Currently there is a case (#99-1851) pending in Guernsey County Ohio, where a 67-year-old Amish grandfather is charged with raping four of his grand daughters ages 3, 5, and 8 years old. His only punishment by our Amish culture was an excommunication from the church for six weeks, even though he has been a known sex offender since 1970.
On November 8, 1999, at 10:30 a.m., an English neighbor of Norman Byler's made a phone call to the Guernsey County Sheriff's Dept. to a sergeant making allegations against Byler for molestation his granddaughters. It is unclear how the English neighbor learned of the allegations against Mr. Byler. What I find so disturbing is that Mr. Byler lived in a small house on the same farm next to the three victims.
A lieutenant was assigned to the case and he immediately tried to get Social Services involved, but was unsuccessful. This case was very slow on going. It took the Guernsey County Sheriff's Dept. around forty-five days before an arrest was made. And during this time they learned there is a forth victim, a daughter of Mahlon E. Yoder. They also learned that Norman Byler had a history of sex offenses that included his own daughters. But he is only being charged with raping his four grandchildren. Finally, after Byler's arrest, the four innocent girls were interviewed with an interpreter present. The youngest victim wouldn't say anything and one of the older victims said we are not allowed to say anything.
When the detective first tried to talk to Toby and Katie Yoder they refused to speak to him. Toby told the detective that he would have to talk to the Bishop Mose Miller first, and if the Bishop would ok it then they would speak with him. The detective spoke with Bishop Mose Miller within the next seven days. The detective said Mose was very nice to talk to and he did admit that Norman was expelled from church for six weeks for performing sex acts with his granddaughters. Mose also told the detective that Toby and Katie would co-operate. Toby and Katie Yoder did follow the Bishops ruling and spoke with the detective. The detective also talked with Norman Byler during the next couple weeks. Norman admitted to the assaults on Toby and Katie Yoder's three daughters and to the one on one of Mahlon Yoder's daughters. Norman further stated he confessed to what he had done and that was all that was necessary. A detective made it perfectly clear that Norman is to have no contact with his victims at this point. The detective had tried on a couple different occasions to get Social Services involved but they always had an excuse. Finally, after forty-five days, on 12-17-99 Mr. Byler was arrested.
Later in pretrial hearings Bishop Mose Miller would testify that Norman Byler was excommunicated for six weeks for committing sex acts with his granddaughters. Norman Byler had signed a financial disclosure/affidavit of indigence, which is a sworn statemen, stating that he had $34,000.00 in a local bank. This disqualified Mr. Byler to from being provided with free counsel. In later pretrial hearings Bishop Mose Miller committed perjury. He stated Norman Byler was never prosecuted in the Amish church for sex offense. Our Prosecuting Attorney has not even made an issue out of that at this point. In a later pretrial hearing Norman Byler also committed perjury, he signed the second financial disclosure/affidavit of indigence, stating that he only had $100.00 in the bank. The Prosecuting Attorney or the Judge didn't even have the decency to challenge Byler to force him to provide financial statements prior to his arrest and a currant financial statement. Both documents are sworn statements.
Through my own personal research I discovered that Norman Byler in fact did own property in Guernsey County, Ohio in the past.
To view a copy of the deed to the property in question, click here.
Now Byler has two court appointed attorneys from the Columbus, Ohio Public Defenders Office at taxpayers expense. The local Jeffersonian reporter from Cambrdige, who has been covering this case from the beginning, wrote how cooperative the Amish have been concerning this issue. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The reporter said there was only three victims. He didn't have the decency to mention the forth victim in the local paper, nor did he bring up that one of the little girls had said they were not allowed to speak. Nothing was written about the fact that the Bishop had committed perjury, or that the parents to these victims had first refused to speak to the detective.
In February a Grand Jury indicted Norman on eleven counts of first-degree felony rape, and eleven counts of gross sexual imposition, third degree felonies. The Judge reduced Norman's cash bond from $75,000.00 to $10,000.00. This is very unusual to say the least. Usually after a grand jury indictment of this magnitude the cash bond would be increased considerably from what it was set at the beginning of the initial arrest.
