UPDATED: UCG/COGWA Member Sentenced To Life In Prison After Creating 'Torture Chamber' and Raping Two Little Girls

New Comment at end

New articles appear after this post.

UPDATED  8/2/14  see end of article

A former UCG member who jumped ship to the Church of God a Worldwide Association (COGWA) has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of raping two little girls.  The judge in the case is quoted as saying:

Binette, according to the Sandusky Register, told Wagner he groomed the victims "in your own sick ways" and made his bedroom "a torture chamber for those two children."

The judge also told the defendant the sexual abuse was similar to a life sentence for the girls. Binette said he took into that consideration plus a woman's testimony who alleged Wagner abused her decades ago -- and possibly at least five other victims -- when he decided the defendant's sentence. Child Rapist Gets Life Without Parole

At his arrest he was accused of the following:

Joseph D. Wagner, 62, of Huron, must post a $140,000 bond before being released from the Erie County Jail. The Erie County Sheriff's Office arrested the suspect Friday morning at his Mudbrook Road home without incident.

Deputies learned of the allegations Feb. 11 after one of the girls accused Wagner of raping her several times. Her mother then asked the older sister if anything happened to her and she also reported being victimized by Wagner, Chief Deputy Jared Oliver said.

The girls are 6 and 10 years old.

Oliver said the first suspected rape, which involved the older girl, happened in April 2011 and then "Joe started abusing the younger one," which continued through February. He said it was the younger girl who immediately reported the incidents to her mother. Local man indicted on 10 rape charges

Wagner attended in the Cleveland, Ohio church and was visited regularly by the church elder.  He was also in attendance at a NTBMO. 

Update:

Various Facebook members are commenting about this guy.  It seems he was a professional moocher of the brethren.  He never had a steady job and complained of disabilities preventing him from working.  It seems lots of members cooked him meals and delivered them to him.  Some cleaned his home and others paid for his transportation. Also these two little girls were not his only victims.  Others were abused but refused to come forward.

Update:

When we were part of the UCG I remember my mother cooking food to take to his home. He always claimed he was disabled and actually won a lawsuit against a company where he says he was injured. He was another COG member who never worked an honest day in his life. He lived off others and the church.

He also sold software and many people got ripped off by him in the church. The ministry in UCG stood by this guy and laid a guilt trip on all those around him so they would cook, clean and drive him around.

When he went with COGWA the ministers there did the same thing. One even was told the guy liked little girls and refused to do anything about him.

Those little girls were raped because COGWA covered up for the guy.

I keep hearing rumors that there may be a lawsuit in the works that names COGWA as accessory a to the crime. I hope they are found guilty!

Marion McNair Book: Religion or Rip Off?

Check out Marion McNair Religion or Rip-off? for more behind the scenes shenanigans of the Armstrong empire. 

The Broadway To Armageddon Book Now Online

The Painful Truth web site has the link to the book 

Broadway to Armageddon by William Henson online.

Broadway to Armageddon

A review on the Living Armstrongism blog has this to say:

I found Mr. Hinson's book very difficult reading as it most vividly describes the monstrous abyss of tyrannical Armstrongism and how it quite literally destroys people.

The author himself tragically lost his own son to Herbert W. Armstrong's anti-medicine superstition. (An idea Herbert W. Armstrong stole from the 1921-1952 Jehovah's Witnesses.)

The book is to a large extent a collection of letters, personal testimonies, and recollections made by WCG ministers and members crying out for reform within HWA's WCG, pointing out the many terrible shortcomings within WCG (largely due the authoritarian manner in which HWA lorded over it) and how they were cast out of the vicious cult as HWA and his cronies proceeded to destroy any attempt at reform to secure their power over the eternally abused flock.

It provides an important account from the those who strived to correct injustices within WCG before the mass defections of 1974. It certainly is well worth reading. 

ht: redfox

Pasadena Campus Construction Pictures

(Double click on all picture to super enlarge)

 Maranatha High School owns the Hall of Ad, Student Center, track, gymnasium and Grove Terrace.  The recently changed the track to be a regulation size football field.  

The track was dispensed of and a new field surface was installed. 

 New flood lights to the field were installed 

and it was painted this week for its upcoming football season.

 This picture looks south towards where the Custodial Dept. used to be between 360/380 dorms.  Building in background is new million dollar condo's sitting on the former site of the grass lawn in front of Manor Del Mar

This location was where the bougainvillea vine used to be by the Health Center.  

The white condo in the background sits a few feet from the front patio of Manor Del Mar.

This view of the million dollar condo's is on the site of the Del Mar Gardens, the original gardens of the Merritt family.

 This is my favorite picture right now.  

They have planted a tree smack dab in the center of the Hall of Ad driveway.

Where once hand weeded dichondra lawns rolled gracefully is now dried out and dead, 

much like the COG's

This is looking towards the location the 12 Trees were planted.  Another legacy dead and gone.  This is the temporary staging ground for all the trees and shrubs from the Academic Center complex area as they prepare to build the million dollar condos.

 Planted in the driveway to block the flow of HWA's message to the world.

 Looking from the Hall of Ad front lawn up the hill to where the TV studios once were.

The driveway down to HWA's private parking spot.  Soon to be bulldozed over.

At the gumby fountain up by 380 dorm.  

This is sitting on the lawn area that was directly in front of the old library.

Another view looking West in front of the library.

 This view is of the building sitting on the site of the Library Annex building and is also a few feet from HWA's back patio of his mansion.

 Looking at the new condos from the sidewalk between 380 and 390 dorms.

Looking up towards the old library location from stream.

 

 Looking up the old steps of the library to new condo's

 Location of old library, the Fowler Estate that the church ruined by remodeling it so much over the decades, and was never maintained after the library moved out, so it had to be torn down.  The original building of the college.

This view is from the lower gardens looking up to where the lawn used to be between the library and Mayfair.