Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult

A excellent article by Laurie Goodstein that made the front page of the New York Times on January 15, 2005. One minor correction: I actually left the group on November 18, 1988 and not in 1987 as it states in the excerpt below.

In interviews this last week, more than a dozen people who grew up in the cult gave detailed accusations about experiencing or witnessing sex abuse of minors.

"At the time, I didn't think of it as abuse," Peter Frouman, 29, of Austin, Tex., who left in 1987, said in a sentiment echoed by many others. "I had no concept that normal people didn't do this sort of thing. I thought it was perfectly normal for parents to have sex with their children, and children to have sex with each other and with adults.

"When I was 11, I had sex with a 28-year-old woman, and it was with the approval of everyone in the room. I found out later that my mom was watching."

 

Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult

NATIONAL DESK | January 15, 2005, Saturday

Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN (NYT) 1717 words Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 12 , Column 1

Correction Appended

DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1717 WORDS - Growing up in the 1970's in a religious cult known around the world as the Children of God, Ricky Rodriguez was revered as ''the prince.'' The group's leaders were his mother and stepfather, and they taught that their son would guide them all when the End Times came. ... He...

Correction: January 21, 2005, Friday

A picture caption on Saturday with an article about Ricky Rodriguez, a man reared in a religious cult who the police say killed himself and his former nanny, Angela Smith, misstated the way Ms. Smith died. She was stabbed, not shot.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F14FF3E5C0C768DDDA80894DD404482

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