Child Sexual Molestation by Baptist Clergy
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Eddie Thomas, pastor of St. Luke Baptist Church in Ringgold, LA., is arrested and charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile, aggravated incest and pornography involving a juvenile. (the Shreveport Times, July 17, 2003)
Police seize videotape alleged to show sex with child
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEWARK, N.J. A convicted sex offender who was named pastor of a city church several weeks ago has been removed from the post. Shiloh Baptist Church leaders had hired the Rev. Chavalis T. Williams in mid-March, even though they knew he had pleaded guilty in Florida to charges of child abuse and using children in a sexual performance. (Newsday, May 7, 2003)
Convicted sex offender removed as pastor of Newark church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tinley Park, IL. For the second time in two weeks, a Baptist pastor from New Lenox has been charged with molesting a child — and prosecutors said they are looking for more victims. Dennis Larry Shaw, 53, of the 2100 block of Sanford Drive, New Lenox, was charged Monday with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl, according to the Will County state's attorney's office. On Jan. 31, Shaw was arrested on similar charges after a parishioner's 12-year-old daughter alleged she was fondled by the pastor inside the church between October and December, prosecutors said. (Daily Southtown, February 11, 2003)
Minister again charged with molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lyons, NY. Former Lyons Minister Sentenced to 1 1/3 -3 years in State Prison. The retired minister of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Lyons was sen-tenced to 1 1/3 to 3 years in state prisonon Tuesday (1/14). Grady O. KempSr., age 65, ofWadley, Georgia, pled guilty to a reduced crime of Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the 2nd Degree-a Class D Felony on December 12, 2002, sparing the step-daughter from testifying. Kemp, when completing his prison term, must regis-ter as a sexual predator. He had been indicted by a Wayne County Grand Jury in July of last year, for one count of Sexual Mischief in the 1st Degree, 4 counts of Rape in the 2nd Degree, 2 counts of Rape in the 3rd Degree, 4 counts of Sex Abuse in the 2nd Degree, 2 counts of Sex Abuse in the 3rd Degree and one count of Sodomy in the 2nd Degree, involving a step daughter. Grady had been arrested on July 31, 2002. It is alleged that the sexual activity with a step daughter began when the girl was 9 years old and continued until she was 14. "He had sexual contact with the girl hundreds of times," said Wayne County District Attorney, Rick Healy. The incidents came to light when the girl, now 16 years old, began fidgeting and praying. The next day the girlbegan crying and screaming at a family gathering and said she could not hold it back any longer. The girl's mother and Kemp's former wife, Lynda Kemp, said she and her daughter now live in Panama City, Florida. According to Healy, Grady had served as pastor of the church for almost 20 years. "He just retired last year and moved to Georgia," said Healy. Grady still owned a house at 122 Ford Street in Newark, where the alleged crimes took place. (Times of Wayne County, Jan. 27, 2003)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fort Pierce, FL. Pastor Kenneth Johnson, recently convicted of having sex with a minor, and Friendship Missionary Baptist Church -- where he reportedly continues to minister -- were named in a sex-abuse lawsuit filed Tuesday. Johnson, 39, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday on one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. He faces up to 15 years on the second-degree felony. (The Tribune, January 22, 2003) .
Johnson to be sentenced Friday on 1 count of unlawful sexual activity with minor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bryan, TX. A pastor was arrested and released from jail Monday night after he was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Ford was indicted earlier this month based on an allegation he had sexually assaulted a teenage boy who went on a trip with the pastor to the Texas Panhandle more than two years ago. Ford was pastor from the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Bryan where he had served for 17 years. (Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dec. 24, 2002)
pastor accused of assaulting Bryan boy arrested
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TEMECULA, CA. Six years ago, Becky J.'s life revolved around Temecula Valley Baptist Church. She worshipped there, went to school there, and even worked after hours two days a week at the school to earn pocket money. That's where she met 40-year-old Pastor Kerry Clyde Martin. But at 14, Becky didn't understand the concept of street smarts, she said. She didn't know when the man befriended her what the future held. "He listened to my problems and would tell me how right I was if I had a fight with my parents," she said. "I always thought he meant it in a pastor way, or like a father." Little did Becky know that as a cleric at two previous churches -- one in Maryland and one in Orange County -- Martin had already been accused of sexually molesting at least three other girls, all 14. Little did she know the friendly, charismatic minister was taking the first steps that would culminate in his repeatedly raping the girl over the next two years. (The Californian, Dec. 8, 2002)
Child sex abuse reaches far beyond Catholic Church, experts say.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANDERSON, S.C. Youth Minister William Bell of Mount Tabor Baptist Church pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor 2nd degree, four counts of lewd acts upon a child under sixteen and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. An investigation revealed two male victims, the youngest was 10 years old. (WASV TC, Nov. 14, 2002)
Youth Minister Pleads Guilty To Sexual Conduct With Minors
Man Had Illegal Contact With Boys At Anderson Church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DETROIT, MI. A minister at an east side Detroit church admitted Friday that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl, leading to her pregnancy. Prosecutors accused Delton Benson of having sex with the unnamed girl in August 2000. A warrant was issued for his arrest last March charging the 32-year-old minister at Straight Street Baptist Church with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. (sexcriminals.com, Nov. 1, 2002)
Minister arrested
Detroit Pastor Has Dropped Out Of Sight
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
First Baptist is a congregation that reveres its pastor. And so a dozen church elders decided unanimously that pastor Rev. Lawrence French, who says he is innocent, should remain as pastor. Convinced that the 72-year-old pastor could not have committed the alleged offenses, they also concluded that it would be unfair to French to notify other members of the church about the allegations. (The Boston Globe, November 1, 2002)
Paster Convicted by Synod, but Congregation doesn't believe Pastor is guilty
Congration wants Paster to Remain
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OLNEY, Ill. If things had gone as planned, 35-year-old Leslie Mason would have preached the keynote sermon at this year's annual meeting of the Illinois Baptist State Association Nov. 7. Instead the former pastor of Olney Southern Baptist Church faces 10 counts of criminal sexual assault involving two teenage girls who attended his southeastern Illinois congregation. (October 24, 2002, ABP)
Baptist Pastor charged with criminal sexual assault of two teenagers
http://www.baptiststoday.org/btns11_8b.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lawrenceville, GA. A Brookwood High School junior says her youth minister touched her sexually two years ago when she was 14. He insists he didn't. Now a Gwinnett County jury must decide whether Shannon Rhodes, 33, is guilty of child molestation while he worked as youth minister at Sunrise Baptist Church in Lawrenceville. The girl detailed her relationship with Rhodes during more than two hours on the witness stand Tuesday. She said there were three separate incidents during which he exposed himself to her, tried to French kiss her and placed her hand to fondle him. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 10-23-2002)
Grand jury hears molestation case against ex-youth minister
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Austin, TX. A former youth minister faces up to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of nine counts of child sexual abuse. Charles Richard Willits, Jr., 44, a former youth minister at Great Hills Baptist Church, was convicted Saturday. Sentencing was scheduled for Monday. (October 18, 2002; Abilene Reporter-News)
Youth Paster Convicted in Criminal Court
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fresno, CA. A southwest Fresno pastor has been arrested on suspicion he had a four-year sexual relationship with a teenage boy nearly 20 years ago, Fresno police confirmed Monday. Calvin Eugene Moore, 45, a pastor at King Solomon Baptist Church, was arrested for an alleged sexual relationship he had with the boy, police said. Moore remains in the Fresno County Jail in lieu of $550,000 bail. (The Fresno Bee; October 16, 2002)
Paster Arrested
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HENRYETTA, OK. -- A former Dewar First Baptist Church music director worked briefly at another Baptist church before his arrest on sexual battery complaints last week. Aaron M. McDonald, 23, was hired in June at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sulphur, said the Rev. Brent Parsons. Asked if the hiring came after June 11, Parsons said, "Yes." McDonald is accused of touching the genitals of a 15-year-old boy who, with another friend, was staying the night at McDonald's mobile home in Henryetta on June 11, according to an affidavit for McDonald's arrest. (Tulsa World, 08/03/2002)
Accused Dewar minister had been hired in Sulphur
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Walker County, AL. John Anderson, a Carbon Hill First Baptist preacher charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of juveniles under the age of 12, pleaded guilty to all charges in a Walker County court. Earlier the same day Anderson also entered a "best interest" guilty plea in another court on charges stemming from that area. During his tenure as a minister, he had also reportedly been a pulpit preacher at Southside Baptist in Russellville, Natural Bridge Baptist, West Blocton Baptist, Hartselle Baptist and other churches in Mississippi. (Daily Mountain Eagle, Aug. 2, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COLUMBUS, GA. An associate pastor in Columbus has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation and one count of aggravated child molestation. Michael Krug, an associate pastor at Calvary Baptist, pleaded guilty to the charges at the Muscogee Superior Court. (The Augusta Chronicle, July 28, 2002).
