Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, posted “An Open Letter from Christ Church on Steven Sitler” on his blog late Saturday night. Mr. Wilson made his initial point:

When Steven’s sins and crimes first came to light over a decade ago, as the pastor of Christ Church, I immediately encouraged the person who had discovered them to go to the authorities immediately, which was done right away. . . .

Note the repetition: “immediately . . . immediately . . . right away.”

Mr. Wilson posted a similar statement on his blog in 2006, writing,

When this criminal behavior was first discovered, the family of one of the victims came immediately to Douglas Wilson, who encouraged them in their responsibility to turn Steven Sitler into the civil authorities, which they were already intending to do, and immediately did.

Mr. Wilson expressed even greater urgency in 2006, when he sent three different emails to Moscow’s community bulletin board Vision 2020. In these excerpts, note the words “within hours”:

. . . when Steven was caught he was reported to the legal authorities within a matter of hours. . . . As soon as we knew, within hours, the legal authorities knew. (“shamelessness”)

The parents found out, they talked to me, I urged them to report it immediately, which they were already intending to do, and the legal aspect of the whole thing was turned over to the civil authorities within hours of finding out. (“shamelessness”)

When a child molester is discovered, the laws of our community require that it be reported to the appropriate authorities, which is exactly what we did, within hours. (“An Open Letter to Dave Johnson, the Daily News, and Lewiston Tribune”)

He duplicated these Vision 2020 posts on his blog here. And four months later he repeated himself in response to a SPLC critique of his theonomic standard: “Yeah, we covered it up by reporting it within hours” (“Brazenly Lied About”).

Mr. Wilson hopes his readers will believe that when the victims’ father called him for counsel, he (Wilson) immediately urged him to report Sitler to the authorities.

Statement of Victims’ Father in the Sheriff’s Reports
According to the sheriff’s report, the victims’ father discovered Sitler’s molestations a little after 4 PM on March 10, 2005. It states:

[The victims’ father] said that he went home from work early on 03-10-2005, because he was not feeling well. He said that he called the [other victim family] residence at about 1600 hours. . . . [the victims’ father] said that after he talked with [his daughter] he went down stairs and asked Sitler to talk with him. (Sheriff’s Report #2)

Further:

[The victims’ father] said that before he went to bed he called his pastor and got his advice on how to handle the situation. (Sheriff’s Report #2)

Note the words “to get his advice on how to handle the situation,” because the victims’ father’s written statement documents Mr. Wilson’s advice at this moment of crises:

I later called my pastor to get his advice on handling this situation, and I made an appointment to meet on Friday. (Written Statement)

According to this statement, Mr. Wilson did not “immediately encouraged the person who had discovered them to go to the authorities immediately,” and it was not “done right away.” Mr. Wilson made an appointment to see the victims’ parents the next day. Another statement from the victims’ father confirms this fact, adding that they met “after lunch”:

After lunch, [the victims’ mother] my wife, and I met with our pastor. He advised us to report this incident to the authorities right away. (Written Statement)

It was only after they met in Mr. Wilson’s office that Mr. Wilson instructed the victims’ parents to notify the authorities.

[The victims’ father] said that he met with his pastor and his pastor told him he needed to report the abuse to the police. (Sheriff’s Report #2)

In other words, Mr. Wilson waited roughly 15 hours after he learned about Sitler to encourage the victims’ parents to notify the authorities.

Conclusion

1. We may conclude from these facts that Mr. Wilson is untruthful when he claims “I immediately encouraged the person who had discovered them to go to the authorities immediately, which was done right away.”
2. We may conclude that the victims’ father did not report Sitler to the authorities until 20 to 24 hours after Sitler admitted he had been molesting the children. We know that he delayed reporting until he received instructions from Mr. Wilson: “I later called my pastor to get his advice on handling this situation.” Mr. Wilson’s advice that night did not include calling the authorities “immediately.”
3. We may conclude that when Mr. Wilson used the words “within hours” and “asap” he meant within 24 hours, which is not generally understood as “immediate” or as soon as possible.
4. We may conclude that Mr. Wilson has read the sheriff’s reports on the Sitler archive and realized that his story doesn’t match. Hence he commented:
   

   “Sitler was turned in immediately. It has been a decade or so, so I don’t recall if it was that same afternoon or the next day. But it happened asap.” (combox, “The High Mountain Air of Public Calumny”)

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Would an average person permit a known molester to spend the night in the home where the molestations took place?
2. Would an average person delay notifying the authorities until the molester had escaped?
3. What prevented the father of the victims from calling law enforcement as soon as he learned of the molestations?
4. Would a God-fearing pastor instruct the victims’ father to report a molester that very evening to ensure a prompt start to the required legal process?
5. Why was reporting delayed to accommodate the pastor’s wishes?