“Because I knew how hard I worked, I knew the pain, I knew the sacrifice, I knew the tears, I knew everything. Despite everything, I stuck to it. I toughed it out, and I kept my head in the game, even when the odds were against me.” Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Note: This post is graphic in a few places. It is necessary to understand the seriousness of what occurred in Leanne’s life. Also, at the request of Leanne, I am using Dural Ragsdale’s preferred moniker *Uncle Raggy.* It kind of gives you an idea of what we are dealing with here.
This is one of the most important stories I’ve ever written. Why? Leanne is the face of all victims who have bucked the system for years to bring their abusers to justice.
In March 2019, TWW posted Decades Later, Leanne Kay Confronted Her Abuser and Recorded the Remarkable Conversation.
Here is an excerpt:
When LeAnne was 10 years old, in 1974-1975, Dural R. “Raggy” Ragsdale became the youth minister at Iuka United Methodist Church in Iuka, Mississippi. For a period of time, he lived in LeAnne’s home and proceeded to allegedly molest her between 15-20 times.
After that time, he continued to serve as a Methodist minister in Mississippi for 30 years. He also was the Director of the Wesley Foundation at Mississippi State University. Then, a few years ago, he was forced to leave his position at Porter’s Chapel UMC when he was unwilling to give up his YouTube channel where he is known as *Uncle Raggy.* At the end of this post, I’m going to ask your opinion on this YouTube channel by having you watch two episodes.
Apparently, the Statute of Limitations in Mississippi does not apply in this instance and more will be forthcoming in another post.
The Telephone Call: Must Hear
On 12/6/2002 LeAnne got up the courage to confront her alleged molester by telephone. (This is about 27 years later.) She was able to legally record the conversation since Mississippi is a one party consent state.This is a remarkable phone call. LeAnne got up the courage to confront Raggy and he actually confesses to what he did to her. LeAnne stays strong in the call, often telling Raggy to stop talking and listen to her.
In my 10 years of blogging, I’ve never encountered such a clear recording between an alleged abuser and his incredibly brave victim.
Please take the time to listen. I promise you will not regret it. I’ve also attached a transcript of the call at the end of the post.
The most incredible part of this post was the recording of Leanne confronting her abuser. If you haven’t heard this recording, please do so. Since the call was made in Mississippi to another Mississippi number, it is mega; since Mississippi is a one-party consent state.
LeAnne’s call to Raggy
The rest of the story.
I had never posted audio of a private conversation before and was a bit hesitant. However, the conversation is remarkable. Leanne doesn’t let Raggy get away with anything.
Why don’t the YouTube links to Uncle Raggy’s *ukulele lessons* work?
Raggy had a rather odd YouTube Channel. Leanne has copies of everything that was removed, presumable by Raggy himself. Some of us found the videos disturbing and wondered if these were really about ukulele lessons or something more…My guess is that *something more* is the answer. Otherwise, why would a man rush home after his supposed suicide attempt and delete them?
Raggy’s *failed* suicide attempt
Shortly after this was posted, we found out that Raggy had allegedly attempted suicide via a car in a garage and carbon monoxide. He landed in an ICU. Needless to say, this action was a bit disconcerting to me. However, a short time later, Raggy was released. He was well enough to begin deleting all of the YouTube videos. Leanne was way too smart for this Methodist pastor/ukulele player and made sure she had downloaded evidence of all of them.
During this entire time, Leanne, with the help of Mark Belenchia of SNAP, continued to push the DA and AG in Mississippi to go after this guy since the SOL in Mississippi allowed them to do so. Apparently, the posting of the audio was helpful in this regard since it meant the story was getting out there.
Raggy told the Clarion Ledger that, in fact, when Leanne was 10 years old, she molested him!!
According to Sarah Fowler of the Ledger:
The Clarion Ledger also reached out to the man Kay said abused her. He has not been charged with any crime relating to the accusations and is not being named in this story.
Now 71, he denies the allegations but acknowledges something happened “one time,” though he describes that one time as both an accident and the actions of a “curious” child.
