy legislation so that survivors across the country can get the justice they deserve, Walker said.
A trio of survivors in this video share at least two things in common: 1) That they are survivors of child sexual abuse. 2) That they have found solace and comfort from joining other survivors in a collaborative effort to heal and fight for justice.
In this award-winning video SNAP Board President Shaun Dougherty relates the details of his abuse as a fifth-grader at the hands of his religion teacher and Pee-Wee basketball coach, Father George Kaharchik. He’s joined by AnnEpeck, who tells the story of her survival from incest perpetrated by her father, as well as Larry Antonsen, who recalls his abuse as a high school sophomore at the hands of a parish priest.
This video showcases the breadth of what Shaun calls a “true epidemic,” based on the boxes and boxes of case files stored in a SNAP facility. And it demonstrates the power of connecting all the survivors together to bring about accountability and an end to the abuse.
From left, Luis Arguello, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Angel Gabilondo, the Ombudsman and Felix Bolanos the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with Parliament after the signing of an agreement to provide redress to victims of time-barred abuse in Madrid, Spain, Monday, March 30, 2026. (Alberto Ortega/Europa Press via AP)
MADRID — Spain’s Catholic bishops and the Spanish government took another step Monday toward compensating victims of sexual abuse by clergy members who have died or whose possible crimes are too old to be prosecuted.
In January, Spain’s Catholic bishops agreed to let the country’s ombudsman have the final say in the church’s compensation of such victims. The government and Spain’s bishops signed paperwork Monday detailing how the new church-state reparation system, which takes effect April 15, would work.
The agreement, which envisages a one-year window for claims, marks a rare concession by the Catholic hierarchy. It’s aimed at resolving disagreements between the left-wing government and church authorities over reparations after victims criticized the church’s original in-house compensation proposal.
Archbishop Luis Argüello, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, said the text will not include number amounts for the compensation that sexual abuse victims could receive.
“We wanted to exclude references to scales and quantities; that’s not what this is about,” Argüello said. “We’ve planned for the teams to start working on how to do it, but the text doesn’t establish a range or a specific amount.”
While church authorities in many Western European countries have created compensation plans for abuse victims, either run by the church or independent experts, the Spanish process is unusual because of the involvement of the state itself in the process.
Justice Minister Félix Bolaños on Monday said that the system would evaluate reparations case by case, based on factors like severity, the victim’s age and the recurrence of the abuse.
“Criteria are set to arrive at fair compensation, which should not be determined by a single figure,” Bolaños said.
In recent years, the once staunchly Catholic Spain has begun to reckon with a decades-long legacy of abuse by priests and cover-up by generations of bishops and religious superiors, mainly thanks to the initial reporting by newspaper El País.
Spain’s Parliament tasked the country’s ombudsman to investigate and in 2023 the ombudsman delivered a damning 800-page report that investigated 487 known cases of sexual abuse and included a survey that calculated the number of possible victims could reach the hundreds of thousands.
Spain’s bishops rejected that estimate, saying its own investigation had uncovered 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945. It said that most of the crimes had occurred before 1990 and that 60% of the aggressors were now dead.
Under the new agreement, victims can approach Spain’s Justice Ministry with their initial petition. The ministry will pass it on to the ombudsman, who will study it and propose a compensation package that the church’s committee will then assess.
If no agreement can be reached with the church and the victim, the case will go to a joint committee with representatives of the church, the ombudsman’s office and victims’ associations. If that committee can’t agree, the ombudsman’s decision will stand, Bolaños said in January.
On Monday, Bolaños called the agreement a world first in which “the state has the final say and the church pays the reparations due to each victim.”
COLUMBIA, MO — The leader of an Amish community in Cooper County was arrested on Wednesday over claims of sexual abuse and forced labor at a rural retreat.
Cooper County Sheriff Chris Class said Sam Shetler, 42, was arrested after a search warrant in the 11000 block of Hidden Valley Court at the Mercy and Truth-Amish and Mennonite Retreat between Boonville and Prairie Home.
Prosecutors filed charges on Wednesday, which were made available on Friday, for two counts of trafficking for forced labor and one county sodomy. Shetler is due in court on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. for a counsel status hearing.
At least three witnesses spoke to deputies in early 2026 about their experiences at the retreat, describing abusive and controlling conditions.
Court documents show that the sheriff’s office had received numerous tips from 2022 to 2026 about “cult-like” behavior at the retreat in rural Cooper County. Witnesses, many of whom stayed at the retreat when they were teenagers, described working on the property for no pay. Children would be “leased out” for work in town, a witness said, with any pay due going directly to Shetler. Some were made to sleep in the cold or have pepper put in their eyes as punishment.
One witness reported Shetler rubbed oil on them as a means of “healing” prior sexual abuse. The witness said Shetler touched them inappropriately during one encounter. The same witness also allegedly told deputies that they woke on night after taking pills given to her by Shetler to someone holding their legs and arms down, but they couldn’t figure out who it was.
According to court documents, Shetler made at least three women believe they were possessed by demons, and the only way to be healed was through his massages.
“‘Sam would mentally manipulate and mentally torture juvenile females, and young women into believing they were ‘demon possessed’ or that ‘evil spirits’ were present in order to ‘control’ them in exchange for self-gratification,” a Cooper County deputy wrote in a probable cause statement.
Deputies conducted a search warrant on the property after a multi-year investigation.
“The retreat was under the control of one individual who took advantage of his position in the Amish Community to control, coerce, and force vulnerable people for his own profit in different forms,” the sheriff said in a release.
His bond was set at $100,000 cash, according to the release.
Jasper Hoffman is an Amish activist and has a podcast called “The Plain People’s Podast,” where she speaks to Amish women about their experiences with the church and any abuse they might encounter.
Hoffman told ABC 17 News that there are about 70 retreats, like the one in Boonville, in the U.S., that “fly under the radar.”
She said the Boonville case sounds like many of the other retreats.
“It’s very, very typical, like there is nothing that stands out that makes me go ‘Oh my God’ I can’t believe that,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said standing up to any kind of abuse in the Amish community is difficult, and scary for most women.
“It’s a lot of risk for them, from the inside, to come forward. They’re ostracised, they’ll be cut off from support within the church. That means financial support. Oftentimes, we see a lot of harassment happen with phone calls, driving by, intimidation, and they don’t know that’s illegal,” Hoffman said.
Overall, the retreats are “heartbreaking.”
“Truly, nobody’s really getting the assistance that they need. You know, there’s no therapy there, they’re not really receiving anything, and it’s just further creating harm,” Hoffman said.
