Jared Leisek: Founder of AWP who helped find Kiely Rodni loses volunteers after being accused of child rape
BEND, OREGON: Two divers of Adventures With Purpose (AWP) - the missing person search organization - have quit their jobs over their founder's troubled past. Co-founder Jared Leisek is charged with molesting a female relative in Utah in 1992 when she was between the age of 9 to 10.
Doug Bishop, a diver with the nonprofit organization, told The Sun, "What happened 30 years ago has come to light and it's been affecting everybody involved with this." Two additional members have since come out to announce that they will be leaving the organization with full effect. In a YouTube video, Josh Cantu who has been working behind the scenes on content and video work with the search team for the past 18 months, stated: "I have officially resigned from being part of the search team that I have been a part of in the past. I will live my life with integrity and morale and knowing that I did the right thing Which I hope you guys can support. Things that have been brought to light that the team and I were not aware of until very, very recently. We're not okay with it. It has created this avalanche of momentum - which it should have. It needed to against certain things that have allegedly happened with someone we trusted."
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A fellow videographer, Carson McMaster, mirrored Cantu's opinions in his own video which he captioned, "I would like everyone to know I am no longer a part of adventures with purpose. I have left the company because of personal reasons for moral obligations. This is pretty much all I have to say. As far as everything I have learned this past year, it has been a pleasure working with really amazing people. Thank you for your support, we will see what happens in the future." Both members emphasized that they were not allowed to share any information on the accusations against Leisek as reported by The Sun.
Last week, Leisek was accused of raping two children which caused a lot of hurt within the group. According to court filings with precise details, the alleged occurrences took place in the victim's bedroom and at a family member's home in Utah. Leisek was charged with a crime on Friday, November 5 in Utah's Sanpete County Court. The future of the Adventures With Purpose group's other members now remains uncertain.
Following the discovery of Kiely Rodni's body, the volunteer diving organization from Oregon attracted attention on a national level. Rodni inexplicably disappeared in August after a wild party in the woods next to a campsite in Truckee, California. AWP made news after discovering the adolescent's remains after a frantic hunt for the teen. Before they were eventually discovered by AWP, initial law enforcement searches had missed Rodni's car and body in the water. It's unknown if Leisek is still actively associated with the group, which he founded in 2019.