The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Jerred Peacock, a youth pastor at Living Waters Church in Estero, Florida, was arrested last October on charges of sexually assaulting a minor church girl. Peacock was released on a $100,000 bond and ordered not to have any contact with the victim. Unable to keep his dick in his pants, Peacock violated the judge’s no-contact order, and now he’s back in the slammer with his bond revoked.
The Naples Daily News reports:
A warrant affidavit from the State Attorney’s Office alleges Peacock, 34, was in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl between March 2018 and August 2018 while he was still a youth pastor at Living Waters Church in Estero.
Lee County deputies arrested Peacock on Oct. 12 and he was released the next day on a $100,000 bond. On Oct. 13, Lee Circuit Judge John Duryea issued a no-contact order, court records show.
On Jan. 28, Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle denied a motion to set aside the no-contact order.
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A hearing to revoke Peacock’s bond was held Monday at 1:30 p.m. and Peacock was arrested later that afternoon. Peacock remains in custody at the Lee County Justice Center.
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Special Victims Unit detectives interviewed the girl in August, and she at first denied any sexual relationship. In a second interview later that month, she told detectives that Peacock on several occasions had touched her genitals and made her touch his, including at his home when his wife was at work.
After Peacock’s original arrest, Wink News reported:
A former youth pastor in Lee County, who once hosted an event preaching purity to teens, has been accused of sexually assaulting a girl. The pastor led the spiritual lives of children at his church for months. He has been released from jail and faces trial this month.
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Living Waters told WINK News in a statement, “[They are] extremely saddened and express our deepest sympathy to any and all victims of sexual misconduct. All employees at [Living Waters Church] go through an extensive background check with character references.”
Dustin Lotz, a congregation member at the church, is looking for more evidence to be made public before he makes a personal judgment call on the actions the former pastor is being accused of.
“I don’t know anything about the facts,” Lotz said. “I know lately there’s been a lot of media, a lot of sexual accusations, so it’s hard … It’s really hard just to have a knee-jerk reaction to the news.”
Lotz and his family attend the church, and he is worried about how it may impact the congregation.
“If it is true, it’s not something that would be good for the church,” Lotz said. “It’s something they would have to talk against.”
Peacock’s attorney spoke to WINK News and said the allegations against his client are not true. He is “pretty convinced [Peacock] will be absolved of any wrongdoing in the end.”
Gotta love the church member who is reserving judgment about Peacock’s arrest, not wanting to have a “knee-jerk reaction to the news.” Worse yet, this man is more concerned about the news hurting the church than he is the damage done to the victim. Always protect the church, right?
I think normally it is good to reserve judgement until a conviction has occurred. Sometimes the truly innocent are arrested after all.
I have published over 500 of these reports. Men later found innocent? 1. In this particular story, the man was arrested while in a car with the victim — a violation of the judge’s no-contact order.
The primary purpose of this series is to shine the light on clergy sexual,abuse and to show that such claims are not rare (as Evangelical apologists allege they are).
Oh Bruce, another head desk and face palm from me here. I recently remembered a verse, ‘Touch not the Lord’s anointed.’ That’s just a horrible rule, that because you are a x-tian leader, you are above sinning and your actions should never be called into question by anyone. So what about ‘All have sinned?’ Just as in the present controversy about Michael Jackson’s abuse of minors, these folk continue to have supporters, folk with blind faith in them, however much the facts say otherwise.
He certainly does appear to be guilty but I still think the basic principle of reserving judgement is a decent thing. The fact that only 1 out of 500 have been found not guilty isn’t isn’t surprising to me. People are rarely found not guilty in our justice system and part of the reason for that is plea bargaining. Prosecutors frequently stack charges on people and state they will seek the max for each but if the defendant agrees to a plea bargain a lot of charges will be dropped and they won’t seek the maximum. Do you roll the dice as a defendant? Especially when you cannot afford decent counsel?
Again I am not saying these turds are innocent. But can you see my concern?
I gotta quit reading this while watching TV. I saw “black collar crime”, “pastor” and “peacock” and had to do a triple-double take.