HARRISBURG (TNS) — The Pennsylvania Attorney General on Thursday announced criminal charges against four men in connection with reported sexual assaults and exploitation of 19 children who were members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations.
The charges from a grand jury stem from assaults in Berks, Lancaster, Butler and Cambria counties, according to a news release from Josh Shapiro’s office. The defendants also were members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations, the release said.
The men are accused of sexually abusing and exploiting 19 minors with whom they had close contact, in some cases their own relatives.
One of the men killed himself when officers went to his home to arrest him, according to the attorney general’s office.
Those charged and the allegations against them were outlined in the news release:
Jose Serrano, 69, of Lancaster County, is accused of molesting six young girls, including a close relative, in 2011. He confessed to committing many of these criminal offenses to the Grand Jury, and admitted to a life-long struggle with deviant impulses, according to the news release. He has been charged with Aggravated Indecent Assault, Indecent Assault, and Endangering the Welfare of Children.
Jesse Hill, 52, formerly of Berks County and now a resident of the state of Georgia, is accused of using his milling business to attract young boys from his Jehovah’s Witness congregation, with promises of alcohol, marijuana, and pornography to his property for parties in the 1990s.
Prosecutors say Hill would later expose himself to the children, grope them and force them to perform oral sex. The investigation revealed at least 10 victims. Hill was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and corruption of minors.
Robert Ostrander, 56, formerly of Cambria County, now a resident of New York state, is accused of sexually abusing at least two minors, including a close relative and her friend. He was charged with indecent assault, endangering welfare of children, and corruption of minors.
Eric Eleam, 61, of Butler County was accused of sexually abusing a close relative and using sexual molestation as a form of discipline when she was a child. He was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. When agents from the Office of Attorney General and police from Butler County attempted to arrest him, he retreated into his bathroom and killed himself behind closed doors.
The news release did not provide the date of Eleam’s death.
“These children deserved to be protected and grow up in peace, not to be preyed upon,” Shapiro said, according to the news release.
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