Editor's note: This article contains graphic descriptions that are sexual in nature. The three individuals making the allegations have agreed to allow their names and details of the allegations from the testimonies to be published. Reader discretion is advised.

A Presbyterian minister, who said he was following the Bible, used Native American exorcism rituals, gemstones and even oral sex to extract "evil spirits" from men undergoing crises in their lives, the church and men claim.

The so-called healing acts, which date to 1999, were allegedly performed by the Rev. Dr. William Weaver, a prominent Presbyterian minister who served as pastor at Linden Presbyterian Church for 39 years, one of two Presbyterian churches in Linden, a city with a population of over 40,000. He also held several public roles, including chaplain for a county police department.

Weaver, 69, was scheduled to face his three accusers during an internal church trial, but on Jan. 25, 2019, one day before the trial was to begin, he renounced the jurisdiction of the Elizabeth Presbytery. He was accused by the church of “multiple acts of idolatry and sexual misconduct.”

The church charges have no bearing on the secular government's civil and criminal courts. No public charges have been filed against Weaver. The men said they did report the sexual encounters to authorities, but the Union County Prosecutor's Office said they could not confirm nor deny information regarding this matter.

With his renouncement, Weaver gave up his ordination and membership in the Presbyterian Church but also avoided a religious trial. He then moved to a gated retirement community in Lakewood.

The trial was scheduled after the men alerted the Elizabeth Presbytery, which oversees 41 Presbyterian churches in Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex and Union counties.

The Presbytery determined, through an investigating committee, “that there are probable grounds or cause to believe that an offense was committed by the accused,” according to the official church charges. If Weaver was found at the religious trial to have violated church rules, the most punishment he would have faced would have been expulsion from the Presbyterian ministry.

"In April 2018, the Presbytery of Elizabeth received allegations of multiple instances of sexual misconduct perpetrated by William Weaver, who was a minister member of the Presbytery. The Presbytery of Elizabeth, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), takes seriously any allegation of misconduct," the Rev. Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp, interim leader of the Elizabeth Presbytery, said in a statement.

The Rev. Dr. William Weaver. ~Submitted photo

She said the Presbytery’s response to these allegations was in accordance with its policy on sexual misconduct and the Book of Order, the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

"Mr. Weaver was placed on administrative leave while the Investigating Committee conducted interviews with multiple witnesses," Dobbs-Allsopp continued. "The allegations were found to be credible, and disciplinary charges were filed, and an ecclesiastical disciplinary hearing date was set."

She also said Weaver renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on the eve of his ecclesiastical disciplinary hearing, which halted the disciplinary proceedings.

In doing so, Weaver renounced the jurisdiction of the church, is no longer part of the Presbyterian Church "and he is no longer an ordained minister."

Dobbs-Allsopp said that means Weaver may not perform any work of any kind on a paid or volunteer basis within any church in the Presbyterian Church in the United States or any other organization within the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

"Once Mr. Weaver renounced jurisdiction, the disciplinary charges became public subject to the Presbytery’s sexual misconduct policy," she said. "Pursuant to the Rules of Discipline in the Book of Order, the charges were read to the Presbytery in March 2019 at the next Stated Meeting following Mr. Weaver’s renunciation. The Presbytery of Elizabeth supports, prays for, and seeks healing, wholeness, truth, and justice."

When reached by phone for comment, Weaver said: “I’m not able to respond. Thank you.”

Weaver, once described as a “shepherd” in the church by one of the men who said he was victimized by the preacher, is now separated from his flock.

'Like a Jekyll and Hyde'

Weaver, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has served as chaplain of the Union County Police Department, the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 779, and the Hospice Division of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he also served as a member of the ethics committee, according to his resume on Linkedin.com.

Sebastian D'Elia, director of communications for Union County, confirmed that Weaver worked as a chaplain for the county police department from 1999 to 2007.

Audrey Pereira, associate representative to the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 779 and the wife of the organization's president, also confirmed that Weaver was a chaplain for the group.

"We don't know who else has been hurt by this," she said. "God forbid there are more out there."

Audrey Pereira, associate representative to the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter where Weaver served as chaplain We don't know who else has been hurt by this. God forbid there are more out there. Quote icon

Pereira described Weaver as a "smart and cunning" man who did do good things, such as praying with veterans in the hospital, but did so with a "mask" hiding his alleged misdeeds.

