BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

The mother of a Madrid man who sexually abused two children under age five spoke in Albany Wednesday in support the Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act, which would add clergy to the list of mandated reporters of child abuse.

Sean Ferguson, 43, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse and acting in a manner injurious to a child in May of 2022. Roughly a year later he was sentenced to six-months probation for the crime after he took a pled guilty to second-degree sexual abuse as part of a plea agreement.

As a member of Christian Fellowship Center, Ferguson’s case made waves locally after he was charged in 2022 with sexually abusing children in 2015.

The church – which has successfully been growing membership and expanding since the 1970s – saw a wave of people breaking ties following the charges.

The catalyst for departures, as corroborated by several members of the church, was a decision by clergy not to report sexual abuse. The incident also led directly to the establishment of a survivors and advocacy group called CFCtoo which offers support to former members of the church and has taken center stage in making clergy mandated reporters.

Now, Bonnie Ogilvie Ferguson’s mother, who is a former member of the church, has joined their efforts.

 “I flew up from Florida yesterday to do something no mother should have to do: stand here and tell you that my son was convicted of child sexual abuse and that the only reason he escaped justice was that his pastors refused to report his crime,” Ogilvie said along side Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who sponsored the CARE Act.

Ogilvie recalled finding out about the incident in 2021, when it was first reported to authorities by the St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services.

 “Just four days after my beloved second husband passed away in 2021, I received some of the worst news that a mother can receive. My son had sexually abused his tiny children. Then I found out that this abuse had actually occurred 6 years earlier, but that when my son’s wife looked for help from her pastors, the pastors decided not to report the abuse and left my grandbabies in the house with their molester. For these pastors, even an abusive husband is better than no father or husband in the household at all,” she said.

Ogilvie blamed the church leadership’s decision to not report the allegations of sexual abuse against her son as the main reason he received probation, rather than prison time, for his crime. Recent comments made by St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary Pasqua lend credibility to her position.

“Three weeks ago, my son finally received his sentence. He was given 6 years of probation and required to register as a level 1 sex offender. The authorities couldn’t bring strong charges against him because they needed three things: recent witness testimonies, recent victim testimonies, and cooperative guardians. They did not have any of these things. The gap between when the abuse occurred and when the abuse was reported to CPS was too large. When pastors are not required by law to report child sexual abuse, what happened to my grandbabies will happen to other children,” she said.

The CARE Act is sponsored by Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, but has been co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Walczyk, R-Watertown, who represents a large portion of St. Lawrence County.

In total 11 members of the state houses have signed on to the measure.

"Clergy are trusted members of our communities. As trusted adults, those clergy need to held by law to protect our children and report potential child abuse. That’s why I sponsor the Child Abuse Reporting Expansion (CARE) Act with Assembly Member Wallace: to add clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and maltreatment. Members of the clergy should have been held by law to report the hundreds of sexual abuse claims under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, which instead went undetected for years. This bill changes that. This bill protects our children," Hoylman-Sigal said at the conference.

Ogilvie was accompanied by CFCtoo co-founder Abby Nye, and several former CFC members who made the trip to Albany to show support for passage of The Care Act.