Mandated Reporter Failing in California UPDATED

Hat tip to a reader for this story.

This case involves a Corona Police Department officer who had been told by church members of abuse of  a 13-year-old boy who was asked to dig his own grave as “punishment” by  three men affiliated with Heart of Worship, a church in Corona. She did not report this and subsequently was charged with failure to report child abuse or neglect. She pled not guilty on July 17, 2012.

The mother “allegedly brought the boy to the men–Pastor Lonny Remmers, Nicholas Craig and Darryll Jeter Jr. – for  punishment, the Riverside County district attorney’s office said.

Cpl. Margaret Bell, an officer since 1989, was a member of the  church, and was allegedly told of some form of abuse prior to March 29,  Hall said. She was charged with a misdemeanor count of failing to report  child abuse or neglect, which she is required by law to do.

“Obviously, what we’ve charged goes above and beyond any discipline that  should have been done. These are actual criminal offenses,” said John  Hall, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Remmers, 54, Craig, 22, and Jeter, 28, were charged with kidnapping, making criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm producing great bodily injury and child abuse. Their preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 7.

An anonymous source tipped the Corona Police Department off to Bell’s knowledge, and authorities notified the district attorney’s office, which opened a criminal investigation. Police are also conducting their own internal investigation on the matter.

“As a police officer in the city of Corona, she was an outstanding police officer,” said Frank Barron, a spokesman for the Corona Police Department.

Bell has no criminal history.

“It’s unusual for us to file criminal charges against a law enforcement officer. It’s also unusual to have the evidence that shows a failure to report,” Hall said.

If convicted, Bell would face up to six months in jail.”

Cop allegedly didn’t report that boy was forced to dig own grave

[Los Angeles Times Blog 7/17/12]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“A pastor and two members of a Corona church pleaded guilty Monday to state charges of beating and threatening the life of a 13-year-old boy, who was forced to dig his own grave, authorities said.

Lonny Lee Remmers, 56, Nicholas James Craig, 24, and Darryll Duane Jeter Jr., 30, tortured the boy in the church-run group home where he lived, according to a witness report in affidavits for search warrants.

Remmers was then the pastor of Heart of Worship Community Church and ran the group home where Craig, Jeter and the victim lived. It was unclear Monday whether Remmers was still the pastor.

The March 2012 incidents included Craig and Jeter driving the victim to the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. They then made him get in and threw dirt on him. They were responding to Remmers’ instruction to “scare” the boy, according to the affidavits.

While the boy was showering, one of the men rubbed salt into the cuts on his back, according to Steven Larkey, who lived in the group home and provided the witness report in the affidavit. He told investigators he could hear the boy screaming and saw blood all over the shower the next day.

The victim was later tied to a chair with zip ties and placed in the shower. Mace was sprayed on his face, causing it to bleed, and he was not allowed to rinse off for about 30 minutes, according to the victim’s account in the affidavit.

At a Bible study later that evening at Remmers’ home, Remmers asked the boy to sit in the middle of the group and then squeezed his nipple with pliers. The boy, his mother and sister were members of Remmers’ church.

His mother and sister lived in a women’s group home, but the boy said he had been moved to the men’s home as a disciplinary action. Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and assault with a deadly weapon.

He will receive a sentence of up to two years in state prison. At a minimum, he will receive the same sentence as Craig and Jeter, who each were placed on three years of formal probation and must complete a year in custody.

They each pleaded guilty to charges of child abuse and making criminal threats, according to the Riverside County district attorney’s office. “There were new developments, which we will not be discussing, that caused us to believe this was the best disposition for all those involved,” said John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney. Remmers’ sentencing date is scheduled for Sept. 26.”

Pastor and Church members plead guilty to beating and Abusing 13 year old Boy[Fox 17 News 7/8/14]

“The thuggish pastor of a small Southern California church and two of his parishioners tortured a 13-year-old boy who lived at a church-run group home, savagely beating him, grinding salt into his raw wounds and forcing him to dig his own grave.

The pastor, Lonny Remmers, 56, and his two goons even tortured the teen during a group Bible study session, forcing him to sit in front of the others while they twisted his nipples with pliers, court documents show, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The assaults were part of a brutal campaign to “scare” the boy straight after he was moved from one home, where his mother and sister lived, to another allegedly for acting out, the Times reported.

Remmers, Nicholas Craig, 24, and Darryll Jeter Jr., 30, pleaded guilty Monday to charges including inflicting corporal injury on a child, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats.

Remmers, who runs the Hart of Worship Community Church in Corona, was expected to be sentenced to two years in prison.

The other two were given a year in home confinement, plus three years of probation.

“It was a harebrained idea that got out of control and should’ve never gone that far,” Jeter’s attorney Rodney Nosratabadi told the Riverside Press-Enterprise after Monday’s hearing.

The brutal attacks occurred in March 2012, court document showed.

After getting orders from Remmers to “scare” the boy, Craig and Jeter drove him to a remote area, where they lashed him with a belt and forced him to dig his own grave.

The twisted pair then forced the boy to get in the hole as they tossed dirt on him from above, as though they were burying him alive, the documents said.

Later, they returned to the home and the boy took a shower, while Craig and Jeter rubbed salt into the cuts on his back, authorities said.

They also tied him down and sprayed mace in his face, causing his nose to bleed, the documents said.

The boy later told police he thrashed so violently, he left the shower spattered with blood, the Times reported. Other members of the home reported seeing the blood the next day.

The torment continued later that night at the Bible study session at Remmers’ home, where the men clamped his nipples with pliers in front of about a dozen other men.

Authorities said the sicko pastor claimed the boy needed to be disciplined for “not accepting responsibility for his actions.”

The boy’s mother had brought him to Remmers’ church, which has 15 to 20 members.

Corona is in Riverside County, about an hour east of Los Angeles.

The teen hasn’t been identified.

By pleading guilty, the men avoided a kidnapping charge, which would have been the most serious against them.

Remmers is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26.”

California pastor, 2 others admit they tortured 13-year-old, forced him to dig own grave[NY Daily News 7/8/14 by Philip Caulfield]

Update 2: “The director of a Corona group home, who was initially charged with torture and abusing a 13-year-old boy, was sentenced Friday.

Pastor Lonnie [sic] Remmers later pleaded guilty to two felonies, inflicting corporal injury on a juvenile and assault.

A Riverside Superior Court judge ordered a 2-year prison term.

Corona police said that the boy’s mother had taken him to the home for ‘guidance’. ”

Group home director sentenced in abuse case[Inland News Today 10/17/14]