Non-Denominational Pastor Gets Down Like a Catholic

[Athena]

Kitsap Co. pastor pleads guilty to child rape

11:36 AM PST on Wednesday, February 27, 2008

KING5.com Staff

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/M_IMAGE.1185a805c34.93.88.fa.d0.1e2fabb.jpg

Robbin Leeroy Harper is escorted from court in Port Orchard, Wash. after pleading guilty to eight counts of child rape and molestation on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. – A former Southworth pastor pleaded guilty Wednesday to raping and molesting young girls in his congregation.

At least ten people have come forward, accusing 60-year-old Robbin Leeroy Harper of sexually abusing females as young as ten years old. Most of the victims say the abuse started with Harper's church office and often led to molestation and rape.

In some of the cases, the victims reportedly claimed Harper told them he was preparing them for marriage.

Harper served as the pastor of The Church in South Colby, a small, nondenominational congregation. Current church members say he stepped down as pastor more than three years ago.

Harper was charged with eight counts of rape and molestation, to which he pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced April 9. Prosecutors are recommending 270 months in prison.

One of the victims has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Harper and his wife, who are in the process of a divorce.

[CPL CHUD]

I wonder if he became a pastor to get close to little kids in the first place.

[impqueen]

okay, that totally qualifies as religious abuse.

[Athena]

Always possible. It would make sense from a small town, small congregation, non-denominational perspective. But it could have just been that he saw the opportunity and went for it, too. I suppose we'll never know.

[TXChris]

Yep, it's true. There are some sick people in this world. I'd love to see this thread keep from becoming a "religions are evil" thread and instead hit on the lack of parental supervision. I mean, seriously, parents who don't police what's going on with their kids are, more than likely, going to have results like this. As soon as parents start taking responsibility for their lack of parental supervision the sooner less of this will happen. Of course that does not mean it won't ever happen, but let's be real here, folks, the more parents educate their kids and then watch over them the less of a chance things like this will happen. It all starts with education and personal responsibility.

That being said, I say fry the guy. :D

[CPL CHUD]

Always possible. It would make sense from a small town, small congregation, non-denominational perspective. But it could have just been that he saw the opportunity and went for it, too. I suppose we'll never know.
I hope he'd be more open about it now that he's caught. It would give people an idea how many of these guys get into the job to target children in the first place.

I've read that in Ireland there are more abused children from pastors than not. It's kind of scary.

[Athena]

I've read that in Ireland there are more abused children from pastors than not. It's kind of scary.

Seriously?!? Whoa. Freaky. If you could ever link to that shit, I'd be eternally grateful. I'd be more likely to adopt swiv's extreme stance against religion.

[CPL CHUD]

I'm having a hard time finding any specific statistics dealing with it. I'm sure it's very sensitive issue. Here's some of the crap I did dig up.

http://www.missingpersons-ireland.freepress-freespeech.com/2500abusecases.gif

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/450088.stm