Minister gets 10 years for child molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Butler County, PA. A pastor faces charges for allegedly aiding and abetting a parishioner accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old Allegheny Township girl. Jeffery F. Cox, pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Allegheny Township, obtained airline tickets for accused molester Jeremy James Whitmire, and helped Whitmire enroll in a home for troubled young men in Texas, court documents said. (Butler Eagle, 07/16/02)
Pastor charged with aiding abuser
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RALEIGH, N.C. A Southern Baptist missionary who was fired for abusing children in Indonesia is working at a Raleigh church where the minister knew of his past. (June 28, 2002; AP)
Molester Paster Knowingly Hired by another Church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gastonia, SC. A local youth minister has been charged with three counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, police said Thursday. Marty Eugene Meadows, 34, worked as a minister at the Sunset Lane Baptist Church in Bessemer City, police said. Meadows appeared before a magistrate and a judge Wednesday, and was released after posting a $3,000 bond. "There are multiple victims," said Capt. Tony Robinson, a spokesman with the Gaston County Police. "He was touching them in an inappropriate manner." (June, 14, 2002, The Charlotte Observer)
Youth minister faces sex charges
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/gaston/3466742.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gastonia, SC. On Wednesday, Lincoln County pastor Dewey "Eddie" White was found guilty in district court of propositioning a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said. The charge was soliciting to commit a crime against nature, said Kay Killian, a Lincoln County prosecutor.(June, 14, 2002, The Charlotte Observer)
Pastor of Heavenly View Full Gospel Baptist Church
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/gaston/3466742.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
JACKSONVILLE, FL. A businessman and deacon of First Baptist Church already accused of molesting a minor was arrested Thursday on charges he molested two other youths. Stephen Lee Edmonds, 44, was charged with five counts of lewd and lascivious assault, said David Sembach, Jacksonville police assistant chief of detectives. The victims were 14 and 15 years old, authorities said. He had been free on $50,000 bond following an arrest April 15, when he was charged with molesting a 16-year-old and sending him Internet messages discussing sexual practices. The 16-year-old alleged that Edmonds improperly touched him twice in 2000. (Naples Daily News, April 26, 2002)
Former Jacksonville deacon facing multiple molestation charges
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A former Burlington pastor charged with sex crimes has left his Danville, Va., church after reportedly admitting to deacons there that he acted inappropriately with a child. Many members of the Danville church pastored by the Rev. James Preston Tyndall were shocked Sunday to learn that he had been charged with six felony sex crimes Thursday and had resigned Friday evening. “I would say our people were shocked. But some of them had heard about his arrest on TV prior to the Sunday service,” Bruce Hutcheson, chairman of the deacon board at Stokesland Baptist Church, said Monday of Tyndall’s departure. Hutcheson and other deacons who met with Tyndall after his release from the Alamance County Jail have said that he admitted to them that he engaged in inappropriate conduct with the child. Burlington authorities said the girl, now 14, was 8 and 9 years old when the alleged offenses occurred in Burlington. (4/10/2002, Alamance County Times-News) http://www.thetimesnews.com/2000/00-04/00-04-11/news-1.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WEBSTER COUNTY, IL. Investigators with the Sheriff’s Department are searching for a Baptist minister charged with five counts of statutory rape. Officials say the Rev. Steven Rear, 40, pastor of Westport Baptist Church in Springfield, has been on the run since the charges were filed against him on Monday. Rear is charged with raping a girl under 14 years old. According to court documents, the abuse allegedly occurred throughout the 1990s. The victim, now 20, said Rear had sexual intercourse with her “about every other day” when she was between the ages of 13 and 16. Members of Westport Baptist, where Rear has preached for the past 10 years, refuse to believe the charges. “The church is behind our pastor all the way,” said deacon Billy Elliott of the 75-member congregation. (The Springfield News-Leader, March 21, 2002)
Pastor of Springfield’s Westport Baptist Church accused of sex with girl under age 14.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Syracuse, NY. David Gardiner, the Pastor of Liverpool Baptist Church, was arraigned on sexual abuse charges on Wednesday. Gardiner, 43, eluded a police swat team and dozens of sheriff’s deputies for more than eight hours from around 5:00 pm Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Sheriff Kevin Walsh says Gardiner is accused of having sexual contact with a girl who is under age 11. Court documents show the allegations do not involve anyone outside the Gardiner home. According to Sheriff Walsh, the investigation began when Gardiner’s wife Deborah contacted his department. Gardiner also taught Bible study and economics classes at the Baldwinsville Christian Academy; he has been fired from the job in the wake of the sex abuse allegations. (March 8, 2002, WTVH news)
Minister flees law after sex abuse charges
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0501story115953_news.shtml
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEW ORLEANS, LA (CHARISMA) -- The music minister at a large New Orleans church has been charged with intentionally exposing a teen-age boy to the AIDS virus. Phillip Britton--music minister at Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, led by Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship founder Bishop Paul Morton--denied the charge brought last week, "The Times-Picayune" said. Britton, 38, was charged earlier with having sex with an underage male. A police report said that Britton met the boy from another church through choir activities, and the two had sex more than 100 times in a year, the newspaper said. (Maranatha Christian Journal, Feb. 23, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The former minister of a southeast Kansas Baptist Church has been charged with molesting a teen-age girl. 37-YEAR-OLD KYLE GUENTHER of Iola was charged Wednesday in Allen County with five counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and four counts of aggravated sodomy. County Attorney Nanette Kemmerly-Weber says the charges stem from 15 alleged incidents between Guenther and the girl. The girl was 14 in November 1999 when the alleged assaults began. (MSNBC.com, Jan. 31, 2002)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A survey of SBC pastors published in the Winter, 1993 edition of The Journal of Pastoral Care, done by Jeff Seats, an SBC pastoral counselor, revealed that 14.1% of ministers surveyed admitted to "engagement in sexual behavior which was judged by the individual pastors to be inappropriate for a minister."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RIDDLE Gary John, 50 Geelong Baptist churchgoer, youth leader and primary school teacher. Receives maximum 5 year jail sentence in VIC Appeals Court after pleading guilty to 14 sex offences, including indecent assaults, gross indecency and sexual penetration, against 9 girls, aged 10 to 16, between 1971 and 1989 at Geelong, Hawthorn and Port Campbell. Court hears Riddle, of Bell Post Hill, Geelong, continued offending despite church pastor confronting him about behaviour in 1983. Originally charged with 52 offences against 11 victims. (Victoria, Australia, 2002).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, CA. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Reverend Charles Thomas of the Foothill Missionary Baptist Church. Thomas is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl from his congregation during a month-long period in the fall. Thomas reportedly called a special meeting with church members last week and admitted that the charges were true. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison. (12-11-2001; KPIX TV)
Reverend sought in crime
KPIX report
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________< href="http://reformation.com/CSA/fiek1.htm">Fiek gets 90 years for child molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beginning at age 11, Esther Combs was regularly sexually abused by her father. She said he told her that King David had concubines, so this behavior was condoned by the Bible. Esther, her three brothers and two sisters were home-schooled. No visitors were allowed into the home — not even parishioners. A later search of the property found it was filthy, garbage and rat-infested and inhabited by caged cats and dogs. The pungent odor was still faintly there last fall when the detective took me and our cameras on a tour of the place. Richmond pointed out the basketball floor where, she says Esther Combs "was beaten with ropes, chains, whips, umbrellas, bats." (ABC News, Oct. 18. 2001)
In November 1998, Joe and Evangeline Combs were indicted on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse, assault and kidnapping; Joe was further charged with rape. Last spring, both were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms that will likely keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
How Esther Combs Finally Escaped a Lifetime of Abuse
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/2020/primetime_esthercombs_feature.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABC released excerpts, including Heche's revelation that she spent the first 31 years of her life suffering from mental illness triggered by sexual abuse by her father. Heche says she was sexually abused by her father from the time she was a toddler until she was 12. Donald Heche, a choir director in a Baptist church who frequented gay bars, died of AIDS in 1983. (USA Today; Sept. 4, 2001)
Anne Heche sexually abused by father, a Baptist choir Director
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2001-09-04-heche.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DELRAY BEACH -- An associate pastor is behind bars, accused of molesting a young girl and possibly fathering her child. Police say that Lyndon Howell, who served at the Community Missionary Baptist Church, befriended the victim's family when she was 11 years old. For the next four years, police believe that Howell had sex with her. Howell faces several charges. He is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail. 6/26/01
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - A one-time Baptist church deacon was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for what the FBI called "cyberterrorism"that targeted young women on the Internet.
Robert Harvey Alexander, 52, had assembled a list of 100 e-mail addresses of high school and college students and demanded they have sexually explicit conversations with him or he would ruin their reputations, court records said.
Alexander, who was a deacon at First Baptist Church in Tampa at the time of his arrest, also taunted his victims by telling them that police couldn't find him. FBI agents arrested him last Nov. at a computer terminal at a Tampa public library.
Alexanderuilty to 6 counts of extortion. His attorney argued that Alexander suffers from bipolar disorder and didn't fully understand what he'd done. AP
(http://net4tv.com/voice/story.cfm?storyid=2931)
CHURCH DEACON FACES MULTIPLE CHARGES (http://faculty.csumb.edu/mountfordcarolin/world/cst371/history.html)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FRESNO - A former minister and police officer has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for killing his lover’s husband.
A Fresno County jury had cleared Paul Hurth,44, of murder but convicted him of manslaughter in the Feb. shooting of car salesman Ralph Peter Gawor. Giving Hurth the maximum term for voluntary manslaughter, the judge said that Hurth had violated his trust as a police officer.The four-year police officer and department chaplain claimed he killed Gawor, 43, in self-defense with his service weapon after going to Gawor’s house to tell him of the sexual affair he had been having with Nancy Gawor.
Hurth, the former pastor at Heritage Baptist Church, was arrested more than a week after the killing and fired from the force.AP
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BISHOP, GA. A wounded Oconee County church is trying to pick up the pieces this week after the shattering news that its pastor had been jailed on felony child molestation charges. Larry Michael Holmes, 53, who was minister of the Bishop Baptist Church until he abruptly resigned two weeks ago, remained in the Oconee County jail without bail on Monday, charged with child molestation and one count of aggravated child molestation. Holmes had been highly regarded by the members of Bishop Baptist Church. He had been pastor of the church, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, for about five years. ''He had led the church so strongly" said one member, Jean Holcomb.'He had done a real good job," said church deacon Dean Johnson. "They are very upset, just having a hard time accepting it." said Gene Dellinger, chairman of the church's board of deacons. (onlineathens.com, July 23, 2001)
Molestation charges leveled against pastor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CLINTON, IL. - A state district judge levied a total of $20,000 in fines against a minister charged with two counts of molestation of a juvenile.
Rev. William Thomas Rose III, 51, pleaded guilty on April 24 to molesting two girls in Wilson while he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Wilson in 1986. The girls are now ages 19 and 23, according to court records.
“Unless you come to grips with the fact that you molested two little girls, you’re in trouble - because it could happen again,” District Judge Wilson Ramshur told the defendant. “Contrition is one step toward salvation,” the judge added.
Ramshur also sentenced Rose to two consecutive 10-year prison terms, but suspended the sentences and placed him on probation for 10 years. As a condition of probation, the defendant is prohibited from being alone with anyone younger than 18. Advocate
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GREENWOOD, SC. - A minister and former school library aide has been charged with 16 more counts of sexually molesting children after police identified more victims from homemade videotapes.
Fernando Garcia - held on a $4 million bond - is now charged with a total of 44 counts of sexual misconduct with at least 15 victims, police say. “Investigators probably still have several weeks of work left to do - more charges are likely,” said the police chief. Garcia was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and 14 counts of lewd acts on a minor. The latest charges accuse him of fondling children at an elementary school, where he worked for two years, and at the Abbeville Baptist Association, where he was pioneering a Hispanic ministry. The Chihuahua, Mexico-native is a husband and father of two teen-age children.AP
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bartow, FL. Accompanied by family and parishioners, the Rev. Kenneth Baxley, pastor of Central Baptist Community Ministries in Lakeland, was sentenced Thursday to a two-year prison term for failing to register as a sex offender. The failure-to-register charge originated with a crime committed by Baxley in 1983 but confessed to seven years later. He served 15 months in prison for attempted sexual battery on a child younger than 12. Baxley has served several churches in various capacities in the Lakeland area since his release. (The Ledger, June 1, 2001).
