WESTCHESTER NY RITUAL ABUSE CASES


Rev. Nathaniel Grady, a Methodist minister, was the former pastor at the Westchester United Methodist Church. He was convicted in 1986 of 19 counts of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse. He received a sentence of 15 to 45 years. Accusations concerned five boys and one girl, aged 3 to 5, at the Westchester-Tremont Day Care Center in the Bronx, NY. This center was one of three investigated by the Bronx District Attorney's office in the mid-1980's. A total of 5 men were convicted of child abuse; the other 4 had their verdicts overturned.

A 3 year old child told his parents about "a robber" who abused him during nap time. During the subsequent investigation, the FBI secretly recorded 640 hours of video tape at the day care. No abuse was observed. Rev. Grady's defense attorneys believe that investigators coaxed stories from the children, who told of being locked in a closet, beaten with a baseball bat and raped. All of the children had problems picking out Rev. Grady in court; one child pointed to the Judge as the abuser. In common with most MVMO cases, an effective defense is impossible; no alibi can be presented, because the dates and times of the alleged abuse is unknown.

On appeal in 1996, US District Judge John Koeltl ruled that he was poorly represented in his previous appeals. Rev. Grady is now free on a $200,000 bond pending a possible re-trial.

This case is unlike others listed in this group, because there appears to be minimal ritual abuse involved. However, we suspect that the same dynamics were present during this trial as in the MVMO cases: a lack of physical evidence and suggestive child interview techniques.


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