In talking with the Clarion Ledger, parts of his story kept changing. Some details he provided from that time matched Kay’s, nearly word for word.
“I can’t prove I didn’t, but I didn’t,” he said. “There’s no Bill Clinton dress that I did but, god, what a horrible thing to have to say or reference.”
Then, he threw a grenade, claiming that Leanne actually did it to him because she was a *curious* child.(He said), “it only happened once,” before offering an initial description of the events.
“I woke up with the feeling of warm breath in my very private area because that will wake you up and, when I woke up, I realized that she had her head down there and there did not appear to be anything happening but I could feel the breath,” he said.
“So I reached down and got both of her shoulders and I lifted her to eye level and I said, ‘LeAnne, you know, that can’t be done. You can’t do that, we can’t do that but when you get a little older, like 17, 18, whatever, you’re going to start dating and you’ll find a guy —you guys might do that and you’ll have a lot of fun with it and enjoy it but that’s not something we can do.”
He first said it may have happened on “accident.” Then, he said, it may have happened because the child was “curious.”
While he initially denied intimate physical contact, as he talked, he said it was possible his penis was in the child’s mouth that night.
“It’s a possibility that it may have touched her mouth, I can’t deny that,” he said. The child also may have touched his penis, he said, but he does not remember.
“It could have happened, that’s the thing,” he said. “I’m not saying she’s lying…I’m not calling her a liar
Dealing with the authorities in Mississippi
Leanne and Mark were like bulldogs. Leanne had collected reams of information about Raggy and pursued the authorities until, after months and months of contacts, by phone, emails, and showing up in their offices, the authorities decided to bring this to the grand jury.
The grand jury voted to have Raggy arrested in order to stand trial for the molestation of Leanne when she was. 10 years old. Leanne’s years of seeking to bring this man to justice have succeeded.
Leanne’s remarkable achievement is getting recognized by the media.
Sarah Fowler of the Clarion Ledger posted 45 years later, ‘Uncle Raggy,’ ex-youth minister, indicted in sexual abuse case.
David Boroff of the NY Daily Post: Former youth minister in Mississippi known as ‘Uncle Raggy’ accused of fondling child 45 years ago
Accuser LeAnne Kay, who testified before the grand jury, told the newspaper she feels “empowered” by the arrest.
“There are so many times I felt like there were too many hurdles to get there, at each juncture when I felt like I couldn’t, I had to give up, God would just open a door and send me a reassurance that I needed to keep going, that it’s too important,” she told the Clarion
Jimmy McCloskey of Metro UK: ‘Pedophile YouTuber Uncle Raggy, 71, claimed “curious” girl, 10, forced herself on him’
Ragsdale, of Clarion in Mississippi, was charged with felony fondling on Monday, but offered an astonishing excuse for his behavior when confronted by a newspaper back in April. Recalling the incident, Ragsdale, who shot to popularity sharing videos of himself playing the ukulele, said: ‘I woke up with the feeling of warm breath in my very private area because that will wake you up and, when I woke up, I realized that she had her head down there and there did not appear to be anything happening but I could feel the breath. ‘So I reached down and got both of her shoulders and I lifted her to eye level and I said, “LeAnne, you know, that can’t be done.
The New York Times, via Associated Press, posted Mississippi Minister Accused of Abusing Girl 45 Years Ago
District Attorney John Weddle says in the indictment that the abuse happened sometime between 1974 and 1975, when Ragsdale was a youth minister at Iuka United Methodist Church.
Ragsdale previously denied to the paper that he abused the girl, while describing sexual contact he said happened “one time” because of a “curious” child. He named her, and the paper said key details of their stories matched up. The woman, now in her 50s and living in West Virginia, said she tried to press charges for years.
Leanne’s story is a message of hope to childhood victims of abuse in Mississippi and helps advocates to see why their support is so needed. Hat’s off to Mark Belenchia of SNAP.
Victims from around the state are contacting Leanne. Her remarkable story helps others to see how it can be done. Her persistence is the key to this story. Mark, Leanne and I have been texting back and forth over the many months since she contacted me.
