The Elders

Picture of Dave Barrueto.


The elders knew details of the full extent in which our child was sexually molested by Patrick!

From the previous post I explained that two days after discovering that our child had been sexually molested the elders had a meeting with Eddie and Patrick Rojas. The elders spent the day (literally) with them and came over to our home that evening.

We had asked a couple in the church to come and be a witness to the meeting (the husband was out of town) but the wife came. The elders, Dave Barrueto and Jim Cameron,basically came to see how we were and told us that they had been in contact with other pastors to get advice and that they had contacted a lawyer to find out their legal liability.

I remember them explaining that because we had reported the crime, they had no legal obligation to report it as well. That since it is in the "states" hands they were not going to talk about the case with us. They wanted to know how they could help us in the process of healing, forgiving, and reconciliation. Our friend that was with us has a background working in sexual assault centers. She directly asked the elders if there was any information that came out of their private meeting that we (the parents of the victim) should know? Any new information at all.

Jim Cameron was at the original meeting and knew exactly what Patrick had admitted to doing to our child in front of Eric and I. The elders looked at each other and said,"no, nothing to add." They reminded us they were going to stay out of the legal stuff.

Approximately 2 1/2weeks after our initial discovery of the abuse and the elders private meeting with Patrick , Jim Cameron, was interviewed by the sheriff detective working on our case. Jim Cameron ends his statement to the sheriff with, "in his opinion Patrick wanted to stay pure, but wanted to know what it felt like to kiss ....... and it was just the wrong place and wrong age."

We received a copy of Jim Cameron's statement well after Patrick's sentencing was over. When I saw that Jim Cameron minimized the crime in his statement and in my opinion, he even lies by omission, I will have to admit my heart filled with hate.

This man along with Eddie and Dave Barrueto knew everything....he knew that we as the victims parents didn't know what had really been done to our child. He and the others in authority allowed the church congregation to believe what happened was "only a kiss" and "just inappropriate affections."

A grown man (22yrs old), goes into a minors (under 12yrs old), bedroom at night and sexually molests them....and his statement is, ".....just the wrong place and wrong age."Who was this elder protecting? Certainly not our child, the victim!

It was not for six more months until we would learn actually what happened to our child. Six months the elders let us believe "it was only a kiss" (which by the way....we never minimized. From day one we considered even a kiss from a 22yr old to be sexual abuse and so does the state of Washington!) Six months! If you remember from an earlier post our child had a "dream like" memory. The memory was very minimal and the elders along with Patrick and his parents knew that. The elders knew they did not need to legally report the crime, so they did not.

The state had no reason to believe nor did they have proof our child had been molested beyond a kiss and groomed by a pedophile. So, they entered a plea agreement to avoid trial (to spare the need for our child to testify.) In an earlier post I outlined his sentencing and the conditions. Not only did these men (Eddie, Dave Barrueto, and Jim Cameron) influence the outcome of the charges filed by their silence but they greatly influenced a congregation to support a seriously dangerous pedophile. Somehow, the elders were able to gain sympathy and support from the congregation for Patrick and his "innocent" parents.

Patrick was able to gather well over 30 letters of support (asking the judge to be merciful) stating that Patrick had such outstanding character, he was an asset to our community, repentant, even statements that had the audacity to boast that Patrick had taken responsibility for his crime.

It appeared that the elders didn't have any real concerns about Patrick being a predator. I believe even knowing all the details of what Patrick actually did to our child, the elders still believe "It was only inappropriate affection."

Early on, it became clear to Eric and I after we had a few interactions with the elders that "something wasn't right." We didn't have a scripture to quote, just our gut feeling (Holy Spirit) to follow. After a series of attempts where we tried to explain to the elders our belief that what in fact happened, was bigger, and more serious than "just inappropriate affection." We were cautioned about gossip, becoming bitter, that is was wrong to listen to "worldly" psychology, and that we needed to get to a place of forgiveness (which in their interpretation meant immediate reconciliation with Patrick and our family) we knew we needed to break from this congregation and it's leadership.

