Emily Hamer
@emilyhamer.bsky.social
Investigative reporter with Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team.
Former Wisconsin State Journal reporter and Wisconsin Watch reporter.
Send tips to emily.hamer@lee.net.
Former Wisconsin State Journal reporter and Wisconsin Watch reporter.
Send tips to emily.hamer@lee.net.
Reposted by Emily Hamer
My Lee Enterprises colleague @emilyhamer.bsky.social and I won the Don Bolles award for investigative reporting. This was for our project, called Twisted Message, on a global religious sect and one of its churches in Tucson. The series led to two indictments this year.
tucson.com/news/local/a...
tucson.com/news/local/a...
Indictment: Tucson church pastor failed to report child sex-abuse claims
A Star investigation found that Isaac Noriega, pastor of Tucson's Golden Dawn Tabernacle, covered-up alleged child-sex abuse for decades. He now faces criminal charges.
tucson.com
September 24, 2025 at 10:01 PM
My Lee Enterprises colleague @emilyhamer.bsky.social and I won the Don Bolles award for investigative reporting. This was for our project, called Twisted Message, on a global religious sect and one of its churches in Tucson. The series led to two indictments this year.
tucson.com/news/local/a...
tucson.com/news/local/a...
Read our investigation into the church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, and other offshoots of “The Message” here:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Twisted Message: A prophet’s unchecked global sect
A religious sect called “The Message” has spread worldwide — and also sprouted destructive “cults.” An investigation exposes the child abuse, misogyny and manipulation in some of the faith’s subgroups...
tucson.com
July 1, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Read our investigation into the church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, and other offshoots of “The Message” here:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
These are the second criminal charges to result from our series “Twisted Message.”
The first were child molestation charges against congregant Jose Mora. The pastor is accused of covering those allegations up:
tucson.com/news/local/c...
The first were child molestation charges against congregant Jose Mora. The pastor is accused of covering those allegations up:
tucson.com/news/local/c...
Man charged with child-sex crimes after Star's investigation of Tucson church
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Jose Mora, 57, before he was arrested on suspicion of five counts of child molestation.
tucson.com
July 1, 2025 at 12:46 AM
These are the second criminal charges to result from our series “Twisted Message.”
The first were child molestation charges against congregant Jose Mora. The pastor is accused of covering those allegations up:
tucson.com/news/local/c...
The first were child molestation charges against congregant Jose Mora. The pastor is accused of covering those allegations up:
tucson.com/news/local/c...
Reposted by Emily Hamer
The first arrest was that of Jose Mora, who admitted to me and @emilyhamer.bsky.social that he had sexually touched a 12-year-old boy. He appeared briefly in court this morning and remains jailed pending trial.
tucson.com/news/local/c...
tucson.com/news/local/c...
Man charged with child-sex crimes after Star's investigation of Tucson church
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Jose Mora, 57, before he was arrested on suspicion of five counts of child molestation.
tucson.com
June 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
The first arrest was that of Jose Mora, who admitted to me and @emilyhamer.bsky.social that he had sexually touched a 12-year-old boy. He appeared briefly in court this morning and remains jailed pending trial.
tucson.com/news/local/c...
tucson.com/news/local/c...
Thank you. I appreciate it
April 20, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Thank you. I appreciate it
Read more from @timsteller.bsky.social and my investigation into the church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, and the religious sect it subscribes to:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Twisted Message: A prophet’s unchecked global sect
A religious sect called “The Message” has spread worldwide — and also sprouted destructive “cults.” An investigation exposes the child abuse, misogyny and manipulation in some of the faith’s subgroups...
tucson.com
April 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Read more from @timsteller.bsky.social and my investigation into the church, the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, and the religious sect it subscribes to:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Just wanted to add that last week’s story was an update to this investigative article that has a lot more of the victim’s story:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
He admitted to molesting a boy. And his Tucson church protected him for years.
A member of a Tucson church admitted he molested a boy. The pastor said he knew and never went to the police, flouting state laws that mandate reporting of such
tucson.com
April 19, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Just wanted to add that last week’s story was an update to this investigative article that has a lot more of the victim’s story:
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
He wanted to come forward with his first name, so that’s what we agreed upon in the story! I definitely would have kept him anonymous if he wasn’t comfortable with it. Thanks for the question!
April 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
He wanted to come forward with his first name, so that’s what we agreed upon in the story! I definitely would have kept him anonymous if he wasn’t comfortable with it. Thanks for the question!
Reposted by Emily Hamer
Eve had sex with the serpent. Race-mixing is "hybreeding" -- "a dangerous and damnable thing." In an online-only coda to our project, Twisted Message, @emilyhamer.bsky.social and I tell of the racial ideologies passed down from a 1960s preacher still being spread today.
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Videos show 'Message' pastors preach against interracial marriage across U.S.
One former member of the sect said he felt “inferior” as a Black teenager because of his church’s racist beliefs on mixed race relationships.
tucson.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:14 AM
Eve had sex with the serpent. Race-mixing is "hybreeding" -- "a dangerous and damnable thing." In an online-only coda to our project, Twisted Message, @emilyhamer.bsky.social and I tell of the racial ideologies passed down from a 1960s preacher still being spread today.
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Reposted by Emily Hamer
Our project on The Message religious sect, and a Tucson church that is part of it, shocked a lot of people. It also overwhelmed some readers. Now you can go back chronologically through Twisted Message, at this landing page, and take your time with the stories.
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
Twisted Message: A prophet’s unchecked global sect
A religious sect called “The Message” has spread worldwide — and also sprouted destructive “cults.” An investigation exposes the child abuse, misogyny and manipulation in some of the faith’s subgroups...
tucson.com
November 27, 2024 at 5:29 PM
Our project on The Message religious sect, and a Tucson church that is part of it, shocked a lot of people. It also overwhelmed some readers. Now you can go back chronologically through Twisted Message, at this landing page, and take your time with the stories.
tucson.com/life-enterta...
tucson.com/life-enterta...
And then @timsteller.bsky.social’s story on Marissa Butterfuss is also powerful. She left another strict church in “The Message.” She didn’t realize until she was out that being a lesbian was an option.
“I don’t think I really realized what a lesbian was,” she said.
tucson.com/news/local/w...
“I don’t think I really realized what a lesbian was,” she said.
tucson.com/news/local/w...
She escaped a strict Tucson church, discovered what a lesbian is
Tucsonan Marissa Butterfuss tried to make it as a woman and wife in The Message, but marriage to a devout man proved disastrous. By leaving she revealed a whole new
tucson.com
November 26, 2024 at 9:59 PM
And then @timsteller.bsky.social’s story on Marissa Butterfuss is also powerful. She left another strict church in “The Message.” She didn’t realize until she was out that being a lesbian was an option.
“I don’t think I really realized what a lesbian was,” she said.
tucson.com/news/local/w...
“I don’t think I really realized what a lesbian was,” she said.
tucson.com/news/local/w...