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Republican Coercion (31 instances)

966: Mark Aaron Griffin

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

Mark Aaron Griffin was a Messianic Rabbi in Saginaw, Texas. Messianic Judaism is a syncretic form of evangelical Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism. The call themselves Jews, but that is not accepted by mainstream Jews. After he was charged with sexual assault, the Texas school board that banned Anne Frank book invited him to open their meeting with prayer.

He was charged with abusing his influence as a “rabbi” to pressure a woman into consensual and nonconsensual sex. He told her she was God’s gift to him and that she would be his “second wife.” When she told him no, he assaulted her.

He reached a plea deal, pleading guilty to indecent assault and was given two years deferred adjudication which means after two years, if he doesn’t offend again, he will have no conviction on his record. He and his lawyers are claiming he was vindicated by this plea deal.

918: Sean M. Higgins

Child Endangerment, Coercion, Solicitation of a Minor, Stalking/Harassment
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Sean M. Higgins was the youth pastor and music leader at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, New Jersey. While he was youth pastor, he adopted the persona of a teenage girl named Julie Miller. As Julie Miller, he persuaded teen boys to send nude pics which he then used to coerce the boys to do…

873: Joel Koskan

Child Molestation, Child Rape, Coercion
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Joel Koskan was a Republican candidate for the South Dakota state senate in 2022. He was arrested in 2022 for grooming and raping a minor child who was a member of his family. It is alleged that he began grooming her as a young child. When she was 14, at bible camp, counselors discussed inappropriate touching and she told them about Koskan. A social worker was sent to do an interview but she did not cooperate. That was when he began to molest her. This continued for five years until she was 19. He was able to maintain control via surveillance cameras and GPS monitoring, limiting her social connections, even able to control her after she went away to school.

809: Matthew Leveridge

Coercion, Improper Conduct or Comments, Sexual Harassment
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Matthew Leveridge is a Commonwealth Attorney for the 57th Circuit in Kentucky. This is in spite of serious misconduct. For example, he slept with a defendant he was prosecuting for drug offenses. When she got pregnant and told his wife, he tried to get the diversion program he offered her rescinded and send her to jail. He also had an affair with a juror.

757: Ken Kratz

Coercion, Sexual Harassment
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Ken Kratz was the District Attorney of Calumet County, in Wisconsin. He became infamous for his prosecution of Stephen Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey in the second murder case after Avery was exonerated. This was covered in the Making a Murderer documentary. In spite of that, he kept his job, but he was forced out when people learned he coerced domestic violence survivors who needed him to prosecute their abusers.

699: Bernie Alimenti

Coercion
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Bernie Alimenti was a city councilman in Fort Myers, Florida. He offered to help a woman move from one public housing apartment to another in exchange for sex. She was an informant and the conversation was taped. He was arrested and charged with influence-peddling for sex. Prosecutors asked for a year in prison, but the judge gave him five years probation and community service.

597: Brian Bosma

Coercion, Intimidation, Retaliation, Sexual Harassment
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Brian Bosma was the Speaker of the House in Indiana for six terms. He retired from the legislature in 2020. In 2018, a former intern confirmed that she had a technically consensual sexual relationship with Bosma, but that she felt she was coerced into it. When Bosma learned the story was being investigated, he spent $40,000 to investigate her, having her friends and family questioned. He is accused of using intimidation to attempt to silence her, threatening to release unflattering information to the public.

551: Steven Sumner

Child Rape, Child Sexual Abuse Material, Coercion, Sexual Assault, Sexual Battery, Sexual Misconduct
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Steven Sumner was a Republican county councilman for Madison County, Indiana. He is also the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church. He was charged with Child Seduction which means Sumner was in some way the child’s guardian, adoptive parent, adoptive grandparent, custodian, or stepparent. Other charges include child molestation, contributing to delinquency, sexual battery, sexual misconduct, as well as possession of child sexual exploitation material. According to the State Police, a child, younger than sixteen, told them he gave her alcohol and performed sexual acts on her and asked her to reciprocate. Additional charges were added involving a child under 14. The trial is set for February 27, 2023

302: Jon Landry

Coercion, Sexual Misconduct, Solicitation of a Minor, Stalking/Harassment
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Jon Landry was a Republican member of the Farmington Town Council. He met a girl online. He used the pseudonym Jason Davis and claimed he was seventeen. He really was a thirty-two-year-old politician with a wife and two children. The girl was twelve. They communicated for four years until she was sixteen when they met in person for the first time and began an affair. Sixteen was the age of consent and the affair was consensual, but there’s more.