Minister not registered as sex offender gets 2 years
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
LARGO, FL. Randy Morrow, 40, street minister with Countryside Baptist Church in Palm Harbor, was charged with molesting three teenage boys. (St. Petersburg Times, October 18, 2000)
Authorities say they have a taped phone call in which pastor Morrow apologizes to one of the reported victims
Authorities Youth minister sentenced for sex
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EASTON - A pastor will stand trial on rape and child-abuse charges, a judge ruled yesterday. The Rev. Andrew Roy Tilghman, 32, was ordered to stand trial in circuit court on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual offense against two girls.
Tilghman is pastor of the United Missionary Baptist Church. District Judge William Adkins III also ordered him to stand trial on nine counts each of second-degree rape, second-degree assault, child abuse and third- and fourth-degree sexual offense and two counts of second-degree sexual offense. His wife, Great Elizabeth Tilghman, 33, was ordered to stand trial on charges of child abuse and second-degree assault. Easton Police Detective Brandon Bobbick testified in a hearing that a 10-year-old revealed she had been beaten by Great Elizabeth Tilghman and that she and her sister had been sexually abused by Andrew Roy Tilghman. - AP May 24, 2000
Easton pastor's abuse trial on
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AIKEN. SC. - A former youth minister who admitted to molesting church members on camping trips and manipulating neighborhood boys with money and gifts during 3 decades has received a 30-year prison sentence.
Robert Dorsett, 65, pleaded guilty to 15 sex crimes involving children during an emotional hearing in which the offenses were read in detail to a hushed courtroom. Some of Dorsett's victims - who range in age now from 9 to 43 - attended the hearing and asked the judge to keep Dorsett from abusing more children. Friends and family members of Dorsett attended the hearing, lining up to speak on his behalf. Many were neighbors or co-workers who called him a father figure and hard worker.
Dorsett met many of his victims while he was a training director at First Baptist Church in Aug.a years ago. During trips in a church program, he would organize shaving cream fights and have the youths shower together, police said. He encouraged them to go streaking.
During a search of Dorsett's home, sheriff's officers found a brown suitcase containing X-rated videotapes and magazines along with candy, cookies and other items he gave the children, police said.
Investigators found notebooks where Dorsett kept track of neighborhood boys and their telephone numbers. Publicity about his arrest last year led to new allegations by victims who had tried to forget the abuse, police said. Augusta Chronicle,
Molester pleads guilty
http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/113099/met_124-3417.shtml
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - A church deacon already accused of Internet sex crime against a teen-age girl faced more sexual extortion charges for allegedly terrorizing 5 other high school and college students. Robert Harvey Alexander, 41, a deacon at the First Baptist Church in Tampa, was being held in lieu of $150,000 bond after an appearance in federal court to advise him of the 5 additional charges.
Three 21-year-old students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and two students at Plantation High School in Florida were the latest alleged victims of attempts to engage them in telephone and cybersex, federal agents said. Frank Gallagher, head of Tampa's FBI office, said the new charges grew out of interviews with people named on a "Victim's List." Agents seized the list with 99 names and e-mail addresses on it when they arrested Alexander for using the Internet in an attempt to extort a 16-year-old girl.
All of those on the list received virtually identical messages threatening to destroy their reputations unless they engaged in phone or computer sex with the sender. Gallagher called it "cyberterrorism" because of the fear created in the recipients. One women told her father, an assistant federal public defender, about the message. Another contacted university officials.
Investigators are trying to reach other women included on the list. So far, have traced 17 of them, and are continuing their search. Prosecutors said they hope the new charges will bolster their claim that Alexander is a methodical and dangerous sexual predator. AP,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FAIRBANKS, AK. - A Baptist pastor from an interior village was arrested on charges he molested his adopted teen-age daughter, State Troopers said.
Richard Cook, 46, is accused of having sex with the girl twice and touching her genitals often during the past 19 months, according to court documents. He has been charged with one count each of first- and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Troopers said Cook first sexually touched the victim, then 13, in Oct. 1997. Four months later, the molestation became an "almost daily" event despite the girl's protests, according to court documents.
The girl's adoptive mother, who had started working outside the home, suspected something was amiss because Cook "changed his behavior and demeanor," according to the documents. But when she questioned her husband and daughter, both denied anything was going on, troopers said. The girl attempted suicide before she reported what happened.
Troopers said Cook has since admitted to the sexual contact, stating he knew his actions were wrong but that he "just got mixed up a bit," according to documents.
He was arrested at a Fairbanks motel. Cook and the women had traveled to town to seek help, said police. AP
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MASCOTTE, FL. - A Baptist preacher was charged with molesting three foster children left in his care. Pastor William Nathan White, Jr., 50, was being held at the county jail on $45,000 bond, charged with three counts of sexual battery of a child under age 12, a capital offense, jail officials said.
Following his arrest, 8 foster children and 3 adopted children were removed from his home and placed in other foster homes according to a spokeswoman for the state Dept. of Children & Families. State records show that White and his wife, Susan, have taken in at least 20 children since they were licensed by the state to become foster parents in 1995.
White first was accused of sexual battery when a 7-year-old girl, who lived with the family for two weeks, told her natural mother during a visit monitored by social workers that White had molested her a sheriff's spokesman said. The girl told investigators that while sitting on White's lap, the minister asked her if anyone had ever touched her "private area." White then placed his hand inside her clothing and fondled her, reports said.
In a videotaped interview, a 10-year-old told authorities White had repeatedly molested her since she came to live with him in Aug., according to reports. An 11-year-old, who lived with the Whites from Aug. into Nov., said the pastor often had her sit on his lap while she played computer games, and he once fondled her, records said.
Investigators plan to question every child the Whites have had in their custody since 1995. State social workers are also reviewing their files to determine if there were any concerns raised about the Whites' home in the past AP 3/5/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DUBUQUE, IA. - A woman is suing her former pastor and the Baptist church for which he worked. Sheldon D. Stotmeister is accused of having exploited the woman in order to have a sexual relationship when Kim Deutmeyer came to him for counseling. He is also alleged to have encouraged her to divorce her husband and to not tell anyone about the relationship.
Two weeks earlier, her ex-husband Darrell, filed a similar suit.
Stotmeister resigned in March and was arrested in Aug. on charges of sexual exploitation by a counselor as a result of his relationship. Telegraph Herald,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FORT WORTH - Five women agreed to drop their sexual-misconduct lawsuits against the founder of a Baptist church in exchange for his admission to some of the affairs, according to court papers.
The lawsuits against Ollin Collins, founder of Harvest Baptist Church and a former board chairman of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, were dropped after Collins acknowledged that he "engaged in an adulterous relationship" with three of the women. But all five women retained the right to sue Collins again their attorney said. "We had asked him to apologize to the church and agree not to be in the pulpit until Sept. of 2000, and he refuses to do that," he said.
Four women and the family of another filed lawsuits in state district court contending that Collins had used his position to force them into "lewd, lascivious, obscene conduct."
Harvest Baptist Church, with 3,500 members, fired Collins in Nov.
The church and the women agreed to a settlement in which the church and its insurance company would pay $400,000 to the women and their families, the Star-Telegram reported. The church has paid about $100,000 of the settlement and will sell a piece of property to cover the cost said an attorney for the church. AP
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An Ardmore youth minister has been charged with child molestation. Everice Daniel Johnson appeared in district court Tuesday for initial arraignment on one count of lewd acts against a child under 16. Johnson, a youth minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church, was released following the court appearance on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond. According to charge information filed by the district attorney's office, Johnson allegedly touched the girl "in a manner relating to sexual matters or sexual interests." (The Daily Admoreite, January 14, 1999)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tampa, FL. Dan Earl Allmond, Youth Pastor of Tampa Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Church, and a married man, suddenly resigned on December 9, 1998 and disappeared off the scene when the police were called in concerning a complaint made by a female high school student that she was having sex with the pastor as a minor. Senior Pastor McCormick of Tampa Baptist Church denied all knowledge about the sexual activities and ordered the staff of Tampa Baptist Academy to stay silent on the whole matter and not to discuss Dan's previous sexual escapades with no one! McCormick's own daughter was sexually promiscuous and had to leave school for a while for fear of being pregnant. (Tampa Tribune, December 9, 1998)
Dan Earl Allmond faces two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SAN FRANCISCO - A minister already facing theft and arson charges was sued by 10 parishioners who allege he convinced them to take out mortgage loans for church improvements and then stole the money.
Rev. Thomas McCall allegedly used the loan money, totaling more than $850,000, to buy real estate in San Francisco and Southern Calif., according to the lawsuit. The members of the Concord Missionary Baptist Church are seeking damages for breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
McCall had been under investigation since last Jan., when 7 parishioners claimed the pastor convinced them and others to mortgage their homes to finance $1.1 million in church renovations.
Records show church members raised a total of $2.9 million in equity, donations and construction loans - about $1.1 million more than was necessary for the work.
In addition to 4 counts of grand theft for allegedly taking $2.5 million in church funds, including the $850,000 mentioned in the suit, McCall also faces an arson charge for allegedly trying to destroy financial records by setting his apartment on fire. He has been dismissed from the church and the trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 25. AP,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WASHINGTON, DC. - A Baptist minister in Texas who had sex with two women while counseling them about their marriages lost his appeal to the Supreme Court. He now must pay each one $115,000.
The court, without comment, turned away Rev. Shelby Baucum's argument that a federal jury violated his religious freedom by deciding he had committed malpractice and breached his fiduciary duties. Baucum had sexual relationships with two women who were church members and employees in 1991. One woman was fired from her job as the church receptionist and the other lost her job as his administrative secretary when they disclosed the relationships. Baucum was asked to resign, which he did.
The women then sued him in federal court, and each won awards of $30,000 in compensatory damages and $85,000 in punitive damages. Baucum appealed, contending the jury had punished him for what he said was a mixture of secular and spiritual counseling - the equivalent of "clergy malpractice."
