The following is a compilation which led up to Richard Schober, a man charged in Washington state, with molestation, being added to a fellowship meeting with numerous children. The Ford family raised concerns with the ministry overseer, and initially their concerns were allayed. Over the course of 6 to 8 months, the situation became untenable for the Ford family, such that they switched up the meeting they would attend, and which Richard Schober was not physically present in the meeting. This move was done on their own accord as the overseer, Dan Lawty, was incapable of settling the issue which he was subordinating to will of Richard Schober. Below is their account.
In the interest of clarity and completeness, I am compelled to write this in a complete story to hopefully avoid confusion. Many have asked specific questions or know part of the story and sometimes this leads to conclusions that are not accurate and assumptions due to not having the whole story. This was our experience with a convicted pedophile in meeting with our children.
Last fall, in September 2022, we were informed by our overseer, Dan Lawty, that there were going to be some meeting changes. I expressed a mild level of sadness as we love our meeting, but said I was wiling for a change knowing that our meeting is very large and quite often goes over the hour time frame. I have a large family and 6 of my children now take part so I understood the need to make the meeting smaller. I did not hear this from Dan, but a friend told me that we were going to be put in a meeting with Richard Schober. I reached out to Dan and told Dan that I wanted to talk to my family about it because we had already, years earlier, decided to not be in Wednesday bible study with Richard Schober. Dan let me know that it had been 40 years since he had been in jail and that he had not been a problem in the meetings. He also told me that there had already been two families in that meeting with small children and he was looking to put another family in that meetings. He explained that the small children were loud and it was interfering with feedback in some that wore hearing aids and that my children were all old enough to be quiet in the meeting. My husband and I told Dan that we would like to meet with Richard Schober, as all I knew about Richard Schober at the time was that he had molested his daughter and gone to prison. My husband and I met with Dan Lawty and Richard Schober on September 30, 2022. Richard Schober told us about his abuse of his daughter and spent much time telling us about the sex offender program that he completed and he felt that he was one of the 2% success rate. He told us that he comes to meeting early and leaves right after and does not participate in the socializing afterwards. I told him of my own CSA experience by my father and told him that I am very sensitive to this issue and that I “would be watching” him to which he replied, “And well you should.” We told Dan that we would be willing to try it, Dan assured me that if I was uncomfortable, he would move us out and Richard Schober said if I was uncomfortable that he would go to another meeting. I felt satisfied with those conditions. At the end of this meeting, as we were all standing to leave Richard Schober blurted out a whole string of additional information. He said he had molested more children than he could count, probably hundreds. He said he had hung out at parks and schools and molested kids that were off on their own and sometimes molested several in a day. My husband and I were shocked and horrified but we had been convinced that he had gone through the program and that he had been rehabilitated.
