UPDATED::DC priest arrested on charges of child sexual abuse | WTOP

 UPDATE::  Catholic priest found guilty of sexually abusing girls at his D.C. parish

A Catholic priest was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing two girls at a D.C. church after an emotional trial during which prosecutors said he used his position of trust to victimize the young parishioners.

Urbano Vazquez, 47, showed no emotion as the jury foreman read the guilty verdicts in D.C. Superior Court.

The jurors found that Vazquez groped a 13-year-old girl in 2015 and kissed and groped a 9-year-old girl in 2016. The incidents happened while he was serving as an assistant pastor at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Columbia Heights.

UPDATE:: Police: Two new victims allege Catholic priest in D.C. abused them

The D.C. Catholic priest charged last month with sexually assaulting a teenage girl was again arrested Tuesday and accused of abusing two additional victims, including a girl who was 9 years old at the time, authorities said.

Urbano Vazquez, 46, assistant pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Northwest Washington, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday on charges of second-degree sexual assault of a minor and misdemeanor assault of an adult woman. The alleged abuse of the juvenile began when she was 9 years old and continued until she was 10, according to William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

According to a D.C. police report, the girl reported the priest kissed her on the lips and several times inappropriately touched her over her clothing.

D.C. police have arrested a Catholic priest on charges of child sexual abuse.

Urbano Vazquez, 46, of Northeast D.C., was arrested Wednesday following allegations of sexual abuse. Vazquez has been the parochial vicar at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia Heights since 2014.

Police said in a news release that Vazquez had sexual contact with a child without permission in May 2015.

The victim was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, and the suspect was 42 years old. She said in a statement to police that Vazquez placed his hand down the front of her shirt and onto her bare breast on two occasions.

DC priest arrested on charges of child sexual abuse | WTOP

Catholic school principal arrested after refusing to pay tab at strip club - Story | KTVU

A Louisiana Catholic school principal has been arrested after visiting a strip club while on a school field trip to the nation's capital.

Diocese of Baton Rouge spokesman Dan Borne says Michael Comeau was arrested early Thursday in Washington, D.C., where he was with students from Holy Family Catholic School, a K-8 school in Port Allen.

According to an arrest report, officers were dispatched to Archibald's Gentlemen's Club on a complaint about "an intoxicated man refusing to pay his bill." The Advocate reports the 47-year-old faces charges of public intoxication and possession of an open container of alcohol. It was unknown if he has an attorney.

Catholic school principal arrested after refusing to pay tab at strip club - Story | KTVU

Lawsuit alleges child sex abuse at prominent Washington synagogue

 No criminal charges have been filed in this case at time of posting,,,

The families of eight young children have filed suit against a prominent Washington, D.C., synagogue and one of its leaders, alleging they ignored warnings that a teacher at the congregation's preschool was sexually abusing the children for more than two years.

The families, who are filing the suit anonymously, to protect the children's identities, say the alleged abuse occurred at Washington Hebrew Congregation's Early Childhood Center, a Reform Jewish synagogue founded in the 1850s.

The lawsuit names Jordan Silverman, a teacher at Washington Hebrew Congregation's preschool, as the abuser. Silverman, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has not been charged with any crimes and denies the allegations in the lawsuit.

Lawsuit alleges child sex abuse at prominent Washington synagogue

C. John McCloskey: Opus Dei paid $977,000 to settle sexual misconduct claim against prominent Catholic priest - The Washington Post

The global Catholic community Opus Dei in 2005 paid $977,000 to settle a sexual misconduct suit against the Rev. C. John McCloskey, a priest well-known for preparing for conversion big-name conservatives — Newt Gingrich, Larry Kudlow and Sam Brownback, among others.
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“I love Opus Dei but I was caught up in this coverup — I went to confession, thinking I did something to tempt this holy man to cross boundaries,” she said. The Post does not name victims of sexual assault without their consent.

The disclosure of the complaint and settlement were not made public by Opus Dei until Monday but behind the scenes, the ministry of the well-known priest had been sharply curtailed. Many Washington-area Catholics have wondered for years what happened to McCloskey, who was the closest thing to a celebrity the Catholic Church had in the region.

C. John McCloskey: Opus Dei paid $977,000 to settle sexual misconduct claim against prominent Catholic priest - The Washington Post

UPDATE::Judge Upholds Rabbi’s Sentence Of 6.5 Years For Secretly Taping Women « CBS Baltimore

UPDATE::  Mikvah-peeping Rabbi Barry Freundel’s jail sentence reduced by over a year due to good behavior

The jail sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, D.C. who secretly filmed women in his synagogue’s mikvah, has been shortened by over a year due to good behavior, his lawyer said.

