Where are they now?

A serious concern when it comes to Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission and abuse response is the lack of follow-up, resulting in the perpetrator's access to more children. We've discussed at length why saying names matters and how the practice of secrecy puts more children at risk. Even when Ethnos360 decides to remove a member for harming children, there is very little communication about the cause of the dismissal, and often they go on to use their connection to the mission to garner trust, respect, and positions of authority in other organizations and churches. Whispers to Roars has a series of posts laying out the trajectory of those who have moved on from Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission, after allegations of harm to children, and what they are doing now.

As of this writing, the allegations/updates include:

• Les Emory -- a dorm parent in the Philippines who sexually abused children and was quietly sent home. He allegedly sought work around children, enabled by the lack of communication from the mission. Missionary kids are reported to have felt obligated to caution others to keep children safe.

• Paul Gess -- a missionary who was allegedly placed in the dorm more than once after they knew he had abused children, each time continuing the abuse. A man who continued with the organization for decades after these known instances of abuse and was celebrated in his retirement. Even though he was retroactively let go in 2017, he continued, even recently, to speak in churches as the respected "retired missionary," with many unaware of his past.

• Ron Risse -- a missionary allegedly sent back to the U.S. after finding out about his abuse of a child, who was hired as a pastor by a church in Wisconsin, and can be found online being celebrated at a local Christian school, with people in the community seemingly unaware of the reason for his departure from the organization. Ethnos360 has not named him publicly.

• Josh Weeks -- a missionary who was reported to CPS for harming a child while serving at the missionary training center in Missouri. Eventually, as a result of outside knowledge, the organization let him go. Still, they celebrated his years of service upon his departure and seemingly tried to keep it quiet for as long as possible.

• Hammy and Judy Penner -- found by the GRACE investigation to have abused children but allowed to continue to work with children at the mission school in Canada until 2021, a decade after the investigation's findings. Ethnos360 has not named them publicly.

• David Brooks -- found by the GRACE investigation to be a serial child sex offender during his time as a dorm parent in Senegal. The abuse was reported over and over for years. After he confessed in the late '80s, he was allegedly moved to the training center in Missouri and lived on campus with no explanation or warning to parents, who reportedly sent their children, unknowingly, to the family's house for sleepovers. Upon his departure from the organization, he was allegedly known to frequent a Christian school in Georgia where his wife worked, seemingly without parents and others in the community being aware of his past.

• Gary Earl -- Ethnos360's own investigation found by a "preponderance of evidence" that Gary Earl sexually and also physically abused children. Even after the organization was informed and admitted to some of this abuse, he remained a missionary for years. Upon their decision to let him go as a result of this abuse, they allowed him to stay in an active dorm with children. He was publicly honored for his years of ministry and sought work with another organization that works with children. Only when people outside the organization told this ministry about his past did they prevent him from filling that role. Ethnos360 has not named him publicly.

• Joseph Moonsammy -- a missionary in Papua New Guinea, he reportedly exploited vulnerable local women, allegedly leaving at least one pregnant. Ethnos360 allegedly paid for this to remain quiet and moved him to the U.S., where he worked as dean of men at the Bible Institute. Ethnos360 has not named him publicly.

• Rich Hine -- a missionary who allegedly abused at least one child in Paraguay before being moved to work at a boarding school in Bolivia. He worked in Bolivia for decades in roles such as director and dorm dad for junior high boys. In the '90s, he allegedly confessed to additional abuse to the principal, Al Lotz, and was removed from the dorm but allowed to continue teaching. He was eventually removed from the organization. He reportedly went on to participate in churches and have access to children with seemingly no warning of the reasons for his dismissal from the organization. He has not been publicly named by Ethnos360.

• John Crossett -- a former dorm parent and missionary with Ethnos360. He is alleged to have abused a Papua New Guinean girl younger than most of his children when he was a missionary in his 40s. It is alleged that leadership in the organization knew about abuse that had occurred as early as 2005, abuse that was disclosed at the training center in Missouri. Nearly a decade later, there was an "investigation," and the organization chose to allow the reason for his departure to be characterized as an "affair." Upon removal from the organization, he continued to actively participate in a church, with many seemingly unaware of his past abuses. Several years later, he was convicted of abuse of a minor, abuse that occurred after he departed from an organization that protected him with its silence. He is now on the Wisconsin sex offender registry and has not been publicly named by Ethnos360.

• Frank Parker -- a missionary dorm parent in Brazil who abused multiple children and was removed for "misuse of authority." Within weeks of being removed from the dorm, children were reportedly allowed to go to his off-campus house for sleepovers, seemingly without leadership concern or intervention. After his eventual departure from Brazil, it is reported that he was allowed to stay in New Tribes Mission facilities, with contact with missionary kids, despite the risk he posed to children. He has not been publicly named by Ethnos360.

This is a small sample of the abuse, silence, and cover-ups that occur in Ethnos360. Two-thirds of the missionaries who have harmed children in these posts have not been publicly named by the organization. A previous post breaking down the numbers found that they have not named 78% of those they acknowledge have harmed children. Check out the Names page to learn more about those they haven't publicly named, both the ones we have been able to name and those that remain unknown.

Every parent whose children may come in contact with these individuals deserves to be aware of this history so they can make informed decisions that prioritize the safety of their children.