ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 2016
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
A former Chicago minister who was attacked last week by bystanders while molesting a child, has been charged with child sex crimes and is accused of abusing three boys.
He is Rev. Willie Lee Bell Jr., who was a youth pastor at New Covenant M.B. Church in Chicago from 2009 to 2014. He is also CEO of WILBE Productions, LLC in Chicago. He also reportedly worked in Jackson, Tennessee from 2008 to 2010.
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Bell has been a youth minister at First United Methodist of Cedar Hill Texas since November 2015. He was reportedly let go from his job at the church the day after his arrest.
Bell, now 29, is accused of sexually assaulting two little boys behind their apartment in the Dallas area in February. And last week, he was reportedly caught in the act of molesting a third boy. The mom says bystanders attacked Bell to stop him.
In a statement, First United Methodist Church said it has no knowledge of any criminal acts happening at the church,” according to Fox 4 News. But that, in our view, is designed to breed complacency when just the reverse – vigilance and action – are needed now.
Every current and former church employee or member who spent any time at either church – in Chicago or Dallas – should be beating the bushes and shouting from the rooftops, finding anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Bell’s crimes and begging them to call police.
Now is the time for Methodist staff and congregants in Illinois and Chicago to step up and resist the natural but irresponsible temptation to be passive.
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