But in upholding the awards, the Court of Appeals ruled that the religious-freedom difficulties posed by such a finding were not present in Baucum's case. The appeals court ruling added: "The First Amendment does not categorically insulate religious relationships from judicial scrutiny, for to do so would necessarily extend constitutional protection to the secular components of these relationships É To hold otherwise would impermissibly place a religious leader in a preferred position in our society." AP,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
APOPKA, FL. - A minister who molested third-graders at his church school couldn't promise that he wouldn't molest again, and so was sentenced to prison for 7 years and 4 months, followed by 10 years of probation. The judge acknowledged the remorse of David Joe Rich, 55, and that he took responsibility for his crimes, but said she wanted to ensure he would not harm anyone again.
Rich, former pastor of Springs Community Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to molesting 2 girls and trying to molest a third during the 1995-96 school year. He fondled the girls, ages 8 and 9, at his desk while other students were in the classroom, said the prosecutor. The desk concealed the probing.
Rich apologized and made no excuses for his conduct but could not explain it. With God's help and counseling, he said, he hoped never to molest again. But he said he would be foolish to make a "100 percent" guarantee. He had resigned when confronted about the abuse 2 years after it ended.
While on probation, Rich must get counseling. He cannot be alone with children younger than 18 or live near a school or other place where children visit. The judge told Rich he should bring his ministry to prison. "There are people in prison who could use your services," she said. Orlando Sentinel, 12/4/1998
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NORRISTOWN, PA. - A clergyman was charged with murdering a 4-year-old boy whom he and his wife had agreed to look after as a favor to the child's impoverished mother, authorities said.
Rev. Javan McBurrow , 47, beat Michael Davis across the back of his legs as many as 10 times with a two-foot metal mason's level, and then forced the child to march the length of the family's squalid suburban home until he dropped, police said. They said the boy was being punished for wetting his pants and for looking at one of the couple's daughters in the bathroom.
McBurrows and his wife, Jane, took the boy to the hospital, telling doctors he had fallen in the bathtub. They then fled with their own five children to Georgia. The boy died soon after and an autopsy showed he had been beaten over a prolonged period.
McBurrows, pastor of the Third Christian Church was arrested for child endangerment in Georgia and returned to Philadelphia.
The 4-year-old, his 7-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother had been living with the McBurrows for about a month because their mother, who also has 3 other children, could not care for them.
After being charged with first-degree murder, McBurrows was remanded to jail with bond set at $500,000. Police who searched the family's home described the two-story house as a "squalid, uninhabitable" dwelling with only one bed. The property has since been condemned. Reuters 1/15/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NORRISTOWN, PA. - A clergyman was charged with murdering a 4-year-old boy whom he and his wife had agreed to look after as a favor to the child's impoverished mother, authorities said.
Rev. Javan McBurrow , 47, beat Michael Davis across the back of his legs as many as 10 times with a two-foot metal mason's level, and then forced the child to march the length of the family's squalid suburban home until he dropped, police said. They said the boy was being punished for wetting his pants and for looking at one of the couple's daughters in the bathroom.
McBurrows and his wife, Jane, took the boy to the hospital, telling doctors he had fallen in the bathtub. They then fled with their own five children to Georgia. The boy died soon after and an autopsy showed he had been beaten over a prolonged period.
McBurrows, pastor of the Third Christian Church was arrested for child endangerment in Georgia and returned to Philadelphia.
The 4-year-old, his 7-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother had been living with the McBurrows for about a month because their mother, who also has 3 other children, could not care for them.
After being charged with first-degree murder, McBurrows was remanded to jail with bond set at $500,000. Police who searched the family's home described the two-story house as a "squalid, uninhabitable" dwelling with only one bed. The property has since been condemned. Reuters 1/15/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RICHMOND, VA. - Former Mayor Rev. Leonidas B. Young has agreed to plead guilty to 4 of 19 felony counts alleging he sold his influence as mayor and, as a pastor, defrauded members of his congregation, according to a newspaper.
The Times-Dispatch said Young is likely to face 2 years to 2 1/2 years in prison at sentencing. Young will lose his City Council seat automatically if he pleads guilty. He became pastor of Richmond's Fourth Baptist Church in 1990 and was elected to City Council 2 years later and appointed mayor in 1996. Last fall, Young was indicted on charges of racketeering, fraud, filing false tax returns, suborning perjury and money laundering. The charges carry prison terms ranging from five to 30 years.
Authorities allege Young peddled influence as mayor and cheated members of his church out of money he used to help pay for an expensive secret life of extramarital affairs. AP, 1/27/99
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cherokee County, GA. A Cherokee County church deacon was convicted Saturday of molesting a 14-year-old girl who attended his church. Jurors deliberated about 14 hours Friday and Saturday before finding John M. Eatman guilty of child molestation and enticing a minor for indecent purposes. He is to be sentenced in several weeks. Prosecutors said he showed the girl an adult magazine and made sexually explicit comments to her in August, then touched her buttocks during Sunday morning services Sept. 27 at South Cherokee Baptist Church. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 12-13-1998)
Deacon convicted of molestation: Man fondled teen in Cherokee church
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KANSAS CITY - A minister who participated in a school program to counsel troubled youths has been charged with rape and other sex offenses involving 3 teen-age girls. Rev. Gregory Robertson, 40, was accused of using his affiliation with the Kansas City School District to befriend families of students outside of school, said a spokesman of the police sex crimes unit. Robertson convinced parents to allow some children to temporarily move into his home to "give them guidance," he said.
Robertson has pleaded innocent and is free on $15,000 bond. He faces charges of statutory rape, 2 counts of statutory sodomy, attempted statutory sodomy and 4 counts of sexual misconduct. The charges involve 3 girls ages 12 to 14. The girls told police the incidents occurred between Feb. 1996 and Dec. 1997 at Robertson's home.
Police said Robertson met at least one of the girls through his work with the school district. They were not sure how he met the other two. The three girls did not know each other.
Robertson was part of a Ministers Alliance, a group formed last school year by a former superintendent to counsel troubled students. The program no longer exists, and Robertson was banned from the schools after officials heard about the investigation, said a district spokeswoman.
Police began investigating Robertson in Sept. 1997 after a girl told officers she had lived in Robertson's home in 1996. No charges were filed. The investigation was reopened in Jan. after a 12-year-old girl made new allegations. Detectives then found 3 other girls who had lived in Robertson's home, including one who said Robertson offered to buy her a pair of shoes in exchange for a sex act.
Robertson was ordained at Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church about 6 years ago, but has since left the church, police said. AP, 10/28/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BOONE, NC. - A long-standing pastor and high school teacher accused of raping a 15-year-old student two years ago was sentenced to spend up to two years in prison as part of a plea arrangement.
Rev. Larry Edward Elliott, 50, pleaded guilty to 3 counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor. He entered his plea just before the jury was to be selected for his trial. A judge ordered Elliott to serve time for one of the 3 counts, the others suspended and the district attorney dropped 3 other charges of statutory rape.
Elliott, a Baptist pastor for 20 years, resigned after the accusations surfaced. He had worked as a substitute math teacher at the school where he met his victim. (9/15 Watauga Democrat)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TIERRA AMARILLA, NM. - The Chama First Baptist Church has been sued by a man who claims the church should have stopped the pastor, Rev. Louis Day, from wrecking his marriage. Eileen Dement began counseling soon after he became pastor in 1993, but she testified that she never considered him a psychological counselor, and began an affair which included lovemaking sessions in the church. She left her former husband for Day, whom she married in 1996, and has a 7-month old son by him.
She testified it would have taken "an act of God" to save her marriage to the plaintiff, Richard Hurd. He testified that Day told him to try to add some romance to their marriage. (8/29/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TAMPA - The president of the National Baptist Convention USA pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges and was allowed to remain free on a $125,000 bond. Rev. Henry Lyons, 56, was indicted by a federal grand jury on grounds that he had used the organization of black churches to steal millions of dollars from corporations and activists.
Lyons was indicted on 56 counts including fraud, extortion, conspiracy and tax evasion. At the hearing, 8 friends of his pledged to cover the bond. He said that all of his assets were frozen by the government.
Prosecutors charge that Lyons fraudulently solicited contributions for charitable causes, including the rebuilding of black churches destroyed by arsonists. The indictment said he used the donations to support a lavish lifestyle, buying cars, jewelry, country club memberships and homes throughout the country.
Lyons already faced state charges that he used his position to bilk millions of dollars from companies doing business with the church group. A federal grand jury also indicted a convention employees Bernice Edwards and Brenda Harris. Both are free on bond also. (7/7/98 Reuters)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Atlanta, GA. The Rev. Danny B. Moody may have slipped in the eyes of the law, but he hasn't fallen from grace in the hearts of his followers. Moody, 52, who has served as Pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Douglasville for 24 years, was arrested May 29 on a felony Peeping Tom charge. Atlanta police allege Moody aimed his Camcorder beneath the skirts of females while riding escalators at Hartsfield Internationa Airport. Moody was released under $5,000 bond the same day. Almost three weeks later, Moody's wife, Brenda, said his congregation still supports him. "The church has been told about the charges against him, but the church stands behind him by an overwhelming vote," Brenda Moody said. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution 06-19-1999)
Minister faces felony Peeping Tom charge
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HARTFORD - A former Baptist deacon who fathered a child with a young parishioner was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping her and another girl as well.
Edward Brown, Jr., 39, asked for forgiveness in court. The young woman was 6 years old when Brown began molesting her. He raped her several times and she became pregnant in 1994 at age 14. She hid the pregnancy, giving birth alone in her room. When the baby died shortly thereafter, she threw away the body, which has never been found.
Six months later, she had a nervous breakdown. Doctors would not believe she had been pregnant until a medical exam proved it.
After Brown pleaded guilty to the rape, one of his family members came forward to accuse him of molesting her since age 5. 4/4/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ORLANDO - A minister surrendered to faces charges of molesting two elementary-school girls and sheriff's investigators were seeking more possible victims. Rev. David Joe Rich, 54, who resigned his post at Springs Community Baptist Church in Apopka, was arrested after confessing to the assaults. He was charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious acts and released on bail.
The two girls, whose parents confronted Rich, said they were fondled during classes while standing behind the pastor's desk. Other girls were also called to stand there, according to a detective. (2/14/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DALLAS - A pastor convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl wassentenced to 12 years in prison following testimony that he agreed to let her graduate early from the church's school in exchange for sex. Rev. Jerry Wayne Power, longtime pastor of Irving Baptist Temple and principal of the church's school, was convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a child.
