Black Collar Crime Round-Up: August 2, 2012
Shawn Ratigan • James Soren • Wayne Stokeling • Andrew J. Urbaniak, a.k.a. Andrzej Urbaniak
Charged: Kenneth Hagins, 40, youth pastor, Promise Land Ministries, Eustis, Florida; former daycare worker, Pat’s Kidz World Development Center, Eustis; former teacher’s assistant, coach, custodian and secretary, Mount Dora Middle School, Mount Dora, Florida (from which he was reportedly fired in 2007 after eight years when pornography was found on his school computer); with “sexually assaulting two developmentally disabled men in their group homes [operated by SunriseArc] and a 4-year-old [during nap time] at a day-care,” per the Orlando Sentinel. (At last count, however, there were six known alleged child victims, and authorities believe there may be more.)
WFTV reports that a Lake County Schools spokesperson said, regarding Hagins downloading porn to his school computer: “All that stuff is public record: His personnel file, his termination letter.” This, concludes WFTV, “means the owners of [the] Eustis day care and administrators of [the] Mount Dora group home … could have accessed those records.” WFTV adds: “Hagins was never charged for downloading the pornography’” — because authorities said they “could not prove that he was the one who actually downloaded those questionable images.” The lack of a police complaint would explain why
The daycare has since surrended its license to the state and shut its doors. (WFTV reports that the Florida Department of Children & Families “took the owner’s license because she’s accused of not reporting child sexual abuse allegations involving Hagins.”) Hagins is currently in custody on a $290,000 bond. Story: Florida DCF, July 19, 2012; WFTV (with video), July 19, 2012; AP, July 21, 2012; Florida DCF, July 22, 2012; Daily Commercial, July 22, 2012; WFTV (with video), July 24, 2012; 13 News, July 24, 2012; Orlando Sentinel (1), July 25, 2012; Orlando Sentinel (2), July 25, 2012
Charged: Hanna Jeong, a.k.a. Hannah M. Chung, 63, with killing her husband, Young-geun Jeong, a.k.a. Young Chung, 64, Christian pastor and founder and dean, Faith Bible School, Atlanta, Georgia, at the couple’s home in Lawrenceville. A Gwinnett County Police news release states: “Gwinnett County Uniform Officers responded to the location with Gwinnett County Fire/EMS regarding a cardiac arrest. Upon arrival, EMS personnel discovered the victim, 64 year old Young G. Chung was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Gwinnett County Police Homicide Unit and Crime Scene Investigation Unit responded to the location to investigate. Investigators developed probable cause during the course of their investigation to charge the victims [sic] wife, 63 year old Hannah M. Chung with Murder and Possession of a Firearm during the commission of a crime.”
Donga.com reports: “The woman reportedly told police that she had had frequent arguments with her husband due to troubles in the pastoral business and shot him to death out of anger. He had reportedly been a pastor since 2001, when he founded the Faith Bible School and a church for Korean-American theological students in Atlanta. Both the school and the church were reportedly closed several years ago. A nearby real estate agency said the pastor put his residence up for sale at a knockdown price because he was on the verge of losing it to foreclosure due to failure to repay bank debts.” Korea Daily reports that another couple and two children were in the house at the time of the incident. Jeong is currently in custody without bond. Story: Gwinnett County Police, July 22, 2012; Korea Daily (in Korean), July 24, 2012; New America Media, July 24, 2012; Donga.com, July 26, 2012
Guilty plea: Stanley Zusia Levitt, 66, Orthodox rabbi, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; former teacher, Maimonides School (devoted to reinforcing students’ “commitment to Torah and observance of mitzvot”), Brookline, Massachusetts; to four counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14, against three of his former sixth-grade students, boys who were about 11 at the time of the alleged attacks in the mid-1970s. A news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney recounts that Levitt was first indicted “in 2009 after two victims disclosed that Levitt had assaulted them during the time that they were students at the Brookline school where he taught from 1974 to 1977.
“In one incident, a student had been hospitalized after injuring his hand in an accident and was recuperating at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Levitt went to visit him in his hospital room and assaulted him. The second victim was assaulted twice during the course of a weekend visit to Levitt’s former residence on Chiswick Road while the boy’s parents were out of town. Both of the boys were assaulted in 1975.
“In the aftermath of those indictments, a third victim came forward after reading media accounts of the case. His abuse took place during the 1975-1976 academic year, when he was a student at the Brookline school and attended a sleepover at Levitt’s home. In that case, Levitt assaulted the boy after instructing him to take a shower before bed.”
