Somerset Police Arrest and Charge Palm Reader with Stealing Over $70,000 from Client

MILANOVICH operated Tracy’s Psychic Palm Reader out of a location on County Street. Anyone who believed they have been victimized by MILANOVICH is asked to contact Somerset Police Officer Donald Cormier at 508-679-2138.

,,,The subsequent investigation revealed that MILANOVICH convinced the victim that her daughter was possessed by a demon, and that cash and household items were needed in order to banish the spirit from her daughter.

MILANOVICH was found to have stolen approximately $71,000 from the victim and the victim additionally purchased multiple household items for her, like towels and bedding.

Somerset Police Arrest and Charge Palm Reader with Stealing Over $70,000 from Client

Ex-N.J. pastor arrested on child porn charges while working as kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts - nj.com

A pastor who served at a Bergen County church for five years has been arrested on federal charges of having child pornography in a Massachusetts town where he had been working as a kindergarten teacher.

The Rev. Gregory C. Lisby, pastor at Christ Church in Ridgewood from June 2010 through May 2015, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday following a raid of the rectory of the Worcester Episcopal church where he lived with his husband, according to court documents. A criminal complaint states 

Lisby, 40, was hired for the 2019-2020 school year as a teacher for Holyoke Public Schools.

The federal warrant charges Lisby with possession of child pornography and states a Microsoft employee discovered the images and videos on a company server in December 2018 and reported them to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

 

Ex-N.J. pastor arrested on child porn charges while working as kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts - nj.com

Brockton pastor accused of assaulting 5-year-old during bible study | Boston 25 News

A Brockton pastor is accused of assaulting a 5-year-old boy during bible study, according to Brockton Police.

Police say the pastor told officers he nudged the child with two fingers out of frustration in order to get his attention.

However, the boy's father believes far worse happened, with a picture of his child's red face as his proof.

Brockton pastor accused of assaulting 5-year-old during bible study | Boston 25 News

Hedge Fund Priest Sued by SEC for Alleged Stock Manipulation - Bloomberg

A Massachusetts priest who moonlights as a hedge fund manager was sued by federal regulators for allegedly making false statements about a biotech company to try to drive down its share price.

In an attempt to profit from his short position, Emmanuel Lemelson published false “research reports” about Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. on popular investing websites, including Seeking Alpha, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Lemelson was ordained by the Greek Orthodox Church, which allows priests to marry and hold jobs outside their religious duties.

The money manager gained attention in a October 2015 Wall Street Journal profile. The article said Lemelson managed about $20 million, had made millions of dollars for his investors and quoted him as saying, “my whole life I always knew things before they happened. I guess it’s just a gift from God.”

Hedge Fund Priest Sued by SEC for Alleged Stock Manipulation - Bloomberg

Catholic Priest In Archdiocese Of Boston Removed From Ministry Over Alleged Child Abuse

The Archdiocese of Boston announced Tuesday that a Catholic priest has been removed from the ministry over allegations that he abused a child in 2007.

Christian Ohazulume pled not guilty to three counts of aggravated assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 in Quincy District Court. The court set bail at $5,000 cash, with the conditions that should he make bail, Ohazulume will not be allowed to travel outside of Massachusetts and will have no contact with the victim or her family. He is also barred from unsupervised contact with minors.

The Archdiocese of Boston received the allegation against Ohazalume on August 31st, and immediately informed law enforcement. The alleged abuse is said to have occurred in 2007, while Ohazalume was staying with a family upon his arrival in the United States from Nigeria.

Ohazulume had been working as a chaplain at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center since 2010. The hospital gave a statement to WGBH News, saying that he was immediately placed on unpaid leave when they became aware of the accusation, and was terminated shortly thereafter. The hospital spokesperson also noticed that BIDMC does not have a pediatric service.

Catholic Priest In Archdiocese Of Boston Removed From Ministry Over Alleged Child Abuse

Catholic brother accused of abuse barred from ministry

A Roman Catholic brother accused of sexually abusing a youngster decades ago in Maryland has been barred from his religious order’s ministry and placed on administrative leave from a teaching job in Massachusetts while authorities investigate, officials said Wednesday.

The Xaverian Brothers, a lay religious order headquartered in Baltimore that sponsors about a dozen schools across the United States, has identified the accused man as Brother Robert Flaherty. They say Baltimore police recently informed them that Flaherty is being investigated for an allegation of sex abuse from the mid-1980s, a time that coincides with his tenure teaching at an all-boys Catholic school in Baltimore.

