Former Island Pond church teacher gets time served in sex case

If you violate the terms and conditions of your probation and you come back before me Molested as a child, a 23-year-old man wept in court Monday as he confronted the former church teacher who abused him when he was 11, telling him: "Don't you ever do it to anyone else." John W. Thomas, 37, of ... via Boston.com

[Anonymous]

I would like to object to inaccurate information being reported in the following article and ask that you follow up with additional research to see if your claims are correct.
Former Island Pond church teacher gets time served in sex case
By Dave Gram, Associated Press Writer  |  September 24, 2007
The article states that:“John W. Thomas, 37, of Savoy, Mass., pleaded guilty to molesting two boys in the stockroom and basement of the Simon the Tanner shoe and clothing shop maintained by the Twelve Tribes Community Church.”
This is untrue.
Mr. Thomas agreed to a plea bargain offering 2 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct. He did not admit to inappropriate sexual behavior with the boys. The only thing he admitted to was masturbating in the stock room and having the boys walk in on him. When asked why he was masturbating in the store stockroom, it was because he was a member of the Twelve Tribes. He shared a room with 5 other single men and shared a bathroom with 20-25 other people. Not a lot of room for privacy.

Monday's plea-change hearing in Vermont District Court for Essex County marked the near end of a case that has taken more than a decade to resolve.

Again this is inaccurate. These charges were pressed against Thomas in Jan 2005-more than ten years after the supposed incident occurred. The charges conveniently happened shortly after Thomas filed for child support from his estranged wife, Licorice Melnick, who still resides in the Twelve Tribes and was fighting with Thomas for custody of their two sons. Originally, Melnick had surrendered her sons to Thomas’s care but changed her mind 18 months later after Thomas went after her for child support. She was in contempt of court for not paying child support when the group filed these charges.

The group has a history of evading child support orders and has taken severe steps to avoid doing so based on religious convictions. There premise, however, is that they can not afford to pay child support to all of the children who live outside of the group and have an absent parent within the group.(Child support order is through Greenfield Probate Court in Massachusetts.)
While the two pending counts at Monday's hearing related only to the masturbation incidents, during his statement to the court, M.W. mentioned oral sex, and Judge Thomas Zonay threatened to reject the plea agreement unless Thomas admitted to engaging in it with M.W.
In a tense exchange, Thomas said "I never forced anyone" to have oral sex.
"Do you really believe that an 11-year-old boy can make that decision on his own?" Zonay replied.
Thomas ended up admitting to engaging in oral sex, though not in the context of the charges against him.

Please make it clear that Thomas did not agree to engaging in oral sex with these boys.

[anonymous]

Give it up John Thomas. We all know that it is you trying to defend yourself. Your address gives you away- the same article makes it clear that you moved to Washburn, WI to live with relatives. Nice try...

[a Ponder]

Time to spend time mr. You never should get away with this. I have see someone with less of a crime in VT get 15 yrs. You should at lease 25 yrs. Mr. Thomas

[atheist]

Anyone in the 7 tribes is just a communist in disquise. All the money they make goes into the kitty. It seems as though the women are downtrodden. It's just another brainwash in the name of God. And, just like the Catholic priests who ruined a child in the name of God, this man should be punished, maybe castrated or hung. Sicko.

[atheist]

you are horrible.you'll get your just punishment.
i hate you and everyone that practices these outrages,horrible crimes.....!!! sicko.You are terrible!

[Mamabear]

I would encourage you to move beyond the unsubstantiated judgement and name-calling. At least get the facts and think critically about the entire situation before you start throwing out your accusations-oh and leave the judgments to God.

atheist wrote:

you are horrible.you'll get your just punishment.
i hate you and everyone that practices these outrages,horrible crimes.....!!! sicko.You are terrible!

[Mamabear]

Well, I have to say that your ignorance is showing again. First of all, I am not John Thomas. Second of all, I would really encourage you to get the facts. I was there, were you?

anonymous wrote:

Give it up John Thomas. We all know that it is you trying to defend yourself. Your address gives you away- the same article makes it clear that you moved to Washburn, WI to live with relatives. Nice try...

[Sad ip res]

atheist wrote:

you are horrible.you'll get your just punishment.
i hate you and everyone that practices these outrages,horrible crimes.....!!! sicko.You are terrible!

Chattanooga Tenn? That is where this church group (cult,twelve Tribe)originated from. You must be a relative or an X-Member and I don't blame you for being upset, but why are you an "atheist"? I didn't know there where atheists in the Bible Belt. God is real, and know where you are going when you die.

[flatlander]

Mamabear wrote:

Well, I have to say that your ignorance is showing again. First of all, I am not John Thomas. Second of all, I would really encourage you to get the facts. I was there, were you?<quoted text>

Mamabear, Are you Laura's daughter ?

[abcnonymous]

twelve tribes is a cult, they travel the us, hunting for their slaves, JOHN SMARTENED UP, LEFT THE TWELVE TRIBES, TOOK HIS CHILDREN AND THIS ANGERED THEM, THEY FOLLOWED HIM AROUND AND SENT OTHER SCUM CULT MEMBERS TO HIS FRIENDS HOMES, THEY PRACTICE CORPRAL PUNISHMENT ON THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WATCH THE STORY ABOUT THEM ON DATELINE..