

: Seventeen molestation victims of Father Rico Dominic Escudero pleads no contest to numerous felony charges of kidnapping, child molestation, and criminal sexual conduct with minors under 13 years old. Italy : Seventeen molestation victims of Father

This Week's Winner

Over the last seven days... Virginia : Pastor Tommy Shelton charged with seven felony counts of child molestation. Texas : PastorLelio Cantini demand his bishops resign for shielding him from prosecution. Arkansas : Christian school administrator Tim Ballard arrested for sexual assault of a student. New York : Pastor Phillip Jouber indicted for rape of a 13 year-old relative. Virginia : Deacon Hurley Jones arrested for assaulting parishioners. Illinois : Father John Regan charged with embezzling $300K from parishioners to feed his gambling addiction. New Brunswick : Pastor Frederick Hanson found guilty on two counts of child molestation. Minnesota : Pastor Arthur Ree pleads guilty to two counts of molesting an 11 year-old girl. Ree is 83. Quebec : Father Raymond-Marie Lavoie arrested for molesting eleven boys. His lawyer indicates Lavoie may plead guilty. South Carolina : Pastor Christopher Daniels has escaped from prison after serving ten months of a fifteen year sentence for burning down his own church. Uganda : Father Santos Constatino Wapokura charged with "defilement" of two 14 year-old girls. He is HIV-positive and faces hanging. Israel : Unnamed rabbi arrested for shooting a student in a masked drive-by attack. North Carolina : Charlotte archdiocese pays $1M to former altar boy molested by Father Robert Yurgel who is serving an eight year prison sentence. Illinois : Father Daniel McCormack faces charges of molesting four more boys. McCormack has been in prison since 2007 after pleading guilty to molesting five other boys. Germany : Bishop Walter Mixa resigns over accusations of beating children and "misusing" money meant for orphans. The pope has accepted his resignation. Georgia : Two executives of the Christian Integrity Bank have been charged with selling fraudulent loans in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. One local developer who received an $80M loan kept $20M in a private checking account and used the money to buy a private island in the Bahamas. Integrity Bank, which was founded on "Biblical principles," held daily employee prayer meetings and gave customers free Bibles. They were shut down by federal regulators in 2008. Integrity!

Labels: religion, This Week In Holy Crimes