Flaherty worked at Baltimore’s Mount St. Joseph preparatory high school from 1980 to 1993, and again from 2008 to 2010, according to the religious order.

Catholic brother accused of abuse barred from ministry

Framingham man accused of beating, holding gay man captive for 4 days | Boston 25 News

A man in Framingham has been arrested and charged with a hate crime for allegedly holding a man hostage inside an apartment and beating him for four days because he was gay.

Police found 50-year-old Otoni Eliseu, who was allegedly held captive for four days, bloodied and bruised on Saturday. Eliseu told officers he had been held against his will inside a basement apartment without food or water for four days while being beaten.

Jackson Sugrue, 19. of Framingham, is facing a hate crime charge because Eliseu alleges he kept yelling homosexual slurs as Sugrue assaulted him, the prosecution said.

Framingham man accused of beating, holding gay man captive for 4 days | Boston 25 News

A jury found a cop not guilty of raping a gay man while on duty / LGBTQ Nation

A jury said that a police officer who was accused of raping a drunk gay man held in protective custody was not guilty of rape.

The officer was instead found guilty of indecent assault and battery.

Former Salem Police officer Brian Butler, 57, who admitted to having sex with the victim, said that the sex that occurred on Halloween two years ago was consensual.

The victim, a 28-year-old gay man from Ohio, was in Salem, Massachusetts, for Halloween. He got drunk and flooded his hotel room by leaving the shower on, and was taken into protective custody in the middle of the night when someone called the police. He was not arrested.

Since his clothing was soaked, he had taken off his clothes at the hotel before he was taken in. He was naked in his cell except for a blanket, and the next morning Butler let him out so he could call his sister. Surveillance video showed Butler touching the victim underneath the blanket.

A jury found a cop not guilty of raping a gay man while on duty / LGBTQ Nation

Victims try to block release of convicted child rapist

With Chapman's release pending, it has come to light that may not be happening as Chapman was arrested Wednesday in prison for indecent exposure and lewd acts.

A judge on Massachusetts’ highest court cleared the way on Monday for the release of a 70-year-old convicted child rapist in poor health, drawing condemnation from an attorney for victims who vowed to continue fighting to keep the man locked up.

Wayne Chapman, who was convicted in 1977, lured young boys into the woods by pretending he was searching for his missing dog and then sexually assaulted them, court records say.

He has been civilly committed since his prison sentence ended in 2004 because he was deemed to be “sexually dangerous,” but two experts who recently examined him concluded he was no longer dangerous and should be released.

Victims try to block release of convicted child rapist

High school dean-turned-dealer sentenced for maiming student

Shaun Harrison was a Boston high school dean and anti-violence advocate known by students as ‘‘Rev’’ for his pastor-like demeanor. But the pious facade hid a dark double life.

He boasted to students of his gang ties, drugs and guns. He recruited one of them, a 17-year-old student from a broken home, to deal marijuana in school, authorities said.

But after a dispute over slumping sales, Harrison shot the teen in the back of the head with a .380 pistol as they walked on a snowy city street in 2015 and left him for dead, prosecutors said.

Except Luis Rodriguez didn’t die. He dragged himself up and flagged down a passing car. In the hospital, Rodriguez uttered the name of his would-be killer: ‘‘Rev.’’

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Harrison arrived at English High in Boston in January 2015, just two months before his arrest and after stints at other city public schools over about five years. He had been a community organizer and youth minister in Boston for decades, a familiar face who often worked with police and other law enforcement and helped gang members turn their lives around.

High school dean-turned-dealer sentenced for maiming student

Former pastor arrested in NH on sexual assault charges from Mass.

A Seabrook man is being held without bail after he was accused of raping a child while he was serving as a pastor in the Methodist Church.

Russell Davis, 65, faces several charges in Massachusetts. Seabrook police said they arrested Davis Thursday on a fugitive from justice warrant. The Essex County District Attorney's Office said he is being held without bail because he is still employed in the ministry and has access to children.

Davis pleaded not guilty in Newburyport District Court to charges out of Rowley, Massachusetts, of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, and a charge of rape from Newbury, Massachusetts.

Former pastor arrested in NH on sexual assault charges from Mass.

Cops: Brockton mom killed kids in `voodoo’ ritual | Boston Herald

A Brockton mother of five fatally stabbed her 8-year-old son 50 times with a kitchen knife as part of a “voodoo” ritual, then went after his little brother when she thought she had “failed” with the older child, authorities said.