This was the start of our isolation. Some would say the isolation was self inflicted. I would argue we were collateral damage that the leadership was willing to lose in order to save their church. To stand with our family would have meant standing against the Rojas family. Remember the father and mother had something to hide. The elders, idolized Eddie Rojas! The elders were "used" by Eddie Rojas BUT they had an opportunity to tell the truth to us and the authorities BUT they chose to stay silent.

If the elders felt they needed to stay silent out of biblical obligation, then why, within days after Patrick was sentenced (and protected from further charges in our case) did they break "privilege" and tell a room full of church members that they knew detailed information about what he did to our child and that they didn't report it?

Can you believe after that information came to light many families stayed with the church for months? Currently, the church, Peninsula Household of Faith Community Church, in Port Orchard, WA. is still fellowshipping under the authority of the same two elders. They are still supporting Patrick David Rojas.

It has been said that we are the ones that are in sin....we are angry, bitter, and unforgiving....

I reject that! First the abuse from Patrick. Then we were betrayed by our leaders, whom we trusted to do what was right and stand with the victim and their family. They should have called out their brother in Christ to take responsibility for his actions and not hide behind lawyers. They should have preferred the victim over the abuser. They should have mourned with those whom mourned!

They shouldn't have been afraid to educate themselves on the subject of sexual abuse. They should have reported all that they knew of the crime for the benefit of the abuser receiving a proper sentence and more importantly so the victim could receive proper help as soon as possible! (not six months later)

THE ELDER'S BETRAYAL IMPEDED JUSTICE!

What Eddie Knew ?

Yes, Eddie, Kathy, and Jairus knew of Patrick's pedophile behavior and they kept it as a dark dirty little secret. It is to this day still hard for me to believe that they knew yet still allowed and encouraged Patrick's interactions with our family.

As a condition of Patrick's plea agreement he had to take a court ordered sexual psychological evaluation. We would not know until mid June 2007 the results of the evaluation. (Remember we reported the crime in January 2007.)

I remember the day clearly, the phone rang and it was the prosecutor, Kelly Montgomery, along with Eric on a three way call. She started by saying she had a feeling that Patrick was bad but had no idea just how bad he was. She stated that the 40+page evaluation she had in front of her was one of the worst to cross her desk in a long while.

She hated to have to tell us but needed to let us know that our child had been victimized to an even greater extent than we had previously known. She read us the detailed description word for word of what Patrick had done to our child. She read direct quotes from Patrick taken during his evaluation. Part of his evaluation required him to take a polygraph examination. The prosecutor went on to explain to us that our child was one of 6 admitted victims. Also revealed to us, Patrick had taken part in bestiality, online pornography, and incest with a consenting adult sister. If that wasn't horrifically shocking enough she added that Patrick's parents, Eddie and Kathy Rojas, were aware of his pedophile behavior which started at age 15.

The evaluation revealed that Patrick at(15yrs of age) was "caught" he was disciplined by his father, he repented and all was forgiven. Then again at age 17 the evaluation revealed Patrick was caught another time. This time Patrick shared that both his parents talked with him and that he repented and all was forgiven. Life as normal to the outside world.

As part of the evaluation, Patrick had to reveal all of his minor victims and outline the crimes. What I am willing to say about the other victims is as follows: his victims ages range from 18months old -11yrs old. Patrick was victimizing someone or grooming non stop from ages 15-22, (when we reported him) that out of the five additional victims four of them would qualify him for 4 charges of child molestation in the first degree and the fifth would be a lesser charge.

The parents knew! The thought that Eddie and Kathy knew and kept it a secret and allowed Patrick to stay the night at our home took my breath away! (Patrick's idea was to take one of our children hunting and since they had to get up so early Patrick suggested he stay the night at our home.) We were in the home!