The day after that conversation, Richard Schober called me to see if I was okay and said he knew it was traumatic to talk about. I was not comfortable with him calling me, but he did seem to be just reaching out in care and I wanted to be kind. He called a couple more times in the next few weeks and shared some poetry and thoughts he had. Again, I was uncomfortable but felt like I was overreacting and didn’t want to make a big deal about it. The first meeting in the home was fine and Richard Schober did what he said he would do. A few weeks into the arrangement, I was gone on a trip and when I returned Richard Schober called me to ask if I had a problem with my children passing the emblems in meeting. I said that we didn’t prohibit them and he proceeded to explain in great detail which of my boys passed the emblems past one of their siblings. He described the physical features and the shade of hair color so specifically that I knew exactly which boys he was describing. I assured him again that my husband and I do not have a hang up about our children passing the emblems, I said that I wasn’t there and didn’t know what he was talking about. After I hung up, it hit me… why was he watching my boys when the emblems were being passed?? He doesn’t even sit by them. But, again, I didn’t want to raise a fuss about a little thing so I didn’t say anything. As the weeks went by he started pushing the boundaries more and more. My nine year old came up after meeting and said Richard Schober shook his hand after meeting. This happened a number of times with different children and I was noticing that he always shook the hands with the children that were with an older sibling or on the other side of the room from me. My children had been instructed to not leave the house until Richard Schober left, but when we saw him leave, we let the children go out to the car. Richard Schober started going out the door and then hanging around outside and speaking to the children. Richard Schober was also attempting to control the length of the meeting. He passed the microphone and said the meeting had already gone past time and then the next week he let us all know at the beginning of the meeting that he wasn’t going to take part but was just going to listen. My large family, who is over half the meeting, felt like he was attempting to correct us. I have no problem with an elder or worker giving us correction about our testimony length, but it felt very out of line for him to assume that role. At this point I was uncomfortable enough that I wanted out. I asked if we could meet with Dan again, he agreed and we met the day after I texted him on Monday, March 20th. Dan heard my concerns, said he was sorry that it didn’t work out, and expressed frustration at Richard Schober. I asked about changing meetings and he said, “Well, it is complicated” I assumed it was due to our family size, but he didn’t say as much, but I reminded him that Richard Schober said he would move. Again Dan, said it wasn’t that easy. I asked if Richard Schober could be part of the call in meeting that Alaska has for remote individuals. Dan said that, yes, that was a good idea. He would have Richard Schober call into meeting and not come in person. I said, “No, I don’t mean call into our meeting, I mean the remote bush Alaska meeting. I don’t want to have him listening to my kids’ testimonies.” Dan told me a bit forcefully, “I don’t want to introduce him to another meeting!” I was realizing that this was not as easy of a decision as it had seemed to be when we met in September. Dan asked us for more time to think about it as he didn’t want to make a rash decision. We agreed to giving him some time. The Thursday that same week, was when one of my adult sons forwarded me the letter regarding Dean. Due to the understandable load put on Dan after this news broke, Dan asked for more time to make a decision regarding Richard Schober. I was trying to be patient and understanding but Richard Schober was becoming more and more assertive. He had asked my 21 year old daughter and her boyfriend out to dinner, helped my 17 year old daughter brush the snow off her car, and multiple times had followed my older children to the car attempting to talk to them. We have older children with their own cars and often times they let a sibling ride with them. Richard Schober consistently attempted to contact the younger children when they were with the older siblings. My family was on high alert and my younger children had been instructed to run away from him if they saw him, but we were getting really stressed out even when we noticed that he was often watching them intently.
After much begging and pleading with Dan he finally arranged for us to meet with Richard Schober. At my request, I wanted to meet with Richard Schober face to face and tell him why I was not comfortable. Just a few hours before we were to meet, Dan called and changed the time and location to a home of an elderly lady that is an advocate for Richard Schober. I was very uncomfortable with that arrangement but also wanted to get the conversation over as it had now been 4 weeks since we asked Dan for a meeting change. I asked my husband if he would bring his audio recorder. I was expecting Richard Schober to apologize, agree to a meeting change and then turn around and say he didn’t agree. I was not prepared for what happened at that meeting. I clearly stated the reasons that I was uncomfortable and Richard Schober never did address the issues I brought up but some of the things he said to my husband and I were:
“We can always look back, on decisions, the very first thing we need to do (pointing finger at me) we need to look at what part we played in it and go from there, forward.
“If shaking hands with your children is inappropriate, then excuse me”
“Look back forty years to your behavior, your behavior, is there something back there? Forty years, that’s forty years ago. And you do not believe that God has healed me and taken care of…”
“I said I would not touch them inappropriately. I have not done that.”
