sex abuse

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Megachurch Founder Indicted on Child Sex Crimes Charges
Megachurch Founder
Turns Himself in
UPDATED
Mar 17, 2025 2:49 PM CDT

Megachurch Founder Turns Himself in

Ex-Gateway pastor Robert Morris faces child sex abuse charges

(Newser) - Texas megachurch founder Robert Preston Morris surrendered to authorities in Osage County, Oklahoma on child sex abuse charges Monday. Court records show that the 63-year-old, who has been charged with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, was ordered to surrender his passport, the AP reports. A...

Sam Altman: I Did Not Sexually Abuse My Sister

Ann Altman files suit against OpenAI CEO, accuses him of molestation starting when she was 3

(Newser) - "My sister has filed a lawsuit against me," Sam Altman posted on X over the weekend, and what he's being accused of in the complaint is shocking. CNN reports that Ann Altman filed her suit against the OpenAI CEO on Monday in federal court in Missouri, accusing...

R. Kelly's Daughter: He Abused Me, Too

Buku Abi, 26, singer's oldest daughter, said sexual abuse happened when she was 8 or 9

(Newser) - When Lifetime's 2019 docuseries on R. Kelly debuted, the disgraced R&B singer's oldest daughter posted a message online noting she was "devastated" for "all the families & [women] who have been affected by my father's actions." She added, "I am well aware...

Ad Featuring Young Girl Shown to Sex Offenders on Instagram

Meta disputes 'New York Times' test as a 'manufactured experience'

(Newser) - Instagram's algorithms are putting innocent photos of children in front of men with pedophilic tendencies, the New York Times reports, offering data from its own tests as evidence. The outlet began investigating after a maker of children's jewelry who paid to advertise her products to a mostly female...

Inquiry: Sex Abuse Accusation Against Olympic Champ Credible

USRowing strips late Ted Nash of all his honors after Jennifer Fox says he sexually abused her at age 13

(Newser) - For the past 16 months, a law firm commissioned by USRowing has been looking into allegations that the late Olympic champ Ted Nash had decades ago sexually abused a young teen when he was her 40-year-old running coach. Now, a lengthy report with the investigation's findings have been released,...

Child Sex Abuse Tip Line May Soon Be Flooded by AI

New Stanford report issues warning on longtime 'enormously valuable' service

(Newser) - A tip line set up 26 years ago to combat online child exploitation needs technological and other improvements to help law enforcement rescue victims and go after abusers, a new report from the Stanford Internet Observatory has found. The fixes to what the researchers describe as an "enormously valuable"...

Ex-Abercrombie Chief at Center of FBI Probe

Investigation follows allegations that Mike Jeffries sexually abused more than 100 men

(Newser) - The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal investigation of former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries following claims that he lured male models into an international sex-trafficking ring . The agency has subpoenaed potential witnesses and begun interviews as part of an investigation led by agents specializing in sex crimes, as...

Confederate Statues Aren't the Only Ones Coming Down

Homage to late German cardinal comes down days after new sex-abuse allegations

(Newser) - Confederate statues aren't the only ones being taken down: A statue of a deceased German cardinal was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral in western Germany on Monday, reports the AP , days after allegations of sexual abuse decades ago became public. The accusations against Cardinal Franz Hengsbach,...

State AG Releases Stunning Report on Church Sex Abuse

Report alleges 451 Catholic clergy in Illinois abused nearly 2K children from 1950 to 2019

(Newser) - In 2018, a grand jury report was released in Pennsylvania naming 300-plus "predator priests" in the state accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children over a period of seven decades. Partly inspired by those revelations, then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan started a probe in her own state,...

After Telling School of Accused Priest on Payroll, a Giant Fine

New Orleans attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the $400K payment to archdiocese

(Newser) - A lawyer who alerted a Catholic high school to past sexual misconduct by its chaplain has been fined $400,000 for violating confidentiality rules by speaking out. Attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the decision handed down Tuesday, which gives him 30 days to pay the Archdiocese of New...

Lawyer: Spacey Accuser Was 'Frozen' as Actor Lay on Him

Anthony Rapp is expected to testify himself as civil trial on alleged sex abuse continues in NY

(Newser) - If Kevin Spacey was bothered by the testimony this week of a man who says the actor sexually abused him when he was 14 and Spacey was 26, the 63-year-old actor didn't show it. NBC News reports Spacey "seemed relaxed" on the first day of his civil trial...

Survivor Praises SBC Decision to Release Secret List of Abusers

The Executive Committee also voted to rebuke a former member

(Newser) - The depth of the problem surprised almost everyone, but the themes revealed in Sunday’s bombshell report on sexual abuse and coverups within the Southern Baptist Convention are not new to Christa Brown. She says she was sexually abused as a child by a minister, and she has been fighting...

Blackhawks Fans Push Back Against Exec's Comments

Chicago's Rocky Wirtz dismissed reporter's questions about sex-assault reforms

(Newser) - Though an alleged sexual abuse cover-up with the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team happened 12 years ago, fans and the public at large still want answers about how this will be prevented in the future—but they apparently won’t get any from the team’s executives, the Chicago Tribune reports....

Pope: I Actually Was at Meeting on Priest Accused of Abuse

Benedict had originally said he hadn't attended, blames discrepancy on 'editing' mistake

(Newser) - Update: Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, but there's been a shift in at least one story. Per the Catholic News Agency and CNN , the pontiff had originally told investigators he hadn't attended a January 1980 meeting of archdiocesan...

Doctor's Decades of Abuse to Cost University of Michigan $490M

Settlement reached over sex assaults at hands of Dr. Robert Anderson

(Newser) - The University of Michigan has agreed to a $490 million settlement with more than 1,000 people, mostly men, who say they were sexually assaulted by Dr. Robert Anderson during his nearly four-decade career as a sports doctor at the school. The university on Wednesday said 1,050 people will...

Report: French Catholic Church Showed 'Cruel Indifference'

Commission finds 330K children may have been sexually abused by clergy, laypeople since 1950

(Newser) - A new report slams the Catholic Church for "cruel indifference," with clergy in France accused of sexually abusing an estimated 216,000 children since 1950. Jean-Marc Sauve, head of the inquiry commissioned by the French Catholic Church, says most of the victims over the past seven decades were...

Weeks Before Trial, R. Kelly's Lawyers Want Out

Remaining attorneys say singer actually fired them

(Newser) - R. Kelly is to face trial in federal court in New York this August for allegedly abusing various women and girls over 25 years. But whether the trial will go ahead is now unclear, with a report suggesting the singer has fired his two lead attorneys. In a statement to...

On Punishments for Church Sex Abuse, a 'Significant Rewrite'

Pope Francis signs off on first major update to penal sanctions since 1980s

(Newser) - A slew of new rules on how to handle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has received the official green light from Pope Francis, updating a penal system that's been in place for 40 years. The Washington Post calls it "the most significant rewrite of canon law" since...

Boy Scouts Plan 'Unthinkable' Move to Pay Abuse Claims

Group says it will sell the nearly 60 paintings it owns by Norman Rockwell

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America this week proposed establishing a fund of at least $300 million that would be used to settle the more than 80,000 sex-abuse claims it faces. An attorney for 1,000 of those alleged victims called that amount "chump change" in comments to CNN...

'Living Saint' Is Accused of Sexually Abusing 6 Women

Jean Vanier died last year at age 90

(Newser) - A respected Catholic figure who worked to improve conditions for the developmentally disabled for more than half a century sexually abused at least six women during most of that period, according to a report released Saturday by the France-based charity he founded. The report produced for L'Arche International said...

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