Anglican Watch has been watching the mainstream coverage of Angie Solomon’s arrest. We find the coverage biased, and we object.
To be clear, outlets from People to the NY Post and syndication that extends to AOL and Yahoo have all picked up news of Angie’s arrest. Further, we are ardent supporters of the public’s right to know—and we have fought furiously to defend First Amendment freedoms, even in the face of threats from various clergy, including claims that, by publishing, we’re “domestic terrorists.”
Seriously.
We do not ask anyone to jump to conclusions. Just because we support—or criticize—someone does not mean anyone should automatically adopt our views.
That said, we are deeply concerned that so much of the media is seemingly mesmerized by allegations that Angie tried to hire a hitman to kill her former husband, Aaron Solomon.
Yet, in covering these allegations, the mainstream media omit multiple key facts:
- Angie’s friends, her late son Grant, her daughter Gracie, and Angie herself assert that Aaron was abusive to them. Specific forms of abuse include allegations that Aaron tried to kill Angie, sexually abused Gracie, emotionally and physically abused Grant, and tried to intimidate Gracie’s friends and allies by suing them. Further, Aaron allegedly provided perjurious testimony to the courts in which he claimed that Angie had a mental illness. These allegations go to Aaron’s veracity, his motivations, the history of the parties, and, if Angie really did try to have Aaron killed, her potential motivation. And let’s be clear: If Angie did try to have Aaron killed, she would be far from the first alleged victim of abuse to do so.
- Gracie’s video, made when she was 14, in which she alleges that Aaron sexually abused her and was responsible for her brother Grant’s death, should get equal time and attention. To be clear, it is not easy for anyone to come forward with allegations of this sort, and Gracie has paid a heavy price, including ostracism from classmates and condemnation from the pulpit of Grace Chapel. Thus, while we get that allegations that Angie tried to kill her ex make good headlines, the bigger story is of a teenager who can’t get adults to take her claims of abuse seriously.
- As we have said many times, no one should be sanguine about Aaron and his conduct. Far too many issues just don’t add up. These inconsistencies include:
- Aaron’s claim that he was aware of allegations that he was sexually abusing Gracie, so he addressed it by sleeping in the same bed as her, but with a pillow between them. All we can say is “spare us.”
- Aaron’s lies about Grant’s death, including his claim that a good Samaritan found Grant’s phone. The reality is it was in the possession of a former co-worker, Holly Thompson. That raises the question: How did Thompson wind up in possession of Grant’s phone? Are we supposed to believe she just wandered by the scene of Grant’s death at random and found his phone?
- Aaron’s lies at Grant’s funeral about how he regularly played baseball with Grant. The reality is they hadn’t seen each other in many months.
- Aaron’s weird insistence, the morning of Grant’s death, that they head to batting practice in Gallatin. As part of this, Aaron insisted on first thing in the morning and claimed they had an appointment — even though they didn’t.
- Aaron’s fabrications about being a Christian, even though there’s documented evidence of him trolling online for hookups. To be clear: We express no opinion on what it takes to become a Christian. But we are pretty sure being a Christian doesn’t include allegedly using Gracie’s photo online to look for sex. And we cannot imagine any responsible parent using a child’s photo to look for hookups. (Which makes us wonder: Why would he be using a minor female’s photo? Weird-o-rama.)
- The lies by Steve Berger that Grant met with him a few weeks prior to his death in order to ask how to get closer to Jesus. Every bit of evidence we have seen makes clear this is a lie, and that Grant loathed Berger. So why lie? Things become particularly suspicious in light of allegations from multiple sources that Grant went to Berger to ask for help protecting his sister from Aaron. And to be clear, Gracie has never contradicted or disputed these allegations. Nor is Berger exactly Mr. Accessibility; he likes to portray himself as a mover and shaker by limiting access. So, we’re supposed to believe Grant just popped in to chat about Jesus? Not bloody likely.
- Aaron’s questionable habit of showing up at girls’ sports events at Grace Christian Academy and taking photos, even though Gracie was no longer attending school. Seriously weird.
- Aaron’s claim that he was at the top of the hill as Grant was dying. What parent leaves a child to die alone?
So, on the one hand, we are glad to see that the situation involving Grant, Gracie, and Angie is getting attention. But we are dismayed that much of the media is telling only the sensational side of the story, while overlooking the bigger picture and the larger context.
We also cannot overlook the possibility of entrapment by law enforcement, fabrication, or taking things out of context. For example, might Angie have said sarcastically, “Yes, I’ll take the payment program. My truck now, 100 dollars a month for the next 20 years?”
We don’t know the answers to these questions, but there are so many other unanswered questions that we feel it’s important to reserve judgment and keep pushing for justice on all fronts.
As a final reminder, we quote a friend who says, “Both things can be true.”
In other words, even if Angie did try to hire someone to kill Aaron — and frankly, knowing what we do of him, we’d be sorely tempted — that doesn’t mean that Aaron is not an abuser.
To be clear, between the self-tanner, the dyed hair, the Botox, and more combined with the lies at Grant’s funeral, Aaron comes off as a clinical case of narcissistic personality disorder combined with anti-social personality disorder. Thus, he seems precisely the sort to abuse the legal system, his wife, and his children and to think he’s entirely justified in doing so. So, we’re not psychologists, and we’re not competent to assess Aaron’s mental health, but things don’t pass the smell test. And we’re confident we’ve seen this dog and pony show before.
Finally, we ask journalists to report on the whole story, not just the clickbait aspects of this issue. And we urge all involved to keep an open mind and not rush to judgment.
If nothing else, we can throw Aaron’s scrawny ass much further than we trust him. And all involved are welcome to quote us on that score.
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