“It came out ‘wrong’ with the first one and for that reason she had to move on to the second child,” assistant Plymouth District Attorney Jessica Kenny said of Latarsha L. Sanders, now held without bail for the murders of her two youngest children.

Kenny told Brockton District Court Judge Paula J. Clifford today the bodies of Edson “Marlon” Brito, 8, and Lason Brito, 5, were found in beds in separate rooms in the family’s third-floor apartment on Prospect Street yesterday after their mother asked a neighbor to call her an ambulance for herself and the neighbor informed police there were children in the home who would need to be cared for.

Cops: Brockton mom killed kids in `voodoo’ ritual | Boston Herald

East Bridgewater women disfigure child in Voodoo ritual, say police

Two East Bridgewater women tied up, burned and disfigured a 5-year-old Randolph girl to rid her of a demon that was making her misbehave, according to East Bridgewater police. The women, who are facing multiple assault charges, also threatened to cut off the head of the girl’s 8-year-old brother in what police described as Haitian Voodoo rituals inside a home at 31 West Union St., in East Bridgewater.

The ritual was done upon the mother’s request, police said.

Peggy LaBossiere, 51, and her sister, Rachel Hilaire, 40, were held without bail Monday after pleading not guilty during their arraignments in Brockton District Court on charges of mayhem (the permanent disfigurement of a child’s face), assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a child with injury, indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 and threatening to commit a crime (murder). The women, who were arrested Jan. 26, appeared briefly again Thursday in court for a hearing to determine how dangerous they are. That hearing was continued.

East Bridgewater women disfigure child in Voodoo ritual, say police

Deerfield woman charged with embezzling from church

Recent indictments filed in Superior Court allege that South Deerfield resident Jeanne Elizabeth Grover, 46, previously charged with embezzling upward of $30,000 from Stillwater Condominium Association, also took money from the First Church of Deerfield.

“Between the two victims, this is $60,000, approximately,” said Deerfield Police officer Adam Sokoloski, who oversaw an investigation that led to Grover’s arrest Sept. 21, 2017. Most recently, the First Church of Deerfield alleged that Grover, who worked as an administrative assistant there, stole more than $20,000 from congregation members.

According to an initial report filed by Sokoloski in District Court, a representative of the Stillwater Condominium Association came to the police station after being contacted by Greenfield Savings Bank’s fraud and theft prevention division, which reported that $18,173 had been transferred from the condo association’s account without approval over about five years.

Deerfield woman charged with embezzling from church

UPDATED::Exorcism excise: U.S. psychic pleads guilty to $3.5 million tax evasion | Reuters

UPDATE::  A Psychic Who Charged $3.5 Million for Exorcisms Is Going to Prison

A purported psychic who charged an elderly Massachusetts woman $3.5 million for exorcisms and “spiritual cleansing” has been sentenced for evading taxes.

Federal prosecutors say 41-year-old Sally Ann Johnson, of south Florida, was sentenced Wednesday to two years and two months in prison. She was ordered to repay the woman and pay $725,000 to the IRS.

A self-proclaimed psychic who was paid $3.5 million by an elderly Massachusetts woman in exchange for claiming to cleanse her of demons pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to avoid paying taxes.

Sally Ann Johnson, 41, for more than seven years provided what she described as healing services to a resident of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, who was more than 70 years old when she first met the spiritual healer, according to court papers. 

Johnson, who ran businesses including Psychic Match Inc and Flatiron Psychic, admitted in Boston federal court that she tried to impede the administration of tax laws.

Exorcism excise: U.S. psychic pleads guilty to $3.5 million tax evasion | Reuters

#1 Transgender rights advocate killed

A transgender woman was found stabbed and beaten to death in her Massachusetts home on Friday evening. Her husband has been charged with her murder.

Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien becomes the first known transgender person to be killed in 2018, according to GLAAD, an LGBT-rights organization.
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Steele-Knudslien, 42, worked as a transgender rights advocate, started a pageant for transgender women in New England and was well known in the Massachusetts LGBT community for launching the first New England Trans Pride 10 years ago, according to the AP.

Transgender rights advocate killed

Female pastor accused of skinny dipping with students during school trip sought restraining order against church member | masslive.com

An incident of outdoor nude bathing during a camping trip between chaperones and students from religious private school and church may have actually been skinny dipping between a pastor and students.

A state Department of Children and Families investigation launched earlier this year after a concerned parent reported the incident to the principal of South Lancaster Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Lancaster, MassLive reported earlier this month.

