Wow - it's just like watching TV. There really is a Special Victims Unit.
A former Clarkson pastor has been charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy back in 1982.
Officers from the Peel Regional Police Special Victims Unit charged the 48-year-old Acton man on Jan. 11.
Police say the accused was a youth counselor and youth pastor at St. Brides Anglican Church in Clarkson and an "out-trip" director at the Ontario Pioneer Camp in Port Sydney, Ontario during the time of the alleged assault.
Garth Stanwyn Bent has been charged with indecent assault.
Source: Former Clarkson pastor facing sex charges - The Mississauga News - Mississauga.com
I wonder if we will see this story as a ripped-from-the-headlines special?
Technorati tags: Child Molestation, clergy sexual abuse, Garth Stanwyn, Canada, pedophilia, pedophile
22 comments:
Good grief! I don't who's been busier, you or these creepy pastors!
my husband was there and knew the man before for years before and after the year in question. My hubby was 16 that year and we do not believe this for one second! it's NOT this man!
It's sad that someone so GOOD can be accused and Condemed by the press without the facts. He is a great person and doesn't deserve this damaging press. Ask anyone who has known him ... they got the wrong guy!
Anon - do you have any idea how screwed up your logic is? You saying that because your second hand evidence that your husband did not see anything means that nothing happened. Which is like me saying that my choir director did not molest anyone because I did not see him do it.... only, he molested four other boys my age. Everyone thought he was a great guy too.
let the bum have his day in court. The truth will win out.
Hi,
To the fellow who was the 16 year old boy at the time. Sorry, but I am a very close friend of one of the victims who has been badly abused. I too was heavily involved in the youth group during my teens and while it must come as a shock to some such as my parents, it unfortunately is true.
The problem with most of these perpetrators is that they are often the most engaging and friendly people you will ever meet.
As a individual that spent many weeks and months with Garth in my youth and during the exact time period in which the alledged assualts occured I can tell you this.
I owe this man my life, were it not for him, I was destined to be a statistic, dead in an alley or ditch some day, or in prison for the rest of my life---only with his involvement in my life did I get my life back on track and rebound to instead of becoming a statistic, becoming a contributing member of society with strong values, that lives by those values each day and teaches and imparts them on others less fortunate and do not know the difference between right and wrong as no one has taken the time to spend with them to help them figure it out.
His genuine care and compassion for those that did not fit into society at the time he was dealing with them exposed him to a high percentaged of youths with many issues in thier lives.
With that exposure to youths with many issues in thier lives he had many risk points for failure but also had many sucesses, Garth lived by a a code, and that code was simple, never give up on a kid
I am eternally thankful he never gave up on me--I in turn will never give up on him
Well, looks like the controversy has ended. Bent pled guilty.
Thanks Anon - I post a story on the front page. Can you fill us in with any of the details?
Mojoey,
Can you verify that Mr. Bent was convicted. I cannot find any info to support the claim made by "Anon".
I have known Garth Bent since 1976 and worked with him at Ontario Pioneer. To all of you nay sayers, just looking for another pastor to slander......go out there and care for young people who have huge baggage and call "fowl" to anyone to blame for their problems. Get a life, and let Garth live his.
Friend - what kind of "fowl?". A chicken, or maybe a duck?
It is easy to accuse when you only know what the press sends out and what the police release.... if you have ever been involved in a court case the police only release what they want and send the message that fits their perspective. Not Reality or the TRUTH!
This is not a true representation of what Garth truly is. This is something that happened 30yrs ago! Yes he made some bad decisions and yes he did EVERYTHING in his power to resolve his mistakes years ago with every one of the people he hurt. Know one is talking about that because that is not what people want to hear. they like to paint some other picture that fits their picture of what reality is.
I personally have known Garth at that time and through the Years following. Something that is not be published on the front page is he has personally changed my life and saved me from a very tragic future. Infact I am now a very `Successful person in the eyes of the world because of the support and help Garth has and continues to give me.
Think twice before you condemn you may not have the hole story...
I AM ONE OF THE ABUSED PERSONS!!!!! I was a member of the church, youth group and Pioneer Camps and both my family and I believe that Garth is a good man. HOWEVER, he DID MOLEST me AND my close friend on the same overnight visit at his apartment (when I was 12 and my friend 13). We were doing some volunteer work for the youth group and were invited for a Pizza and Hang-out evening with our friend and someone I looked up to as a treat.
What happened WAS a crime but IT DID HAPPEN! So all of you guessing at what did or did not happen can just stop your blabbing and deal with it.