Power, 51, hopes to be released on bond while appealing the decision, his attorneys said. The jury of 11 women and one man deliberated 31/2 hours before deciding to punish Power with 12 years on one count and 11 years on the other. The jury fined him $10,000 on each count. He will serve both sentences simultaneously and will first be eligible for parole in six years.
Power's attorneys argued that the girl should be held accountable because she testified that she and her friend initiated the deal with Mr. Power.
A former student testified that Power fondled her, placed his foot in her crotch and masturated in front of her. The woman said he told her that he would kill her parents and her horse if she quit his school. (4/17/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COPPELL, TX. - Monte Ray Freeman, 68, a former Baptist deacon and school board member, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $750 after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl last year. He had been alleged to be molesting girls over a decade ago, but church officials persuaded the accusers' parents not to pursue criminal charges. (2/27/98)
http://www.opengovtcoppell.com/file/news/1998/8227dmn1.htm
Report: church leaders persuaded parents to drop sex abuse complaints
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DALLAS - A Baptist pastor awaiting trial on a sexual abuse charge involving an 11-year-old girl is now accused of molesting a 3-year-old girl at her mother's home.
Police arrested Rev. Ronroyal Owens at his church office after a mother reported finding him nude in bed with her daughter. She told police she and Owens had gone to sleep in the living room but when she awoke shortly later and checked on her daughter, she discovered Owens with her, touching her leg. Her panties had been pulled down. An officer of the child exploitation unit of the Dallas PD said it did not appear that the child had been harmed.
Owens was being held on a $300,000 bond. (2/11/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BUENA PARK, CA. - A controversial Southern Baptist paster known for his support of a boycott of the Walt Disney Co. was sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service for violating city building codes by sheltering the homeless at his church. However, the judge also credited Rev. Wiley Drake, 53, with the same amount of time for his past efforts to aid the homeless. (10/23/98)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ELGIN, IL. - A former associate Baptist minister has been found guilty of aggravated criminal sexual assault involving two girls aged 4 and 9 in 1995 in an encounter in which the girls' mother participated. Juan Wyley, 39, faces 12 to 60 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 3. Wyley testified that he had accepted lodging from the woman while he pursued a reconciliation with his ex-wife, but that the girls' mother was "crazy" causing him to leave after a stay of only 5 days. Investigators were alerted by the mother's psychiatrist and later learned that she was involved in the incident. (1998)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When he was 5 and 6 years old, the boy explained when they got home, he was abused by Robert D. Tardy, a deacon at Peace Baptist Church on 18th Street NE. This month, Tardy was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison for molesting the boy, plus 100 days for abusing a girl at the church. Tardy pleaded guilty to molesting the boy and in the second case entered an Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but conceded that there was enough evidence to convict him. (Washington Post, 1998)
Sex Abuse at Church Shatters a Family
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BUENA PARK, CA. - A pastor convicted for violating city zoning rules by operating a makeshift homeless shelter has won the support of several of the jurors who voted against him. Four jurors attended services at Rev. Wile Drake's First Southern Baptist Church. Two declined comment but two others said they were impressed with the sermon and will donate money after touring the patio and parking lot where some 40 homeless people now live. They said they were forced by the law to convict, and Drake said he understood and thanked them for coming. He faces up to $4,000 in fines and 6 months in jail. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 22 (8/9/97)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BROKEN ARROW, OK. A resigned youth minister at Arrow Heights Baptist Church apparently killed himself early Tuesday after police told him late Monday that he would be charged with molestation and related offenses. John Priddy, a Tulsa assistant district attorney, said the charges stemmed from allegations that Randol sexually abused a teen- age girl who attended the church. The alleged incidents began when the girl was 13 and ended when she was 15, Priddy said, adding that the incidents allegedly occurred at the church. Randol was the youth minister at the church until he resigned in April. A church secretary said Randol had worked for the church for one year, but she refused to comment further. Pastor Bob Green was unavailable for comment. (Tulsa World, 07/24/1996)
Broken Arrow youth minister dies of a bullet wound hours after being told he would be charged with sex offenses
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REYNOLDS John Claude, 60 Launceston Christian youth group leader and Care and Rehabilitations Ministries (CARM) director. Receives 3 year jail sentence in TAS Supreme Court after pleading guilty to 5 gross indecency charges, including 2 counts of committing unlawful sexual intercourse, against boy, aged 7, between 1967 and 1973 while head of CARM drop-in centre, Launceston, TAS. Court hears Reynolds took boy to popular fishing spot and attempted to have anal sex with him in kombi van. CARM described as Christian organisation with links to Memorial Baptist church and St Aidan's Anglican church, Launceston. (Tasmania, Australia, 1996).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
North Charleston, WV. North Charleston Baptist Church youth leader Gerald Mollohan, 47, was convicted by a jury on 2 counts of rape and received consecutive sentences of 15-35 years for each assault. The teen, 16, testified that Mollohan, a 28-year postal employee, befriended several brothers through a church youth group and bought 1 of them gifts and took him on a trip to Disney World. The victim said he resisted Mollohan's sexual advances several times before the youth leader raped him at knifepoint on 2 separate nights at the leader's home in December '93. (The Charleston Gazette 11/7/95)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Isaac Park, IL. A popular preacher from Lawrence County was convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse, including 9 felony counts for molesting 4 boys in his rural farmhouse. Gallie Isaac Sr., 78, was recommended by jury to serve 25 years in prison for his sexual crimes. The pastor of Isaac Park Free Baptist Church was indicted in '94 on charges of molesting 8 boys from 1984-94. Four of the boys, ages 11-14 at the time of the incidents, testified saying that he engaged in masturbation and oral sex with them. "He was saying stuff like, 'God's watching you, and you're doing good,' and 'All the boys do this,' " the witness, now 18, said. One of the victims said Isaac played a Halloween tape before having sex with him and told him that having sex was okay. "He began to touch me and he would whisper, 'I will protect you . . . from the house,' " another alleged victim, now 25, told jurors. Formal sentencing for Isaac, father of 6 and former county clerk, is scheduled for Dec. 14. Isaac is free on bond until sentencing and faces a second trial on charges relating to the 4 other alleged victims. (Lexington Herald-Leader 11/4/95, 10/31/95)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tulsa, OK. A Tulsa County minister accused of molesting a teen-age church member was sentenced Friday to five years in prison. Steve Lamberson, 35, pleaded no contest April 3 to two molestation counts. Lamberson, a resident of the Mounds area, was pastor and principal of Liberty Heights Free Will Baptist Church and academy in south Tulsa County when the offenses occurred, said a report by Sheriff's Deputy Gary Ross. Lamberson was charged in 1994 with molesting a girl -- now 18 years old -- in December 1991 and March 1992, when she was 14 and 15. (Tulsa World, 05/27/1995)
Lamberson Sentenced for Molestation
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ottowa, CA. A Baptist lay minister, Walter Howe, was sentenced to 3 months in jail for sex crimes since the 60s. Howe, 85, admitted to abusing 8 girls between ages 5 and 15 at the time of the abuse. (The Ottawa Citizen, 9/2/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST MINISTER CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ABUSE. A married minister, who worked at Tiverton-Freeport United Baptist Church from 1976-1981, was convicted of 21 charges of indecent and sexual assault involving 13 boys in Digby County between those years. Floyd Delano Gale, 46, had written a letter of apology to the family of one of his victims. According to the family's testimony, he sat in their living room and admitted he was a pedophile, and had sexual relationships with boys, including their son, then 12, but claimed they were of legal age and consented. Gale claims to be a victim of childhood sexual abuse himself. Gale's assaults included oral sex and fondling of the boys, some in their own home while their parents slept. During the trial one of his victims punched Gale in the head outside the courthouse. When the judge denied a request for Gale to be set free until sentencing, the courtroom applauded In 1988 Gale resigned from the Church of Christ in Garnet Settlement, New Brunswick, amidst rumors of his sexual misconduct. (The Chronicle-Herald (Nova Scotia) 5/17,18,19,20,26/94, 6/7/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WEST VIRGINIA. MINISTER INITIATES SEX WITH INCEST VICTIM. A girl, 14, who sought help from a Baptist minister because her father was sexually abusing her was then sexually abused by the trusted pastor during counseling sessions. Gary Hackler Kendall, 40, pastor of North Hills Baptist Church, pleaded guilty. The victim's father also pleaded guilty and received a 5-15 year prison term. (Charleston Gazette_ 6/1/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BOBO SENTENCED. A Baptist deacon accused of fondling several girls has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for the molestation of a female student. Wallace Bobo, Jr., 57, was a high school teacher and coach at Meridian High in Mound City. The father of one victim, who shot Bobo 5 times, awaits trial, while Bobo is out on bail pending an appeal. (Philadelphia Inquirer_ 4/9/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GEORGIA. BAPTIST MINISTER ACCUSED. For being accused of sexually molesting several male teens between Sept. 1992-93 while serving as youth minister at Western Hills Baptist Church in Cobb County, Kevin DeRosa, 33, of New Jersey is being held at the Paulding County jail on similar charges in that county. (Atlanta Journal_ 3/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PASTOR MOLESTS. Former associate pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church and parent representative at Pittsburgh's Margaret Milliones Middle School, Rev. Rudolph B. Walls, 43, was a defendant in a lawsuit filed in May 1992 by a male teen and his mother. Walls was accused of sexually molesting the teen, now 18. Also involved in the suit were the principal, school board, and Pittsburgh Public Schools. They settled for $425,000. In August 1991 Walls was sentenced to 1-5 years in prison for indecent assault. Walls was on probation for a North Carolina molestation at the time he began assaulting the teen in this lawsuit. (Pittsburgh Post- Gazette_ 2/24/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST MINISTER SENTENCED. For sexually abusing 2 boys who were members of his Community Baptist Church near Lake Lavon, Gene Allen McDonald, 55, of Nevada will serve a minimum of 2 years in Collin County Jail before parole. He was sentenced to 2 concurrent 5-year sentences. (Dallas Morning News_ 2/8/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Miami, FL. CHURCH TO PAY MILLIONS FOR MINISTER'S ABUSES. Wayside Baptist Church in Miami received a $6.7 million judgment for negligence in hiring and retaining Keith Geren as youth minister. The church did not do background or reference checks, nor did Geren even fill out a job application, though Geren did admit urges to molest boys. He sexually molested nearly a dozen teenage boys. Church officials say they had no idea Geren was a pedophile. All of the money is going to one victim, Daniel Artis, for emotional pain, treatment, and punitive damages. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune 2/6/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MINISTER ADMITS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT. A Baptist minister and social activist, Rev. Donovan Cook, has been under investigation for sexual misconduct involving 3 women. It has been recommended that his ordination be suspended. Cook is popular for his work helping Central American refugees, and allowing homosexuals to be church members. One member said, "If we can't get justice for the women, how are we going to ask for justice in Central America?" Supporters of Cook say the American Baptist Church's political conflicts with Cook's work make their judgments "hardly impartial". (Seattle Post-lntelligencer_ 1/31/94.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ASSAULT CASE SETTLED. A man, 28, who was recovering from epileptic seizures in his apartment when he was attacked, will receive $300,000 in damages from the Sierra Vista Baptist Church for the sexual assault by John Adams Marshall in April 1991. Marshall performed oral sex and fondled the weakened man while pinning him down. The jury found the church 40% liable for Marshall's assault and negligent in retaining him as minister. Marshall did not lose his ordination to be a minister elsewhere. (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 1/15/94)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KENDALL, FL. They're more suspicious of people today at Wayside Baptist Church in Kendall than they were before the 1994 trial that convicted Keith Geren, one of their popular youth ministers, of molesting nearly a dozen boys, ages 13 to 16. He was sent to prison for 15 years and cost the church $4.2 million in damages.
