March 27, 2011
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Members of Aleitheia Bible Church in Wisconsin Charged With Abusing Infants
Members of Aleitheia Bible Church in Wisconsin Charged With Abusing Infants
The pastor and seven members of a small church in central Wisconsin have been charged with using wooden rods to spank infants as young as 2 months old for “being emotional, grumpy or crying,” the Dane County Sheriff’s office said.
The Aleitheia Bible Church, in the town of Black Earth, was started in 2006 with a donation in the range of $500,000-$600,000 from Bob and Lori Wick of nearby Mazomanie, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
The investigation into the Aleitheia Bible Church began last November, when former members contacted authorities with concerns about how children were being treated, according to the sheriff’s office.
Six church members pleaded innocent to charges of child abuse during an appearance Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court. They were booked and released.
Pastor Philip Caminiti, 53, and his brother, John Caminiti, 45, were charged with a dozen counts of child abuse last week and also pleaded innocent.
The victims included 12 children ranging in age from infancy to 6 years old, according to the sheriff’s office.
“During interviews with detectives, Phil expressed his belief that the Bible dictates the use of a rod over a hand to punish children. He stated that children only a few months old are ‘worthy’ of the rod and that by ‘one and a half months,’ a child is old enough to be spanked,” according to the sheriff’s office release.
“Throughout the investigation, the church members were open with detectives about their ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ philosophy. They described using wooden dowels and wooden spoons on the bare skin of children, starting as young as 2 months old,” the sheriff’s office said.
“If you spank early and it is done right, then kids will be happy and obedient,” Philip Caminiti said, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the sheriff’s office, the dowels were described as being 12-18 inches long with a diameter about the size of a quarter. The parents told detectives that “redness and bruising” were the “common effects of the spankings.”
“One person described the children being emotional, grumpy or crying as behaviors that would constitute a spanking with a dowel,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Three sets of parents are among the six others charged, including two of Philip Caminiti’s children and their spouses: Matthew Caminiti, 27, and his wife, Alina, 24; and Maria J. Stephenson, 29, and her husband, Timothy, 28. Also charged are Andrea L. Wick, 26, and Timothy J. Wick, 27.
The children often were punished when they cried or failed to sit still during church services, a former church member told authorities. “Phil was very strict about children being quiet during church,” the complaint states.
John Caminiti told investigators in November that he does not allow his family to communicate with people outside his religious beliefs and has punished his wife and son by confining them to their rooms until they corrected their disobedience, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Attorney Jeffrey W. Nichols, who represents Alina Caminiti, described his client as a “caring mother who loves her children,” according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“I believe it is important to note that the children have never been removed from her or her husband’s care despite these allegations and despite some unfair characterizations of her,” he said.
All the children of the parents charged are remaining in their homes and the families are working with social workers from Dane County Human Services, the sheriff’s office said.
Comments (16)
They weren’t REAL Christians.
I am going to spank my children with a wooden spoon. I will not use my hand because it will associate my hand with pain and having to go get the spoon will help calm the parent and remove the chances of striking out of anger with the hand.
@MC_Shann - at what age do you think it is ok to hit your child? Would you start at 1 1/2 months like these people?
=/ horrible.
There is no excuse for ever physically punishing an infant. They are too young to even connect their behavior to the pain of being struck.
@MC_Shann -
Arguments against using an implement:
1.) When you use an object to spank, you cannot feel the strength with which you are striking.
2.) Using your hand gives you incentive to stop when it begins stinging from contact.
3.) Objects break and necessarily cause more injury than an open hand, which is cushioned and movable.
True story: My mother used a wooden spoon to tan my hide on a fairly regular basis. During one such occasion, the head of the spoon broke off and flew into her grandfather’s clock with such force than it knocked it over. The top of the clock broke away from the rest of the cabinet and the glass door shattered. She cried much harder than I did that time. That was the last time she used a wooden spoon.
@Kristenmomof3 - I can’t honestly answer that yet. My guess is that it depends on each child and what we can “see” in how they are able to rationalize. Does that make sense?
@Automaton_Emotion - Cautions noted… Hopefully I will never ever ever strike my child out of anger so the force will not be a problem. I’ll practice on my own hand first. Sorry about the clock. I have been told from several parents that it’s not so much the force of the spanking, it’s the idea that the child is “being” spanked that gets them crying.
As a side note. I would only spank on the butt. Never to the face, arms, legs, back.
@MC_Shann - Honestly, you should find that spanking is only necessary as a means to get immediate attention before the child is old enough to reason with verbally. Once your child can string together sentences and answer questions, you shouldn’t have to spank him or her. You can start to employ other means of punishment backed by verbalization and discussion. Punishments like taking away items currently causing problems (toys, television, games), supervised time outs in which the child actually sits in the seat until they are calm and reasonable again, removing them from a particular situation, or grounding, etc.
Most people seem to think that “sparing the rod” really does spoil the child. You don’t have to employ corporal punishment, though, to get a message across. I’m also always surprised by what people consider necessary in terms of spanking. If you’ve struck a small child with enough force and frequency to cause a redness on the skin, you’ve gone overboard. Remember, you’re “spanking” a non-verbal child. One or two swats (firm connections with an open palm on a diapered bottom or a hand) should be enough to convey a message of NO. As in, don’t run toward the street or don’t touch the stove.
Consistency and communication in punishment is far more important, I’ve found, than method. The kid has to know why they’re being punished and what exact action led to it. He needs to know what NOT to do and what he should have done instead.
When you have kids, these things will work themselves out, most likely. You’ll probably also feel like a crappy parent at least once, no matter what you do.
@Automaton_Emotion - Again, well noted advice. As my wife and i begin our journey toward being parents (very soon) I have been soaking in all the advice I can get. many of the family’s in our church have used the spoon method along with things you mention above and these kids are turning out to be great kids. We’re not one of those “rod” needs to be an actual rod with specific dimensions or beat them to learn passages of the bible types fyi.
@MC_Shann - Hehe. I meant physical punishment in general with that.
Being a parent is hard, scary business, but it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences ever conceived. Good luck!
@Automaton_Emotion - ”Conceived”? lol… I get that!
@Automaton_Emotion - obvious that she applied the spoon way too hard.
@MC_Shann - I think you have realized that one must only spank the “seat of learning”.
“Automaton…” goes on in another to say that spanking with the rod should only happen up to the time when one can reason. I agree. Spanking with a rod disassociates the pain from the provider IF THAT PERSON USES IT ONLY TO GAIN THE ATTENTION then follows up with love. We raised our children with spanking, and I tried the rod, but found that I was not able to keep it “measured” with respect, and could not as easily tell how hard I applied the rod. I learned, by my son requesting it, to speak to my children’s reason, as soon as they were able to understand.
I don’t know if this would be considered gossip or not, if so I’m sorry. But I’ve been thinking of posting about this when I first heart it.
Anyway, the Lori Wick mentioned in this article is the same Lori Wick who writes Christian fiction. I just think this ought to be said so that we know what kind of person she is and how she truly feels about children. I imagine that most folks would not want to purchase books written by a child abuser.
@Veronica_Leigh - You should post on it! That’d be interesting to read. Anyway, I do agree with spanking, but two months is WAY to young to spank! Especially with an object. I think at two months, if they do something they’re not supposed to do, tell them “no” over and over, and either lightly smack their hand, or lightly tap their rear, but nothing too hard. When they’re older and deliberately disobey, that’s another matter.
Yes, I do believe iin spanking with objects, but within reason. I was spanked with things other than a hand, as were my siblings. My cousins all were too. My point is that 2 months is just simply too young. At 2 months, they don’t understand right from wrong.