This is the wording of the court order.
The court received bail bond argument. Based upon the testimony and evidence before the court, the court finds bail bond in this case should be set at $10,000 cash or surety, until and unless the Defendant meets conditions of a Personal Recognizance Bond and approved by the court. The Court further ORDERS the Defendant to be subject to a Personal Recognizance Bond, conditioned upon house arrest and personal surety of his brother, who resides at Graber Rd. Fredricksburg, Wayne County, Ohio. The conditions of the Personal Recognizance Bond/house arrest shall be as follows: 1) Electronic monitoring; 2) No contact with minors; 3) No contact with the alleged victims named in the Indictment (Lovina Yoder, Edna Yoder and Mary Yoder) and no contact with their family members (Toby Yoder, Katie Yoder, Mahlon Yoder and Sarah Yoder; 4) Surety, brother, signing as personal surety to this Court that he would advise this Court or law enforcement authorities immediately should Defendant break house arrest; 5) Defendant's travel is restricted as follows: A) to the residence of his brother, Graber Rd. Fredricksburg, Wayne County, Ohio; B) to this court for court appearances, immediately returning to the residence of his brother; and C) to meet with his attorneys at a location approved by the court, with the address to be supplied to the court by Defendant's attorney at a later time. The defendant, through his attorney will advise the court on or before the date of the pretrial in this case (February 14, 2000, at 9:30 a.m.) as to the following: 1) Written report from the Sheriff of Wayne County as the following: A) Whether or not defendant's brother has a criminal record; B) Whether or not electronic monitoring is available in Wayne County; C) If defendant's placement is appropriate. Upon receipt of memorandum or motion on behalf of the defendant regarding the conditions of bail bond, the court will consider the cash/surety portion of the bond. The court finds that any other constitutional condition considered reasonably necessary, to ensure public safety, will be utilized by the court. IT IS SO ORDERED.
The Judge set 10 days aside for the Byler trial, which starts on
July 10, 2000.
A second case, in June, 1999, involved Joe and Sarah Yoder of Guernsey
County, and their 17 year old daughter, who as three months pregnant on the time
of the incident. She was beaten so severely by her father for talking back to
her mother that she had to be hospitalized.
According to the information we have received and which was acknowledged
by Guernsey County Sheriff's Dept. there were these allegations. In
direct result to that severe beating she lost her unborn child. Due to severe
internal bleeding the hospital was forced to perform an abortion, in order to
save the mother or they would lose the mother and child. The sergeant of
Guernsey County Sheriff's Dept. had responded to the call at the time of the
incident. He and also followed the
victim to the local hospital where he took photos of the bruises. He filed this
case #99-0993 under domestic violence. NO felony assault charges were ever
filed. NO second-degree murder or manslaughter charges were filed against the
father for allegedly killing his daughter’s unborn child directly or
indirectly at this point.
THE AMISH CONVICTED SEX OFFENDERS LIST
1.
Case: Sam D. Miller , Heuvelton , N.Y. Convicted in the fall of 1996 by
his Amish culture for attempting to masturbate in the presents of his child.
There have been other more serious sexual allegations made against Sam, whom I
have covered in Amish Deception that he has not been punished for. Sam's
employment trades are farming and carpenter work.
2. Case: Noah D. Gingerich 24710, Utica, Ohio. Noah had a large family with his first wife, 17 children, 9 girls and 8 boys. Each one of the girls was molested in one way or another, or at least Noah made a serious attempt. Noah was convicted numerous times by his Amish culture. His first wife died of breast cancer. He is married to his second wife and has 2 boys and 2 girls with her. These two young girls ages 5 and 6 will probably become his tenth and eleventh victims. Noah's employment trades are farming, carpenter work and selling foreign watches.
3. Case: Preacher John H. Miller Rt. 1. Davis City, Iowa. In the fall of 1977 John confessed and was convicted by his Amish culture for raping the Bishop's daughter on a couple different occasions. John's employment trades are farming and harness shop repair work. He is also the lead preacher in the new Amish settlement in Davis City, Iowa.