''It used to be we just trusted everybody,'' says the Rev. Gary Johnson, Wayside's present pastor. ``We don't trust anymore. We take precautions.''
Today, Wayside gives new employees criminal background checks. It has installed windows in every classroom. At least two adults run every children's class. Men may not change diapers. (1994, Miami Herald)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gwinnett, GA. A 22-year-old woman has accused a Southern Baptist minister from Gwinnett County of sexual abuse saying he touched her improperly several times over a period of almost 10 years. The Rev. Franklin, now pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, could not be reached for comment, but his attorney said Tuesday that he denies the allegations. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 03-10-1993)
Parishioner claims pastor sexually abused her
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deacon A.V. Ballenger was convicted of fondling a 7-year-old girl in Sunday school class and sentenced to 8 years in prison. A.V. Ballenger, a deacon and bus route driver at Hyles' First Baptist Church Hammond, was convicted in March of 1993 (and sentenced in July of 1993 to five years in jail) of molesting a seven year old girl. (This crime occurred in a Sunday School room of the church! Incredibly, after conviction, but prior to sentencing, Ballenger was allowed to resume his FBCH bus route!) The highlight of the sentencing hearing was the testimony of three young women. Each was molested by Ballenger when she was a child, and in each case, before age seven. Jack Hyles, who testified in Ballenger's behalf, defiantly declared the outcome of the trial null and void, claiming that the courts had no jurisdiction in this matter. Hyles told the girl's parents, "Deacon Ballenger just likes little girls."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MORE CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST BAPTIST. Washtenaw Co. Dist. Judge Thomas F. Shea threw out 2 charges of 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct against Baptist deacon Mark Foeller, leaving 6 counts of criminal sexual conduct. The deacon and bus driver at North Sharon Baptist Church is accused of raping a boy, 9, twice, at the church, which has a campaign to bus low-income children from 4 counties to its Sunday school and church camp. The dismissals follow earlier dismissals against assistant pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 33, originally charged with 12 similar counts. Judges dismissed all his charges, saying the alleged victims were either too young to testify or that their testimony was too vague. At least one family will file a civil lawsuit against the North Sharon Baptist Church and Leonard, according to Ann Arbor attorney Mark A. Hopper. "We will sue the church for negligent hiring and negligent retention of those workers." Leonard has been invited back to the church and is directing its music programs. A mother told a reporter she was "stunned" and "numb" by the judge's decision. Shea ruled that a 9-year-old could not testify about being raped in the church nursery, because she couldn't say on which day it happened. Source: _Jackson Citizen Patriot_ 2/5&18/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST PASTOR GOES TO TRIAL. Indicted for 6 counts of aggravated sexual battery & 5 counts of sexual battery was Rev. George Walker, 64, of New Tazewell, who has pastored a number of area Baptist churches. He is accused of victimizing a female piano student instructed by his wife for 4 years. Source: _The Daily News_ Middlesboro, 12/24/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHURCH EVANGELIZERS PREYED ON LOW-INCOME KIDS. Men from a rural Baptist church known for its aggressive evangelizing of children are suspected of molesting as many as 22 boys & girls. The associate pastor, volunteer bus driver & a third church member are believed to have fondled some & raped others, ranging in age from 3 to 10, on church buses & property. Charges involving 10 victims were brought against Associate Pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 32, of North Sharon Baptist Church near Grass Lake, & volunteer Sunday school bus driver, church deacon Mark Foeller. Three other church members are being investigated. The suspects went to low-income housing projects or trailer parks in 4 counties, telling parents they would "take the children to church & teach them about God", according to Det. Robert Fitzpatrick, Jackson Co. Men would walk up to children in their yards, coaxing them with treats to come to weekend services or summer _Bible_ school. Leonard was relieved of church duties involving children in August, after police started investigating him when a doctor reported suspected abuse in a child with a sexual disease. He also worked as instructor & gym teacher in the North Sharon Christian School, enrolling about 65 students. Church members were not informed, even after the arrests. In November, Gail Ganger, who lives 5 houses from the church, organized a Sunday morning picket after learning that the church secretary knew about the allegations, yet still recommended Leonard as a babysitter for her children. He & his wife Nadine had babysat for her 3 children 7 times since Oct. 1. About 2 dozen protesters carried signs saying "Close It Down." "The church knew about the allegations of child molesting, but nobody told me about it. This church should not be able to carry on business as usual," she said. "What a wonderful thing it is to be part of a church where adversity happens," said Rev. Bill Wininger, senior pastor. In January, Leonard was released after 72 days in jail after 10 charges were dropped over the objections of the DA by Washtenaw Co. Dist. Judge Thomas Shea, saying victims were either too young to testify or could not pinpoint the time of their assaults. Leonard still faces 2 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct charges. Although he resigned from the church, church funds are being used to help support his family & pay his legal expenses. The pastor said if he is acquitted, "I'm sure he would be welcomed back with open arms." Sources: _Ypsilanti Press_ 11/12/92, _Detroit Free Press_ 11/12/92, _Toledo Blade_ 11/18/92, _Jackson Citizen Patriot_ 11/16/92, 2/1/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WRIGHT Keith Webb, 51 Rockhampton Pentecostal born again Christian, Baptist church member, preacher, evangelist, school teacher and Labor MP. Receives 8 year jail sentence in Brisbane District Court after being convicted on 6 child sex charges, including 5 counts of indecent dealing and 1 of committing unlawful sexual intercourse, against girl, aged 11, over 3 year period. Court hears Wright sexually molested girl in parliamentary suite while Leader of Opposition and masturbated girl in flat in Brisbane while watching pornographic video. In 1994, Wright receives additional 12 month jail sentence in Brisbane District Court after being convicted on 3 further charges of indecently assaulting girl, aged 11, over 6 year period between 1984 and 1990. (Queensland, Australia, 1993).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST VOLUNTEER PREYED ON GIRLS? Thomas Road Baptist Church in Phoenix failed to screen churchvolunteer John Herman Kuiper for a criminal record when it permitted him to drive a church bus & volunteer at youth events. Kuiper, who had been convicted in 1991 of a felony charge of 3rd degree sexual assault, was arrested in Phoenix for molesting 5 girls. As a church bus driver in Fort Collins, Colorado, he had received a deferred sentence for molesting a little girl, 5. Rev. Ken Adrian, church pastor, complained to media that the publicity was not good for his Phoenix church. Source: _Arizona Republic_ 11/4/92.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MINISTER PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSING NIECE. Baptist minister Rev. Ernest Lee Rowsey, 51, of Wharton Missionary Baptist Church in Bim, pleaded guilty to 1 count of 1st degree sexual abuse, involving his niece. Originally, he was charged with molesting 2 nieces between 1976-1982, but they agreed to drop all but one charge against their uncle. The kids were molested for 6 years starting from ages 5 & 7. Rowley's sister also said he molested her as long ago as 1969, but at that time, child sexual abuse was a misdemeanor, & the statute of limitations has expired. Source: _Charleston Gazette_ 11/1/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST CHARGED WITH INDECENCY. Charged with indecency for fondling a preteen girl in 1991 was Norman "Buddy" Wilcoxen, 60, former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Bastrop. Source: _Austin American-Statesman_ 10/17/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST VOLUNTEER CONVICTED. Granite State Baptist Church volunteer David Kirsch, 39, of Salem, was convicted of sexually assaulting 6 young girls through the church from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Source: _USA Today_ 9/25/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST CONVICTED OF RAPING BOY. A jury convicted Baptist minister Edward Quakenbush, of New Testament Baptist Church, town of Wyoming, of raping & molesting a teenage boy in his church over a 4-year period, starting when he was 12. Members of his church & family sobbed & shouted at jurors & a police detective who testified that the pastor had confessed to the molestations. Quakenbush later denied confessing. Source: AP/_Daily Telegram_, Adrian, Ml 9/12/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - A Southern Baptist minister's conviction for child molestation has led to five lawsuits seeking a total of $10 million in damages against the minister, the Southern Baptist Convention and three other Baptist groups. Each is named in a $2 million suit. They are Donald McCary, minister of music and youth at Chattanooga's Central Baptist Church of Hixon for 17 years until his arrest; the church itself; the Tennessee Baptist Convention; the Hamilton County Baptist Association; and the denomination. McCary was convicted last April of 13 counts involving aggravated sexual battery, assault, sexual battery, rape and statutory rape of four boys, then aged 12 to 15. He was sentenced to a maximum 72 years in prison. Attorneys for the denomination and congregation voiced certainty they would be dismissed from the suit. The suits allege that Central's pastor, Ron Phillips, failed to investigate McCary's activities after complaints about him in 1989. Phillips also is also chairman of directors of one of the denomination's major agencies, the Home Mission Board. (Tulsa World, 08/23/1992)
Minister convicted of molesting 4 boys: 2 brothers already in prison for abuse lawsuits allege that pastor, Ron Phillips, failed to investigate McCary's activities after complaints about him in 1989.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
