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	A Florida Woman Says She Was Raped As a Child. the Man She's Accused in the Attack Admits He Did It, but He Has Never Served a Day in Jail. WESH August 11, 2011 Man Admits Rape, Never Serves Time [with video] A local missionary group is fighting lawsuits claiming it was negligent for allowing the abuse to happen. "I molested the girls over there, yeah," Leslie Emory told WESH 2 News. "I saw somebody that I actually learned to be afraid of, but I couldn't get away from him either," said a rape victim, who wanted to go by "Mary." She was just 8 years old when she says Emory began raping her. She's now suing Emory's former employer, New Tribes Mission, for negligence and seeking at least $5 million. She accuses New Tribes of "blatantly negligent supervision of Emory" while he served as a "dorm dad" at the New Tribes Mission boarding school in Aritao, Philippines, in the 80s and early 90s. Mary says while hers and other parents were ministering to primitive tribes in the jungle, Emory prayed with her and other young girls each day and preyed upon them each night. "I actually moved away from him and he pulled me back. And I froze. My mind was screaming but I couldn't say anything. He told me later on, 'You could have told me 'no.' Then, he goes, and it's the phrase I hate most: 'silence is consent,'" Mary said. "I should have been shot and killed or hung or electrocuted, or something. I should have been gutted. I mean it was horrible. I know it was horrible," Emory told WESH. Emory has never been punished, even though the lawsuit alleges he "sexually abused at least 23 other girls" in the Philippines. "He's never been arrested. Never been charged. Never spent a day in jail," Mary said. "That scares me. That's so beyond wrong." In 1993, New Tribes fired Emory. As a U.S citizen, he could not be charged in America for a crime committed overseas. "I have been clean as a whistle since all that stuff happened in the Philippines," he said. "We're so sorry. For those that experienced abuse, we're so sorry for what they went through," Nita Zelenak with New Tribes Mission said. Zelenak says her organization immediately warned its missionaries in 24 countries by newsletter that "molesters" have been discovered at some of their locations. "Did New Tribes try to cover this up?" asked WESH 2's Greg Fox. "His leaders reported his abuse to the field. They reported his abuse to the authorities in Florida. They made sure that they reported in Virginia," Zelenak responded. While not saying exactly which law enforcement agencies it contacted, New Tribes has filed a motion to dismiss, claiming the statute of limitations for negligence has expired and that New Tribes cannot be held liable for an employee's actions. It also says that the victim failed to include the accused, Emory, as a target of the lawsuit. New Tribes admits it's negotiating settlements with other "missionary kids" at mission boarding schools outside of the Philippines, alleging physical and sexual abuse dating back to the 1980s. It wasn't until 2003 that New Tribes debuted a program to formally train its global workforce to prevent, spot and handle abuse. Since the training began, three New Tribes workers have been caught and fired, but not charged. New Tribes claims it is working with lawmakers to punish Americans who commit overseas crimes. Mary said she hopes her lawsuit forces New Tribes to protect children of missionaries from people like Leslie Emory. "Of course the regrets are there. They are always there. I will die with them," Emory said. "The kids need to be protected," said Mary. Later this month, New tribes will be in court fighting to have the lawsuit filed by the woman dismissed. A few weeks ago, another woman filed suit against New Tribes, claiming a different employee sexually abused her at the New Tribes mission in Senegal, in Western Africa in the 1980s. New Tribes tells WESH 2 News most of the more than four dozen victims in Senegal have settled claims without suing.
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