![]() ![]() Anyone who has been victimized has the full support of the congregation to report the matter to the authorities.” “We also are quick to support and offer pastoral care to those affected, while working to ensure that unrepentant perpetrators are removed from the congregation. The church has long worked to “educate and warn parents through our publications, meetings, and website, about how to protect their children in a variety of circumstances,” he said. It was not immediately clear if any of them had lawyers representing them.Ĭhurch spokesman Jarrod Lopes said in a statement that while the church cannot comment on specific grand jury actions, “the news of someone being sexually abused, whether a child or an adult, sickens us.” Four were taken in custody, while Balosa was being sought. The five charged were David Balosa, 62, of Philadelphia Errol William Hall, 50, of Delaware County Shaun Sheffer, 45, of Butler County Terry Booth, 57, of Panama City, FL and Luis Ayala-Velasquez, 55, of Berks County. Others involved less serious charges of inappropriate touching. One person said that she was raped 50 or more times between the ages of 7 and 12 by a church member who was 18 when the assaults began. ![]() ![]() In the charges announced Friday, Henry said that the men had groomed or gained access to the children through the church, sometimes when the child’s family took the person into their home. He also hopes organizational leaders are called to account, “because it’s not just a Pennsylvania problem, it’s a national problem.” The police report did not specify how Whitlatch and Callahan knew each other or if they were in a relationship.“I hope elders are arrested who knew about child abuse and covered it up and then it happened again,” said Haugh, who testified to the grand jury about the church’s structure and about his own daughter’s abuse within a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation. Police say at that point, Whitlatch did not survive. Police say Callahan drove the wounded victim roughly 15 minutes away to the North Washington Rodeo grounds in Washington Township, Butler County, where she then called 9-1-1. Police paperwork says once both were outside, Callahan fired a warning shot into the air and after Whitlatch walked across the front lawn, crossed Kohlmeyer Road and was standing near a barn, she shot him in the back, and he collapsed. She told police she retreated to the living room, and the “physical altercation continues where Whitlatch grabs Callahan by the throat.” Court documents go on to say: “Callahan related that she grabbed a shotgun from behind the living room couch and exited the residence.” She claims Whitlatch followed her out of the house. Pennsylvania State Police say this appears to have started as an argument between Whitlatch and the woman now charged in his death.Īccording to court documents, inside a home on Kohlmeyer Road in Venango Township, Butler County on Monday, “Callahan reported she was knocked into a dresser” by Whitlatch. His friends call Whitlatch a kind-hearted, hardworking man who would give you the shirt off his back and loved life. His mother tells Channel 11, he was a wonderful, loving, son, brother, father, cousin and nephew. Whitlatch’s family is now planning his funeral. Nineteen-year-old Jessica Callahan is locked up at the Butler County Prison without bail, charged with criminal homicide after allegedly shooting and killing 31-year-old Tyler Whitlatch. ![]()
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