"Focus on Family" Employee Allegedly Sought Sex with Teenager

Via Memeorandum, the Colorado Independent reports:

"A Colorado Springs man who narrates the Bible in Spanish on CDs and works in the Spanish broadcasting department of Focus on the Family appeared in court Monday in Golden on two felony counts of using the Internet to lure a 15-year-old girl for sex, The Denver Post reports.

"Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, was arrested Friday when he drove to Lakewood to meet the girl — who turned out to be an undercover officer — after discussing various sexual acts he wanted to perform with her, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office said."

This is not the first time that someone from Focus on the Family was spotlighted for major  (alleged) hypocrisy.

In 2006, Media Matters reported:

"On the February 17 broadcast of his radio program, Focus on the Family president James C. Dobson and Tom Minnery, the organization's vice president of public policy, sought to fend off questions arising from reports of their alleged collusion with convicted felon and former gambling industry lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a scheme to shut down competition to his [Abramoff's] clients' casinos.

"While both Dobson and Minnery deny working with Abramoff, email exchanges between Abramoff and associates Ralph Reed and Michael Scanlon appear to contradict Dobson and Minnery's claim that Focus on the Family's activities in opposition to the expansion of a Louisiana casino had nothing to do with requests from Abramoff or Reed."

Mr. Abramoff received a four-year prison sentence for his role in a corruption scandal that involved lobbyists, federal government officials, and aides. 

An old college friend of Abramoff, Mr. Reed was director of the "Christian Coalition" in the '80s and '90s.  He appeared to be a voice on all things moral -- until he allegedly helped Mr. Abramoff promote the interests of one gambling-casino client by mobilizing Christian coalition members to protest against a different gambling-casino owner.  

After the Abramoff scandal hit headlines, Mr. Reed lost a bid for lieutenant Governor of Georgia.

Sourcewatch has a lot more about Mr. Reed (and also about Abramoff).

You can read Mr. Ovalle's arrest affidavit here.

Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:

* Lobbyist Gets Wrist Slapped for Destroying Evidence 

* Contractor Northrop to Settle Fraud Suit for $325 Million

* Panel Head Wants Execs at Bailed-out Banks Fired

* Obama Administration: Creating Loopholes in Bailout Laws?

* New FASB Rules: Government Encouraging Accounting Fraud? 

* 663,000 Jobs Lost in March, Unemployment up to 8.5% 

* Real Executive Bonuses Based on Fake Profits

* More Right Wing False Analogies: this Time re: Executive Pay Caps

* PBGC Recklessly Invested in Pension Insurance Funds in Stocks

.

Comments

[Alexandra Cannon]

Please. This is pathetic. There are creeps and predators in every organization on the planet.

[Deb]

Alexandra,

Are you responding to something I wrote or something someone else said? Seriously.

All I did was give some back-story on the head of "Focus on the Family" -- and his story is not remotely similar to Mr. Ovalle's story.

What is your objection to my exposition (i.e., the actual words that I wrote)?

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