"He did good on one hand, but he's like a Jekyll and Hyde," she said. "On the other hand, he did this evil to who knows how many. It can't just have been these guys, there has to be more."

Pereira said Weaver actually performed an "exorcism" in her Linden home, which her family thought had a poltergeist.

Although RWJ did not confirm Weaver's connections to the hospital — declining multiple requests from My Central Jersey and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey to do so — Pereira said she personally saw Weaver acting as a chaplain at RWJ Hospital in Rahway on several occasions while she and her family were in the hospital.

"I was in the hospital and he would visit when he was the resident chaplain," Pereira said. "Within the last 10 years he was there."

She also said she was a member of Linden Presbyterian Church, but stopped going after she learned of the allegations against its minister.

A suitcase of feathers, gemstones and Ziploc bags

“If you mentioned Bill Weaver’s name in Linden or Union County, people would say, ‘Oh, we love Bill!” said A.J. Meeker, one of the men claiming to have been sexually abused by Weaver. “He volunteered all over the place, he was moderator of the Presbytery. He did a lot of things and was very well connected.”

Meeker, of Edison, now 37, said he was 20 when he began seeing Weaver as a counselor in 2000. He was one of the three men who detailed their allegations in impact statements and delivered them to the Presbytery. For this article, My Central Jersey and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey separately interviewed the three men who claim to be victims, as well as two other individuals who were informed by the men of the incidents, and reported from the impact statements.

The three men said they also informed law enforcement of the allegations against Weaver, including the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Police and the state Attorney General's clergy abuse hotline.

Mark Spivey, director of communications for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, said he "cannot confirm nor deny" information relating to Weaver.

Meeker had flunked out of college and moved out of his family’s house, according to his impact statement to the Presbytery. He said he had a strained relationship with his father and his stepmother was not speaking to him. His biological mother stopped communicating with him when he was 15, he said.

“I have dealt with the abandonment issues, depression and anxiety that this caused. I was dating my soon-to-be ex-wife and became a member of the Linden Presbyterian Church,” Meeker wrote in his statement. “While going there, I found Rev. Bill Weaver to be a kind and compassionate person who was very easy to talk to.”

When he began seeing Weaver for counseling sessions, the minister told him that there are “individuals based around the Watchung Reservation” who were engaged in spiritual warfare to attack people with evil energy. The minister also recited the Full Armor of God verses from Ephesians 6:10-18.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes,” the passage states. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Meeker said the counseling sessions were held in a bedroom of the manse, the house owned by the Presbyterian church for its ministers. Before the sessions began, Weaver would open a square suitcase that he kept in his office holding the same items the other men also described in statements and interviews: feathers, assorted stones, buckeyes, a magnetic strip, an angel coin and Ziploc bags.

Show caption Hide caption The manse on Georgian Drive in Linden owned by the Elizabeth Presbyterian where the Rev. William Weaver lived while serving as the minister of Linden... The manse on Georgian Drive in Linden owned by the Elizabeth Presbyterian where the Rev. William Weaver lived while serving as the minister of Linden Presbyterian Church and where he met with men for counseling sessions. Nick Muscavage/Staff Photo

Every meeting with Weaver began the same way, Meeker said. The minister told him to undress completely and lie on the bed. Then he placed an angel coin — a coin with an angel or saint printed on it used for praying — on Meeker’s forehead and wrapped a magnetic strip around his head to keep it in place.

Weaver then would place a series of stones on both of Meeker’s feet his hands and on the left side and right side of his chest.

“I was told that for him to get everything out me, I needed to lay completely still to not move the stones on my feet,” Meeker said in the impact statement. “He would then take out the feather and scan my body from my neck to my stomach.”

Weaver then opened Meeker’s mouth, placed his own mouth on top of Meeker’s mouth, and moved his tongue around “to see if I had anything in my mouth or throat,” Meeker wrote.

Then the interaction became sexual, with Weaver engaging in oral sex, according to Meeker.

“He would then ingest my ejaculate and then would spit up multiple pieces of plastic or metal into a Ziploc bag,” Meeker stated.

He said he began to ask Weaver about the necessity of the ritual and asked the minister if he was using the same techniques on women. Weaver, according to Meeker’s statement, said “everything would come out of a woman’s navel and every 30 days their cycle would clear them out.”

Weaver said the evil energy manifested itself into what he called “hits.”

He also told Meeker that if the “hits” were left inside of him, they would cause infertility and erectile dysfunction.