“Okay, okay lets go, lets go to the Bible, ok? What is the word of God and it’s the word of God, says if you have a problem with a brother, what are you supposed to do?” I replied, “Richard, we met with you in the fall” Richard Schober said, “okay, and you didn’t express any concern about this and you went to Dan. And you didn’t come to me. You’re guilty!” (Pointing finger again at me)
“Im really sorry that you feel that way.” (said to me)
“And it’s about me. I’m the one on the cross here. Sunday afternoon…Sunday evening, after that meeting, and I have…and I got hopefully Dan and Sean—will vouch for me on this—that I have always left. I have not included myself in your little circle of hugging and shaking hands with everybody. I exit. Always exit—right after meeting. Is that not true, Dan?”
Dan Lawty: That’s…that’s what I see.
Simon Ford: Did you come back into the breezeway after you…you went out to your car?
Richard Schober: I did. I was waiting for someone to give something to me. And you know what I saw when I came back in?
Simon Ford: My daughter?
Richard Schober: I saw Levi. I saw Levi out on the step. I saw Hannah out in the snow, playing in the snow. I did not see either one of you and if I had children…
Jennifer Ford: We are not the ones being called into correction right now.
Richard Schober: Don’t you interrupt me. Don’t you interrupt me!
Simon Ford: (to Jennifer Ford) Oh, that’s…
Jennifer Ford: (to Simon Ford) Just let it be.
Richard Schober: Okay, the thing was, if I would have had children then if I had such strong feelings about a child molester…
Jennifer Ford: (softly) You did have children, Richard.
Richard Schober: …in the meeting, they would have been by my side, so there would not ever have been a chance that he would even get close. I have, I walk, I have walked by and I have raised…
Jennifer Ford: (to Dan Lawty) Dan, can we be done, please? Dan, can we please be done? I can’t…can we be done?
Simon Ford: Richard, you literally molested your children, and you’re telling us we’re not good parents?
Jennifer Ford: Hannah innocently ran out to pick me a dandelion and you are chastising me. Yes, and we all have been…
Simon Ford: You went to prison for molesting your children and you’re telling us that you would have protected them? Really?
Jennifer Ford: (to Dan Lawty) Dan can we just be done? Can we be done please?
Richard Schober: (to Simon Ford) Yes. Please leave. Please leave. You’re accusing me of…
Simon Ford: Of something that’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt!
Richard Schober: …and I have served my time. Do you know how long I’ve served?
Simon Ford: Yeah, you told me.
Richard Schober: And you have forgot, have you not…and you have forgot that God has forgiven me, healed me, (indistinguishable)
Dan very passively asked Richard Schober if he would be willing to call in to the meeting. Richard Schober said, “NO, I have been outcast. I’ve been cut off. I’ve been kicked out of meeting…Not share in the emblems… not be in the presence of God”.
This meeting with Richard Schober was extremely stressful and I was having triggers most of the time there. Richard Schober said some of the exact same things that my own father used to manipulate me. Richard Schober never did address his actions, but sought to find a way to blame and shame my husband and I. I was experiencing shortness of breath, shaking in my hands and feet, tightness in my chest, pounding headache, increased heart rate and was having flashbacks of my father’s face when I looked up at Richard Schober. The voice inflection and the condescending tone and chastising in his voice made me feel like a little girl again being reprimanded by my abusive father. Fortunately, my years of counseling did enable me to have a voice and stand up to him even as I was actively being triggered by his aggressive behavior. Dan did nothing to stand up for me during this whole conversation. My husband and I ended up leaving and Dan said he would follow up, we waited for hours and no call from Dan. We heard from another source that Dan was intending to let Richard Schober call into the meeting on Sunday. I contacted Dan, he agreed to come to supper so we could discuss this. I very clearly told him that I did not want Richard Schober to call in and hear my children’s testimony. Dan said he had already made the decision and he was only giving Richard Schober one more chance, but just one off testimony and he was done. I made arrangements for my married daughter to take my minor children to her Sunday meeting as I did not want them to be in our meeting.