I want to take a minute to give a special shout-out to Mark Belenchia of SNAP who has been with Leanne every step of the way. Her fight became his fight and his dogged determination was a kept factor in keeping this ball rolling.
Where was the Methodist Church in all of this?
I’m going to make this the subject of another post. I can truthfully say that the hierarchy has been less than forthcoming. Raggy had to step down from his position prior to this story coming out. He was allegedly told to either give up his YouTube *ukulele* lessons or his position as pastor. he chose the latter.
When I first posted this story, I attempted. to contact some of the folks in the hierarchy with dismal results. But, more on that in the coming post.
Finally…
I am so glad that I posted the audio of that phone call. Wade Burleson contacted me and said it was noteworthy. I have to agree. I have yet to hear any other audio in which a victim confronts her abuser decades later, one on one, and records it. Leanne is a rare individual. She persevered when she kept getting stonewalled by the authorities and I thank God for her. She has been a role model to me in how to keep on going when it gets hard. 45 years later, she won! That is pretty darn incredible.
I believe it was Rachel Denhollander Kyle Howard who said to her abuser, Larry Nasser, “You forgot that little girls grow up.” Uncle Raggy picked one little girl who grew up and pursued justice for 45 years! I am in awe!
I remember reading about this previously. I am glad something is finally happening!
Glad to see this finally happening and will be praying. You know clergy sexual abuse is a huge problem when there are now attorney ads on TV as there are in California.
I think it was Kyle Stevens who said the quote at the end.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/sexual-abuse-survivors-confront-former-usa-gymnastics-doctor-little-girls-dont-stay-little-girls-forever
Meant to say ads targeting victims of clergy sexual abuse by attorneys.
Ham Sandwich,
Thank you. I will correct it.
Karma and her sister Comeuppance finally caught up with uncle raggy huh?
I swear them two are like terminators from the future.
The Clarion’s second article didn’t have any information if the UMC was or was not questioned. I would’ve thought the Clarion would be asking questions of the UMC, since Uncle Raggy was doing this on their watch. His was a 24 hour vocation.
But, I am doing virtual cartwheels to celebrate his arrest. 🙂
Yes, the UMC should be questioned. Ideally they should launch an independent investigation.
From what I know of the era when Uncle Raggy started his “ministry,” though, church folks and society as a whole were even more blind to abuse than they are today. If anyone detected hints of abuse, they might have handled it entirely among adults, behind closed doors, with no records kept and without involving victims before, during, or after. So my wild guess would be that the evidence would be based on memories rather than written documentation.
i’m struck with the sherrif’s photograph of him (in orange garb).
the emotional confusion of it. an elderly man, maybe bewildered & confused, whose body is breaking down, being subjected to this harsh, cruel indignity.
people take on a kind of sweet, gentle innocence in their later years. their persona becomes removed from what’s in their past. they become objects of sympathy.
however, they are just as accountable now as when they were a virile younger person.
the crime of a 25-year old man who raped and molested a child is the exact same crime when that man reaches 71.
he is that man, the same man. regardless of any noble & healthy personal transformation that may or may not have taken place over the years.
elastigirl,
I completely agree. The ONLY time I could see forgoing some sort of punishment is if they are suffering from mental decline and don’t have the capacity to understand what is going on and why. In which case they’d (hopefully) already be under some sort of controlled living environment.
He definitely still understands, regardless of his image.
I say that as someone who long ago did some graduate psychology work at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, one of the last active Kirkbride model hospitals in the nation. (The whole Kirkbride plan is fascinating, but also the inspiration for Arkham Asylum and every gothic mental institution you have ever seen in media.)
Magistos,
“I say that as someone who long ago did some graduate psychology work at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, one of the last active Kirkbride model hospitals in the nation. (The whole Kirkbride plan is fascinating, but also the inspiration for Arkham Asylum and every gothic mental institution you have ever seen in media.)”
