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<v Speaker 1>You see, something's going to happen. What's going to happen?

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<v Speaker 1>What I tonight? I want to tell you a story

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<v Speaker 1>about a man whose name could fit so easily into

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of town where people stop expecting anything unusual

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<v Speaker 1>to the public. Guy Dennis W. Myers looked like he

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<v Speaker 1>belonged to the ordinary life of the church. He fit

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<v Speaker 1>into the printed bulletin, the calendar hanging on the wall,

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<v Speaker 1>the fellowship rooms where young people gathered, the rhythms of

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<v Speaker 1>ministry that families come to know by heart. Later, the

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<v Speaker 1>Federal Record would describe him as a former youth director

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<v Speaker 1>at Christ United Methodist Church in Independence, Missouri, and at

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<v Speaker 1>First United Methodist Church in Springdale, Arkansas. And you know

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<v Speaker 1>how that happens in church life. After a while, people

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<v Speaker 1>do not just know a person by name, They know

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<v Speaker 1>them by roll. A position becomes a reputation, a title

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<v Speaker 1>becomes an introduction. Nobody even has to say anymore. The

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<v Speaker 1>weeks move along in familiar patterns, meetings and announcements, Bible

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<v Speaker 1>studies and youth gatherings, church trips and overnight events, and

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<v Speaker 1>that easy comfort of saying why we have seen him

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<v Speaker 1>around for years? In time, Myers left church employment and

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<v Speaker 1>started a dj business. The Department of Justice would later

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<v Speaker 1>place that change somewhere around nineteen ninety three to nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety four, and years after that he was living in

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<v Speaker 1>Blue Springs, Missouri, another suburb in the orbit of Kansas City,

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<v Speaker 1>another place where a life can look plain and ordinary

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<v Speaker 1>from the outside. And that is how the story appears

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<v Speaker 1>at first glance. That is how it looks before anybody

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<v Speaker 1>has opened a court file. That is how it's zounds,

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<v Speaker 1>before the record is read, before the facts come into

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<v Speaker 1>the light. But then in September twenty eleven, the public

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<v Speaker 1>story stopped being only about where he had worked and

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<v Speaker 1>who he had once appeared to be. In September twenty eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>following complaints by two adolescents about inappropriate sexual activity, law

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<v Speaker 1>enforcement officers searched Meyer's home in Blue Springs, His computer

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<v Speaker 1>was seized, and the story moved from community memory into

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<v Speaker 1>criminal investigation. Forensic examiners found a video of child pornography

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<v Speaker 1>that had been downloaded from the Internet and viewed on

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<v Speaker 1>that computer. On December twelfth, twenty twelve, a federal grand

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<v Speaker 1>jury in Kansas City returned a three count indictment against

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<v Speaker 1>marrs then described as fifty two years old and living

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<v Speaker 1>in Blue Springs. That incident alleged he accessed the Internet

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<v Speaker 1>in order to view the child pornography between April first

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<v Speaker 1>and September sixteenth, twenty and eleven, charged one count of

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<v Speaker 1>receiving a video of child pornography over the Internet and

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<v Speaker 1>one count of possessing child pornography. Contemporaneous local reporting sharpened

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<v Speaker 1>that timeline even further, stating investigators alleged he knowingly received

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<v Speaker 1>a video file on April thirteenth, twenty eleven, and that

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<v Speaker 1>on September fifteenth, twenty eleven, he was found in possession

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<v Speaker 1>of at least one item of child pornography. The prosecutor

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<v Speaker 1>identified in the federal releases was Assistant US Attorney Catherine Fincham,

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<v Speaker 1>and the investigating agency named in the DOJ materials was

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<v Speaker 1>the Blue Springs Police Department. At that point, the case

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<v Speaker 1>was already serious, but it was still not the full case.

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<v Speaker 1>On February twentieth, twenty thirteen, the U. S Attorney's Office

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<v Speaker 1>for the Western District of Missouri announced a five count

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<v Speaker 1>superseding indictment. Myers was again described at fifty two years

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<v Speaker 1>old in living in Blue Springs. The superseding indictment replaced

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<v Speaker 1>the December twenty twelve indictment and kept its three original counts,

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<v Speaker 1>but it also added two additional counts, transporting a minor

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<v Speaker 1>across state lines for illegal sexual activity. According to that

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<v Speaker 1>DOJ announcement, the two new transportation counts alleged that, on

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<v Speaker 1>separate occasions between November nineteen ninety three and November nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety five, Myers transported a child victim identified as Jane

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<v Speaker 1>Doe number one across state lines to engage in sexual

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<v Speaker 1>activity for which he could be charged under the Missouri law.