On Sunday, April 16th 2023 Richard Schober was allowed to call in to Sunday morning meeting. He started his testimony by saying, “When I was in prison, when I was in prison for being a sex offender…” and then proceeded to share a very disturbing story about an experience while he was in prison. In this experience, he was asked to leave the room and when he returned his fellow inmates where sitting in a circle with arms linked. He then likened that to our gathering there on Sunday around the emblems. Then, he went on to say that his job was to break into the circle. He looked for and identified the weak spot and he said he” went for it” and tried to break into the circle. He tried 3 or 4 times and was not able to break the circle, then he just asked and they let him in. He said he wished he had realized that all he had to do was ask. Then he finished by saying, “that is where I find myself today.” Dan was sitting in that meeting right next to the speaker and did nothing to stop or correct Richard Schober.
Again, I was sitting there in meeting, in panic mode… racing heart, tightening in my chest, right foot and hand shaking, and flashbacks of my dad’s face flooding my vision. He was not in the room, but his presence filled the room. When we went home, my daughter expressed that she felt like we were the weak link that he was trying to use to get back in the circle. It was a very emotional and stressful meeting, not hardly conducive to feeding on Christ. My husband texted Dan and let him know that we were all disturbed by that testimony, to which Dan replied that he was “thinking of a plan”. I told my husband that Dan already had a plan, he didn’t need to think about it anymore. I also told my husband that I could no longer go to that meeting, if Dan wouldn’t move us then I just wouldn’t go there anymore. I called our former elder and asked if we could come back there next week as I wasn’t going to go back to the other meeting. He asked me if I had spoken to Dan and I broke down and started crying and said that Dan wasn’t listening to me and told him what had just happened in the meeting. He said we could come back and told me that he would talk to Dan.
I was in full panic mode regarding Richard Schober and his grooming, stalking and intently watching my children. Dan had already asked him to not come to meeting, to only call in and he did not do as Dan said. I was afraid of him coming to gospel meeting and harming one of my children. I was also very afraid of the upcoming convention. I started the process of filing for a protective order against Richard Schober. I consulted with a local CSA advocate and she pointed out grooming patterns and was also alerted to the troubling attitudes, that Richard Schober expressed. I did receive a court date and it was a horribly traumatic experience. Richard Schober had some of the friends come and testify regarding his character and lied under oath about his contact with my children. I was not awarded a protective order and was very troubled that none of the friends that testified for him ever once called me to ask me what he had done to my children. It disturbed me that they would not want to gather as much information as they could before going to court and advocating for a man that had this kind of deviant past.
The following week, we went to our former meeting and Richard Schober showed up to his meeting like nothing had happened. The homeowner, who is not the elder, asked him to leave. Richard Schober said he didn’t understand and the homeowner told him to leave his property and not come back. The homeowner also told Dan that he was no longer willing to have the call in option. The homeowner was the one that removed Richard Schober, not Dan. The week after this, a conflict arose between the homeowner and one of the men that testified against me in court. The homeowner told this man that, “God put it in the heart of a mother to protect her children from a child molester, but God never put it in the heart of a man to molest a child” The result of this contention was that the meeting was taken out of the homeowner’s home and put into a home that is in full support of Richard Schober and advocates for him.
In the process of preparing for the court hearing, I contacted AFTT and requested a notification to be sent out asking for more info about Richard Schober. I was not able to use these documents in court as I was not aware of witnesses needing to be there in person and I had obtained written statements. But, I have since learned some very disturbing information about Richard Schober and have also learned that Dan knew about this before he put our family in the meeting. Because of the hotline and the avenue of social media, I have become very aware of his past. A friend reached out to me and shared a letter that he had written to Gary Paul in 2005 regarding Richard Schober and his behavior.
He was in the work and abused children at convention and in private homes of the friends. He has molested hundreds of children and was the most prolific offender in WA state when he was convicted. He refused to complete the sex offender program and was hospitalized in Medical Lake as being criminally insane. He agreed to be chemically castrated in lieu of prison time. He is currently on medication to control his “urges” and if he goes off the medication, the “urges” come back.