+++++++++++
well, Arkham Asylum’s the only thing i understood, there. Long live Batman!
elastigirl,
Sexual abusers are one of the groups that continue to RE-offend as they get older. I had an 80-year old distant cousin who was in a half-way house. He had only been there six months before he was rearrested in sex abuse charges with a neighbor boy (age 10). The cousin pled guilty and went back to jail.
And let’s not forget poor old Renfield in Carfax Abbey.
Magistos,
Are you a psychiatrist or licensed counselor?
Dee had mentioned in the last two months or so that some of these potential predators actually are aware of what they are considering doing is wrong and are able to take medication to dampen their interest. How many active and yet to be active are able to do this?
If spending time in prison isn’t able to stop them regardless of age…
(Hit a mental brick wall.)
(Open thought.)
Once a person is “born again”, some start listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit soon thereafter. Some can take years. But you will see a change over time, even with the occasional back slide. If a predator, over the years keeps molesting children, but claims to have accepted Christ as his Savior, is he truly saved? Only God knows.
That is God’s decision, but a molester can jolly well lose all earthly freedom for a good long time.
Muff Potter,
“Renfield in Carfax Abbey”
++++++++++++++++
ok, i have to admit i had to look those words up. but of course– Dracula!
FF Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula was quite the spectacle. i loved it way back when. time to see it again. along with the original Bladerunner.
Listening to his words on that recording was sickening. Yes, he understands.
“In ‘that day’ many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we preach in your name … and do many great things in your name?’ Then I shall tell them plainly, ‘I have never known you. Go away from me, you have worked on the side of evil!’” (Matthew 7)
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18)
Jesus is both Savior and Judge. Not everyone who claims to be saved is saved. Pulpits and pews are full of such folks. You will know them by their fruit.
This is a well travelled road in this forum.
Our old buddy “sin leveling”.
All of us sin so who are we to judge?
This is the Achilles heel of the message of redemption. That my taking 11 items through the “10 items or less” checkout line bars me from making any “judgment” on these monsters.
God hasn’t done much to stop it and it’s happening to people who ostensibly worship him by other people who ostensibly worship him.
So it’s up to us.
If there is a God then he can do what he wants but if redemption for such heinous crimes is aquired so easily then his justice is a sham and so is his church.
The justice of the state may be the only justice these victims see.
Personally, in my opinion, only the victims have any right to broach the subject of forgiveness.
Otherwise I’ll move my shopping cart over and save them a place in heck.
“Be sure your sin will find you out.” (God)
Jack,
Sadly beautiful points. I was talking with a sister whose FIL abused her son. It has grown even more difficult since he was released from prison, and, supposedly due to multiple health issues, couldn’t find any place that would take him. Seems nobody wants ailing, unrepentant old pedophiles. So his wife took him back in to care for him. And, since she is getting on in age, she asks her family to help; including the father of the child he abused.
TBH, I don’t think the wife, or any of his children, should feel compelled to ever do a dang thing for that monster, who admitted that he had been abusing children even before his marriage. Oh, did I mention he was a pastor for 30 years? And that he never repented, even in words, for, or to, his who-knows-how-many victims? My sister only belatedly recalled another pastor once telling her, years ago, ‘Never leave your children alone with that man’ which she didn’t know what to do with at the time. We naive ‘believers’ often can’t imagine what such words really mean.
IMO, his wife should have divorced him long ago, and never had anything to do with him again, giving her love and support to the family members he violated. (Which are probably more than is known.) But her understanding of sin and forgiveness has been twisted by faulty church teachings. She believes ’till death do us part’ and ‘forgiveness’ applies even if you are married to an abusive, unrepentant sociopath. Oh well, nobody’s perfect; sometimes I barely pause at deserted stop signs in the middle of nowhere.
The way I see it, even God does not forgive people who are wicked and unrepentant. The requirement for forgiveness of sin is that man recognize, confess and give up his sin, not just throw out the expected, ‘I’m sorry [I was caught]’ and do it again. And no, I don’t think all ‘sin’ is alike, or that all we call ‘sin’ is what makes God angry enough to threaten ominous punishment. The way I heard it, the law was nailed to a tree, and God justly views men’s hearts.
