Pedophile Pastor Released Early Due To coronavirus
https://www.coronavirusoutbreakmap.com/listings/pedophile-pastor/
pastor at First Baptist Church Hammond was convicted of raping young girl in his church office on his couch
attorney claims he is a model prisoner and deserves a good break
The pastor was employed by hammond baptist church
a church well know for employing pedophiles and child molesters
473 Sibley St, Hammond, IN 46320
Phone: (219) 932-0711
https://www.fbchammond.com/
Jack Schaap, 62, pleaded guilty to taking a 16-year-old girl he was counseling at First Baptist across state lines for sex, and in March 2013 he was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. He is serving his sentence in Ashland, Kentucky.
In a recent court document, Schaap wrote he asked for a pre-indictment plea “to show (he) accepted full responsibility and to avoid a lengthy trial period which (he) felt would be detrimental” to the church “and to prevent any other staff personnel from being indicted.”
“Although there were extenuating circumstances and I did not know I was violating the law, the fact is I did violate the letter of the law and I did plead guilty. I realize the seriousness of the crime and accepted responsibility for it,” Schaap wrote.
Schaap was First Baptist Church of Hammond founder Jack Hyles’ son-in-law, and Schaap became pastor at First Baptist after Jack Hyles died in 2001.
Various news articles, including Chicago Magazine and the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, have documented the patterns of alleged abuse and sexual assault – most cases involving teenage girls – by church leadership, including David Hyles, Jack Hyles’ son.
Most recently, Joy Ryder, of Highland, filed a lawsuit against the estate of Jack Hyles, his son David Hyles, Hyles-Anderson College and First Baptist alleging that David Hyles raped, sexually assaulted and sexually abused her and that church leadership covered it up in the late 1970s.
Currently, Schaap’s release date is Feb. 2, 2023, after which he will serve time at a halfway house, according to court records.
Schaap wrote that by September he will have served 67% of his sentence, and that he has been declared eligible for the First Step Act, signed by President Donald Trump in 2018 to “reduce the size of the federal prison population while also creating mechanisms to maintain public safety," according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Under the First Step Act, Schaap wrote, he has been categorized “minimum” for the likelihood of him committing another offense.
Schaap has worked toward being “a model prisoner," with an “excellent work record with my prison bosses," he wrote. Schaap also said he is in a vocational apprenticeship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
For several months last year, Schaap wrote he was able to serve as chaplain “preaching in chapel and conducting the communion service for the Protestant inmates" when the prison didn’t have a chaplain.
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He also teaches a business plan workshop class and Bible classes in the chapel, Schaap wrote.
“Throughout my time here I have counseled men who had no place to go upon release and have helped get them connected to church-sponsored missions and other alternate care places throughout the country,” Schaap wrote.
Ryder said Schaap seems to be arguing “look at my good I’ve done while incarcerated for doing bad.”
“We’re just supposed to sweep away all of the bad just because you’ve been a good boy – or you think you have been – in prison,” Ryder said.
If released, Schaap said his main concern would be the well-being of his parents. “As time allows," Schaap said he’d like to help his friends with a nonprofit they established to help people struggling with alcohol and drug recovery.
In the future, Schaap wrote, the nonprofit hopes “to work to empower missionaries around the world, establish independent missionary schools to train the nationals, and help to establish churches.”
Seeming to want to reassure the judge he won’t return to Indiana, Schaap wrote: “I have no immediate family remaining in Indiana, nor do I have any interests that would make me want to return to Indiana.”
Ryder said she hopes the judge does not grant the compassionate release because the victims deserve justice.
“This is a way of showing them that you actually care about them and that their lives matter, is by having him serve his time,” Ryder said. “I hope the judge would see that through, for their sake.”