In support of this statement, Garth plead guilty!!!!! God would not want a man to LIE and plead to something he did not do!
I believe Garth to be a good man who made some mistakes and now after way too long he is facing the consequences.
I am still a Christian and believe in God with my entire being.
Please do not believe that even good men CANNOT sin, for only JESUS was without.
Please now stop arguing or BEING IN DENIAL, and start praying for Garth AND AND AND all those he abused. Only then can all involved move forward.
As a further comment, when these issues come up, please do not simply take a side because of how you feel about a person or his religion, because if Christian Pastors were unable to sin they would be the Son of God, not human.
I was abused. It really screwed up my life. Only after years of guidance and prayer have I been able to forgive Garth ( TO HIS FACE I FORGAVE HIM - HE CAME TO SEE ME TO APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT HE HAD DONE)!!!!!!!!!
I have included my name because I am NOT lying about this issue, so unless you were there in the room at the time SHUT UP about whether or not it happened.
Having been heavily involved in the youth group at St. Bride's during the period involved here, I have first-hand knowledge of two more young teenagers who refuse to let their parents know of the abuse at the hands of Garth Bent--even this many years later. I also know one who did let his parents know, and begged them not to prosecute at the time because he was 12 years old and ashamed. That victim is my brother. We ultimately did not inform the police because he refused to give a statement. He was TWELVE. How much can you expect from a CHILD?
Evil can hide beneath a veneer of good. They most definitely did *not* "get the wrong guy" here.
For those of you saying "we only know what the police are releasing/the press are reporting": the government does not go after someone without a very, VERY good reason--they don't have the resources to. I'm in a position to know that, too--another brother is a Crown Prosecutor.
This arrest and guilty plea will give closure to what I'm sure are many more young men than any of us would care to think about.
I've just found this post... years later.
First - to Brad L, I'm so so sorry that happened to you. I knew Garth (and probably you too) at the time - I was 14 in 1982 and in the youth group & at Pioneer. But I'm a girl.
I'm glad he owned up and apologised - I know it doesn't make it better - but to know he recognised it instead of denying is better.
Earlier in the comments, Anon at 2:54am mentioned that Garth had saved their life by caring and by supporting & counselling them. I was one of those people he helped - he got me through the worst time in my life by listening and being supportive and caring. He, and the youth group friends were my refuge and kept me going on Friday nights (when it wasn't the 'cool' thing to do). Garth left youth group and it wasn't the same for me after that. I wound up suffering from PTSD through high school and made some poor choices. (all good now)
I just found out about all this recently & I am so torn - to have hurt people at the same time he was helping others is very hard to understand. I know we want to rush in and call 'Evil' - but he did some very good things too. It breaks my heart that this happened.
I don't know if he was convicted or is in prison in Ontario?
My prayers to out to you Brad and to the other boys who suffered.
Here we go again. Garth Bent is going to be sentenced March 3rd, 2017 in the Brampton Court house. How many more will be strong and tired enough of his abuse to come forward.
Garth: If you come by this someday, I'm having a hard time accepting the details in this post. Hoping this is a scripted nightmare to wake up from and not real. I knew you as a good man. God be with you.
He pretended to be a good man so he could work his evil. And he was evil behind closed doors when nobody else could see him. I remember O too well how evil and insidious Garth Bent could be so thank God it didnt happen to you or your children. Twenty five yearts of people denying what I told you to be true and now finally the truth has come out. Im glad he got caught im glad hes suffering now and for the rest of his life he threatened to kill my sister and my mother if I told he had rifles from his hunting times i believed him because of the expression of anger on his face when he told me. Hes sick really really sick and I hope he spends the rest of his wicked life regretting what he did. Children under his care hes lucky hes not dead.
Recently. The Lord has shown me to forgive you Garth.
Believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:31. Garth the Lord can still save you. I forgive you.
I recently found out that Garth Bent did not getr any jail time for sexually assaulting for hours at least 7 boys probably more. How is it this monster got a kiss? Garth you are one wicked manipulative warped deviant asshole.
I agree with your description of Garth. Yet he did do these acts. I knew him through all my teenage years and have my own first hand experiences. I didn't know about the charges and convictions and such until tonight, April 2020. For some random reason I searched on his name. Odd to wonder what to do now after resolving this for myself 15 years ago. Even more odd to reply to a comment from years ago that no one will likely read.
That all sounds like utter nonsense
Post a Comment