Sunday, February 06, 2011

Youth Pastor Jeffrey Crosley arrested

JeffreyCrosleyWhile the Pittsburgh Steelers play in the Super Bowl, a Pennsylvania youth pastor sits in jail on charges that he molested and raped at least two boys. There may be as many as 10 victims.

Crosley had volunteered for 10 years at Jesus Messiah Evangelical Free Church in Hanover but recently stopped working there.

Littlestown police arrested Crosley on Thursday, charging him with rape and other offenses. They say he admitted having sexual relationships with about 10 boys.

Crosly will face child pornography charges too. The authorities say they found images on his computer.

His church as taken the typical “circle your wagons” approach to the crisis. Their website is down and “under construction.”

Crosely was not a pastor, nor was he a paid member of staff. He was a volunteer. My question is for the church. Did you clear your volunteers? Did you provide proper oversight? Did you review his access to children?

The church had this to say:

"We are deeply grieved by the revelations of the last few days," Dennis Davis, Jesus Messiah Evangelical Free Church Elder. "It appears great wrong has been done and we hurt deeply for and with the victims, Jeff's family, and one another."

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ddarklighter · 744 weeks ago

Only an 'Awesome God' can let this kind of stuff continue to happen over and over again.
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friendinneed · 744 weeks ago

i know the church and the area. their website has been under construction for a long time . . . not that that excuses or answers any of the other questions . . .
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guest · 742 weeks ago

not sure what "circle your wagons” means but the church has been and is working on getting a website up and running

since he had no priors, his clearances would have been fine, since nothing happened at the church or at church related events, it was a shock

though it is an issue that all churches, and youth organizations need to be aware of and take precautions
2 replies · active 280 weeks ago
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Mojoey 107p · 742 weeks ago

Circle your wagons - that means the church is taking actions to protect the church. One of these actions would be limiting the flow of information. It would take less than an hour to put a statement up on their non-functional website. The fact that they did not is inexcusable, and lazy.

The question is DID they do a proper background investigation. Arrests are just one factor in a background investigation. I'm sure everyone is shocked. It has to be a shock. What kind of Sunday School teaching youth volunteer would molest young boys?

What precautions did his church take. What corrective measures have they put in place since his arrest? What is the church doing to protects its children?
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Tyler Bunty · 280 weeks ago

I know this reply is years later but i think its time i finally spoke. My name is Tyler Bunty and I was one of the 10 boys he had molested. I can tell you for a fact that there was no way to tell even with the background check they did whether this would happen or not. The only info they could gather was that he worked in boy scouts and that he worked with children, not to mention he was going to the church for a couple of years before he became a youth leader and showed no signs of anything such (that they were aware of course since i was around 8 when he molested me). Also no the church didnt try to protect themselves. It was more the shock was just that great that they really didnt know how to handle it. The only thing they really did was the pastor told me not to tell anyone else in the church (which i ended up doing anyways) that way they could work with police to try and find if there were any other victims other than myself (thank goodness there werent) The church spoke with news and everything so they werent really trying to cover up anything. It was just a lot at one time to take in. I don't blame the church at all, there was no way for them to know, especially with my silence. The church did what they could, and it hit us all very hard, and the church fell apart because of it.
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deleted8470268 143p · 740 weeks ago

They will take no action they will just say it was Satan's fault.
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Guest · 734 weeks ago

I knew the church a long time ago and I used to be a sunday school teacher for a lot of the teens that are now in the youth group. It is very sad to know this could happen so close to home. One thing is for sure that church is a wonderful church and they care deeply for the youth of the church. I know that they WILL take action YES SATAN was at work but they also know that we all have a will and not blamed purly on satan. The church is keeping to themselves because they care about the people who attend their and I DO NOT blame them for not making a more public statement. I think instead of blaming them everyone should be praying for the young boys involved and trying to help the sitution.
1 reply · active 280 weeks ago
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Tyler Bunty · 280 weeks ago

Hi this is Tyler Bunty who used to go to that church as well and was curious as to who this is. Thank you for the prayers, despite all that happened to me with Jeff, I feel this had made me a stronger and better person

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