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.
Jackson Gatlin, a youth worker at The Vineyard Church in Duluth, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal sexual misconduct and was sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Gatlin’s parents were the church’s senior pastors. None of the Gatlins are currently affiliated with Duluth Vineyard.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports:
Jackson Gatlin was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday, the first of back-to-back days of sentencings after the former youth leader from Duluth Vineyard pleaded guilty earlier this month to felony-level sexual misconduct.
In early 2023, a handful of women came forward with similar stories of sexual assault from when they were teens or younger at the hands of Gatlin — who held a position of authority at the church where his parents, Michael and Brenda Gatlin, were senior pastors. On Nov. 6, Jackson Gatlin, 36, pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal sexual conduct.
“I hope you conquer your demons,” Judge Dale Harris said to the defendant on Monday.
Gatlin, dressed in orange, did not comment in the courtroom. When he is out of prison, he will have to register as a sex offender.
The first day of sentencings were tied to two separate victims, numbered 4 and 5 in court documents: one who said she was 14 when Gatlin, then 21, snuck her into his parents’ basement and committed the first of several sexual assaults, according to the criminal complaint. It ended when she saw his flirtatious text messages with other girls from a youth group. The second woman was in middle school when she said Gatlin started sending her sexual text messages and later trapped her in a bus seat during the church’s annual retreat weekend in the Twin Cities. He assaulted her and threatened that if she told anyone, the police would get involved, according to the criminal complaint.
The courtroom was at capacity, with the victims sitting together in a row.
“We’re talking about something, for them, that is nearly 20 years in the making,” the victims’ attorney Paul McBride said after the sentencing. “Finding justice is a journey. This is one step toward that. Hopefully we can come to a meaningful end.”
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Since Gatlin’s plea earlier this month, nine victims have filed civil charges against him — in addition to his parents, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA, its governing body.
In the civil complaints filed Nov. 6, Gatlin is accused of extended hugs, touching teenage girls over and under their clothes, making them touch him, tackling them in the guise of playing games, and raping them. He is accused of tying a girl to his bedpost. In one case, Brenda Gatlin reportedly walked into her bedroom and found her son sexually assaulting a girl. Nothing came of it, according to the complaint.
Gatlin told several girls he was going to teach them and show them the love of God, according to court documents. A parent found sexual text messages from Jackson Gatlin to their daughter and notified at least one of his parents.
The Gatlins, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA are accused of continuing to give Jackson Gatlin access to minors, even though leadership had been told of his actions, not providing proper training, covering up information and not going to the local Police Department, among other accusations.
Jackson Gatlin was fired from his position with the church in mid-February 2023 and was not allowed back on the church campus. Michael Gatlin resigned as senior pastor at Duluth Vineyard and from various positions and the board tied to the church in February 2023. He had been with the church for two years. Brenda Gatlin, who was a super regional leader for Vineyard USA, resigned soon after.
The church has the following blurb on its website:
As a church community, we face a heartbreaking and very serious situation. Our former pastoral assistant (Jackson Gatlin) has pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct. Five criminal complaints were filed against him. We have also received an independent investigation report from Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) finding extensive abuse by both Jackson Gatlin and our former senior pastors (Michael and Brenda Gatlin). These findings include sexual misconduct, cover up, abuse of pastoral or spiritual power, and emotional abuse. Civil lawsuits have also been filed against Jackson, Michael, Brenda, Duluth Vineyard, and Vineyard USA.
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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Here’s a link to the Roy’s report. It’s a lengthy read but it shows the real depravity of this person and his dumbass parents. The report details his conduct while in charge of the “Heroic Leadership Institute” (wow, what a “cool /Yay Jesus Church” term). The only word I can think of is “disgusting”.
https://julieroys.com/duluth-vineyard-disciplines-youth-pastor-gatlin-parents-alleged-abuse-cover-up/
Prison rape porn deleted.
RF, you aren’t actually defending this Gatlin guy, are you ?? This person has dragged Jesus’ name through the mud, as well as a few other things. If you can’t have empathy for his victims,at least have some shame on behalf of God and Jesus then. You and Tee Hee owe them a certain amount of chagrin over this ” poop 💩 show !!”
Prison rape porn deleted
Yulya, I think Revival Liars likes to use these clerical sexual abuse stories as a chance to post pornographic prison rape stories, usually beginning with the “cleric” riding on a bus to the prison. At some point the new inmate is “accosted” by a stereotypical (usually a minority) large rapacious inmate.
Like other folks who get their fun in life off provoking others, Revival Liars is IMO a self-absorbed narcissist masquerading as a “Christian”. Like so-called “Dr.” Tee, his religion is just a cover for his narcissistic and sociopathic personality.
For me personally, as a Christian myself (Catholic), I find his hypocrisy abhorrent. He tries to post this garbage and then turns around and hectors Bruce, OC, etc. about their personal religious thoughts.
He is doing his part to further brand Christianity as a toxic religion. Ironically, he (like all the other pervert pastors and priests) is not the one who will suffer for his dumbassery, but instead folks who truly try to follow the teachings of Jesus, and do their best to be a good human being to everyone. From what I have seen recently, Bruce and Co. do a much better job at this than so-called Christians.
He is a disgusting person; a terrible representation of Christianity. Of course, he’s not really a Christian in any sense of the word He’s “saved,” but from what? Anyone who loves rape isn’t a Christian. If he was a member of a church I pastored, we would have excommunicated him. He safely hides behind fake names, email addresses, and IP addresses. If I could block his degenerate ass I would.
I can’t determine if he believes he is some kind of neo-Calvinist (perseverance of the saints- I can be a big asshole and still get to heaven because, “elect”) or what. I’m sure I didn’t get that 100 % correct.
It probably is a fools errand to attempt to figure out this kind of person’s beliefs. At this point in life I really don’t care what someone’s religion or ideology is, I only care about how they treat other people, especially those who are different from themselves. Start with being kind and respectful to everyone (their equal rights and autonomy) and then I’ll listen to what you have to say about your personal religion, etc.
Hope all is well with you and your family, Bruce.
Hello,Bruce. Yep, clearly RF isn’t an actual Christian in the “normal sense.” He’s an isolated incel who happens to spend time online because he has nothing positive in his life,so he has lots of idle time on his hands. Religious fanaticism ,rather than a healthy relationship with Jesus to begin with, drives these crazy comments he churns out. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with him. I bet dollars to donuts others share the feeling!