LegalReported
Oregon abuse suit against Watchtower takes an unusual route: federal trafficking law
Meleah Thompson says she was abused as a child by men connected to her Oregon congregation in the early 1990s and that elders, told of it, invoked the two-witness rule and expelled her instead. Her suit, filed 20 July 2026, argues the coerced sexual acts were 'services' under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and that Watchtower knowingly benefited from concealing them. The allegations are unproven and no defendant had responded on the docket as of 24 July.