And I don’t think God requires us to be more gracious than he is. Monstrous people who hurt and cruelly use others, leaving them with scars for life, are not deserving of our forgiveness or compassion. Let the state do what the state has taken upon itself to do for those who are helpless. Maybe make a few phone calls to make sure the state replaces his jail cell with some other cage, but that’s the most I would ever do for that wretched man or any like him.
Somehow, I don’t think by ‘Love your enemies’ God meant to aid and abet wicked abusers of innocent children, even take them back into your homes and lives. I refuse to be conned into being more ‘loving’ than God. From what I hear, he supposedly has some pretty tough rewards lined up for wicked men; yet the church expects us to just smile and overlook their evil ways, cause, ‘God hates divorce’ ya know.
I no longer believe in a god that cares more about institutions than people. The church can have that one. I think the true God cares more about the people in a marriage – or a home or a church – more than he cares about preserving the image of the institution.
Jesus came to redeem and work through individuals, not institutions. The institution we call “church” is OK if it is reaching lost folks for Christ, equipping them to do the work of the ministry with their unique spiritual giftings, and then engaging them in the Great Commission together. Anything less than that is doing church without God. Much of what we call church is not the Church.
Jack,
“God hasn’t done much to stop it and it’s happening to people who ostensibly worship him by other people who ostensibly worship him.
So it’s up to us.”
+++++++++++++++++++
i think of it as personal responsibility.
(ie, throwing away your own trash, holding the door for a stranger who is carrying a heavy load, when a stranger trips and falls you help them up,…
…when a post office clerk gaslights an elderly customer at the counter who is confused [as the post office clerk intended] you intervene, come to their aid and facilitate the conversation and look the clerk dead straight in his eyes and say “stop gaslighting your customers” [as i wish i had done some years ago while waiting in line])
—————————-
“If there is a God then he can do what he wants but if redemption for such heinous crimes is aquired so easily then his justice is a sham and so is his church.”
+++++++++++++++
i don’t think redemption means elimination of consequences and an escape from justice served, on any plane including God’s plane. i think it means relationship restored (perhaps with boundaries) — oneself to oneself, person to person, person to group, person to God.
UNCA RAGGY FINALLY GOT JUGGED?
(Only took 45 YEARS…)
Again, AFTER 45 YEARS?
I’M NEARING RETIREMENT AGE, AND UNCA RAGGY WAS DOING LESTER THE MOLESTER AROUND THE TIME I WAS GETTING OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL! He got to sate the Urrges in his Arreas for that long, and gets busted just in time to get a free retirement.
The sequel Bladerunner 2049 is pretty dang good too (my opinion).
Safeguard the helpless.
Now you know what it means to be a Knight, even if you’ve betimes forgotten the face of your father…
Arise elastigirl, and be the Knight you are…
The fops and dandies will fade and be no more…
But not you, not you…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1EuLz9Fes
Jack,
Well put Jack.
Well said.
I no longer believe it’s as cut and dried as we’ve been told and preached at repeatedly.
Muff Potter,
…deeply encouraging.
so, among other examples, sort of like aspiring to the image of Joan d’arc (googling leelee sobieski joan of arc) —- as would befit all boys and girls, men and women.
(boudicca’s pretty inspiring, too.)
i wasn’t familiar with the movie you linked to. before i watch, how much gore, torture, brutality, etc?
Headless Unicorn Guy,
P.S. The timing reminds me of a villain soliloquy of the main bad guy in a long-ago stick-figure online comic in a heroic fantasy setting. As the Bad Guy/Evil Overlord put it (making a lot of sense), “Sure, the last ten minutes of my life won’t be that great, But Hey, It’ll come after enjoying a 45-year Unbroken Winning Streak!”
Yep, payday someday.
P.P.S. “Uncle Raggy” still sounds like the name of a sleazy kid’s show host from a Saturday Night Live parody.