After every session, Meeker wrote, “he would then hold me and say he loved me and he would protect me, and he would never let anything bad happen to me.”

Weaver also told him he could never mention what happened because “nobody would understand.”

Meeker described Weaver as “a shepherd of the flock” and affectionate.

“He was very touchy-feely, like everyone got a hug or a kiss on the cheek, or stuff like that,” Meeker said in a phone interview. “He was just very hands-on — never inappropriate publicly — it was just like he was very loving and very caring.”

Weaver also strove to represent a “picture of piety,” according to Meeker.

“He always wore his shirt and collar, which Presbyterians don’t do,” Meeker said.

'I thought it was all helping'

William Weist told of a similar account of his encounters with Weaver.

Weist, Pereira's son, was one of the few people present when his soon-to-be wife’s son, Rusty, 26, was found floating lifeless in the Delaware River three days after a boating accident in 1999. He was the one who called the police and he was there when Rusty’s body was pulled out of the water.

“As clear as day, I can still see Rusty there,” Weist said through tears. “I can see that image.”

The trauma tormented him, so when a friend recommended he speak to Weaver in counseling sessions, Weist was interested.

“I was at an extremely low point,” he said.

Weist, 52, of Edison, who never considered himself a devout Christian but always was spiritual and faithful, began meeting with Weaver and discussing other tumultuous points in his upbringing, such as the death of close relatives and tensions that arose later in life. He was in his early 30s at the time.

“We went through the whole thing,” Weist said about the counseling sessions. “It was always wrapped around the Bible and Bible verses, and Jesus loves you, and all this stuff, and it just evolved.”

Often catching his attention, hanging on the wall of Weaver’s church office, was a picture of Jesus hugging a man.

In his impact statement he sent to Presbytery officials, Weist said that he and Weaver often spoke about Heaven and the spirit world.

United Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, which is where the Elizabeth Presbytery is based out of. Nick Muscavage/Staff Photo

“We talked about what Heaven must be like, that Jesus is always there for us and we are never alone,” he wrote in the statement. “We would pray together during the sessions, usually at the end.”

During the next few sessions, Weaver began to introduce certain gemstones that he said were supposed to help sense the spirits clearer. Weaver told him the stones helped “ward off evil spirits,” according to his letter. Weist remembers feeling his tensions ease, and thought the sessions were helping.

“I was able to now have those memories and not get upset by them, so I thought it was all helping,” Weist said in the letter.

Then events took an unexpected turn.

Weist was set to marry his fiancée in February 2000 and he was struggling with his relationship with his mother, whom he said never fully supported the relationship. Weaver eventually presided over the wedding.

After the wedding, Weist’s meetings with Weaver took place either in the church office or Weaver’s home, where they met in the family room. Their talks became focused on Weist having to defend himself from evil spirits.

Weaver, according to Weist, would talk about old Native American rituals that were supposed to prevent evil spirits from harming him. Weaver instructed Weist to sit quietly with gemstones or magnets placed in his hands and on his head. Weaver would light candles “strategically placed” in the room. He told Weist the ritual was based on the Ephesians bible verse of the Full Armor of God.

'I just couldn’t face what had happened to me'

About a month later, in the spring of 2000, Weaver told Weist that in order for the ritual to be more effective, they had to go upstairs where he could lay down with more stones and candles.

“I felt uneasy, but I took his word that this was necessary,” Weist wrote in his statement. “It wasn’t long after that where I now had to have my shoes off with gemstones placed on my ankles, and my shirt off as well.”

Over the next few visits, Weaver informed Weist that he had suffered “hits” from the spirit world and they needed to be brought out through his semen by oral sex.

Weaver told Staunton he had to lay still, with the stones on and around him, and let the reverend "get it out."

“Feeling mortified was an understatement, but I didn’t want to say he was wrong, after he helped me to this point,” Weist said in his statement. “I was so confused and upset I remember praying to God please let me get this over with!”

The “hit” finally passed and Weaver repeated the Full Armor of God verse.

Weist returned the following week hoping that the worst was over, but Weaver told him he had suffered another hit.

“This time was different as the only way to get it fully out was for him to draw it out with his mouth,” Weist wrote in his statement. “I was so afraid and scared.”

William Weist, one of the men claiming to have been sexually abused by Weaver I was so confused and upset I remember praying to God please let me get this over with! Quote icon

Weist remembers screaming in his mind for God to help him.

“When it was over,” Weist said in his statement, “he showed me what looked to be a tiny metal ball and said that was what he got out of me.”