To add to the insult Eric and I were told to keep the sex/psycho evaluation information quiet. That because this was an ongoing investigation we shouldn't talk about it. It was two more months before Patrick's sentencing and the same two more months before all the information would become more public. We didn't know at the end of the two months we would be dealt the final blow.(at least we hope it is the final blow)

The Sunday before Patrick was sentenced Eddie Rojas stepped down from his role as Pastor of the church. That week Eddie attended Patrick's sentencing. Eddie told others that he was taking his family camping to get away from everything and that's the last Eddie or the minor children have been seen. (remember from an earlier post, Eddie knew CPS wanted to interview the minor girls)



Two days after Patrick's sentencing the elders called a "heads of household" meeting. During this meeting the elders, ( still currently in leadership at Peninsula Household of Faith Community Church, in Port Orchard, WA.) ,would admit to having met privately with Patrick and Eddie two days following the discovery that our child had been sexually abused. After being pressed, by some in attendance, the elders would reveal that during the private meeting Patrick admitted in detail all of what he did to our child.

THE ELDERS KNEW!

My next post will be dedicated to the significance of the elders having this information and what if anything the elders did with the information.

Questions...I'm sure

I'm sure you have some questions. Like how could we not know our child was being groomed and had been sexually molested?

A pedophile grooms the entire family and gains trust and access. "People who are predators are really good at seducing children. This is their job. This is what they do. If they do it well, you are seduced before you know it. You don't know that it's seduction, that's the whole point..." ~from a TV special~

A church is ideal grounds to groom families. Our family was particularly vulnerable. Just in a years time prior to Patrick's crimes against our family we had cancer in our immediate family, had a new born, and had moved twice. The Rojas family was always there to help us. Patrick started tutoring one of our children and taking him on as a little brother in Christ type mentoring. This is every parents dream. A seemly Godly young man taking time out of his life to encourage another whom is younger. Our family welcomed the involvement. This is how Patrick gained access. Anything that might of normally been a red flag was easily explained away because of how "Godly, caring, and humble," the Rojas family was.

Our children were not able to go on sleep overs (with rare exceptions) for the simple fact we didn't want them vulnerable to sexual abuse. Our kids were almost always supervised around other children for the same reason. Because of my background I am always suspicious of others.

I would even say that before this I considered myself to have very good discernment in situations and about people. There were a few times we knew Patrick left our child a note that read "Smile Jesus loves you" (with a smiley face) and left a few pieces of candy....this is what I told myself, "How thoughtful, Patrick knew that this child would feel left out because they weren't going and doing x,y or z like their sibling was." Perfectly logical he's from a family with 13 siblings who are taught to think of others. He also didn't just single out the victim, he would mix it up and sometimes give treats to all the kids. Patrick was always the "thoughtful guy." Does too good to be true come to your mind? Well he was...he wasn't good at all Patrick is evil through and through! Master manipulator! We were conned!

And he had the help of his parents Eddie and Kathy Rojas and an older brother, all of whom had known of Patrick's pedophile behaviors long before we reported the crimes against our family. In my next post I will explain this in some detail. Eric and I feel strongly that because Eddie and Kathy and an older brother knew of Patrick's pedophile behavior and kept it a secret that they are just as culpable as Patrick in the crimes against our family and his other victims. Some which are still in Eddie Rojas's care. This blog will only be powerful if it reaches the masses....please forward the link to this site to your contacts.

Discovery

We were having company come over the next night so our family was tidying up our home. The family we were having over ironically enough happened to be the Rojas family. Anyway, Eric went into one of the rooms to check it out and upon inspection he found a letter inside the pillow case on one of the beds. The reaction from the child was strange so Eric came to me and we read it together.

My heart sank...there was a small torn note around the outside of the letter and here is some of what was written, "...best to tear the letter up when done reading and responding to it." ..."other notes I gave you should also be disposed of or given back to me." "This is a risky place for a mailbox....think of another place....put it there if you know I am coming or if your whole family is leaving."

Then we opened up the letter which was written on college lined paper and was two and 1/2 full pages, written 12/06......the paragraph that made me literally sick to my stomach was....

"I know that I didn't just offend you, I realize that I hurt you very deeply by what I did. I took from you something I can't ever give back......I did it because I love you. I assumed you loved me....but I guess I thought wrong".....

"......I also want to apologize for reading your diary.....since I read yours I feel as though you should read mine......"

