Thoughts on the Ripples Between Individual and Organizational Abuse

CW: Sex Abuse, Sex Offenders, Organizational Enabling

So, Amish Facebook and TikTok have been in an uproar since late last week, so much of an uproar that I have heard about – even though I am not Amish and I am not on Facebook or TikTok. The uproar centers around one individual, Mahlon Miller of Kentucky, and two organizations – well men that represent those two organizations, Eli Yoder of Amish Rescue Mission and Joe Keim of Mission to Amish People.

You might ask how I know that Mahlon Miller, whom I have never met, is from Kentucky. Well, you see, Mahlon Miller is a registered sex offender, after having been convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree. In Kentucky, someone can be convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree for the following reasons: (this is a screen shot of the offense code description)

Now, Mahlon Miller is currently 25 (birth dates are included in the sex offender registry), and, according to his testimony at the 2023 Step Out of Boat Conference, he first went to jail when he was 18, so part C of this code does not apply. He either used force or he sexually abused someone under 12 or mentally incapacitated…or he was in a position of authority when he committed the abuse. Well, Mahlon Miller stated in a video posted to Facebook that he had molested young girls. (A brief snippet of that video can be found at https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRvQXTbL.) This suggests that the GIRLS (plural) were either less than 12 or he encountered them while in a position of authority (such as by being a teacher in an Amish school).

So, Mahlon Miller is a registered sex offender, and admitted in a video posted to social media that he had molested young girls and that he was “physical” with his father on more than one occasion, because he always wanted his own way. Mahlon Miller has a history of abuse. This is undeniable fact. However, the ripples caused by this one individual’s abusive behaviors have now reached Amish Rescue Mission and Eli Yoder. You see, that brief snippet on TikTok shows Mahlon Miller explaining all of this to Eli Yoder of Amish Rescue Mission. And, late last week, the fact that Amish Rescue Mission was knowingly allowing a registered sex offender to volunteer for their organization became clear.

Eli Yoder is currently claiming that Mahlon Miller never spoke to survivors of abuse, that he was speaking only to perpetrators who called. That might be true. However, Mahlon Miller also coordinated a gift fundraiser for survivors, so, in theory, he also knew something about the survivors who were calling.

As it became clear that Mahlon Miller was a registered sex offender, the “rescues” (i.e., survivors who took steps and worked hard to overcome the abuse they experienced) were violated all over again, this time by the organization that they believed was offering them support, in Mahlon Miller’s own words, the only family these young people have. These survivors are now realizing that Amish Rescue Mission placed the comfort, wishes, and efforts of a man with a history of abuse – a man who only satisfied probation (with a second stint in jail for violating his probation once) in May of 2022 – over the comfort, support, and needs of survivors. Organizations focused on helping survivors should not have a registered sex offender volunteering for them, regardless of how repentant that sex offender may be. It is an utter violation of the trust that survivors are placing in an organization.

Further, Eli Yoder is claiming that Mahlon Miller never spoke with survivors on their hotline…he only spoke with perpetrators. Well, is Mahlon Miller trained in sex offender recovery programs? Has he received any training at all in how to facilitate rehabilitation? Or is he just a guy telling another (probably) guy “hey, I did that too” And, since mandated reporting supersedes any type of confidentiality, did Mahlon Miller then call ChildLine and report any child abuse these perpetrators admitted to committing? Come to think of it, are the volunteers at Amish Rescue Mission legally covered when they offer confidentiality to the people calling them? I know their website has a terms of use page (https://amishrescuemission.org/?page_id=721) that says law enforcement and government cannot use information on their page, but do they honestly believe that one of their volunteers could not be served with a subpoena in a court case and be legally obligated (unless they are willing to be found in contempt of court) to talk about what they were told by survivors? Advocates for the recognized sexual and domestic violence organizations are legally protected in offering confidentiality – unless it is about child abuse. Does Amish Rescue Mission have that same legal protection? 

So, did Mahlon Miller follow mandated reporting rules when he spoke to perpetrators? Did the organization follow those rules when they spoke to anyone? And, are the volunteers aware of any limits on confidentiality that may exist? How are the survivors receiving support, now that they realize this organization has opened its metaphorical arms up to a registered sex offender? All of these ripples are going from Mahlon Miller to Amish Rescue Mission, and from Amish Rescue Mission to the survivors and (non-registered-sex-offender) volunteers who did not realize what was happening.

The fact that Mahlon Miller, a registered sex offender, was volunteering for Amish Rescue Mission was enough. But, we have that second organization, that second set of ripples, because Mahlon Miller spoke on Friday (March 24) at the 2023 Step Out of The Boat Conference in Ohio. That conference is organized by Mission to Amish People and Joe Keim is the one I hear is being the most vocal about the fact that it was a great idea to have Mahlon Miller speak.

