Jehovah’s Witness congregation sued for alleged child abuse

VERMONT
WPTZ

BURLINGTON, Vt. —Two women filed lawsuits Tuesday in state and federal courts alleging they were sexually abused as youngsters by an authority figure at their Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Bellows Falls in he mid-1990s, and that church elders did nothing to stop him.

The litigation, announced in Burlington, involves sisters Miranda and Annessa Lewis.

Miranda Lewis, now 23, appeared with her mother, Marina, and lawyers Irwin Zalkin and Jerome O’Neill at a news conference to discuss the case.

She said she was 4 years old when she was first molested and fondled by Norton True, a “ministerial servant” in the congregation. Zalkin said that position is one approved by church elders.

She said her sister, Annessa, who now lives in Texas, was similarly assaulted by True.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a policy – a policy that is grounded in a code of silence,” Zalkin said, describing a secretive organization that regards protecting its own image as paramount to protecting its children.

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