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.
In 2018, Timothy Urban, a youth minister at First United Methodist Church in Van Alstyne, Texas, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. In 2019, Urban pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
A former Van Alstyne youth minister accused of having a sexual relationship with a teen girl pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Grayson County District Court.
Timothy Urban, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual performance with a child.
Two additional counts of each crime were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Urban was sentenced to 12 years in prison and will have to register as a sex offender.
He will be eligible for parole after six years.
Urban was a youth minister at First United Methodist Church of Van Alstyne.
He was arrested last summer after a lengthy investigation between Van Alstyne Police and the Texas Rangers.
A criminal complaint from the Texas Rangers alleges that Urban began flirting with a 16-year-old girl in the summer of 2015.
It says the flirting escalated to inappropriate touching and oral sex, and the sexual encounters usually took place in the church or in a vehicle.
The last reported encounter allegedly happened in April of 2016.
The complaint says the victim went to Van Alstyne Police in July and turned over hundreds of videos, photos and text messages to officers.
In August during an interview, investigators told her to text Urban.
She did, saying she felt disturbed about their relationship.
The complaint states Urban responded, saying he felt absolutely horrible and that he never meant to hurt the teen.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Call me cycnical, but it seems that abusers “never meant to hurt” their victims.