D.A. Conley stated: “This is a victory not just for the victims in this case, but for every person who suffered abuse at the hands of a trusted adult. The defendant’s full admission of guilt is proof that the men he abused as children were telling the truth when they finally shared their terrible secret.” Story: Conservative Babylon, October 20, 2009; Suffolk County District Attorney, August 1, 2012
Arrested: Davide Mordino, 41, former parish priest, Basilica di San Calogero di Sciacca, Italy, on charges of pedophilia. Mordino is accused of sexually abusing boys between the ages of 14 and 18, paying his alleged victims to submit to “body sensitivity tests” purportedly on behalf of the University of Palermo, and promising them appearances on the popular Italian TV talent show, “Amici di Maria De Filippi” (“Friends of Maria De Filippi”), according to Italian media reports. Story: AgrigentoNotizie, July 23, 2012; TGCom24, July 23, 2012
Guilty plea expected: Shawn Ratigan (right in photo), 46, Roman Catholic priest, Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, Missouri, to one or more of six counts of producing and possessing child pornography, according to AP, after initially pleading not guilty. At left in the photo is Robert Finn, 59, bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, Missouri; member, Opus Dei; member, Administrative and the Priorities and Plans Committees for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; who was indicted in October, 2011, charged with covering up Ratigan’s alleged child abuse. “Jackson County prosecutors charged Finn and the diocese last October with one count each of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state. Finn has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in September. Story: Conservative Babylon, April 9, 2012; AP , August 1, 2012
Charged: James Soren, 42, Roman Catholic priest and hostel warden/superintendent, Don Bosco School (operating under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Krishnagar), Murshidabad district, Sagardighi, West Bengal, India, with sodomizing a 10-year-old male student. The father of the boy lodged a police complaint after his son phoned him the day after the alleged incident. If convicted, Soren could be sentenced to life in prison. Story: Reporter India, July 15, 2012; NDTV, July 16, 2012; UCAN India, July 17, 2012
Arrested: Wayne Stokeling, 50, pastor, St. John Baptist Church, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, after allegedly running down and killing an 88-year-old woman with his BMW (one of three “flashy” cars he drives, according to a neighborhood super) and then fleeing the scene. When he was caught three blocks from the scene, Stokeling reportedly told police he “must have been distracted while eating an ice-cream cone.” Currently in custody at Rikers Island on a $200,000 bond, Stokeling has been charged with driving without a license and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Stokeling reportedly “has five prior arrests and an open warrant on a motor vehicle-related charge,” reports the New York Daily News; DNAinfo.com reports that “cops called [Stokeling] a ‘scofflaw’ with ‘extensive’ violations on his driving record” and “prior arrests for grand larceny, forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument and bail jumping.”
The victim, Isabel Rodriguez, described as “a nice old church lady” who was extremely close to her family, was walking with her sister, both women on canes, four blocks home from a visit with Rodriguez’s son, as was usual for a Sunday afternoon after church. Her sister, Laura Chico, was uninjured, but “Chico’s son says his mom will never be the same” after seeing Isabel die, reports the NYDN. The NYDN also notes: “Rodriguez, a widowed mother of seven who moved to the city from Puerto Rico as a young woman, was already planning for her 90th birthday in 2014.” Her daughter said, “She wanted mariachis and the whole works,” adding: “To have someone come and kill her like that — there’s no justice.” Story: DNAinfo.com, July 23, 2012; New York Daily News, July 23, 2012; New York Post, July 24, 2012; New York Daily News, July 24, 2012
Arraigned: Andrew J. Urbaniak, a.k.a. Andrzej Urbaniak, 39, Roman Catholic priest; pastor, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Boston, Massachusetts, “with one count each of possession of child pornography and distributing images of a child in the nude,” using a computer the church rectory, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. “Assistant District Attorney Kate Clayman recommended that Urbaniak be held on $15,000 cash bail and, if he posts that amount, that he be placed on a GPS monitoring device, that he surrender his passport, that he have no contact with children under 16, that he not use the internet, that he allow random checks of his computer, and that he check in with a probation officer twice a week while the case is pending. Judge Michael Bolden imposed $10,000 cash bail and all of Clayman’s recommended conditions.
“Urbaniak was arrested at the Our Lady of Czestochow church [the evening of July 31, 2012]. The investigation began in June, while Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force were investigating the use of peer-to-peer networks to share and distribute child pornography. In the course of that investigation, State troopers observed files with names that included terms such as ‘pre-teen,’ ‘young,’ ‘little,’ ‘pedo,’ ‘pedofilia,’ and ‘lolitas.’ The files were hosted by a computer with an Internet Protocol address later linked to Urbaniak’s computer at the Dorchester Avenue rectory.
“Troopers downloaded one suspect file and found it to contain a sexually explicit photograph of a child who appeared to be under the age of 14. Based on the apparent violation of Massachusetts statutes outlawing the possession and distribution of child pornography and the location of the IP address within the City of Boston, State Police provided their findings to detectives of the Boston Police Crimes Against Children Unit. Those detectives obtained a search warrant for computers and file storage devices at the rectory. Detectives executed that warrant [July 31st] and recovered a computer that appeared to be in the process of sharing and downloading files. While a comprehensive forensic examination of Urbaniak’s computer has not been completed, a preliminary review suggests that the computer contains multiple images depicting what appear to be images of both child pornography and child sexual abuse, Conley said. Urbaniak allegedly made incriminating admissions after being read his Miranda rights.”
While Conley stated, “Child pornography immortalizes the rape and abuse of innocent children,” and “These charges are serious and they are especially disturbing given the defendant’s position of trust …
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