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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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
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
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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)
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.
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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
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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)
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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)
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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."
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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).
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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
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________< Marietta, GA. A 30-year-old former church martial arts instructor at Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta was sentenced today to 90 years in prison. Cobb County Superior Court Judge George Kreeger also sentenced Gunther Fiek today to 90 years on probation. Fiek showed no emotion when Kreeger announced the sentence. A jury convicted Fiek of 18 counts of child molestation and three counts of aggravated child molestation in September. (WSB-TV, October 19, 2001)
Fiek gets 90 years for child molestation
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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
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
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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
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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 10/7/2000.
Cyber-Extortion Results in Prison Sentence
(http://net4tv.com/voice/story.cfm?storyid=2931)
CHURCH DEACON FACES MULTIPLE CHARGES (http://faculty.csumb.edu/mountfordcarolin/world/cst371/history.html)
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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 8/15/2000
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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
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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 6/28/2000
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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 6/28/2000
Tales of horror: Sex crimes victimizing children rock community's foundations
www.angelfire.com/journal/indexjournal/01Jan25A.html _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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
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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
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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
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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, 11/30/99
Molester pleads guilty
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, 11/11/99
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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 4/27/99
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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
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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, 4/15/99
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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 4/22/99
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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)
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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
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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, 10/14/98
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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, 10/5/98
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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
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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
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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
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Creepy, aint it? And that's only 1/3 of the list I have. 
How would you know this?
