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Republican Abuse of Power or Authority (102 instances)

1296: Bill Halle

Abuse of Power or Authority, Grooming, Sexual Assault
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

William “Bill” Halle is a former Butler, Pennsylvania, school board member. He is also a member of the Patriot Party, an extremist party created by Trump supporters who don’t think the Republican Party is sufficiently supportive of Trump. In May, 2023, he resigned after he was accused of an inappropriate relationship with a teen he employed and counseled at the charity he ran Net Outreach Center. He was initially charged with sexual assault by an employee of a non-profit association, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility, and criminal solicitation. He was ordered not to contact the teen, but violated that court order several times, leading to a six month sentence for violations of the order. In January, 2024, a judge dismissed the charges against him

1278: Dennis Coggins

Abuse of Power or Authority, Sexual Harassment
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Dennis Coggins is the Mayor of Hoxie, Arkansas. He is embroiled in several lawsuits and the council is seeking his recall for ignoring FOIA requests and other malfeasance.

He also was sued for sexual harassment under the Fair Housing Act by a woman who rents from him.

1266: Rachel Wakefield

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Molestation, Child Rape
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Rachel Wakefield, along with her husband David Wakefield, has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor. She was indicted on eleven charges. They are alleged to have abused a girl for four years beginning when she was fourteen. Rachel Wakefield was the substitute teacher and coach.

1254: Lillie Bowman

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Molestation, Child Rape, Grooming
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Lillie Bowman was a high school teacher and trap team coach in Norris, Oklahoma. In early April, a student told the school administrators about a sexual relationship between the trap-shooting coach and one of the students she was coaching. The school “investigated” and determined there was nothing amiss and warned the student who had come to them to stop talking about the teacher and the student she victimized or risk suspension. The also informed the school resource officer that the rumor was unfounded and called the mother of the student who reported the rumor.

1253: Paul Humphrey

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Molestation, Child Rape, Grooming
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During the interview, the child reported that she had known Humphrey since she was second grade. She said Humphrey “had sex” with her fifteen times during her sophomore year, that he put a tracking app on her phone, and that she acquiesced because she felt pressured because he was a father figure and a police officer.

1250: Shawn Gooden

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Indecency, Child Molestation, Child Rape, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, Sexual Battery
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Shawn Gooden was a bishop with the Mormon church and a member of the executive board of the New Birth of Freedom Boy Scouts. He was a lawyer in Harrisburg, PA. He was also an adjunct professor at Widener University Commonwealth Law School. That was all before he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young relative in Virginia and was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

1232: Thomas Wall

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Indecency, Child Molestation, Child Rape, Incest
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Thomas Wall was pastor of the conservative Pentecostal Fellowship Church in Lancaster, Kentucky. He also administered the Christian academy run by the church. He was originally arrested in January 2022, accused of sexually abusing a family member over forty years ago when the relative was under the age of twelve.

1230: Christopher Terranova

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Exploitation, Child Rape, Child Sexual Abuse Material, Coercion, Extortion
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Christopher Terranova was a New York Police Department. He was arrested in May and was suspended with pay in September. He then retired. He was ordered held without bail in December until a January hearing. He is accused of using coercion to pressure children to send him explicit pictures of themselves. For example, one of his alleged victims is a fifteen-year-old boy who was a victim in a robbery. Terranova is said to have used the police database to get the boy’s cellphone number, texted a nude picture of himself, and demanded one of the boy.

1228: Ben Wharton

Abuse of Power or Authority, Child Indecency, Child Rape
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Albert Benjamin Wharton was a pastor at several churches in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. In December 2023, he was arrested in South Carolina and extradited to Virginia where he was charged with twenty-two counts of indecent liberties with a child under age thirteen while in a custodial position and eight counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.