Panel Discussion on Familiar Evil Scheduled for October 9th in Baton Rouge

Christ in the City, a local ecumenical non-profit organization, will host a community discussion on Sunday, October 9th on the book, Familiar Evil, the winner of six national and international book awards including four Gold Medals, written by Baton Rouge author Rannah Gray.

The panel discussion will be held at 3:00 p.m. at the Lamar Tennis Center at the Paula Manship YMCA, 8100 YMCA Plaza Drive in Baton Rouge.

Familiar Evil, published by The Lisburn Press, follows the international search for local television personality Scott Rogers that revealed his dark past as a dangerous child predator. A young British man called “Ethan” in the book, contacted Gray in 2013 with information about Rogers’ past in England, urging her to warn others that Rogers was dangerous. “Ethan” and Gray ultimately became confidential informants in an international investigation that ended when Rogers and one of his longtime victims carried out a murder-suicide that sent shockwaves from Louisiana to London.

Gray will lead the panel, joined by Mary Jane Marcantel, a key figure in the investigation who collaborated on the book, local social worker Leslie Todd, LCSW-BACS, who provided insight into the characteristics and actions of child predators, and Kathleen Richey, former juvenile court judge and current President/CEO of LouisianaChildren.org, the state’s umbrella association of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) of Louisiana.

Since the book was published in late 2015, Gray has spoken throughout the country at Children’s Advocacy Centers, CASA and law enforcement training programs, continuing education classes for social workers, and adult Sunday School classes in addition to serving as a panelist at national writers’ conferences to share the true story behind Familiar Evil.

“We believe the threats described in Familiar Evil are, in part, moral and spiritual vacuums,” said Rev. Melville. “It’s important for this subject to be discussed in ways that can inform, educate and heal. We believe this powerful true story can show others how we can all protect children from the dangers they increasingly face in modern-day America.”

“I’m very proud of the honors the book has received because it has allowed this story to reach people all over the world with the message that this is a subject we must learn to talk about,” said Gray. “There were many people in our own community fooled by Scott Rogers, and we can learn from that. But the young survivors of abuse I met in England are the most inspirational people I’ve ever met. The way we can protect children is to have conversations like this that help people understand how predators operate.”

The book discussion is recommended for all adults and is free and open to the public. A short video showing scenes from England with excerpts from interviews with British survivors will be shown and a book signing will be held after the talk with books available for sale or you may bring your own copy.

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Christ in the City is an ecumenical non-profit organization dedicated to connecting the many beautiful spiritual dots in our city, promoting love, peace and neighborliness.

Familiar Evil was published by The Lisburn Press and is available in Baton Rouge at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Cottonwood Books. It is available internationally in all eBook formats through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and iBooks by Apple.

Familiar Evil has won the following National and International Book Awards:

1st Place for True Crime - Independent Publisher Book Awards

1st Place for Narrative Nonfiction - International Book Awards

1st Place for True Crime - National Indie Excellence Awards

1st Place for New Nonfiction - National Indie Excellence Awards

Finalist Award for True Crime - International Book Awards

Silver Medal for Biography & Memoir - Nonfiction Authors Association