He said Weaver was able to take advantage of him because he was at such a low point in his life.

“I was so scared with everything that I was dealing with,” Weist said. “I just felt scared, it was very raw.”

When Weaver told Weist he had evil spirits inside him, Weist believed him and became even more frightened and panicked.

He remembers thinking: “I’m scared to death now there’s something else wrong with me. There’s something wrong with me that I can’t help. This is Biblical.”

But after a few more sessions, Weist stopped meeting with Weaver.

“I felt so small and worthless, like a piece of trash in the street,” Weist said. “I just couldn’t face what had happened to me.”

He trusted Weaver and saw him as a religious leader.

“This is a man of God,” Weist said.

The case against Weaver

On Oct. 8, 2018, members of the Elizabeth Presbytery's investigating committee wrote in official Presbytery charges that the Rev. William Weaver committed “multiple acts of idolatry and sexual misconduct” against three men.

The church charges claimed that in one of the counseling sessions, Weaver “professed” he was one-eighth Cree and had received “secret training” by Cree elders.

The Cree are one of the largest groups of first nation Native Americans in North America and mainly live in Canada. In the United States, the Cree have historically lived west of Lake Superior and today live mostly in Montana on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, which they share with the Ojibwe.

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The Elizabeth Presbytery defines sexual misconduct as an abuse of authority and power, breaching Christian ethical principles by sexually misusing a trust relationship, according to the Presbytery's policy. It has no bearing on the more familiar secular courts where civil and criminal trials are held.

The Presbytery, in its policy, said sexual abuse occurs "whenever a person in a position of trust engages, with or without consent, in a sexual act or sexual contact with another person to whom s/he owes a professional and pastoral responsibility."

The church charges say Weaver used rose quartz, angel coins, buckeyes and a feather to remove small objects from victims’ nude bodies through bodily tissue, without bleeding or injury, to their penises and “removed them by means of ejaculate induced by manual or oral stimulation.”

The church charges also claim that Weaver downloaded multiple videos from a pornographic website that caters to gay men to a church-owned computer in his office at the Linden Presbyterian Church in February 2018.

In addition to the three men who claim to have been victimized by Weaver, the charges list two other people Weaver counseled between 2001 and 2007 by removing the “hits” through their navels by using his mouth.

Inspired by spiritual healing?

Dr. Timothy Thomason, a licensed psychologist, professor at Northern Arizona University and a member of the Society of Indian Psychologists, has written many scholarly articles about counseling with Native Americans.

One of the main differences in modern medicine compared to cultural Native American medicine is that Native Americans, like many other cultures, believe illnesses can be caused by spirits and possession.

Inside the Watchung Reservation in Union County. ~File

In a 2008 research paper titled "Possession, Exorcism, and Psychotherapy," Thomason wrote, "Many Native American tribes believe in spirit possession, and healers often suck illness-causing spirit objects out of patients." The paper does not detail any sexual interaction. Thomason declined to be interviewed for this article.

A.J. Meeker, one of the three men who made allegations against the Linden Presbyterian minister, remembered that Weaver had said there were “individuals based around the Watchung Reservation” who were engaged in spiritual warfare to attack people with evil energy.

It’s unclear why Weaver believed there was a war against evil spirits in the Union County park bisected by Route 78. In the early 1970s, a 16-year-old Springfield girl named Jeannette DePalma was found dead at the Houdaille Quarry right outside of the Watchung Reservation. Newspapers began to run stories about occult symbols found near the murder scene.

That murder has never been solved.

A question of consent

Robert Fuggi, of the Fuggi Law Firm in Toms River, a lawyer who specializes in litigation brought by victims of sexual abuse, said he believes Weaver's alleged conduct could be viewed as criminal.

"If you look at the sexual abuse statutes, they talk about unlawful, unwanted, non-consensual contact, and certainly the argument would be that this pastor manipulated his position of authority," said Fuggi, who does not represent any of the men who claim to have been victimized by Weaver. "In the guise of practicing care and counseling to these individuals, he manipulated them for his own sexual purposes."

Fuggi said he believes the victims were "unwilling and unwitting" and "did not consensually engage in the sexual assaults, they consensually engaged in what they thought was a pastoral counseling session."

To Fuggi, Weaver's alleged actions are consistent with what many sexual abuse experts refer to as "grooming" because all three men were struggling with traumatic experiences.

