Stories about the Amish as victims – or perpetrators – of crime.
The FBI has now joined in on day 3 of the search for Linda Stoltzfoos. Via Lancaster Online: The FBI has joined East Lampeter Township police as the search for a missing 18-year-old woman enters day 3, according to East Lampeter Township police. Linda Stoltzfoos, of East Lampeter Township, was last seen in Bird-in-Hand wearing a tan dress, white apron and a white cape on…
18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos went missing Sunday after failing to come home after church. Police believe she “may be at risk for harm or injury.” From WGAL: BIRD IN HAND, Pa. — Police in Lancaster County are looking for a missing 18-year-old woman, who was last seen on Sunday. East Lampeter Township Police issued the following missing person advisory: “On Sunday 6/21/2020, Linda Stoltzfoos (18 year…
Members of the Lancaster County Amish community contacted police – after first meeting with church leaders – about alleged cases of sexual abuse in their midst. From Lancaster Online: In what appears to be the first such case of its kind in Lancaster County, an Amish bishop has been charged with failing to report suspected sexual abuse. Levi S. Esh Sr. 63, of Pequea, was…
Authorities in Geauga County, Ohio are filing charges after breaking up a party of over 100 people. Via FOX8: GEAUGA (WJW) – The Fox 8 I-Team has learned the Geauga County Sheriff’s office arrested one, issued a summons for another, and charged two with underage drinking, following a large Amish party this weekend. Deputies were sent to a home on Bundysburg Road in Huntsburg Township…
Penn Live reports that a Chester County, PA woman has been accused of stealing 12 puppies from two Amish couples while they were away from home at church service. Charges, filed Monday, come well over a year after the thefts were reported: MIFFLINBURG – A Chester County woman is accused of stealing 12 pug puppies valued at $14,700 that were being raised for sale by…
While preparing today’s other post on stolen Amish puppies, I stumbled across an old article on a bizarre story I’d never heard mention of before. On November 5, 1995, the New York Times reported the following: When the reports of a bank robbery in Wall Township came into the F.B.I. office in Newark on Oct. 25, agents knew it was the same two men who…
Following a motion filed last week by his attorney, beard-cutting clan leader Sam Mullet will be released early due to threat from the novel coronavirus. From the AP: Sam Mullet Sr. was moved to a halfway house in Youngstown on March 4 and was scheduled to be released in January. But his attorney argued in a filing last week that he should be sent home…
This is only the latest in a lengthening line of schemes which have taken advantage of Plain community investors. From WSOC: FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — A Pennsylvania accountant defrauded Amish and Mennonite community members out of $60 million after investing their money in a failing dairy he owned, investigators said. Philip E. Riehl provided accounting services to members in the religious communities. He created an…
There are sick individuals out there. This man needs to be caught so he will stop traumatizing his victims, and ultimately get some sort of help. A flasher (or “indecent exposure suspect” in official parlance) is targeting Amish women in Juniata County, Pennsylvania: According to police, a Fayette Township woman reported that on Nov. 1, 2019, a man pulled up in front of her home…
A story published this week by Type Investigations and Cosmopolitan magazine has collected the accounts of victims of sexual abuse in Amish communities. Author Sarah McClure also tallied up cases of abuse by Amish offenders over a two-decade span. McClure reached a total of 52 documented cases of abuse across seven states in her investigation. One judge cited in the story has personally presided over…