Mahlon and Marie Miller were scheduled for one of the 20-minute testimony slots at the conference, which was held at Bethel Church in Ohio this weekend. Before the YouTube video was made private sometime today (Sunday, March 26, 2023), I listened to Mahlon Miller speak. I’m honestly not sure why Marie Miller was listed as a speaker. Although she stood on the stage by her newlywed husband (they married in September 2022 after a 3-month courtship), she did not say anything. I was wondering how the attendees might respond to a testimony similar to the one on Facebook, one that indicated Mahlon Miller had molested young girls. I was especially curious about how that might work, because as a registered sex offender Mahlon Miller cannot be within a certain distance of any children who are not his own, and this conference had a nursery and a children’s ministry, as well as “fun time” where attendees could interact. I sincerely hope that Mahlon Miller did not violate the terms of his offender registration.

But, in listening to his testimony, there was no mention of what he had already shared through Facebook. He spoke of pornography; he spoke of being arrested at 18, of being saved during his year in jail, of being released and going back to his Amish community to honor his father and mother, of violating his parole because of “the Amish rules,” going back to jail, and then being released. He never speaks of the charges or the fact that his probation might be over, but his time on the registry is not. In fact, the closest he comes to his Facebook testimony is saying that he is no longer bound by “pornography, sin, dark sin.” It is only because I’m currently analyzing data about the ways in which the Amish discuss child sexual abuse that I caught that – because one of the terms used for child sexual abuse is the sin of darkness. How many of the attendees would know that?

The one that came the closest to revealing the truth of Mahlon Miller’s testimony is actually Joe Keim, who closed the morning’s session by revealing Mahlon Miller was a felon because of something sexual. He then released everyone to the mid-day meal and the morning video ended. That video, though, is now private; I don’t think Joe Keim completely understood the problems with having a registered sex offender cross state lines to speak at a conference with the potential for a number of children to be present. I’m pretty sure he is being made aware of those problems and, rather than reflecting on what survivors are telling him, he’s doubling down on how wonderful and courageous Mahlon Miller is.

Mahlon Miller, by the way, may be a wonderful, courageous, repentant man. However, he gave a carefully edited testimony of his life, designed to get the conservative Protestant Christians clapping over the “reformed Amish felon” who saw the error of his ways – not only is he free of pornography, he has converted from the Amish to another denomination, likely a Protestant one. It amazes me when I know that organizations like Amish Rescue Mission criticize ex-Amish people speaking out against abuse by saying that talking about abuse must mean they hate all Amish, but those same organizations lap it up when someone speaks in pretty critical terms of their Amish background to explain why they converted. It’s almost like speaking out against abuse is not acceptable to Amish Rescue Mission – even though their professed mission is to give a voice to Amish survivors. Is that voice only for Amish survivors who are willing to convert to a Protestant denomination? Surely not…

But, back to those ripples…because Mission to Amish People, namely Joe Keim, clearly know Mahlon Miller’s testimony; they likely know his testimony to Eli Yoder that was published to Facebook. Upon considering the implications of having a man who was been off probation for a sex crime for less than a year cross from Kentucky, where his sex offender registration is listed, into Ohio to speak at a conference at which children were likely to be, Joe Keim decided it would be a good idea to do so. The word is spreading that Mahlon Miller is a registered sex offender. How betrayed will those attendees feel when they find out the truth? Especially if the self-identified rebel Mahlon Miller spent time at any of the “family fun” events where children were likely to be? If Mahlon Miller, secure in the fact that he just knows God will keep him from “dark sin,” decided it likely wouldn’t hurt anything if he violated the terms of that registration status and was in the presence of young girls. I can say – after speaking to my conservative Protestant father – that there would be a deep sense of betrayal if attendees had found out that one of the speakers around their daughters had been a registered sex offender.

And, this is the ripple between Mission to Amish People, Mahlon Miller, and the attendees of the conference. This is even potentially why the video of this portion of the conference is now private. It doesn’t really matter if Mahlon Miller is redeemed or not. It doesn’t really matter if Mahlon Miller is free from dark sin or not. By choosing to carefully edit and hide what Mahlon Miller had already been ready to admit, Joe Keim has betrayed those people who attended the conference. He has potentially also created a situation in which Mahlon Miller could have violated the terms of his registration. He chose to put the reputation of his organization, the safety of his speaker, and the integrity of his attendees on the line, because he wanted to present the “amazing conversion” of the “reformed Amish felon.”

The abuser is always responsible for the abuse. But organizations that supposedly support survivors are often complicit when they choose to look the other way for certain abusers. They decide that their beliefs about the abuser are more important than what the survivors may experience. I can hope that Mahlon Miller truly is repentant and reformed. But, Mahlon Miller, Eli Yoder, and Joe Keim have all centered the experiences of the abuser – Mahlon Miller – over the support of survivors everywhere. Maybe Joe Keim is OK with that – his mission is discipleship to the Amish, not concern for survivors – but Eli Yoder should not be OK with it. Joe Keim, though, needs to consider what it means for his ability to provide discipleship that Mahlon Miller has already given a far more “step out of the boat” testimony about molesting young girls…and someone helped him carefully edit that to indicate simply that he had been in prison for something and freed himself from pornography. Because that sounds more like a PR stunt than actually allowing Mahlon Miller to give his testimony.