Predator Faces up to 4 Years; 2 Counts of Sex Acts Dropped
By Jackee Coe
Arizona Republic
August 25, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/08/25/20090825swv-carfrey0826.html
Victims of a sexual predator who was their spiritual leader are outraged at the prison time he faces under a plea agreement they say has shaken their trust in the justice system and, in some cases, their faith.
Charles Carfrey, 59, pastor of The Lord's House Church in Buckeye, will receive up to four years in prison and lifetime probation when he is sentenced Sept. 11.
On Aug. 10, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of failure to register as a sex offender, Maricopa County Superior Court records show. Two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of kidnapping were dismissed under the plea.
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| Charles Carfrey |
Police arrested Carfrey in March after several women accused him of manipulating them into engaging in sexual acts with him during counseling sessions, according to a Buckeye police report. Detectives also investigated fraud allegations after his pastoral license came under scrutiny and he allegedly used the money congregants gave the church for personal use. But under the plea, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has agreed not to file fraud or additional sexual assault charges against him.
Carfrey's history of sexual abuse dates to 1988, when he was convicted of second-degree sexual assault in Oregon, the report said. The victim was his daughter.
He served a combined five years of jail and probation time and then later resettled in the Southwest Valley.
In interviews with The Republic, many of the women who came forward against Carfrey decried the plea deal. It lets him off too easily for all the damage he has caused them, they say, and makes it possible for him to find another group to prey on when he is released.
"It's sickening that a person can sexually molest, assault and abuse an entire church full of women and get away with such little time in prison," said Tara Silva, 22. "He's completely ruined my life. I can't sleep at night. I have panic attacks now. I have nightmares all the time."
Getting a 'free ride'
Silva was 17 when Carfrey molested her for several months in 2004 during counseling sessions, according to police records. The two charges of sexual conduct with a minor that Carfrey pleaded guilty to were in connection with Silva's case, court documents show.
Silva said Carfrey should get a life sentence, a fair exchange for the lives he ruined.
"I really don't think four years is enough. It's been four years since he did that to me and I'm still dealing with it. It's really not that long when you think about it," said Silva, now a California resident.
Carfrey also counseled and seduced Frances Wyman, 47, who joined his church, then in Oregon, 20 years ago, and moved with the church to Arizona, according to the police report.
"I would hate to see him get out and do to other people what he did to us," said Wyman, who moved to Kentucky last fall.
Danielle Vanscoy, 25, accused Carfrey of raping her in his church office last November, the report states. She said prosecutors told her they didn't pursue her rape case because there wasn't enough physical evidence. Vanscoy did not report the alleged incident to police right away and did not go to a hospital because she feared her husband would kill Carfrey.
For Vanscoy, Carfrey's maximum punishment amounts to a "free ride."
"Think about this: He did this in another state, moved to the state of Arizona, did it again to more women, and more teenage girls, and he's getting four years? No, it's just not going to fly with me," she said. "As soon as he gets out of prison, he's going to move to another state and do the same (expletive) all over again."
Proving guilt an uphill battle
Legal experts said the plea deal is typical, as only one victim was under 18.
Maricopa County Public Defender Robert McWhirter said proving sexual abuse or molestation of an adult is possible but requires rape-like circumstances, such as impairment or force. The situations in the case against Carfrey fail to meet that requirement, making it hard to prove what he did was a crime.
"It may be an ethical violation, it may be immoral, it may just be bad, that he's a bad person, but being a bad person isn't a crime," said McWhirter, who is not representing Carfrey. "Every bad thing that happens to somebody isn't a crime. That's the bottom line. There's a lot of bad things people do that aren't crimes."
Sex crimes between unimpaired adults are the "classic 'he said, she said' case, " added Joey Hamby, a private defense attorney in Phoenix.
"You're looking for evidence to back up that lack of consent," he said. "If you have someone who is fully an adult and engages in a pattern of behavior for a number of years, then it certainly becomes problematic for prosecutors to look at that and say, 'We're going to prove that this is non-consensual.' "
Barbara Marshall, a division chief with the County Attorney's Office, confirmed their assessment.
"We need to be able to prove that sexual offenses are non-consensual," she said, "and using words to convince somebody to engage in sexual conduct is still consensual sexual conduct."
McWhirter said this appears to be a "weak case. That's why it sounds like they're focusing on the case with the 17-year-old, because that's statutory rape, and the other ones aren't crimes."
Multiple calls to Carfrey's attorney were not returned.
Losing faith in justice, church
The legal arguments are not enough to convince victims like Silva that justice has prevailed.
"He ruined an entire church full of people's lives and I am the only one that's getting any sort of justice for any of it because I was 17," she said. "I'm kind of glad that I was underage when it happened because if I wasn't, then he'd still be doing the same thing to these people."
Lauri Cook's daughter, son and daughter-in-law also reported abuse and fraud while attending Carfrey's church in Buckeye, according to police records. Cook is "totally shocked and just really disappointed with the criminal justice system.
"I don't understand what's wrong with our court system," said Cook, 52, of Visalia, Calif. "I thought there was enough evidence there to really stop somebody like him this time."
Vanscoy echoed Cook's sentiment.
"I did not think that the system would fail like it did," she said. "I hope he dies in there for what he did to all of us. No man that does that to women deserves . . . four years in prison."
Vanscoy called the case "a frickin' joke." She thought there was enough evidence for the County Attorney's Office to vindicate her and other victims' allegations.
But the County Attorney's Office did what it could with the evidence it had, Marshall said.
"Obviously, the police report is what we rely on and the evidence that the police submit to us, and based on the evidence that was submitted, we filed the only charges that we felt were sustainable," she said. "By putting in a plea agreement that no other charges would be filed, what we were saying is, those cases cannot be proven."
Hamby, the private attorney, said the victims have a right to be unhappy, but their sense of betrayal is aimed at the wrong agency.
"This isn't a betrayal by the criminal justice system. This is a betrayal by their church structure, and I would be unhappy about that, too," he said. "That's not going to give them a lot of comfort, though."
Picking up the pieces
Wyman and Vanscoy don't see themselves ever going back to a church.
"I don't have any faith whatsoever anymore," Vanscoy said. "I don't have faith in the court system. I do not have faith in the justice system. I do not have faith in God. Nothing.
"I don't know what to believe. I grew up knowing that there was a God and seeing that there really was one, and then this whole thing happened and I don't see how God can let things like that happen to his kids," she said. "Why, if you're God, why didn't you put an end to it? Because if you're God, you have the power to do that."
Cook said her kids started going to church again but she is unsure if they will ever trust another pastor.
"I'm a Christian and I hate that man. And I know I'm not supposed to hate that man and I do because I see what he's done to my family," she said. "How could somebody do that in the name of God? That's exactly what turns people against God. It's not God; it's people. It's people."
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