When is AA World Services going to stop having meetings without safety guidelines? How many more children have to get molested by AA members for AA World Services does something?
Man molested 3-year-old at Bellingham AA meeting
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD May 9, 2014
A Bellingham man who molested a 3-year-old girl at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting pleaded guilty to second-degree child molestation Thursday, May 8, in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Gilbert Hannah, 66, was attending a meeting in January 2013 when he went into a nearby room where the 3-year-old and a 9-year-old girl were playing alone, according to court documents. NA Daytona Beach NA and AA Meetings in Holly Hill Parks.
After the meeting, the older girl told her grandmother that a man had come into the room and put his hand down the younger girl’s tights. The older girl said she didn’t say anything when it was happening because she was scared the man would do the same thing to her, according to court documents. Florida SOS, Life Ring, Women for Sobriety Meetings.
Relatives called police and decided to continue attending meetings to see if they could find a man who fit the description the older girl gave to police. The younger girl, who had recently turned 3, was unable to talk about what happened.
After some time, the girls’ relatives were able to figure out that Hannah likely was the one who molested the girl. Bellingham Police officers interviewed Hannah Feb. 14, and he admitted that he had been at the meeting and gone in the room where the girls were playing but initially said he didn’t remember putting his hand down the girl’s tights.
He later admitted that he did but said it was an accident. He was arrested for child molestation about a week later. NA Florida Region Orlando Meetings.
Hannah could serve 20 months in prison for the charge, though the Department of Corrections will have to complete a pre-sentencing investigation before he is sentenced.
Reach Zoe Fraley at zoe.fraley@bellinghamherald.com or 360-756-2803. Read the Dispatcher Blog atbellinghamherald.com/dispatcher-blog or get updates on Twitter at @bhamcrime.