Danny Shelton's Grand Smokescreen Scheme

New Phase: Plan B

A new phase of the Danny Shelton Corruption Scandal was launched on January 24, 2007, when Attorney Harold Lance issued a unilateral statement purportedly on behalf of Adventist Services and Industries (ASI). This statement appears to be in favor of Danny Shelton even though there never was an investigation by ASI. The sending out of this statement was a blatant and grievous violation of the confidentiality agreement that Lance imposed on all participants in the discussion, and it contains a number of critical errors of fact as well.

By January 26, 3ABN had posted the statement on their website, something that Lance's confidentiality agreement was intended to avoid. Requests to Lance for ways to rectify this matter have thus far gone unanswered. And the posted statement differs from Harold Lance's, raising questions as to whether 3ABN and/or Danny Shelton directly or indirectly participated in the drafting of that statement.

All this was a Plan B, as it were, of a smokescreen scheme 3ABN president Danny Shelton wrote about on December 5, 2006, in the email that appears below, an email written in response to information given by his own board chairman, Dr. Walt Thompson.

Information from Dr. Walt Thompson

According to Dr. Thompson, Danny had told him in 2003 that the Tommy Shelton child molestation allegations were about 30 years old, when the 2003 Glenn Dryden letter that prompted their conversation indicated that there were misconduct allegations as recent as three years old at that time.

According to Dr. Thompson, Danny also had said in 2003 that the child molestation allegations were due to a feud between Dryden and Tommy, when the facts are that for 8 years after Tommy's ordination was revoked in 1985 over some of these allegations, Dryden still lived 800 miles away. While Tommy pastored in West Frankfort, Illinois, Dryden pastored in Dunn Loring, Virginia.

Thus we have what appear to be lies told by Danny Shelton to cover up Tommy's child molestation allegations, and we reach that conclusion based on the written testimony of his own board chairman and staunch defender.

Whether Dryden's allegations are true or not is beside the point. Allegations are allegations, and there obviously were allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred as late as 2000 in Dunn Loring, Virginia, based on his 2003 letter.

Danny's December 5, 2006, Email

Notice carefully Danny's first response to Dr. Thompson's request that Bob Pickle verify the information that Danny had given Dr. Thompson:

-------- Original Message --------

From: Danny Shelton
To: Bob Pickle
CC: Walt Thompson
Subject: RE: Some additional verification needed for Walt Thompson's statements.
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 09:16:41 -0600

Bob,

As you know we are letting ASI handle the situation regarding my divorce from Linda.

Did I have biblical grounds for my part in the divorce of Linda and me.

Many lies have been spread by Linda and others using people like Gailon Joy and others.

According to you and Gailon and several others, the 3ABN leadership including myself, have covered up my wrong doing by making Linda the scape goat.

Either this is true or it is not. Much has been said by Johann, Arild, Barbara K. and people who didn't even know Linda and me.

ASI will decide who is doing the cover up. Somebody is lying! After hearing the testimony and evidence from both sides ASI will make a decision. Should ASI decide that the 3ABN board and myself did not "scapegoat Linda" to cover up my sins, then, in my opinion it will become obvious to the public that maybe many of these other accusations are lies also.

If on the other hand ASI decides that me and the 3ABN board covered up my sins to scapegoat Linda, then I believe that it will become obvious that I am probably lying when I deny many of the other accusations coming from Linda and her group.

That's why I choose to wait until ASI handles this huge issue of mine and Linda's divorce before answering questions of all the other accusations manufactured by Linda, Gailon, Derrell Johann, Barbara Kerr and others who have or has had an ax to grind with 3ABN.

For every person accusing me and 3ABN of dong wrong I can show thousands who will testify of all the good that 3ABN in doing including nearly all of it's employees.

Danny

Several points may be noted.

Danny in this email is responding to the resurfacing of allegations in 2003, which is a year before Linda's alleged and apparently unproven affair in 2004. How then can the Tommy Shelton child molestation allegations have anything whatsoever to do with Linda, Gailon, Derrell, Johann, Barbara Kerr, and Arild, all of whom became alienated from Danny due to the events of 2004?
Since the source of the information being asked about is Dr. Walt Thompson, and everything is supposed to be "lies," is Danny calling his staunch defender, Dr. Thompson, a liar?
While denying that he is using Linda as a "scape goat" or smokescreen, he at the same time made crystal clear that he intended to use a positive decision by ASI as a smokescreen. He planned to use that decision to prove to everyone that he has to be telling the truth about everything else, even if he prohibits an investigation into everything else.

The Grand Scheme

Prohibit an investigation into everything else? That is exactly what Danny did, as made clear in Harold Lance's statement issued January 24, 2007, and now posted at 3ABN's website. Thus Danny is undoubtedly pleased that he has succeeded in obtaining his objective: getting some sort of apparently positive decision apparently from ASI that he can use in his defense without actually disclosing any evidence one way or the other. Plan A was to get a positive statement after an ASI panel review of the situation. Plan B was to get a positive statement anyway, just without a panel review.

Yet Harold Lance's statement, unfortunately for Danny, contains some fatal flaws and errors that make it quite clear that it is both distorted and inaccurate.

ASI is a good organization, and it pains us to see Danny Shelton so determined to either rule or ruin that he is willing to jeopardize ASI's reputation rather than step aside.

And what about Harold Lance? He has lived a long life of usefulness, and has served the Lord's work in a variety of capacities. Is it right for Danny Shelton, for his own personal gain, to put Harold Lance in a position where his reputation so late in life is put at risk? We think not.