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<v Speaker 1>The superseding indictment repeated the original allegations that he accessed

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<v Speaker 1>the Internet in order to view child pornography between April

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<v Speaker 1>first and September sixteenth, twenty eleven, and that he was

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<v Speaker 1>charged with receipt and possession. In other words, what had

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<v Speaker 1>first looked like a case rooted only in a twenty

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<v Speaker 1>eleven computer seizure widened into something much older. That older

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<v Speaker 1>thread centered on Jane Doe number one. According to the DOJ,

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<v Speaker 1>Myers met her while he was a youth director at

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<v Speaker 1>First United Methodist Church in Springdale, Arkansas. The sentencing record

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<v Speaker 1>states that sexual activity began when she was fourteen to

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen years old and in the eighth grade. Both the

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<v Speaker 1>plea and sentencing releases report that he had left church

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<v Speaker 1>employment and started a DJA business and approximately nineteen ninety

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<v Speaker 1>three to nineteen ninety four when Jay Doe number one

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<v Speaker 1>was fifteen years old, and that from November nineteen ninety

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<v Speaker 1>four to November nineteen ninety five, when she was approximately sixteen,

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<v Speaker 1>he transported her from Arkansas to the Kansas City area,

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<v Speaker 1>where they had sexual intercourse. The sentencing release also included

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<v Speaker 1>a specific allegation about the end of the relationship. It

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<v Speaker 1>stated that court documents reported Myers provided Jane Doe number

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<v Speaker 1>one an excessive amount of wine and raped her as

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<v Speaker 1>she cried and tried to fight him off. There is

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<v Speaker 1>another detail in the sentencing record that deepens the church

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<v Speaker 1>dimension of this case. According to federal prosecutors, in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety four, Victim and Independence wrote to the church in

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<v Speaker 1>Arkansas to disclose Meyer's activities while he had been youth director.

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<v Speaker 1>And Independence the DOJA stated that Myers, working at the

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<v Speaker 1>Arkansas church in that time, intercepted the mail, wrote to

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<v Speaker 1>the victim and tried to persuade her not to disclose,

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<v Speaker 1>telling her that it would bring scandal to the church.

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<v Speaker 1>That detail matters because it suggests not only abuse, but

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<v Speaker 1>active pressure against disclosure inside the same institutional world that

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<v Speaker 1>had helped establish his credibility in the first place. That

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<v Speaker 1>is also what gives the opening of the story its weight.

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<v Speaker 1>Once the latest sentencing facts are known, the church world

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<v Speaker 1>at the beginning no longer stays ordinary. The title of

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<v Speaker 1>youth director is no longer just a description of employment.

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<v Speaker 1>It becomes part of the mechanism by which trust, access

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<v Speaker 1>and concealment were made possible. The public record later tied

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<v Speaker 1>additional victims to overnight church lock in and a church

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<v Speaker 1>camping trip. Those were not incidental settings. They were part

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<v Speaker 1>of the environment in which Myers had already been normalized

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<v Speaker 1>and trusted. On May one, twenty thirteen, the DOJ announced

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<v Speaker 1>that Myers, now described as fifty three years old, pleaded

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<v Speaker 1>guilty in federal court that day before US magistrate judged

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<v Speaker 1>John T. Morgamer to transporting a minor across state lines

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<v Speaker 1>for legal sexual activity and to receiving child pornography over

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<v Speaker 1>the internet. That plea announcement also embedded a second track

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<v Speaker 1>of accountability. Under the terms of the federal plea agreement,

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<v Speaker 1>Myers was required to plead guilty in the Circuit Court

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<v Speaker 1>of Jackson County, Missouri, to first degree statutory sodomy and

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<v Speaker 1>attempted enticement of a child. The Jackson County Prosecutor's office,

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<v Speaker 1>the plea release said, would recommend ten year sentences on

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<v Speaker 1>each of the two state counts to run concurrently with

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<v Speaker 1>each other and with federal sentence. The same DOJ release

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<v Speaker 1>stated the federal sentencing exposure a mandatory minimum sentence of

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<v Speaker 1>five years in federal prison without role, up to thirty

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<v Speaker 1>years in federal prison with parole, plus a fine up

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<v Speaker 1>to five hundred thousand dollars at sentencing. The DOJ said

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<v Speaker 1>the district court treated Myers as a serial abuser based