".......I want to encourage you to grow closer to the Lord. He is more faithful than I could ever be......He has promised to be with you and never forsake you! :) "

"....P.P.S. Sometimes I feel like giving you a little gift (like gum or candy) because I want to bless you. But recently you haven't been very receptive of my efforts...."

We talked to the victim who stated their memory was very dream like and thought maybe Patrick kissed them.

We found a friend's home where our children to could go and called an emergency meeting with, at the time our pastor, Eddie (whom is the offenders father) his wife, Patrick, and one of our elders, Jim Cameron. I still wonder why we did it this way...in some ways I wish we would have called the police immediately. But in the meeting Patrick admitted to kissing the victim on the lips multiple times while the victim was asleep in their bedroom. With the note alone and the victims "dream like" minimal memory, most likely no charges would have been filed on Patrick and we would have never known just how twisted and dangerous he is. But because there were witnesses of the admission and specifically a "non partial" witness, Jim Cameron, the admission was taken seriously when we reported it to the police. When the prosecutor, Kelly Montgomery, reviewed the case she had a "gut feeling" about this one. She took the case on personally. She normally takes on the more high profile cases.

A few other things came out of the meeting that I would like to make mention of....when we read the definition of a pedophile in front of everyone immediately Eddie Rojas reached over his wife and touched Patrick on the leg and stated "one time does not make a pedophile"....and our elder, Jim Cameron, stated that he felt the "world" is too quick to label someone. Jim Cameron felt it was more like "inappropriate affection" rather than something criminal...this was the theme the elders and the Rojas family stuck with.

Another thing that always bugged me and that stuck out was when Eddie stated that he could empathize with Patrick because when Eddie was younger, 22yrs old, he had a crush on a 12yr old girl and wrote her some notes and her parents found them and told him to stop and Eddie said he did.

In that moment I pretty much sat in a chair and cried most of the time. Mrs. Rojas didn't say a word until they were leaving she hugged me and whispered, "I am so sorry it's my son." There was talk about the Rojas's disciplining Patrick and that the elders and Eddie and Patrick would need to meet to figure out what to do. Also, that the Rojas's would take this seriously. No mention of calling the police and reporting that a crime had occurred because you know (and I say this sarcastically) it is only "inappropriate affection" and "just a kiss".

Now imagine, we were sitting with men we respect, as our pastor and elder. We were in shock and disbelief and being fed that really this wasn't that big of a matter. Definitely one that needed more discussion between Eddie and the elders but nothing beyond that. We were told basically that they would be praying for us and to let them know if we needed anything.

The following 24hrs were horrible...it started to play back in our head....I kept thinking, are we making too much out of this? In the spirit of not being a "gossiper" we didn't let anyone else in our church or family know what we just discovered.

A name popped in my head, it was someone I could call and if we were making something out of nothing this person wouldn't hesitate to tell me. She has a masters in psychology and is a christian. She would know what she was talking about from a biblical world view which mattered to me. I hadn't spoken to this person in many years other than running into to her at a mutual friends birthday party or something like that....but I located her number and called.

Almost immediately after outlining the note and the "meeting" she stated that we needed to report sexual abuse. I was very hesitant and she could tell. She went on to explain a 22yr old man does not just wake up one day and fall in love with a child under 12yrs old, that Patrick most certainly had other victims with the grooming pattern he displayed towards our child. She asked if he had any sisters and expressed concern for them. (The very girls that were taken into hiding by their father to protect a pedophile.) She told me to call a sexual abuse hot line and talk anonymously with them about our situation and see if they give us the same advice, to call the police! As I'm sure my friend knew the sexual assault center did in fact say we absolutely needed to call the police!

Eric and I were still struggling and praying. When I looked at my husband and said, "if it were our neighbor that we were talking about we wouldn't hesitate calling the police." The phone rang. It was my friend who said I just want to ask you one thing "if this were your neighbor you were talking about would you even hesitate to call the police?" I was blown away. I explained that I just said that exact thing to Eric. She urged us to hang up and call 911.

