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Updated 1/10/2013
2011 Form 990

Updated 6/22/2011
3ABN sued
over Tommy!

Added 3/14/2010
Can 3ABN Survive?

Added 11/16/2010
Judge Rejects
Plea Deal

Updated 4/2/2010
Tommy Shelton
Arrested!

Must Read:
Mom in Pain #1

Mene, Mene,
Tekel, Parsin

The Actual Lawsuit
IRS Criminal Investigation

Tommy Shelton Alleged Victim: Roger Clem

Roger Clem's mother was one of Tommy Shelton's staunch supporters when his ordination with the Church of God (Anderson) was revoked in 1985 for allegedly molesting teenage boys. Simply put, she believed Tommy's word instead of that of the alleged victims.

Three years later around 1988, Roger Clem claims that he was victimized by Tommy Shelton, but because of his mother's strong support of Tommy, he just couldn't tell her what had happened. During her battle with cancer, he thought such a revelation would put her in her grave for sure. Not until after her death in late 2001 did he come forward in early 2003.

What follows is a letter Roger sent Tommy about a year or so after he had come forward. In this letter he vents his feelings, and he implicates Danny Shelton and 3ABN attorney Mike Riva in a cover up.

One mother's reaction after reading this letter was to weep and weep, and to feel like she just had to go to her son's school and get him out and hold him close.

We have taken the liberty to break Roger's letter up into paragraphs in order to improve readability.

Roger Clem's Letter to Tommy Shelton

Mr. Shelton,

I am writing this letter in regards to last year's phone conversation. I told you then I was confronting you about what you did to me so I could deal with my feelings about it. I did not then, nor will I now, make any apologies [to] anyone who might be upset with me.

My attitude has changed towards this situation. I thought I could just handle this and go on with my life, but now I realize I cannot. You ruined the better part of 15 years of my life. I was afraid to date anyone, I let people walk all over me, and I felt lower than dirt. The years you destroyed should have been some of the best years of my life. While everyone was out doing what they enjoyed, I was constantly working to try to take my mind off what happened. You destroyed my self-esteem and that I'm still battling today. I have no confidence in myself to accomplish major tasks in life.

It kind of makes me wonder about the other guys that you abused. All of the ones that I know about have had failed marriages. Doesn't it make YOU wonder what they are going through, or do you even care?

You were supposed to be someone people could put their trust in and look up to, and here you were doing some of the most disgusting and immoral things you could do. While you were preaching to everyone how they should honor their marriage vows, you were cheating on your own wife, and with who, teenage boys. We had our whole lives ahead of us and you put us through hell on earth. I don't know how you could look yourself in the mirror, let alone get up and preach to people about how they ought to live.

When someone would confront you about what you did, you would try to take the attention off of what you did by having some sort of health problem (loss of memory, heart problems, nervous breakdown). It seemed odd to me that you recovered quick when you realized that you were in the clear.

You really disgust me. It makes me sick to realize how many lives you damaged and the only time that you feel the need to apologize is when it all comes back up again. Then you put on this POOR PITIFUL ME act (how you wish it didn't happen, the reason you do this is because you were abused as a child, you would take it all back if you could, and the all-time favorite, please don't put my family through this again). What about what you put all of us through?

Then what makes me mad is when your brother calls to try to scare people into not saying anything or when the church receives a letter from Mike Riva telling us to stop saying anything. I heard (I don't know for sure) that the reason for the letter was to protect your livelihood. What about my livelihood? I feel like I don't have the confidence to achieve the things that I want to in life.

I know this letter seems hateful, I Don't Care. I'm tired of not saying anything just so I won't upset people.

Guess what, it gets better. I have been checking the laws on reporting sexual abuse. There was a new law passed that extends the age that you can report abuse to age 38, I'm 32. So here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you decide what you should do to make amends for what you did.

I will tell you up front, if I get a letter or phone call from your brother or an attorney that in any way appears threatening, I will immediately go to the sheriff's office and file charges against you. This has gone on long enough with nothing being done. This is Not a threat.

It all rests on you Tommy, let your conscience be your guide. I will not wait long before I will decide what action is best to resolve this.

Roger W. Clem


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