A former missionary with an Ohio-based ministry has been indicted on federal charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with four different minors in Haiti over multiple years.
Jeriah Mast, 44, of Millersburg, Ohio, was indicted for alleged actions during his multiple visits to Haiti between 2002 and 2019. Mast — who according to authorities admitted to abusing about 30 victims in Haiti and more in Ohio — worked for part of that time for the Millersburg-based Christian Aid Ministries, which coordinates missionary activities for Amish, conservative Mennonite and related groups.
It marks the second court case against Mast, who was sentenced in Holmes County court in 2019 to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two minors in Ohio.
Mast received an early judicial release in October after serving just under six years, according to Ohio’s inmate database. As a condition of his release, he was placed on three years' supervised probation and required to complete an intensive supervision program, including sex-offender specific programming.
Court records indicate that presiding retired Judge Edward Emmett O’Farrell of Tuscarawas County granted Mast’s release based on “an exemplary record” behind bars and “most importantly, the Defendant’s stated and demonstrated remorse for the crimes he committed, and the emotional and psychological pain and suffering he inflicted upon the child victims and their families in this case.”
Mast was arrested on the federal charges on Nov. 5 and formally indicted on Tuesday. He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in Cleveland.
“Crimes against children, like those mentioned in these allegations, are reprehensible," U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio said in a statement. “Such appalling and morally corrupt behavior will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We commend the work of Homeland Security Investigations and the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, whose thorough work led to these federal charges being filed today.”
The charges are based on a U.S. law that prohibits citizens from “traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person,” according to court filings.
The court docket indicates Mast is represented by a public defender, who did not immediately return email and phone messages seeking comment late Wednesday.
The Mast scandal came into public view in 2019 after he abruptly returned home from Haiti. In a subsequent interview with Holmes County authorities, he admitted to molesting about 30 children in Haiti between about 2003 and 2019, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court by Special Agent Jason M. Guyton of Homeland Security Investigations. Details of his admission indicate many if not all of the reported victims were boys.
The federal charges accuse Mast of abusing four different minors in 2004, 2007 and 2011. One was a 13-year-old boy Mast met through his missionary work and allegedly molested in a tent, according to the criminal complaint.
The case was among those that drew attention to issues of sexual abuse in Amish and related, plain-dressing church communities such as conservative Mennonites and the Charity churches that Mast belonged to. Advocates have said victims have been pressured to forgive abusers and not to seek prosecution outside the disciplines of the largely closed religious communities.
Holmes County, where Christian Aid Ministries is based, is the hub of one of the nation's largest Amish settlements. In 2019, CAM placed two of its managers on leave amid revelations that they knew as early as 2013 that Mast had confessed to sexual activity with young men, yet kept him on the job.
A CAM spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.
CAM's work in Haiti came into the spotlight in 2021 when 17 missionaries and their children were kidnapped by a gang. They went free later that year, some ransomed by a third party, CAM acknowledged. CAM said most of the rest escaped.
On Wednesday, Joly Germine, alleged to be the founder and leader of the gang, was sentenced in federal court in Washington to life in prison for orchestrating the kidnapping.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
FILE - A sign for the Christian Aid Ministries offices is seen in Berlin, Ohio, Dec. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix struck a deal Friday to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and “Friends,” in a $72 billion deal that would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Beyond its namesake television and motion picture division, Warner owns HBO Max and DC Studios. Netflix is ubiquitous with its vast selection of on-demand content, and its production arm has released popular titles such as “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.”
“For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture," David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement. "By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come.”
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt. The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal are networks such as CNN and Discovery.
The bid could draw intense antitrust scrutiny. The merger would bring two of the streaming world’s biggest names under the same ownership.
“Netflix is the top streaming service today. Now combined with HBO Max, it will absolutely cement itself as the Goliath in the streaming industry,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, a market research company.
One of the big unanswered questions, Proulx added, is whether HBO Max and Netflix would “stay as separate streaming services or combine into a mega streaming service."
But either way, he said, customers could see some price relief in the form of a single subscription bill or bundle promotions, which would be a welcome change as streaming prices continue to rise and consumers feel the pinch of paying for multiple services.
Of course, that all depends on whether the deal goes through. Netflix on Friday maintained that the addition of HBO and HBO Max programming will give its members “even more high-quality titles from which to choose” and “optimize its plans for consumers.”
Others warned that a Netflix-Warner combo could create an even bigger entertainment titan with ramifications for both consumers and people working across the film and TV industry.
Gaining Warner’s legacy studios would mark a notable shift for Netflix, particularly its presence in theaters. Under the proposed acquisition, Netflix has promised to continue theatrical releases for Warner’s studio films, honoring Warner’s contractual agreements for movie releases.
Netflix has kept most of its original content within its core online platform. But there have been exceptions, including qualifying runs for its awards contenders, including this year’s “Frankenstein,” limited theater screenings of a “KPop Demon Hunters” sing-a-long and its coming “Stranger Things” series finale.
Though the streaming company has a policy of not reporting ticket sales, “KPop Demon Hunters” unofficially topped the box office in late August taking in nearly $20 million.
“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix said in a statement, adding that merging with Warner will “give audiences more of what they love.”
Critics say a Netflix-Warner combo would be bad news for people who love to go to movie theaters and for those who work in them. Cinema United — a trade association that represents more than 30,000 movie screens in the U.S. and another 26,000 screens internationally — was quick to oppose the proposed deal, which it said “poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.”
“Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite,” Michael O’Leary, CEO of Cinema United, said Friday, urging regulators to look closely at the impacts. "Theaters will close, communities will suffer, jobs will be lost.”
Netflix had previously avoided venturing into other parts of the legacy entertainment landscape. As recently as October — when Warner signaled that it was open to a potential sale of its business — Netflix's Sarandos reiterated on an earnings call that the company had been “very clear in the past that we have no interest in owning legacy media networks” and that there was “no change there.”
Friday’s announcement arrived after a monthslong bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. Rumors of interest from Netflix, as well as NBC owner Comcast, started bubbling up in the fall. Skydance-owned Paramount, which completed its own $8 billion merger in August, also reportedly made several all-cash offers.
Paramount seemed like the front-runner for some time — and unlike Netflix or Comcast, was reportedly vying to buy Warner’s entire company, including its cable business housing CNN and Discovery.
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday from The Associated Press.
While Netflix's bid won over Warner's approval, experts stressed that a bumpy regulatory road lies ahead.
“No doubt politics are going to come into play,” Proulx said. He pointed particularly to the Trump administration’s relationship with the family of Larry Ellison, whose son David runs Paramount, and reports of that company’s frustrations over the sale process — both of which, he noted, “can’t be ignored as part of the calculus as to the outcome of all of this.”
Warner announced its intention to split its streaming and studio operations from its cable business back in June, outlining plans for HBO, HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group and DC Studios, to become part of a new streaming and studios company.
Meanwhile, networks such as CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report would make up a separate cable counterpart called “Discovery Global.” Discovery Global is set to become a new publicly traded company, in a process now expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026.
Shares of Warner Bros. rose nearly 2% after U.S. markets opened Friday, while shares of Netflix fell nearly 2%. Paramount fell nearly 6%.
AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report from Pittsburgh.
FILE - A visitor walks past portraits of DC Comics superheroes as she enters the "Action and Magic Made Here" interactive experience at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood media preview on June 24, 2021, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company's website on Feb. 2, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