Freundel’s 6 1/2-year sentence also was reduced because he participated as an instructor in a program to educate other inmates, the attorney, Jeffrey Harris, told JTA on Thursday.

A day earlier, the D.C. Department of Corrections had sent an email to Freundel’s victims saying the rabbi would be released on Aug. 21. On Thursday, however, the department sent another email saying that Freundel will be released on Aug. 21, 2020. Director Quincy Booth told JTA in a statement that the original email was sent in error.

A judge upholds Rabbi Barry Freundel’s sentence of six and a half years behind bars for videotaping dozens of women as they prepared for a ritual bath.
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Attorneys from Freundel argue that he was wrongly sentenced, which lead to extra prison time.

Judge Upholds Rabbi’s Sentence Of 6.5 Years For Secretly Taping Women « CBS Baltimore

UPDATED::Disgraced rabbi issues apology to victims in videotaping scandal - The Washington Post

UPDATE:: Convicted Peeping-Tom Rabbi Barry Freundel Wants His Jail Sentence Reduced to One Year

Barry Freundel, the former rabbi of Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue who pleaded guilty last year to secretly filming a women’s changing room at a ritual Jewish bath, was back in court Tuesday appealing his jail sentence. Freundel argued in DC’s Court of Appeals that the six-and-a-half year sentence he received last year on a slew of voyeurism charges was illegal and should be reduced to less than a year.

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A once-influential Orthodox rabbi who was sentenced to prison for videotaping dozens of women as they prepared for a ritual bath in a Washington synagogue, has issued an apology to the women, the first time he has spoken publicly since his arrest last fall.

In a letter published Wednesday, Barry Freundel wrote that he would have preferred to apologize individually to each of his victims, but he felt that it could cause further harm to some and would be unwelcome, so he issued a public apology, saying he “shattered the worlds of those I most loved.”

“No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough,” Freundel wrote in his Sept. 8 letter of apology, which was at the Washington Jewish Week’s Web site. “I am sorry, beyond measure, for my heinous behavior and the perverse mindset that provoked my actions.”

Disgraced rabbi issues apology to victims in videotaping scandal - The Washington Post

US Dentist Bilal Ahmed put penis in anaesthetised patient's mouth | Latest News | Breaking UK News & World News Headlines | Daily Star

Bilal Ahmed, who is based in Washington DC, was charged with first degree sexual abuse after the man called police.

Court records allege the offence happened when the victim visited Ahmed's practice, Universal Smiles, to have a tooth removed.

The man was told by Bilal that nitrous oxide was needed to sedate him, it is claimed, and an assistant was there when it was administered.

But when the man awoke the assistant was gone, his mask was askew and the dentist was forcing him to perform oral sex, the documents allege.

He was then escorted back to the recovery room by the dentist, the papers say, and he left Ahmed's office two hours later.

US Dentist Bilal Ahmed put penis in anaesthetised patient's mouth | Latest News | Breaking UK News & World News Headlines | Daily Star

Former D.C. police officer, pastor sentenced for sex crimes - WTOP

A federal judge sentencing a former D.C. police officer and pastor was barely controlling his anger at Darrell Best, who pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and sexually abusing two teenage girls.

“I have a hard time understanding how a man of God, when two girls come for help, your response is to have sex with them,” said U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton, his tone rising in disbelief.

Walton sentenced Best to 18 years at Butner federal prison, where he will get treatment designed for sexual offenders. When Best gets out of prison, he will be on supervised release for the rest of his life, and be required to register as a sex offender.

Best apologized to his victims, who were not present in the courtroom
Former D.C. police officer, pastor sentenced for sex crimes - WTOP


H/T::   In the Name Of god - The Podcast

Can some big D.C. churches fight off a bike lane? They are bringing large crowds to try. - The Washington Post

WTF!!  Seriously, they are arguing over a bike lane?

I have read some fucked up stories in my time but this one has to be the most asinine thing I have ever come across.  I am loathe to even consider is a "religious" issue.  It's  fucking pure fat-assed laziness on the part of the church.

Please,,, some one explain how in the hell a bike lane would infringe upon a the church's "constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws."

Some prominent D.C. African-American churches showed their muscles Thursday evening, bringing out hundreds of congregants to a city meeting to discuss proposals to build a protected bike lane that could cut into street parking spaces near the churches.

