Jeriah Mast sentenced to 9 years for sexual abuse

[Joyleaf 5,703]

Short version: Mennnite Jeriah Mast sexually abused many, many children in the US and Haiti while working for Christian Aid Ministries who did not report him but still sent him to Haiti after knowing that he abused children in the US. Mast plead guilty to only two counts of sex crimes and received nine years.

More:
This article about his sentencing does quite an adequate job of summarizing the horrible things he did:

https://www.the-daily-record.com/news/20191105/jeriah-mast-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-prison-for-sexual-abuse

Here is another one about Christian Aid Ministries who sent him to Haiti where he abused more children after they already knew that he had abused children in the US.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christian-charity-paid-alleged-sex-abuse-victims-former-haiti-missionary-n1049916

It should also be mentioned that although he came forward and reported himself to the sheriff's office, he originally plead "not guilty"

http://mennoworld.org/2019/07/22/news/former-haiti-worker-pleads-not-guilty-to-ohio-charges/

and the charity organization tried to "settle" with victims in Haiti

http://mennoworld.org/2019/09/16/news/relief-agency-sought-to-settle-abuse-cases/

 

 

[dripcurl 3,462]

9 years? How about life.... And how disgusting of the org to go and hand out such a paltry amount of cash to these kids/families. As atrocious as it is, it’s also detrimental to them, not that I care! Settlements are done to avoid further legal action. They can still be sued. I hope this sicko gets offed in prison.

[JermajestyDuggar 121,249]

This is in Jill Rod’s beloved Amish country. Jill and a lot of other people hold Amish and mennonites on apedistal but there is abuse in these communities just like in other communities. But Amish and Mennonite communities tend to deal with things themselves. Meaning they don’t involve the police. And because of that, things like this happen. 

[SusanAtTheLastBattle 1,009]

Sickening. Especially the fact that the org had information about his crimes against children and sent him to Haiti anyway. It is so brave of the US victims to come forward and report when they heard about it.

I just want to point out that the fact that Mast initially pled not guilty is not really notable. Most (almost all) defendants plead not guilty at the arraignment for technical reasons. The arraignment is very early in the process; making a plea deal with the prosecutors starts only after that. Even people who are planning to plead guilty will plead not guilty at the arraignment. News organizations often report on this because it is the first official news from the courtroom about the case but I wish they would offer more context. (IANAL, just interested in these issues.)

What’s notable to me is that prosecutors only asked for 5 years (probably expecting those churchy character witnesses saying that he confessed and wept!!1!) It was the judge who bumped the sentence up to 9 years. Better than it would have been; still inadequate.

[Jasmar 1,412]

Wow, thank goodness for the judge I guess? This damned country has GOT to do something about sex offender sentencing (and gun violence, and violence against POC, and domestic abuse, and healthcare…ugh, I’m depressing myself 😡)