And don’t forget his soundproofed studio with blackout curtains on all the windows. (Not to mention the spooky decor.) To paraphrase Alien:
“In Unca Raggy’s Studio
no one can hear you Scream”.
No more than is necessary given the time in human history (the crusades).
Ridley Scott is a good story teller, I have yet to see him use blood and violence in a gratuitous way, like others who lack talent as a story teller.
elastigirl,
“i don’t think redemption means elimination of consequences and an escape from justice served, on any plane including God’s plane. i think it means relationship restored (perhaps with boundaries) — oneself to oneself, person to person, person to group, person to God.”
+++++++++++++++
let me clarify: quieting the urge to rip one’s abuser to shreds is a fine and sufficient boundary.
This is hard for a lot of people to accept, but yes.
I think it’s only hard for those who’ve boughten into the doctrine that you (generic you) can never be ‘good enough’ for God, and so you must be micro-managed by God in order for ‘good’ to prevail.
Psalm 8 is at odds with this mindset.
Comet strikes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and just plain old aging and death are beyond our pay grade to fix, grant it.
But the rest of the stuff in the vast array of human suffering is within our power to stop, Jack is right.
I looked up Kirkbride Plan on Wikipedia and the first paragraph says the hospitals had in common a “bat wing” floor plan. I think Gotham City having problems with a mental institution was pretty much inevitable at that point.
Though from what I’ve seen, Ridley Scott is best at “mood pieces” where he sets the mood and “feel” of a scene or sequence. I’m most familiar with his F&SF work such as Alien and Blade Runner (and Legend, where he went waaaaay too overboard on the mood thing).
One of my friends was repeatedly abused by a Methodist minister at a Christian orphanage here in the Triad. She was 11 at the time. She was not his only victim. She never reported it, because she knew she wouldn’t be believed. Back then, orphans were radically vulnerable — considered second-class citizens, treated paternalistically. My friend was essentially helpless. The minister got off scot-free. He went on to enjoy a cushy, prominent career as a respected clergyman in local clerical circles.
elastigirl,
“let me clarify: quieting the urge to rip one’s abuser to shreds is a fine and sufficient boundary.”
+++++++++++++++
sorry… i’m getting things all mixed up.
quieting the urge to rip one’s abuser to shreds is redemption enough for said abuser.
There has been times in the past that TWW was criticized for focusing so much on just the SBC. I think it is important that this creepo was associated with the Methodist, it happened years ago, and even the name “Uncle Raggy” is creepy… Lack of “discernment” know no flavor of Christianity!
Indulging the Urrrges in his Arrreas with other 11-year-olds?
“I THANK THEE, LOOOOOOOOORD, THAT I AM NOTHING LIKE THOSE FILTHY ROMISH PEDO-PRIESTS OVER THERE…”
Judgment and consequences are hardly ruled out in Scripture for those who profess repentance. The role of civil authorities in dispensing justice is also affirmed. Yet we see proof-texters and improvisers with agendas that suspend judgment and consequences, determine “seasons” of in-house ‘mistakes were made’ navel-gazing, and get out of consequences free cards to cronies and friends of cronies.
Those are tell-tale marks for those who opt out of following the faith in such matters, ignoring that Scripture is replete with the need for real repentance, repayment where applicable (think Zaccheus and think David’s proclamation before he was confronted with his sin), and the reality of consequences – conspicuously in the here and now — for actions, even if tempered with mercy.
Are his creepy ukulele videos still available?
Can’t find it in the wilderness of YouTube, but there was an even older and creepier sex offender (who looked like he should be in a remake of Phantasm) who ended up busted for parole violation when his YouTube channel “The Singing Sex Offender” (with him lip-syncing covers) got reported to the cops.
I was always running into it on one of those “top 10 youtubers who got arrested” countdowns, now I can’t find any reference at all. (Though a “Florida Man Arrested For Having Sex With Stuffed ‘Olaf’ Doll At Target” DID pop up on one of my attempts just now. The Crazy is Strong in this one, Padawan.)