And the packed meeting — which was eventually broken up by city officials who said the crowd in the Shaw library’s meeting room was a fire hazard — highlighted a tension in the rapidly changing District between longtime, black residents and new, largely white residents.

“We just think we have to protect what’s ours,” said Robert Price III, a pastor at the United House of Prayer church in Shaw on the 600 block of M Street NW, referencing black churches that have left the District in recent years.
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“No one is going to get everything they want; we have to find a reasonable solution,” said Alex Padro, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission representative whose district includes the United House of Prayer Church.

An interesting point to note, 

What’s sad is that the DDOT relented in a similar case, ultimately agreeing to making a bike path that could double as parking space (which isn’t ideal).

Ultimately, after a much-heated back-and-forth between the church, city and cycling advocates, the city agreed to make the bike lane unprotected in front of the church. The church was happy with the outcome, but cycling advocates warned that it could set a dangerous precedent for other churches and businesses that don’t want a bike lane in front of their establishments.

Dangerous precedent, indeed. That’s exactly what’s happening now.

In a big city where bike lanes are better for the environment and harder to come by, it’s ludicrous that one church gets to shut down an idea like this. People will adjust to the changes as they always do, and a bike lane isn’t creating some undue burden on Christians who want to worship. Worshipers will just have to get used to the new reality, whether they bike to church or park a little further away.

These Christians are whining about a common good and it’s especially galling because the church isn’t even paying taxes to help with street maintenance, unlike the taxpayers who want the bike lane.

Can some big D.C. churches fight off a bike lane? They are bringing large crowds to try. - The Washington Post

Police seek help in solving male rape case

D.C. police are seeking help from the public in identifying as many as eight suspects reportedly involved in the abduction and sexual assault of an adult male victim in Columbia Heights on Friday evening, July 31.

A statement released by police says that at approximately 8 p.m. on July 31 one of the suspects approached the victim near the intersection of 14th Street and Parkwood Place, N.W., and forced him at gunpoint into a white van.

A police incident report obtained by the Washington Blade says the same suspect and as many as seven other suspects “drove him around” in the van.

According to the report, the victim told police that while inside the van “Suspect 1 through Suspect 5 anally sexually assaulted him against his will and without his consent.”

The separate statement released by police on Aug. 2 says the incident has been listed as a first-degree sexual assault while armed (gun) and a kidnapping.
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A police source familiar with how police incident reports are prepared said the hate crime box is left blank when investigators don’t have sufficient evidence that an incident was a possible hate crime at the time the report was made. That assessment could change at any time during the course of an investigation as new evidence surfaces, the source said.

Neither the police statement nor the incident report discloses the victim’s age or whether he identifies as gay, straight, bisexual or transgender.

Police seek help in solving male rape case

Catholic school teacher charged with touching two teenage students - The Washington Post

A teacher at a girls’ Catholic school in Potomac was arrested Thursday, shortly after a teenage student said that he had touched her inappropriately.

A second person told police that the teacher had also touched her when she was a student at Connelly School of the Holy Child.

Justin Andrew Gordon, 40, of Poolesville faces two charges of sexually abusing a minor and two of fourth-degree sexual offense. Montgomery County police said they think other students might have also been abused. Anyone with information about other possible victims can call police at 240-773-5400.

Shannon Gomez, head of school at the independent Catholic school, said that the teenager’s family told the school July 10 that Gordon had abused the girl. The school contacted police that day and banned Gordon from the campus.

Catholic school teacher charged with touching two teenage students - The Washington Post

UPDATE::Mikvah-peeping rabbi sentenced to 6.5 years | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Rabbi Barry Freundel was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for videotaping dozens of nude women at a ritual bath.

“You repeatedly and secretly violated the trust your victims had in you, and you abused your power,” Senior Judge
Geoffrey Alprin of D.C. Superior Court said at the sentencing, the Washington Post reported. Alprin also fined Freundel more than $2,000.

Prosecutors had sought 17 years after Freundel, the former spiritual leader of a prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue, pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. Freundel’s lawyers sought community service. Each count carried a maximum penalty of one year in prison and fines of $1,000 to $2,500.

Freundel was given 45 days for each of the 52 counts. He will serve the sentences successively, amounting to nearly six and a half years.

