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Julie Scharper

Julie

Julie Scharper is an enterprise reporter for The Baltimore Banner. Her work ranges from investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and abuse to light-hearted features. Baltimore Magazine awarded Scharper a Best in Baltimore in 2023 for her series exposing a toxic work culture within the Maryland Park Service. A Baltimore native, Scharper worked at the Baltimore Sun for nearly a decade as a City Hall, enterprise and features reporter.

Latest content by Julie Scharper

Survivors of Greater Grace and their loved ones held a protest outside the Baltimore campus Friday.
Greater Grace church vows to probe its handling of sex abuse allegations, publicize the findings
The East Baltimore-based church expects to select a firm in the next few weeks and anticipates the work could take up to six months. Pastor Robert Colban's empathetic tone Sunday marked a departure from the more defensive sermons delivered by another pastor in response to a Baltimore Banner series of articles.
Survivors of Greater Grace and their loved ones held a protest outside of the Baltimore campus on June 28, 2024. The protest lasted about five hours.
Dozens protest at Greater Grace church in wake of sex abuse investigation
Many former members of Greater Grace World Outreach flocked to the East Baltimore church Friday evening to protest leaders’ handling of allegations of child sex abuse — the subject of a Baltimore Banner investigation.
Jediah Tanguay, a survivor of Greater Grace Church, painted his body with the words "shame", "broken", and "failure", taped his mouth shut, took off his shoes and stood in front of the church on Moravia Road during their large convention on June 24, 2024 in protest.
Painted in protest, a sex abuse survivor begs church to change
The Tanguay brothers, survivors of Greater Grace Church, recount their stories of abuse and how the church handled it.
Greater Grace World Outreach Pastor Thomas Schaller said during a sermon Sunday that the church is being “misrepresented” and “attacked.” He denied allegations of impropriety.
Baltimore pastor defends church’s record on child sex abuse: ‘If we know it, we act on it’
“We are being attacked,” said Greater Grace church's head pastor, Thomas Schaller.
Illustration of two women and one man sitting at a table with disposable coffee cups in front of them. We see the back of one woman's head and the other woman leans forward to hold her hand. A hazy image of a Jeep floats in the background.
One family’s agonizing journey to uncover secrets and abuse at a Baltimore church
Accusations of child sex abuse extend to Greater Grace World Outreach's churches in Ghana. One family confronts church leaders, but discovers the primacy of the church's "brand."
Illustration shows six individuals on Zoom screens in various stages of research or on the phone. There is a large millstone behind them and padlocks sprinkled around the image.
Web of megachurch sex abuse leads to a trusted pastor and his sons
A group raised to revere their pastors reaches out to former classmates and friends. They discover dozens of abuse allegations, including several linked to one family.
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This megachurch warned of hell. Then it concealed its own sins.
A campfire confession exposes decades of child sex abuse claims at Baltimore megachurch — and inspires a group to seek justice for alleged victims.
A vigil for Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, took place at the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Harford County on Aug. 19, 2023. Morin’s body was found on the trail on Aug. 6 after she disappeared on Aug. 5.
Suspect in Rachel Morin killing consents to extradition in case that has ignited border debate
The decision clears the way for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office to bring the suspect back to Maryland to be tried for Rachel Morin’s rape and killing.
Patty Morin displays a photo of her daughter, Rachel Morin, who was killed last year.
Search for suspect in Rachel Morin’s killing is over, after an arrest at an Oklahoma bar
Victor Martinez Hernandez has been arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the August murder of Rachel Morin, a Harford County mother of five. Morin was killed after going for a run on Ma & Pa Heritage Trail on a summer evening.
Stella the hawk.
Stella, the death-defying hawk, has returned
Stella the Hawk, who escaped after a tree fell on her enclosure at Oregon Ridge, was safely recaptured in Perry Hall on Sunday. She lost a lot of weight, but is regaining her strength at Phoenix Wildlife Rescue.
Berol Dewdney, right, leads students in a routine conclusion to class time in her pre-kindergarten class at Commodore John Rodgers Elementary School on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Baltimore, MD. (Wesley Lapointe / for the Baltimore Banner)
‘Llama Llama’ author lives on in daughter’s Baltimore classroom
Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series has delighted children for nearly 20 years. The beloved author died of brain cancer in 2016, but her daughter Berol Dewdney embodies her mother’s message of empathy, compassion and the power of play in a Baltimore City Public Schools pre-K classroom.
David Wilder signs his name on the same brick his dad, Dave Wilder, signed in 1997 as part of Mount Saint Joseph High School’s graduation rite on May 1, 2024.
The Climb: Mount St. Joseph’s seniors embark on century-old rite of passage
Mount St. Joe’s seniors take part in a rite of passage stretching back to the early 1900s as they prepare to embark on life after graduation.
Members of the Holy Rosary Church hold up flags and an image of Jesus during a presentation at Seek the City Night on 4/25/2024 in Baltimore, MD.
Baltimore Catholics plead to keep churches open at packed ‘listening session’
People begged the archdiocese to keep beloved churches open at a public meeting Thursday night on a proposal from the archdiocese to close a significant portion of Baltimore’s Catholic churches.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore would close churches and redraw the lines of parishes under a consolidation plan.
Want your Catholic church to stay open? Here’s your chance to speak out.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore will hold a listening session Thursday evening about a plan to close dozens of churches and reduce the number of Catholic parishes by two-thirds. Two more such sessions are also scheduled, and a final plan is set to be announced in June.
Stella the hawk in on the loose after a fallen tree broke open her enclosure at Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville.
Hawk that’s been through hell escapes after another brush of bad luck
Stella the hawk, partially blind and with a chest full of shrapnel, is loose after a tree struck her enclosure at Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville.

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