4. Case: John Troyer, Edthridge, TN. In 1965 John got his oldest daughter pregnant. Which she later gave birth to her first-born child. John was convicted by his Amish culture for getting his daughter pregnant. John's employment trades are farming.
5. Case: Bishop Emanuel L. Shetler, Federicksburg, Ohio. In 1973 Emanuel's two teenage children who were not members of the church yet, had sex and the daughter became pregnant. Their punishment was different than that of a member. They were subject to a severe beating. His son was no longer allowed to wear a narrow brim hat like the rest of us boys did. He was forced to wear a wide brim hat like the married men did. His daughter would no longer wear the black cap to go to church like the girls did, she was to wear the white cap like the married women did.
6. Case: Harvey J. Miller. Utica, Ohio. Harvey's employment trades are farming. Harvey is married with a large family of five boys and six girls. The oldest boy is 9 years old and the youngest one is 5. In the early 1990's Harvey performed sexual acts with five young Amish boys. The victim's ages ranged from 10 to 15 years old. Harvey since confessed to his crimes and has been convicted by his Amish culture. What deeply concerns me about Harvey is, will his own boys be his next victims? Or has that already happened?
7.
Case: Norman Byler, Freeport, Ohio. The first time Norman was
convicted by his Amish culture for having sex with his oldest daughter in
the middle 1970's. Norman has six daughters and continued his sexual fetish with
every one of his daughters. He has confessed and been convicted by his Amish
culture for his crimes. Once his daughters were all married he simply waited
till he had granddaughters. In the past on a couple different occasions he has
been convicted by his Amish culture for performing sex acts with his
granddaughters at a very disturbing young age. The fall of 1999 Norman was again
convicted by his Amish culture for performing sex acts with four of his
granddaughters ages 3, 5 and 8 years old. Norman was 67 years old when he
committed his last crime. But this time an English neighbor got wind of the
information Norman was only expelled from church for six weeks for this crime.
Under the new law, local law enforcement
agencies are obligated to notify the local community if a convicted sex offender
lives in the area. A sex offender under this law has to stay an excess amount of
distance away from a day care center or a public school. Amish convicted sex
offender Noah Gingerich and Harvey J. Miller both live very close to Cherry
Ridge School in Knox County, Ohio. I believe Harvey and Noah are in violation of
this new sex offender’s law.
Knox County Sheriff's Department from Vernon, Ohio 43050 and P.H. District Attorney from Vernon, Ohio, why do you have a dual standard in Knox County?
In Sept. of 1998 I personally called your department and turned my Amish nephew in for growing marijuana. And I further told you I had personally seen two plants that were between seven and eight foot tall. And that my nephew also claimed that he had fifty plants just like it. I even told you where some of the weed was being dried at, and what building it was locked up in. I further provided you with a photo of the suspect. I was put on hold, I was hung up on, and the phone calls you said you would return never were. I finally just dropped the case.
In November of 1998 Bishop Dan C. Slabaugh's son John age 20 was a teacher at Cherry Ridge School on Bell Church Road in Knox Count. One Thursday afternoon John had seriously beaten five of his students, Christ M. Gingerich age 10, Saloma S. Swartzentruber age 13, Norman S. Swartzentruber age 12, Edna J. Swartzentruber age 10, and Anna J. Swartzentruber age 12. The day of the beating Christ M. Gingerich had blood running down his pant leg. Edna J. and Anna J. Swartzentruber's mother found black and blue marks on their backs while she was getting them dressed for church, 3 day later, which were still tender. Sir I even knows who placed the phone call to your office. That person wishes to stay anonymous. When your deputy arrived at the school in response to that call the teacher down played the event. Your deputy didn't even bother checking the victims. His last words were, oh I know how it is, kids get out of line and you have to discipline them.
These were five serious beatings and your deputy has denied these children equal protection under the law. Will you even investigate or prosecute the two major sex offenders in your County? I doubt it. Not unless you feel the pressure that has been created by this web page.
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