My biggest concern at this point, is how the situation was handled when I clearly requested to be taken out of the meeting. This was before DB and I did not ask for Richard Schober to be removed from the fellowship, but I did not want my family in meeting with him. As Richard Schober became increasingly assertive toward my children, I was growing increasingly fearful that he was going to molest one of my children. He was following them out of gospel meeting and one time even waited at the door for my adult daughter to come out so he could talk to her about the dinner invite. I have text records of me begging Dan to take care of the situation, I reached out to Darryl Doland, Wayne Bechtol, Julie Raab, and even Lyle Schober (a relative) to try to get help. They all referred me back to Dan and assured me that he would take care of it. Dan was very empathetic for Richard Schober and began to avoid my husband and me. As convention season approached and I did not get the restraining order, I was very concerned about convention. I had by this time heard many other ladies tell me about times he had pushed the boundaries in previous years and that Richard Schober had been multiple times reprimanded about contacting children. I also was contacted by a number of individuals that shared with me their concerns and conversations with Dan regarding his choice to put us in that meeting. I was unaware of any other concerns regarding that and felt like Dan should have expressed those concerns to us. Because of how passive Dan was in asking Richard Schober to not come to meeting, I was in NO way confident that Dan had the stamina to enforce any violations.
What I have become very clear about is that Dan is not able to make firm decisions about protecting women and children. He has not been honest in his dealing with us and has intentionally hidden information from us to further his agenda. Dan had also been involved in other situations regarding CSA in previous years that we were not satisfied with how they were handled. These and the immoral relationships while he was in the work have caused us to just feel like Dan is not in a position to be leading a flock. We had a conversation with him after gospel meeting asking him if he would step down and stating the reasons why.
I do not believe that every worker that mis-handles a situation should be removed. There has been an outcry lately that the workers have not been willing to listen to victims. I know there have been times when victims did not want the authorities involved or the decision was made to not press charges because the victim did not want to, but when my children were being actively pursued and I was very clearly asking to just be taken out of the meeting, it is beyond my comprehension why this wasn’t an easy choice. I have a hard time following anyone in the ministry that cannot make choices when we are begging for help. I have a difficult time understanding why Darryl would not step in when Dan was not dealing with the situation.
Dan and Darryl did not seem to be listening to me with the intent to resolve the problem. I felt like they were trying to avoid me as much as possible. They kept putting me off, ignoring my texts and calls or giving me vague answers that didn’t give me any definitive answers. I was a terrified mother trying to protect her children from a known very prolific and assertive pedophile and was asked to wait for weeks while Dan tried to figure out what to do.
I have a great concern for where our ministry is right now. We have been harboring pedophiles in the work and the workers have been harboring them amongst the friends. This is a grave, serious concern and is not being taken very seriously by a large majority of the ministry. Trust is a big issue, and not easily re-built when it is something this serious. A worker doesn’t have to know all about CSA, Ministry Safe or reporting laws to listen to the cries of a sheep and step in and protect them. It seems to me that love would prompt anyone with any amount of empathy to step in and protect a child. If someone does not have the basic desire to help a mother protect her children, I can’t reconcile in my heart how they should be preaching the gospel of love and be teaching about how to be childlike. I see the only way forward that results in healing and restoration is for any workers that were not willing to listen to the cries of the victims to recognize that they do not have the heart of a shepherd and willingly step down. There are many younger workers in positions where they are stifled and unable to do much, but they have reached out to victims with love and concern. These are true shepherds. I believe there are many still in the work that are faithful and have a genuine love for the sheep. I love so much about our fellowship and I believe the ministry is scriptural, but wolves have gotten in and we do not have a process to remove them.
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PREDATOR ALERT
Richard Schober SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN MEETING. IT CAN STIR UP THEIR OWN DESIRES TO BE AROUND CHILDREN AND IT CAN TRIGGER CSA VICTIMS TO HAVE THEM IN THE MEETING
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