March 5, 2012 issue
Former Western school teacher charged
By Sheldon C. Good Mennonite Weekly ReviewA former teacher at Western Mennonite School in Salem, Ore., was arrested Feb. 14 and faces charges of sexually abusing a 16-year-old female student.
Matthew David Yoder — Photo by newsregister.com
School officials learned of the allegations Feb. 13 and suspended the teacher, Matthew David Yoder, that day. He was terminated Feb. 14.
Yoder, 29, was charged Feb. 15 with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count each of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy and coercion. All the charges are Class C felonies.
Most of the alleged abuse, which began in summer 2010 and continued through fall 2011, took place at Yoder’s residence in McMinnville, police said.
Yoder was in his fourth year of teaching social studies at Western.
On Feb. 13, officials at the school, which serves 237 students in grades six through 12, notified the Oregon Department of Human Services, which then notified the police of the accusations from the student.
The school sent an email to parents, donors and alumni Feb. 14.
“Many people are hurting because of this situation, and we would request your prayers for everyone involved,” the email said.
Many students learned of the situation and of Yoder’s termination at a special chapel Feb. 15.
“We showed a paper with a dozen of so faces that show emotions, trying to get students to think of their emotions,” said principal Darrel Camp. “Students were angry and surprised. We’re beginning to start restoration and healing.”
He said the students will have continuing support and counseling as needed.
“We need to be flexible and meet the needs of the kids as they work through this,” Camp said.
Yoder was freed after posting $5,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was held Feb. 22.
Comments
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Sheldon, At this point, these are allegations only, yet you chose to give this full MWR publicity. Today, Debra Bender posted OR law regarding the sex crimes Yoder is accused of. For some reason you deleted them which I do not understand. In my opinion, those OR statues should be made available to MWR readers as to the seriousness of sexual crimes. In no way was this offensive to me but rather she was performing a public service. Therefore, I am requesting that you restore her posting immediately. If you no longer have it, let me know and I will send it to you to restore as she submitted it. Thank you.
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Dale, the post that we deleted gave detailed legal definitions of the charges against Yoder. These details included sexual references that are not necessary to understanding the charges or to recognizing their seriousness. Those who desire definitions of these terms can find them elsewhere.
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Nice to see Debra and Dale in agreement.
Prayers for WMS and all those hurting as a result of this...
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I agree with Dale that Debra, in posting OR law, "was performing a public service."
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Sheldon, are you kidding me? The citation of Oregon law, the veracity of which you do not question, is considered inappropriate for dialogue because its sexual content might make readers cringe. Yet holocaust denial, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and general anti-Semitism have a protected place in our dialogue.
In what way do such lies and perversions, whose very existence is designed for racial incitement, stoking of racial prejudice, and obfuscation of truth, enhance our ability to dialogue more than the direct citation of Oregon law, which Matthew Yoder is accused of offending? Your sense of priorities is baffling. Please consider me an ex-subscriber to this tripe.
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Joseph P, thank you for your complimentary recognition that Dale and I are adults who can agree to disagree and even agree sometimes. Were that only possible for us all.
Sheldon, I'll take you at your word that the Oregon statutes were unnecessarily detailed for the naive, innocent, easily offended readers of this forum. For those interested, Google the specific charge with the word "Oregon" added and you can find the entire statute.
Personally, I think incidents such as this and the LMS situation are only the beginning of an ugly, huge scab about to be ripped off the Mennonite community, a scab which has covered a multitude of violent sins for years, a scab which may well be the end of the Mennonite church as we know it. We all know. Please stop pretending we don't.
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Right on Debra. But if we pretend we don't know it exists, well then it doesn't and will just go away, won't it? That's called denial and Mennonites are masters of that. Some people really need to seriously grow up.
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There is ONE ADULT in this situation. He is a 29-year-old man who is responsible for his own actions.
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Two comments speculating on the facts of a criminal investigation of alleged sexual abuse of a minor have been deleted.
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The operative word is ALLEGED. How Mennonite of you!!! Really!!!
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"Jake and Emma": "Alleged" is the appropriate word as the facts have not yet been established and Mr. Yoder has not yet been convicted. Be glad you live in a country where accusation alone does no longer establish guilt.
With all the "Mennonite church" bashing going on here apparently noone noticed that the school officials acted with more immediacy and appropriateness to the girl's claims than I have seen in many public school scandals in recent memory.
From what I am reading here: a student came to the faculty with serious claims, the faculty acted immediately to remove the teacher and contacted law enforcement. The very next day he was terminated (which shows that they took the students allegations seriously) and they notified parents. And the day after that he was formally charged. Sounds to me like a perfect example of both the school and the justice system functioning perfectly (in contrast to how most of these stories go of late whether churches are involved or not) and yet still people get out the tarr and feathers.
There may be facts that come out later at his trial which might reflect differently on the school, but for now there is no reason to presume that (at least not that any of us here would be in a position to know).
Instead of bashing the church group involved for what it did right here, perhaps some of you may wish to reflect on how Christ would have you act in the situation. The authorities have the matter in hand, and we are only to pray for both the victim and the accused at this point.
And for the record, I am not a Mennonite, lest anyone think I am rushing to "defend" anyone. As a Christian I find some of the comments here perplexing considering the content of the article.
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Mike, if you read any of the articles in the local newspapers (Google "Matthew Yoder Western Mennonite"), you would know that Yoder early on admitted to the crimes with which he is charged. Given that, I think we can agree we've moved beyond "alleged."
You indicate you're not a Mennonite. Might I respectfully suggest that you have no idea what goes on in Mennonite communities, what is hidden, what is so easily covered up in and by a closed community.
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