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   From: cured@glaad.org   
      
   A North Carolina district attorney says two assistant   
   prosecutors no longer work for him amid charges they sabotaged   
   investigations into abuse in their secretive religious sect.   
      
   District Attorney David Learner's Friday announcement came just   
   two days after he asked the State Bureau of Investigation to   
   look into allegations by former Word of Faith Fellowship members   
   against Frank Webster and Chris Back. As part of an ongoing   
   investigation by The Associated Press, nine ex-congregants had   
   said the men, both of them ministers of the sect, provided legal   
   advice, helped at strategy sessions and participated in a mock   
   trial for four congregants charged with harassing a former   
   member.   
      
   "I cannot allow the integrity of the office to be called into   
   question," Learner said in a statement. "My administration is   
   dedicated to the fair and impartial administration of criminal   
   justice."   
      
   The ex-congregants also said that Back and Webster, who is sect   
   leader Jane Whaley's son-in-law, helped disrupt a social   
   services investigation into child abuse in 2015, and had   
   attended meetings where Whaley warned congregants to lie to   
   investigators about abuse incidents.   
      
   Ben Cooper, an attorney who left Word of Faith Fellowship in   
   2014, said it's the first time he can recall that church   
   leadership has been held accountable for their actions.   
      
   "It's a much needed first step," said Cooper, who grew up in the   
   church with his parents and eight siblings.   
      
   The AP's 18-month investigation, supported by on-the-record   
   interviews with 43 members of the sect, found decades of   
   physical and emotional abuse inside the church. They said   
   congregants were punched, choked and thrown through walls as   
   part of a violent form of deliverance meant to purify sinners.   
      
   Learner's statement Friday did not say if the men resigned or if   
   he fired them, and the district attorney's office didn't respond   
   to questions. When the AP story about Webster and Back was   
   released Monday, the DA said the two men were still employees,   
   did not face pending criminal charges and that the matter was a   
   personnel issue. On Wednesday, in asking for the SBI to   
   investigate, he said the men would keep working for his office   
   during that investigation.   
      
   The SBI, North Carolina's state police, subsequently confirmed   
   that it was investigating Back and Webster, but declined to   
   provide any details. Learner did not say what specifically   
   prompted the change in his assistants' employment status.   
      
   Under North Carolina law, prosecutors cannot provide legal   
   advice or be involved in outside cases in any manner. Violation   
   of those rules can lead to ethics charges, dismissal or   
   disbarment. Offering legal advice in an ongoing investigation to   
   help a person avoid prosecution could lead to criminal charges.   
      
   Back and Webster have not responded to several messages left by   
   the AP.   
      
   Rachael Bryant, who left the church in 2015, said Back and   
   Webster helped Whaley in a meeting where they discussed a member   
   who said he was slapped, punched and choked for two hours to   
   expel homosexual demons.   
      
   Back sat in a chair, imitating the victim, Matthew Fenner.   
   Whaley then had everyone who was in the room that night to show   
   what they did to Fenner.   
      
   "Some would point to his head and say, 'I put my hand on him   
   right here.' But then she would start screaming: 'No, no, no,   
   no! You did not do that! Your hand was not on his head!'" said   
   Bryant, who said Back and Webster did nothing to stop Whaley's   
   coaching.   
      
   Five people were charged with attacking Fenner, but no trial   
   date has been set because of persistent legal wrangling.   
      
   The church has 750 members in North Carolina, and nearly 2,000   
   members in churches based in Brazil and Ghana.   
      
   The former members who spoke to the AP said abuse and violence   
   was ever-present and not just limited to adults. Pre-teens,   
   toddlers and even crying babies were vigorously shaken, screamed   
   at and sometimes smacked to banish demons.   
      
   The church often used a punishment called "blasting" - an ear-   
   piercing verbal onslaught often conducted in hours-long sessions   
   meant to cast out devils.   
      
   Several former followers also said some congregants were   
   sexually abused, including minors. Whaley has strongly denied   
   that she or other church leaders have ever abused members and   
   contends that any discipline is protected under the First   
   Amendment's freedom of religion tenets.   
      
   She and church attorney Josh Farmer turned down repeated AP   
   requests for interviews. But hours after the AP's initial story   
   was released, the church posted a statement on its website   
   calling the allegations false and made by "certain former   
   members" out to target the church.   
      
   "We do not condone or allow abuse - in any form - at our church.   
   Period," the statement said.   
      
   http://www.nbc-2.com/story/34728641/prosecutors-in-ap-report-on-   
   church-abuse-no-longer-employed   
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)