That is exactly what we did!

Prevention....a cause to support!!

One night I was up horribly late watching late night mindless TV and this ad came on...Chills went down my spine...I was devastated and excited at the same time. Devastated because I knew intimately just how true the commercial was. "Uncle Al" is one of the links (on the side) of the blog and the commercial I saw on TV. I was excited because for the first time since our nightmare began I felt like someone was out there fighting the same fight.

I immediately jumped out of bed and looked their site up on the internet. Wow, not only was Darkness to Light out there they seemed to be right on and making a positive difference, awareness, I believe is the best prevention! There are a lot of ads to choose from but the two I have links to touched me the most. "Faces" is so heartbreaking and I believe every adult needs to view it. From our experience, far more people belittle the impact of childhood sexual abuse than understand the negative impacts. I have been so desperately thankful for the handful of people that really seemed to realize the impact on our family and the victim. The impacts are life long! I have said from the beginning of all of this, that this type of crime is "soul altering" a person is never who they were before.

I am an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse (my babysitter's husband) I never told. It is from personal experience both as a victim, then even worse, as the mother of a victim that I make such a bold statement. I urge any adult to take the time to watch at least the two ads I have links to...not for shock value, rather for a reality check.

I plan on starting from the beginning in the next post. Discussing how we discovered the abuse.

I want to thank the people that are encouraging me to take on this blog. I want to also thank those who have forwarded the link to this blog to their contacts in hopes of locating Eddie Rojas.

What I'm Thinking...

Okay, this is harder than I anticipated. When I pull up the blog and see the faces of Eddie and Patrick it hits me hard. I know the necessity of this blog and in having their faces out there. It just takes my breath away every time. Then I remind myself it's only a picture. I have been trying to decide just how I wanted to continue with this blog. Asking myself what are my goals for the blog?

My number one goal is for Eddie to be located and taken into custody so his girls have a chance of real healing. My next goal is to tell our story, partly to set the record straight and hopefully reach out to others who might be hurting from the same type of betrayal and victimization. I hate that not talking about these types of crimes keeps them hidden and allows predators to continue grooming more victims. I hope to shed light on something so unimaginable and heinous as to lesson it's power. Do you realize that the FBI stats are 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys are sexually molested or raped before the age 18. Repeat that. Sit on it. I knew molestation occurred, I was even very fearful of it occurring (so we were always very cautious) but I had no idea at what an alarming rate sexual molestation occurs.

I will talk another time in depth about our laws in relation to these types of crimes but let me just say our current laws reflect that we as a society care more about the abuse of an animal than we do sexual abuse of a child.

In thinking this through there are some lines I do not want to cross. I do not want to re-victimize the victim in my family, with that in mind I will only refer to what actually happened by the legal term of what Patrick should have been charged with or as "the crime." In addition I am going to refer to "the victim" or "our family" mainly. Know the victim was under 12yrs old and the abuser, Patrick, was 22yrs old at the time of the crimes....yes, plural.

I will ask you to send a link to this blog to all your contacts....we don't know where Eddie is and he might be fellowshipping with a friend or relative of yours.

Especially if you know someone in the Gig Harbor/Kitsap area they need to know who Patrick is and what he looks like. Patrick's 2yr probation will be up August 2009 and other than being registered as a level 2 sex offender till 2017 he will be free to do what he pleases. No one with authority or experience with these types of criminals will be monitoring him.
That sends chills down my spine!

Clarification

I want to make sure that the information I enter in this blog is clear and not misleading. I realized later that instead of saying "trial date" in regards to Patrick's case, it would be more accurate to say "sentencing date." Because Patrick plead guilty as was required in his plea agreement he did not stand trial, a judge sentenced him.

Patrick was sentenced to 10days in county jail, he is a level 2 sex offender for 10 years (verify online, Patrick David Rojas), no contact order with our family for 2 years, Patrick had to take a sexual psycho evaluation by a PHD who specialized in these evaluation (which revealed just how dangerous Patrick is) and to follow the conditions outlined by his therapist (a very vague and poorly written order.)

