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LIA Participant Accused of Molesting Boys

According to WPTY Memphis
A Florida teacher accused of molesting young boys is behind bars after police say he confessed while staying at Love in Action in Memphis

29-year-old Chad Stoffel appeared in a West Palm Beach courtroom on Monday. He's charged with molesting a 16-year-old student. Police say Stoffel was staying at Love in Action when he confessed. Love in Action is the group that claims to turn gay people straight.
From a recent discussion I had with a man who attended Love in Action's adult program this summer, he confirmeed that adults and youth sat in sessions together most of the day. He told me of a man (not from Florida) who admitted that he had had sex with a minor boy before entering the program.

I asked him if adult participants and teens in the program discussed their specific sexual issues or "just feelings" (like John Smid told me back in June). My source told me that they talked about the issues all the time. They had to stand up and give introductions where they shared their struggles in detail.

Parents send their children to LIA's "Refuge" program for what? To protect them from a world that is trying to rob their innocence and corrupt their morals? To safeguard them from predators?

Surely Stoffel needs a safe place to go and get help with his addictions and struggles, but how could it be useful for him to sit in a room with a bunch of teens talking about sex? How can it be safe for the teens? This is wrong on so many levels.

hat tip to Norm at ex-ex-gay minstry yahoo group.

Comments

Norm! said…
Thanks for the hat tip, Peterson.

I did not realize LIA would have adults and teens in the same group counseling sessions. I had assumed Refuge was a seperate operation. That does seem like a dangerous situation -- especially for a ministry that Exodus states (1) specializes in pedophilia.

(1) http://www.exodus.to/ministry_pages/ministry-tn.shtml
3:25 PM
Willie Hewes said…
Refuge, a safe place for youth to be real.

*shakes head*
4:34 PM
Norm! said…
This story gets stranger. According to an article(1) today on Sun-Sentinel.com, former PFOX director Anthony Falzarano claims that he tried to warn Summit Christian School about Chad Stoffel:

"Falzarano, who removed his son Carter, 17, from the school in March 2005 because of a disagreement with administrators and concerns about Stoffel, says he brought his suspicions to Skelton a year ago.

"'I just knew he was spending too much time with the boys,' said Falzarano, a self-described 'former homosexual' from Palm Beach. 'I felt very uncomfortable with him.'

"He says he knows the warning signs due to his experience as executive director of the group Parents and Friends Christian Ministries, part of the so-called national 'ex-gay' movement that says it can help turn gay people straight. The organization's Web site calls it a 'Bible based ministry offering Christ-centered hope to persons struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions.'"

Investigators interviewed Stoffel at LIA which seemed to have led to Stoffel's confession at LIA.

If I remember correctly, Falzarano and PFOX had a nasty split. He seems to now be trying to start another PFOX-type of ministry called, Parents & Friends Christian Ministries(2).

Certainly, some ex-gay activists like Falzarano will use this story to feed into the notion that gays are all sexual predators.

Norm!

(1) http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-
pteacher08mar08,0,545356.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
(2) http://www.parentsandfriends.20m.com/
8:22 PM
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