Mikvah-peeping rabbi sentenced to 6.5 years | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

UPDATE::For those who revered him, D.C. rabbi’s sentencing for voyeurism will not bring closure - The Washington Post

I will be honest, I want to say something snarky, but I wont.  All I will say, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."  That being said, this comment, I think sums up the situation:

These two statements from the article will make it very difficult if not impossible for the Kesher community to fully heal: "Judaism teaches that speaking negatively of others — or even listening to negative talk or gossip — can be sinful, and the D.C. Orthodox community is small." and then "...but this wasn’t a sin of the congregation — it was a sin of the rabbi.”

The congregation does bear ample responsibility for the actions of its former faith leader and until the congregation as a whole accepts and acknowledges its part it will be unable to fully heal and will certainly fall victim to the actions of its next charismatic leader. They need to understand what led them to permit the Rabbi to do what he did, fully understand and take responsibility for their part, grieve for their loss and those who were harmed. Until the faith community can hold a series of meetings guided by a professional mediator this congregation will never be able to overcome this scandal, nor be in a position to make the changes to polity that will prevent a recurrence.

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This week, a D.C. Superior Court judge is scheduled to hand down a penalty for Barry Freundel, a powerful Orthodox rabbi who for years secretly videotaped his female followers as they prepared to submerge in the mikvah, a ritual bath. But in the Orthodox world where Freundel was once a giant, the fallout of his crimes will continue unspooling.

Some of the hundreds who studied or worshiped with Freundel have stopped going to the mikvah, a ritual that is considered so important in Judaism that women are commanded to use it monthly before sharing any physical intimacy with their husbands.

Others who converted with Freundel are terrified that their status as Jews will forever be in question in their law-focused communities. Some people have stopped going to synagogue. Others suffer nightmares in which they are spied upon — and feel complicit.

 “This man was Judaism embodied for many of us, we must reconstruct our faith absent his titanic influence. Some members are experiencing deep crises of faith,” reads a group statement by a dozen of the hundreds of converts Freundel mentored over the years. “It was as though he took G-d away from me,” one wrote, using a traditional, respectful way Jews refer to God.

[,,,]
For a man who wrote 55 books and articles, lectured at places from Princeton and Yale to the Aspen Institute and Congress, this is a steep fall.

“There is a need to ostracize someone like this. While Judaism has a process of forgiveness and repair in such cases, it’s not instant,” said one D.C.-area rabbi. “There’s a notion in Judaism of someone in the community who becomes contaminated. They do return, but not just because they feel like it. I think he has to go through some process of reflection, treatment and repair.”

Orthodox Jews vary on what they want to happen Friday, as Judaism doesn’t clearly embrace incarceration simply for punishment. If someone is a danger, that’s one thing, said the rabbi, but “by punishing someone with incarceration, they aren’t allowed to grow.”

For those who revered him, D.C. rabbi’s sentencing for voyeurism will not bring closure - The Washington Post

Breaking: DC Passes Bill Banning Conversion Or Ex-Gay 'Therapy' For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

Washington, D.C. is about to follow in the footsteps of California and New Jersey in protecting children from the dangers of dangerous reparative, "ex-gay," or conversion "therapy." These practices, often embraced by the religious right, employ tactics deemed both ineffective and harmful by nearly every major medical association in the U.S., and many round the world.

The D.C. City Council just voted protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children and teens by banning the practice.

“Today, the DC Council sent a powerful message to LGBT youth and their families that they are accepted, supported, and loved,” Samantha Ames, a staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and coordinator of the #BornPerfect campaign said in a statement. “The Council has used its authority to protect our most vulnerable youth from dangerous and discredited pseudoscience that tells them who they are is wrong, and reaffirmed the consensus of every major medical and mental health organization that all children are born perfect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Breaking: DC Passes Bill Banning Conversion Or Ex-Gay 'Therapy' For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

UPDATE::Rabbi Barry Freundel fired by his D.C. synagogue, Kesher Israel | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

An update of this story,,,

The board of Rabbi Barry Freundel’s Washington synagogue, Kesher Israel, fired the rabbi and said he must vacate his residence by Jan. 1.

Freundel had been on suspension without pay since his Oct. 14 arrest on voyeurism charges for allegedly installing secret cameras in the shower room of the mikvah adjacent to the Orthodox shul. Freundel’s residence is owned by the synagogue.

The synagogue board made its decision last week and announced it to the community in an email sent Sunday and in a notice posted on the synagogue website.

“The decision by the Board of Directors was made under extraordinarily difficult and unfortunate circumstances,” the board said in its announcement. “The alleged acts leading to this step were a gross violation of law, privacy, halakha, and trust. They breached the high moral and ethical standards we set for ourselves and for our leadership.”

