The Rick Trotter Saga: Yet Another Example of Churches Not Protecting Members from Sexual Predators

'Pure neglect': Victims of ex-Grizzlies announcer Rick Trotter say police mishandled case

Even now, as former Grizzlies announcer Rick Trotter sits in prison, his victims struggle with his unfathomable betrayal.

“We shared meals together. We prayed together,’’ says one victim, a slight, soft-spoken woman who was one of four females violated by Trotter's bizarre and unsettling video voyeurism.

While doubling as the trusted worship leader at Downtown Church, the beloved NBA public address announcer secretly used a phone camera to shoot indecent videos up the skirts of female congregants as they sang and shared fellowship — even as they closed their eyes and bowed their heads in prayer.

"That to me is betrayal in the worst kind of way,'' the 65-year-old office manager says.

Confession:Ex-Griz announcer Rick Trotter's voyeurism inspired by Erin Andrews case

Her disgust is directed at more than just Trotter, however — she and others at Downtown Church feel let down by the Memphis Police Department. Had the police agency pursued the case more vigorously, they believe, Trotter, 42, might be facing more than just the 60-day sentence he began serving last month at the Shelby County Correctional Center.

"If I had not been utterly persistent — just calling and calling and calling — I don't think anything would have happened,'' said Downtown Church pastor Richard Rieves.

The church members contend MPD lost video evidence, failed to return phone calls, didn't pursue leads and even victim-blamed one of Trotter's accusers.

"I'm sorry they're feeling like that,'' said the case detective, Lt. Roosevelt Twilley. He disputed the victims' assertions during a brief phone conversation with a reporter, but said he could not discuss details, referring questions to MPD spokeswoman Karen Rudolph. In a written response to questions, Rudolph said, "Lt. Twilley conducted a thorough investigation with the information that was provided.''

Rudolph conceded that video evidence against Trotter vanished from an evidently damaged hard drive "at no fault to the investigator,’’ though victims said they weren’t told about the disappearance for more than a year after Trotter's arrest.

Regardless, both District Attorney Amy Weirich's spokesman, Larry Buser, and defense attorney Marty McAfee said the disappearance didn't influence the handling of the case because Trotter confessed to detectives early in the investigation.
"Trotter admitted taking the video so it did not affect the outcome of the case,'' Buser said in an email, emphasizing Trotter's guilty plea requires him to register as a nonviolent sex offender.

Yet in a troubling case with plenty of blame to share for Trotter's broad latitude to abuse — he escaped prosecution in a similar matter years earlier when victims at another church didn't press charges — the victims at Downtown Church say they're fed up, and they've issued a written statement.

"While we are pleased that a verdict is final and we can move on with some sense of closure, we do not believe that our laws deal with voyeurs seriously enough,'' reads a portion of the one-page statement released to The Commercial Appeal.

"The amount of videos found on Trotter's laptop and phone are worthy of more significant jail time, but no efforts were made by the Memphis Sex Crimes Unit to identify other women in those videos and give them the opportunity to press charges as well.''

Caught, but given a second chance
The story of the victims' fateful intersection with Trotter starts in 2011 when Downtown Church hired him as a part-time staffer. By then, Trotter had been the Grizzlies' public address announcer for five years, wowing fans with his thunderous exclamations and a silvery, show-stopping tenor singing voice he often displayed while performing the national anthem.

But Trotter had a secret, one that nearly ruined him.

While working as worship director in 2010 at another church, Fellowship Memphis, he was caught placing a hidden camera in a bathroom where he recorded women — and, reportedly, minors, too. The church fired him. But according to a joint statement released by Fellowship Memphis and Downtown Church following Trotter's eventual arrest six years later, Fellowship paid for Trotter to receive three months of "intensive counseling for sex addiction.''

They didn't report him to authorities, and he avoided prosecution.

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/06/09/rick-trotter-grizzlies-announcer-voyeur-case-mishandled-memphis-police/656789002/

Видео The Rick Trotter Saga: Yet Another Example of Churches Not Protecting Members from Sexual Predators канала MuslimByChoice