Fallout from the incident led to Heather Cook, the associate pastor at the College Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Lancaster, seeking a restraining order against a congregation member after that member spoke to her about the apparent skinny dipping incident.

Female pastor accused of skinny dipping with students during school trip sought restraining order against church member | masslive.com

UPDATED::Essex D.A wants former priest held as 'sexually dangerous' | masslive.com

UPDATE:: Former Massachusetts priest reindicted on Maine sex abuse charges

The York County grand jury has reindicted a former priest from Massachusetts who is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing two boys he brought to Maine in the 1980s.

Ronald Paquin now faces 31 counts of sexual abuse in York County. He was originally indicted in February on 29 counts of sexual abuse for acts he allegedly committed in the mid- to late 1980s when he brought the boys to Maine for “short-term stays,” Kennebunk Police Chief Craig Sanford said at the time Paquin was charged. Sanford would not say where the alleged abuse occurred, other than to describe it as “a seasonal location,” or provide any other information on the charges.

Paquin, 74, has been held at the York County Jail since he was arrested and formally charged in February.

Paquin, who was removed from the priesthood in 2002, was a key figure in the Massachusetts priest sex abuse scandal in the early 2000s and pleaded guilty in 2002 to repeatedly raping a Haverhill, Massachusetts, altar boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, beginning when the boy was 12. Paquin was jailed in Massachusetts until 2015, when specialists said he no longer met the criteria to be considered sexually dangerous.

UPDATE:: Pedophile priest to be freed from jail

The Essex District Attorney's Office on Friday withdrew its petition to hold defrocked Haverhill priest Ronald H. Paquin as a sexually dangerous person. Neither of the experts who examined him found him "sexually dangerous," therefore, the District Attorney's Office must, by law, withdraw its petition.

"Our contention is that Mr. Paquin poses a danger to the community," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we have no further legal options available to hold Mr. Paquin."

After pleading guilty in 2003 to raping and molesting an altar boy in Haverhill as many as 50 times from 1989 to 1992, Paquin was sentenced to 12 to 15 years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction in Walpole.

The first Catholic priest convicted and jailed for sex abuse is about to be released from state prison.

Now 72-years-old, Ronald Paquin has served 12 of his 12 to 15 year sentence for raping and molesting an altar boy more than 50 times over a three-year period.

But, the Eagle Tribune reports that Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett says Paquin is still too dangerous to walk the streets. He wants the former priest held in Bridgewater State Hospital.

A spokeswoman for Blodgett said state law allows for petitions to hold released prisoners indefinitely as "sexually dangerous persons."

Essex D.A wants former priest held as 'sexually dangerous' | masslive.com

Paul Shanley, notorious priest in Catholic church sex abuse scandal, to be released this week - The Boston Globe

 

Paul R. Shanley , a former “street priest” who became one of the most notorious figures in the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal, is set to be released from prison as early as this week after serving 12 years behind bars for raping a Sunday school student in the early 1980s.

Middlesex prosecutors said they had hoped to keep the 86-year-old defrocked priest behind bars even after his sentence was completed by having him declared a “sexually dangerous person.” But two doctors who examined Shanley found that he did not meet the required criteria, prosecutors said.

“We are awaiting their final reports,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “However, both doctors have informed us that they have concluded that Shanley does not satisfy the legal criteria for a petition to be filed.”

Paul Shanley, notorious priest in Catholic church sex abuse scandal, to be released this week - The Boston Globe

UPDATED::Santeria priest charged with stealing 8 skeletons from Worcester's Hope Cemetery | masslive.com

UPDATE:: Charges dropped against one Santeria priest in Hope Cemetery grave robberies 

Charges have been dropped against one of two former Santeria priests suspected of involvement in the theft of eight skeletons from Hope Cemetery in Worcester last year.

Felix Delgado, 40, of 518 Hallett St., Bridgeport, will no longer face charges of disinterment of a body after authorities say the bones found in his apartment were determined not to match those missing from Worcester.

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A Santeria priest has been indicted on nine charges of disinterment of a body in the theft of skeletons from Worcester's Hope Cemetery last year.

Amador Medina, 32, of 245 Preston St., Apt. 2, Hartford, was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury on Wednesday in thefts from two mausoleum's last year.

Medina had been arrested and charged in district court last December in connection with the theft of five skeletons from the Houghton-family mausoleum. He was held on $100,000 bail.

Santeria priest charged with stealing 8 skeletons from Worcester's Hope Cemetery | masslive.com