FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
A convicted sex offender minister is using his charisma to garner sympathy and trust from the community. We hope he fails.
Florida pastor Darrell Gilyard pled guilty in 2009 to lewd and lascivious acts. In a new TV interview, Gilyard claims to be a changed man. We’re highly skeptical. In our 25 years of experience, we have found that child molesting clergy rarely stop hurting kids.
We are also disappointed and worried that a judge has modified Gilyard’s probation and has allowed him to work around children.
We hope parents and the community will remain vigilant and anyone who saw, suspects or suffered child sex crimes will immediately report to secular officials.
Finally, we hope Gilyard’s congregants come to their senses, oust him and start aggressively seeking out others who have knowledge of or suspicions about his misdeeds, so that he might be prosecuted, convicted and again kept away from vulnerable kids.
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