$10 MILLION SOUGHT FROM BAPTISTS. Five civil lawsuits asking for $10 million in damages were filed against the Southern Baptist Convention for sexual assaults by convicted minister Donald McCary, of Chattanooga, sentenced in April to 72 years in prison for assaulting 5 boys. James Guenther, general counselor for the SBC in Nashville, shrugged off the suits: "We've probably had a dozen of these cases where a plaintiff has undertaken to show that SBC controls a minister." He says no SBC agency beyond the level of the congregation has legal or disciplinary authority over pastors. McCary's twin brother is also in prison for abusing children; their older brother is on parole for similar charges. Source: _Birmingham News_ 8/21/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BAPTIST YOUTH PASTOR NABBED. Youth minister-Sunday School teacher William Speaker, 21, of First Baptist Church in Excelsior Springs, was charged with a felony for sexually molesting a boy, 14, while chauffeuring him to church activities. Source: _Kansas City Star_ 8/21/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PASTOR GETS 13 YEARS FOR INCEST. Springfield Baptist Church pastor Jon L. Walker, 43, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for molesting a relative for 2-1/2 years, beginning when she was 13. Twenty persons pleaded for leniency, including the local NAACP president. Walter's defense was to accuse his wife of concocting the charges to get even with him because he had an affair with a young church member! Deputy DA Karen Gray said the letters of support were "a sad testimony to the fact that Mr. Walter's life has been a fraud". Source: _San Luis Obispo Telegram Tribune_ 8/5/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ACCUSED PASTORAL COUNSELOR A PHONY. Port Charlotte church school principal Albert Joseph Clerico Jr., 47, charged with sexual misconduct by a psychotherapist by means of therapeutic deception, claims to be licensed by a nonexistent "scripturally based" group, National Christian Counselors Association & to have attended the nonexistent Carolina University of Theology. State investigator Robert Ford charged that Clerico "did cloak himself in the guise of Christianity & did represent to the female defendant that sexual contact" was part of the treatment. Clerico maintains his position as "pastoral counselor" exempts him under state law from charges. Police miked the victim & recorded Clerico making sexual advances, soliciting her comment on his graphic fantasies & telling her to perform oral sex. He was arrested after the 75-minute "counseling session". He has been suspended as principal of Community Christian School of First Baptist Church in Port Charlotte, & as minister of First Baptist Church, which operates the school. Source: _Sarasota Herald-Tribune_ 8/4/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VICTIM SUES CONVICTED MINISTER. Rancho Cucamonga pastor John Marshall, convicted of sexually battering an ill man, 25, is being sued for $1 million by victim Kirk Judy, along with his church, the American Baptist Churches of USA & of the Pacific Southwest. The 6'2", 200-lb pastor overpowered the 5'6", 140-lb victim at a bedside counseling visit. He got only 2 years of probation. The suit alleges that Marshall had committed other crimes, & that the 2 Baptist groups should have known about them. Source: _Ontario Daily Bulletin_ 7/29/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER CONVICTED. Youth minister Don McCary, 48, was sentenced to 72 years of prison for molesting 4 boys at his Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. Explains sex offender therapist Deloris Roys, Don McCary "had a perfect camouflage ... For the person who uses religion as a camouflage, it gives them the mantle of being an OK or holy person. We all imbue religious people with the idea they wouldn't hurt us. They have instant authority, a power we don't have, a mantle of respect." Don McCary had been youth/choir director for 15 years at Central Baptist Church of Hixson, Tenn. He recorded lewd conversations with young boys and gave copies to his brother Ron in jail. Source: _Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER. The twin brother of Don McCary, Ron McCary, a Christian comedian and pastor, is in prison after committing aggravated rape on a boy, 6. Source: _Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLESTING MINISTER. The older brother of Ron and Don McCary, Richard McCary spent 2 years in the California prisons in the 1980s after conviction on 6 charges of child molestation. Explains sex offender therapist Deloris Roys, Don McCary "had a perfect camouflage ... For the person who uses religion as a camouflage, it gives them the mantle of being an OK or holy person. We all imbue religious people with the idea they wouldn't hurt us. They have instant authority, a power we don't have, a mantle of respect." Don McCary had been youth/choir director for 15 years at Central Baptist Church of Hixson, Tenn. He recorded lewd conversations with young boys and gave copies to his brother Ron in jail. Source: _Birmingham News_ 5/9/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma County courts have given a seven-year suspended sentence to former Del City minister Rev. Roy E. Jones, 56, who pleaded guilty to molesting young girls in his congregation. In 1986, Jones molested several young girls in his congregation at the First Baptist Church of Del City, where he was pastor for 35 years, authorities said. (Tulsa World, 05/09/1992)
Sentence Suspended For Molesting Minister
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DEACON ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING 8 GIRLS. Victory Baptist Church deacon Daniel Eaves, 34, was arrested for sexually assaulting 8 girls, ages 3 to 14, at his Springfield home and during youth groups last year. Source: _Philadelphia Inquirer_ 4/25/ 92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AIR FORCE CHAPLAIN RAIDED. Deputies raided the home of Veterans Administration chaplain Rev. Donald G. Phillips, of Butler County, seizing 500 video tapes, movie equipment and restraints following a tip that he produced pornographic movies with young girls. The Baptist minister recently received the highest recognition awarded a VA chaplain, "the Award for Excellence in Chaplain Service". Source: _St. Louis Post-Dispatch_ 2/19/92.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SETTLEMENT SHROUDS BAPTIST CASE. A secret settlement was reached just before a civil suit went to jury against Moffett Road Baptist Church minister Henry Hobson, Mobile, for sexually abusing a girl, 14. Hobson admitted having sexual intercourse with the girl he referred to as an adopted daughter, once when she accompanied him on church "visitation". He admitted she "wanted out", but called her a "pleasant diversion". At first he denied her accusations and asked her to say she had lied, for "damage control". He resigned in April 1991 after a suicide attempt when the girl confided in the youth pastor about him. Attorney Robert Cunningham, Jr. told jurors that many church members shunned the 9th grader, blaming her. His attorney argued, "It certainly was not part of his job to have sexual intercourse with her, and therefore the church is not responsible," adding: "He thought it was better she learn about sex from him rather than some young boy at school." Source: _Mobile Register_ 2/12/93.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The arrest of Rev. Jack Law, a Baptist minister, was heralded by a headline, "Girl, 5, Raped Under Pew." He was accused not only of that, but of molesting and raping her two sisters. These crimes took place at the family home as well as during an outing arranged by him so the girls could help him distribute religious tracts. The girls had tried to tell their parents, but were not believed. "Being a preacher," the father said of him to local media, "we thought he was a good man." Law killed himself that year rather than face trial. (The Scandal of Pedophilia in the Church By Annie Laurie Gaylor © 1992)
Pastor molests 5 year old
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Minister Rev. Robert Burton charged after admitting long-term serious sexual abuse of his six and eight year old stepsons. (1991, England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Minister Larry Bernard 45, sentenced to 7 years for molesting a boy of 14. (1991, England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1991, England. Baptist Minister Ashby Breneman jailed for molesting 6 boys at his Christian Youth camp.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cobb County, GA. A Minister pleaded guilty Tuesday to child molestation and cruelty charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for having
sex with a 11-year-old girl who attended his church's vacation Bible school. The Rev. James Calvin McCurry, 38, a former pastor at the Greater Zion Hills Baptist Church in Smyrna, had been charged with forcing the girl to have sex three times in 1985 and 1986. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution 05-30-1990)
Minister sentenced to 20 years in sex case: Cobb preacher pleads guilty to molesting child
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GARY HAMBRIGHT, a Southern Baptist minister accused of molesting dozens of children at the Presidio daycare in San Francisco, died of AIDS Nov. 8. Between 60-102 tots were suspected victims of child sexual abuse by Hambright and others, but 2 investigations led to dismissal of charges. Five children had contracted chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease. The Army daycare was closed. Parents have filed more than $60 million in claims against the Army alleging negligence led to sexual abuse of kids. The claims haven't been heard. Hambright died maintaining his innocence, leaving an obituary rife with references to " my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." A Presidio spokesperson said none of the children have shown signs of AIDS. (San Jose Mercury News, 1/5/90; Orange Co. Register, 1/6/90)
Rev. Gary Willard Hambright, a Southern Baptist, was charged as a daycare worker with sexually abusing 10 little boys and girls at the U.S. Army preschool at its Presidio base. Four of the tots had contracted the sexually transmitted disease of chlamydia. A grand jury spent 10 months investigating charges. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5/87; Wall Street Journal, 11/16/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister HENRY BAZIL WATERS, 49, was convicted of fondling 3 young boys and untold others at the Grace Baptist Temple Church in Statesboro, Ga., and in his home and car. Waters' testimony that he " saved" youth through " sex instruction " matched testimony of the victims. Waters admitted fondling boys in Latin America, saying " I have no idea " how many children he had abused. Waters was given permission to attend church while free on bond. (Atlanta Journal, 2/18/89)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REV. THOMAS V. COSSAIRT, 72, retired former pastor of First Baptist Church, Carter Lake, received a suspended 1 year jail sentence and 2 years' probation after pleading guilty to indecent contact with a child. A charge involving a 2nd child was dropped. He lives in Commerce, Okla. (Omaha World Herald)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REV. WILLIAM MURRAY HENDRICKS JR., 50, pastor of Clay Hill Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of lewd & lascivious assault on a minor. The victim: a girl, 7, molested at the church, parish house in 1988 where he pastored for 15 years. As a plea bargain he agreed not to perform pastoral duties until his probation ended. (Florida Times-Union, 9/19/89)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister Henry Waters, convicted of sexually abusing young boys whose souls he claimed would be 'saved' through his 'sex instruction'. (1989, England)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Six girls who were sexually abused by REV. FRANCIS G. HAIGHT, head of ex-Baptist Christian Academy, Monroe, WI, were awarded a total of $57,440 in court settlements. Haight is serving a 20 year term for molesting children; He is eligible for parole in 4 years. (8/14/89)
Rev. Francis Guy Haight, principal of the Baptist Christian Academy in Monroe, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to a reduced number of charges of sexually assaulting four young girls at his church school. He had had sexual contact with up to 11 girls at his school on an almost daily basis. Haight admitted the abuse was "happening pretty near everyday" and that he could not "even begin to estimate how many times this occurred." Most of the abuse took place in his office. A five year old girl said she was molested in her preschool program at the church. An 11 year old was abused when Mrs. Haight sent her to the office, telling police that it "kind of hurt." She didn't tell, she said, because she was scared. A 12 year old said the contact began when she attended summer bible school, where the minister molested her once or twice per day. One former student said she left the school after the eighth grade to avoid the constant abuse. Two victims said the minister would molest them by touching them under their dresses. As principal, he required that all girls wear dresses as part of the school dress code. Haight had been asked to leave a previous job under mysterious circumstances. Apparently the school had not made inquiries. Haight's attorney William Lansing said Haight plea-bargained in order to spare the children from testifying in court. "He's a very religious man," Lansing said. Haight's views on religion and compassion toward children obviously did not preclude constant sexual exploitation of them. (Sources: Wisconsin State Journal, 11/12/87; 1/9/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cobb, GA. A Baptist preacher who established a Cobb County ministry after leaving two other churches amid allegations of sexual misconduct was arrested in Marietta Monday on charges of child abuse, police said. Cobb police arrested the Rev. Tony McGowan, pastor of the New Grace Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Monday on two counts of cruelty to children and one count of child molestation in connection with alleged fondling incidents involving a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old he met through his ministry. The allegations came to light after the youngest girl, now 14, told her mother that the minister, 43, fondled her in a church van. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 08-02-1988)