"They were misled, and he used fraud and he used other tactics, or techniques, to manipulate these people into being sexually abused," he said. "It's really horrifying that he took his position of a pastoral role, one they look up to, and he manipulated them."

Fuggi said the case could also have "significant civil ramifications" but that authorities should also review the claims.

Any legal claim, though, would hinge on consent.

"Was the consent equivalent to what was being asked?" Fuggi said. "Meaning, did they consent to spiritual counseling sessions with this man? The answer is yes. The next question is, 'Did they consent to this manipulation or this sexual encounter?' The answer would be no, it wasn't in that guise."

'It was like time disappeared'

Jared Staunton was struggling emotionally when he first encountered Weaver. His partner of 11 years died in April 2014, just two months after his father's death.

Staunton, 36, who is from Edison but now lives in Indiana, first met Weaver when the minister was presiding over his partner Omar’s funeral, according to his impact statement provided to the church. Omar’s brother introduced Staunton to Weaver for counseling and spiritual guidance.

“Because of my work schedule our meetings always had to take place after midnight during the week,” Staunton wrote in his statement. “While in my home one night, I began to have a nervous breakdown right in front of him. It was at that moment, when I was completely broken and lost, that he took control over me.”

Weaver began instructing him on what to do, and “all I could be was compliant,” Staunton said, adding he felt like a frightened child.

“Mentally I was gone,” Staunton said in his statement.

Weaver then instructed him to take off his pants.

“I left my boxers on,” Staunton wrote. “He forcefully said, ‘All of them.’ I took off my boxers.”

The gated Lakewood community the Rev. Dr. William Weaver moved to off of Route 70 after he renounced the jurisdiction of the Elizabeth Presbytery and left Linden. Nick Muscavage/Staff Photo

Weaver began to examine Staunton’s torso and back before instructing him to lay naked on the bed, according to his statement. The minister placed a magnetic strip around Staunton’s head with a saint coin and then placed crystals on his shoulders, chest, hips and feet.

“I felt like I couldn’t move even if I wanted to,” Staunton wrote. “I was laying on my bed, in my dark room, lit only by candles and I was powerless.”

Staunton said Weaver sexually touched him. A review of his statement showed similar sexual events that the two other men reported to the church.

“It was like time disappeared and I disappeared along with it,” Staunton said.

After the alleged sexual activity, Weaver "lifted my head up and looked into my eyes, and said, ‘You don’t have to be afraid anymore, I’m your protector now,” Staunton said. “He then kissed me on the lips. From then everything is hazy and I don’t even remember walking him out.”

In the introduction of his 2008 paper on possession, exorcism and psychotherapy, Thomason detailed how many people, even in modern countries, believe in spirits and the supernatural.

"Belief in spirits, demons, and other supernatural entities is extremely common today, even in countries where much of the population is well educated, as shown by numerous surveys," Thomason wrote. "For example, a 2005 poll found that 68 percent of Americans believe in the Devil."

Staunton said he is a believer in the supernatural.

"I had a deep-seated demon, negative entity, whatever, plaguing me since I was a boy," Staunton said. "It used to make me incredibly terrified. It's always been working on me ever since, throughout the years, even physically hurt me a couple times — tried to kill me."

His belief in the demon was "one of the major reasons" why he was seeing Weaver, since Weaver professed to know about spiritual warfare.

'I refuse to stay silent'

Like Willie Weist, one of the three men who made claims against Weaver, Meeker said Weaver also initially helped him before the counseling took a bizarre ritualistic and sexual turn.

“I think that’s what upsets me so much,” Meeker said. “He really did help, but he then ruined that by causing more harm.”

Now, Meeker said, he struggles with anxiety and other issues.

“This has caused a lot of anxiety and depression and panic attacks over the past few years as I have learned that not only this has happened to other men, but men that I knew,” he said.

Weist, Meeker and Staunton said they informed various law enforcement organizations of their allegations against Weaver. They said they were hoping that some form of official reprimand would result from the church trial, which took more than a year to organize, but that fell apart when Weaver moved to Lakewood and renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church.

More than anything, though, the three men said they want to ensure that what they claim Weaver has done to them never happens again.

“I was willing to never bring this up and live with it, but I refuse to stay silent any longer,” Meeker wrote in his statement. “I need to make sure that this never happens to anyone else ever again.”

Nick Muscavage is an award-winning watchdog reporter who focuses on stories that protect the public. His work spans many topics and has spurred the creation of a state law. Contact him: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com; @nmuscavage.