There's more to the story

Collateral Damage 360 has several posts relating to Gary Earl and Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission's response to disclosures of the abuse he perpetrated. Recently, additional details have been made public through the Substack Whispers to Roars. Read more about Gary Earl's abuse and how New Tribes Mission leadership responded there.

The post outlines the timeline of the abuse; the years Ethnos360 knew about Gary Earl's abuse, admitted it happened and deserved dismissal, yet did nothing; and that, in addition to the violent physical abuse, their own investigation found a preponderance of evidence that he sexually abused a child.

According to Cornell Law School, the "preponderance of the evidence" refers to one type of evidentiary standard, where the fact finder is convinced that there is a greater than 50% chance that the claim is true. Considering the April 2025 complaint alleges Ethnos360 requires a perpetrator confession or a witness to corroborate abuse, it seems that a preponderance of evidence is about as much affirmation as they would be willing to offer in most cases.

New Tribes Mission leaders, such as Brian Coombs and Brian Shortmeier, were aware of this finding and still downplayed it, comparing it to a child stealing a cookie or a coworker disagreement, where neither side is completely in the wrong. The post also explains the casual way they responded, allowing Gary Earl to spend a significant amount of time in an active dorm with access to children after the investigation affirmed his abuse.

What situations like this teach us is that there is always more to the story than they will admit to, and, more often than not, it is much worse than you thought.