The ritual bath, known as the National Capital Mikvah, has been scrutinized to make sure no other hidden devices remained. Last week, Freundel also was formally terminated as the mikvah’s supervising rabbi.

Rabbi Barry Freundel fired by his D.C. synagogue, Kesher Israel | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

D.C. rabbi Barry Freundel arrested, charged with voyeurism | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Rabbi Barry Freundel, the longtime spiritual leader at Kesher Israel in Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged with voyeurism after the synagogue board alerted the authorities.

Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department searched his home in the Georgetown section of Washington, Washingtonian magazine reported.

A statement from the board of directors emailed to congregants said it had suspended Freundel without pay.

“Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials,” said the statement. “Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so.”

D.C. rabbi Barry Freundel arrested, charged with voyeurism | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Westboro Baptist Church Gets A Big Surprise While Protesting Wilson High School

Wilson High School Principal Pete Cahall came out as gay last week at a Pride Day event at the school alongside D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and openly gay City Councilman David Catania.

“I want to say publicly for the first time because of your leadership, care and support that I am a proud gay man who just happens to be the principal of Wilson High School,” the 50-year-old, who also said he was tired of "hiding," told the crowd.

After making the announcement, Cahall was met with an outpouring of support from the local community. However, WBC challenged that by saying members would protest the school for celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Westboro Baptist Church Gets A Big Surprise While Protesting Wilson High School

Man, 77, dies after collapsing near D.C. fire station and not getting immediate aid - The Washington Post

This is just so wrong!! What a disgrace to the uniform they wear,,,

(This story has been updated)
Three times people banged on the door of the Northeast Washington firehouse seeking help for a man who had collapsed. Each time, the rescuers inside turned them away.

In a nearby parking lot, Marie Mills cradled her 77-year-old father in her arms. “Help is on the way,” she told him. “There are firefighters right across the street.”

But the firefighters didn’t come. When she spotted one standing in an open bay door, she ran to the curb. “Can you just come and help my dad?” she screamed. “What are you going to do, let my dad die in the street?”

Mills said she was told by people who tried to help that the firefighters said that they couldn’t respond unless someone called 911. It took 15 to 20 minutes for help to show up on Saturday, she said, and then arrived only because a D.C. police officer flagged down an ambulance that happened to pass by. Her father, Medric Cecil Mills Jr., died of an apparent heart attack at MedStar Washington Hospital Center that afternoon. He had worked for the District parks department for over four decades and liked his job so much that he hadn’t retired.

Man, 77, dies after collapsing near D.C. fire station and not getting immediate aid - The Washington Post

D.C. Council approves ‘living wage’ bill over Wal-Mart ultimatum - Washington Post

D.C. lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill requiring some large retailers to pay their employees a 50 percent premium over the city’s minimum wage, a day after Wal-Mart warned that the law would jeopardize its plans in the city.

The retail giant had linked the future of at least three planned stores in the District to the proposal. But its ultimatum did not change any legislators’ minds. The 8 to 5 roll call matched the outcome of an earlier vote on the matter, taken before Wal-Mart’s warning.

“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,” said council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation, who added that the city did not need to kowtow to threats. “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.”

D.C. Council approves ‘living wage’ bill over Wal-Mart ultimatum - Washington Post

Walmart Threatens To Shut Down Stores If DC Passes Living Wage Bill | ThinkProgress

This is one reason I do not shop at Walmart,,,

Walmart claims that the bill, which applies to retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and stores that are 75,000 square feet or larger, is “arbitrary and discriminatory.” In a Washington Post editorial, general manager Alex Barron issued an ultimatum to Mayor Vincent Gray: veto the bill, or Walmart will halt construction on stores at Skyland, Capitol Gateway, and New York Avenue.

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Walmart is accustomed to singlehandedly taking down worker rights legislation. Seven years ago, Walmart threatened to scrap its plans to open stores in Chicago after the city passed a similar living wage law. The mayor promptly vetoed the bill. In March, New York raised its minimum wage but gave tax subsidies to Walmart and other firms that hire seasonal workers. Unions claimed at the time that Walmart had influenced the deal behind the scenes.

Will be curious as to how these retailers respond,,,

Other large stores like Costco, Home Depot, Target, and Macy’s would also have to abide by the DC proposal. But the new $12.50 minimum would be an especially dramatic change for Walmart, which currently pays workers 28 percent less on average than other large retailers,,,

Walmart Threatens To Shut Down Stores If DC Passes Living Wage Bill | ThinkProgress