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<v Speaker 1>on a pattern involving six additional miners beyond Jane do

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<v Speaker 1>number one. According to the sentencing release, that patron included

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<v Speaker 1>the Jackson County case where he digitally penetrated one twelve

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<v Speaker 1>year old girl and fondled another twelve year old girl,

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<v Speaker 1>both occurring in his home. The sentencing release then listed

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<v Speaker 1>other instances of sexual abuse or exploitation described in court

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<v Speaker 1>documents including the fondling of a thirteen year old victim

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<v Speaker 1>on an overnight church lock in, the fondling of a

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen to seventeen year old victim on a church camping trip,

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<v Speaker 1>the fondling of a fifteen to six year old victim

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<v Speaker 1>at his apartment, and producing in his Blue Springs home

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<v Speaker 1>a pornographic image of a pre pubescent girl identified in

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<v Speaker 1>the release as a seventh victim. The same sentencing release

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<v Speaker 1>also noted that the government offered evidence of other inappropriate

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<v Speaker 1>and suspicious, although not criminal, interactions between Myers and his

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<v Speaker 1>neighbor's girls. This is the point where the case stops

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<v Speaker 1>reading like a prosecution built around one victim and one

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<v Speaker 1>computer seizure. It becomes something broader, a pattern spread across years,

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<v Speaker 1>settings and victims. On May sixteenth, twenty fourteen, US Chief

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<v Speaker 1>District Judge Greg Kay's sentenced Myers to thirty years in

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<v Speaker 1>federal prison without parole, which the DJ described as the

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<v Speaker 1>statutory maximum sentence that matters. Because the plea release had

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<v Speaker 1>already laid out the sentencing range clearly five years at

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<v Speaker 1>the floor thirty years at the ceiling, the court imposed

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<v Speaker 1>the ceiling. The DLJ framed the case as part of

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<v Speaker 1>Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand and six. DOJ materials also state that Project Safe

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<v Speaker 1>Childhood was expanded in twenty eleven to include all federal

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<v Speaker 1>child sexual exploitation offenses, not only Internet related ones. Meyers

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<v Speaker 1>appealed on December twenty second, twenty fourteen. The Appellate Court

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<v Speaker 1>concluded that sentences were not unreasonable. It noted that the

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<v Speaker 1>district court considered extensive evidence and arguments and explicitly, carefully

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<v Speaker 1>and at length explained its reasons for varying upward to

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<v Speaker 1>the statutory maximum. The Eighth Circuit granted council leave to

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<v Speaker 1>withdraw and denied Mar's motion for appointment of new council. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>this is what people have to understand. The cross does

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<v Speaker 1>not make a monster holy. A church title does not

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<v Speaker 1>make a predator safe. A public profession of faith does

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<v Speaker 1>not make a corrupt man clean. Somebody can call themselves

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<v Speaker 1>a Christian, stand in a sanctuary, work around children, talk

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<v Speaker 1>about God, and still be sick, still be depraved, still

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<v Speaker 1>be hiding rot underneath religious language and a respectable face.

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<v Speaker 1>Because some of the people do not stand behind the

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<v Speaker 1>cross in reverence they hide behind it. They use it

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<v Speaker 1>like cover. They use the trust it creates to use

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<v Speaker 1>the hesitation people feel when it comes time to question

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<v Speaker 1>somebody who sounds righteous, looks respectable, and belongs to the

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<v Speaker 1>right institution. That is how the disguise works, not by

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<v Speaker 1>looking demonic, by looking familiar. So no, this is not

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<v Speaker 1>an attack on every Christian. It is an attack on

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<v Speaker 1>the fantasy that Christianity by itself is guaranteed of morale safety.

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<v Speaker 1>It is not. The cross on the wall means nothing

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<v Speaker 1>if the man standing under it is rotten. The title

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<v Speaker 1>means nothing if the purse holding it is corrupt. Belief

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<v Speaker 1>claimed out loud is worthless when the life behind it

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<v Speaker 1>is poisoned. And that is why stories like this matter,

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<v Speaker 1>because they remind people that evil can sing hymns, evil

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<v Speaker 1>can quote scripture, Evil can shake your hand in a

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<v Speaker 1>fellowship hole and ask your family how is everybody doing.

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<v Speaker 1>Evil can hide behind the cross until the drags it

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<v Speaker 1>out into the light. And that is what happened here,

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<v Speaker 1>and that is the story until the next one. Everybody

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<v Speaker 1>be well later,