Preacher Charged With Child Abuse
Baptist Minister is Guilty of Molestation, Sexual Assault
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oreste Victoriano Lopez, 60, was ARRESTED by Miami police for sexually assaulting male and female teenagers he met through his business, community and church activities. Victims said they were wooed by Lopez's kindness and financial generosity and his use of bible verses to justify his actions. He met youth at his church, West Flagler Park Baptist Church. Police found pornography, comic books, bibles, toys and children's clothes at his home, as well as 1000 files detailing children's lives. On his wall was a letter thanking him for his work with youth. (Miami Herald July 17, 1988)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. James Anthony Colyn, 39, former pastor of the Glendale (Az.) Bible Baptist Church, received a sentence of seven and a half years in prison. Colyn was described by police as a "sexual predator" who molested a teenage girl who asked him for counseling because she was being abused by her stepfather. Colyn PLEADED GUILTY to a charge of attempted molestation as a plea bargain. He moved to Phoenix 12 years ago after resigning as youth pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Albuquerque, N.M. after admitting sexual involvement with a teenage member of that congregation. The Glendale church said they were not aware of that when Colyn was hired. (Phoenix Gazette 7/1/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. J.D. Henderson, 51, of Russellville, Ark., was convicted of molesting twin 6 year old girls, and sentenced to 4 years in prison. Henderson is an ordained Free will Baptist minister. (Little Rock Arkansas Gazette 6/10/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Duval county minister, Rev. Roy Lynn Gaskins of Edgewood Heights Baptist Church, was accused of forcing a 13 year old boy at gunpoint to have sex. (Florida Times-Union 5/13/88)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An American missionary and her daughter were stabbed to death near American Bible College in Yapeka, Liberia by Baptist seminary graduate Benjamin Moley Morris. He confessed, saying he killed the pair after the mother had caught him trying to molest the child. (Source: Sacramento Bee, 11/30/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. Jack Law, a Baptist minister in Nashville, was accused of molesting and raping three small sisters during church outings and visits, once raping a five year old girl under a church pew. He was also accused of molesting and raping the sisters at their family's home and during an outing arranged to help him distribute religious tracts. The girls had tried to tell their parents, but were not believed. "Being a preacher," the father said, "we thought he was a good man." Law killed himself in July 1987 when facing trial for abusing the three sisters. (Sources: Nashville Banner, 7/26/86; Tennesseean, 7/10/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deacon James Nordgren, a Sunday School teacher at Sherwood Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, was indicted for aggravated sexual assault of three boys under age 14. He was charged with assaulting the boys at his home after showing them a book with a cover resembling a bible but which contained pictures of nude people. (Source: [Irving, Texas] Daily News; 5/21/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist minister James Luttrell, Bible Baptist Church, Bend, Oregon, was convicted of raping a six month old baby boy. The evidence was incontrovertible, yet another minister outspokenly defended him and paid for his legal help. (Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregon, 5/8/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Rev. Clyde L. Johnson, pastor of the largest Baptist church in Petersburg, Virginia and a popular city council member for 14 years, was convicted of the rape and sexual battery of four girls, aged nine to 16, in his congregation. Despite the conviction, and Johnson's cruel and slanderous statements about the young girls made in an effort to protect himself, he received continuous religious support, including prayers, rallies, money and special services. "The bottom line is that all of us . . . has [sic] some skeletons in his closets. That's not our job to judge. It's the Lord's job," said clergy supporter Rev. Kenneth Arrington of the Union Fellowship. One church member, Melvin Harwell, who was angered by this widespread support of a child rapist, commented: "Some people worship preachers." (Source: Washington Post, 4/24/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Church youth minister Timothy J. Ganzel was spared a flve-year prison sentence (receiving one year in jail and probation instead), because the judge said he took into account a courtroom full of relatives, friends and church members. Ganzel molested a teenage boy in Wisconsin Grace Baptist Church, Racine, Wisconsin. (Source: Capital Times, 4/21/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wilson A. Mears, Jr., convicted of sexually assaulting his 14 year old stepdaughter, later became a Baptist pastor, and was granted a full pardon by the Florida cabinet. He sought the pardon for his 1977 crime in order to be allowed to serve as a chaplain for the state prison system. He had served 15 months in prison. "If I stood before my God and answer for my crimes, I can certainly stand before my governor and my Cabinet seeking their grace and mercy . . . I've tried to help men with the same crimes I had." He received an appointment as pastor of Pine Grove Baptist Church in Quincey. What does this favoritism say to rape and incest victims, and to imprisoned sex offenders? (Source: Florida Today, 3/8/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Brazenly abusive behavior reportedly went unchecked for more than a year when Pastor Charles Brown of London Baptist Church, in Evergreen, Alabama, latched on to a teenaged boy and initiated a sexually abusive relationship by telling the boy he had a mental problem Brown could cure. The pastor's prescription: to get "closer," ply the boy with drugs, and move him into his own home and his own bedroom (the pastor's wife was relegated to their daughter's bedroom). Brown was convicted of a reduced misdemeanor charge in 1987 and was given a suspended sentence, although he was fired from his position as a public school teacher. (Source: Evergreen Courant, 9/25/86; 1987) Gary R. Martin, who had served as a minister and was a volunteer chaplain for the Indian River County Sheriffs office as well as the Vero Beach Police Department, was charged with molesting 13 boys. He had trusted positions in the community, including an appointment to the school district's sex education committee. His modus operandi was to tell victims he was researching children's growth for a doctoral thesis at Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana. He pleaded no contest to sexually mishandling three of the 13 boys. In October 1987 he was sentenced to seven years in a state prison with an additional 13 years probation, and ordered to receive treatment for his pedophilia. (Source: Florida Today, 3/1/87; 10/31/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The grandmother of a minister who abducted an 18 year old woman for 24 days and raped and molested her, could only comment, "If you had seen him when . . . he preached, his face was just shining like an angel." This diabolical crime involved kidnapping Maria C. Smith from a shopping mail in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on July 9, beating her with belts and raping her, and imprisoning her bound-and-gagged in the trunk of a car for what a judge later termed a 24-day reign of "terrorism." On August 2, the assailant Rev. Karl Strahan and his father purported to discover the missing teenager, and were touted as heroes. Two days later police realized Strahan was the abductor. He had threatened Smith's life if she had not backed up his story. On February 6, 1987 he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and armed robbery in Forrest County, where he received a 25-year concurrent sentence. The same day in bordering Covington County where he had taken his victim, Strahan pleaded guilty to rape and sexual battery. He received a sentence of life imprisonment on the rape charges and 30 years on sexual battery to run consecutively. Strahan was a licensed Mississippi Baptist minister. (Sources: Jackson Mississippi Daily, 8/6/86; 8/8/86; Hattiesburg American, 2/6/87)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Baptist Rev. Bobby Harold Epps of Starke, Florida pleaded guilty in May, 1986 to performing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a child under the age of 16. He was convicted of fondling a girl in a church office, and masturbating in her presence when giving her a ride home following a church activity. (Source: Gainesville Sun, 5/28/86)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Church deacon Harley Francis of Powers Drive Baptist Church in Orlando was convicted of molesting six girls, ages six to 13, whom he met through his Sunday School class. The elderly deacon bribed them with gifts and told the court he couldn't understand how people could misconstrue his "kindness toward children." (Source: Florida Today, 4/26/86)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. John Janney Sr. pleaded guilty to molesting three male foster children, following a wild attempt to elude authorities by fleeing to another state, during which time he tried to murder his wife and commit suicide. Ironically, as a pastor of the Calvary Bible Baptist Church, Bridgeton, New Jersey, he had been an outspoken opponent of humanist literature which he said would "corrupt the morals of youths." (Source: Bridgeton Evening News, 12/26/85)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
JAMES CLIFTON NALLEY, a volunteer at Bible Baptist Church in Fernandina Beach, Fla., was charged with fondling 2 church girls, ages 9 and 11.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Flint, MI. Eight women claim they were molested by Gerald E. Ney insuch places as the pastor's home, a bakery in Metamora and in the Liberty Baptist Church. Most of the victims told police of single incidents that dated back to 1978. Ney, 73, was charged with 1 count of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct, 4 counts of 2nd degree and 1 count each of 3rd and 4th degree criminal sexual conduct, as well as a criminal misdemeanor of allegedly being a sexually delinquent person. An investigation began after allegations from a girl, 16, were reported to police. Ney reportedly molested the parish member from 1993-94. The teen said she would sleep over at the pastor's home on Sundays and clean his house for money. She said he would sometimes molest her when his wife left on errands. (The Flint Journal)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rev. James E. Wynn, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Temple in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls who were members of his congregation. Wynn was diagnosed as a "compulsive, repetitive sex offender" by doctors who examined him. The girls ranged in age from nine to 13 at the time of the assaults, which occurred at church or in the minister's home. The pastor steadfastly maintained his innocence. His attorney Charles Frankel told the judge at the time of sentencing that his client "stands before your honor with a clear conscience head unbowed." The church fired him from his duties a month after his conviction. Superior Court Judge James Kennedy stated that "these offenses involved the most drastic breach of trust anyone can imagine." (Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 10/13/84)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Three sisters from Okanogan County -- Juanita Funkhouser, Sheri Lewis and Janelle Larson -- alleged they were molested between 1969 and 1980 by Orin Wilson, a one-time deacon of their church, Calvary Baptist Church in Twisp. Wilson admitted to the abuse in letters before his death, according to court records. But the sisters claimed the church and its governing body, the Calvary Baptist Conference, were aware of Wilson's alleged abuse of other young girls and failed to warn or protect them.
You are visitor 
since Oct. 6, 1997. 
No comments:
Post a Comment