The last condition became a problem and in a future blog I might get into that more. In our case alone, if all the information would of been known (we only found out all the information because of the evaluation that Patrick was ordered to have, unconscionably, anything revealed in the evaluation that pertained to our case was protected from further prosecutor in the plea agreement) Patrick should of been facing 8-25years in prison.

Take that in. 10 days in county jail vs. 8-25years in prison. We are talking about a dangerous sexual predator. I don't even think people with a worldly point of view would rejoice in the system failure in this case. Certainly from a biblical world view this is a shame to say the least! Add to that the failure of our church leadership. This leads us back to Eddie Rojas. Francis Eddie Rojas.

Hot Spots

Israel is the most recent rumor, as to where the family is in hiding. It seems so far fetched but is possible. The Rojas family spent five years in Israel. Eddie attended the "Institute of Holy Land Studies" in Jerusalem. Eddie also held a staff position at the institute. In 2007 Eddie went back to the Holy land "to pray" this was a couple of months before his sons trial date.

Eddie's wife has family in Missouri. A few weeks before the trial Eddie and his son, Patrick, the offender traveled to Missouri for one day. Our detective discovered that Eddie sold his 15 seat van in Missouri. The dealership stated that Eddie did not purchase another vehicle.

Why would anyone protect them or hide them?

First of all, the Rojas's have never been honest about the crimes their son committed. They have down played them from the onset. To gain initial support from local families Mr. Rojas lead people to believe that the state was going to take his minor children away. I know for a fact, at that time, the state only wanted to question the minor girls in relation to their brothers case. This wouldn't have even been necessary if their brother, Patrick, would have fully cooperated with the authorities. 

In the interest of protecting himself from further consequences from additional crimes, Patrick would not divulge the names of his additional 5 minor victims. It was at that point the authorities wanted to question his minor sisters. For one week the Rojas family stayed at different homes to elude the sheriffs department and CPS. The day of Patrick's trial Mr. Rojas was approached at the courthouse by a CPS worker and declined to let his minor girls be interviewed that day. That was the last time he or his minor girls have been seen in the area.

Secondly, It has been the opinion of Eddie Rojas and the elders of the church that this matter should not have been reported to the police. If the authorities would of known about the true details of the crime committed in my family by Patrick prior to a plea agreement, Patrick could have been charged with Child molestation in the first degree. Eddie and the church elders believe that Patrick's only biblical obligation was to confess his crime to them and repent. That the police have no authority in these matters. I AM NOT KIDDING! I have said before, "This is like a bad TV movie." There are many families from the "Household of Faith" churches that would be likely to support the Rojas family, all in the name of God.

Third and final reason is the Rojas family appears to be so happy, kind, and Eddie seems so humble. You might think they are being misunderstood or maybe that I am misrepresenting the situation. All I can say is I wish I were!! And that the warrant can be verified by the Kitsap Sheriffs department in Port Orchard, Washington.

How Can You Help?

We need your help in locating someone who is in hiding along with innocent minor children. There is an arrest warrant in the name of Francis Edward (Eddie) Rojas for "witness tampering" the warrant is out of the Kitsap district court...in Washington State...it is a nation wide warrant. Just prior to going into hiding, Eddie, was the pastor of "Peninsula Household of Faith Community Church" in Port Orchard, WA which is affiliated with "Household of Faith Community Church."

In January 2007 we discovered that his adult son (whom lived under Eddie's roof) was a pedophile. I will attempt to outline the events that lead to Eddie taking his wife and 10 children into hiding, why there is a warrant for his arrest, and why you should want to help locate him. Our family has used all available legal channels and had hired a private detective to try and locate this man and haven't successfully found Eddie. I have reservations about using the internet but the pro's out weigh the con's....I need to know that I did not leave any reasonable possibility unexplored.

This will be an emotional blog with a subject matter that is heinous but I can't shake the feeling that we may succeed in finding a wanted man with a felony warrant and bring healing to so many others. I have a large family and as time allows I will be posting more information, pictures, possible "hot" spots where Eddie may be in hiding along with more of our story.