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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Worker Timothy Brown Found Guilty of Sodomy and Other Sex Crimes

timothy brown

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.

Timothy Brown, a volunteer youth worker at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, was convicted last Wednesday of statutory sodomy, enticement or attempted enticement of a child, third-degree child molestation, and sexual misconduct involving a child under 15 years old. The victim was twelve.

KQ-12 reports:

A St. Joseph, Mo. man was found guilty on four felony counts of child molestation and sodomy Wednesday that only took a 12-person jury two hours to decide.

Timothy Brown was found guilty of statutory sodomy, enticement or attempted enticement of a child, third-degree child molestation, and sexual misconduct involving a child under 15-years-old.

Brown faced the felony charges stemming from an inappropriate relationship he had with a 12-year-old girl from May to November of 2019. At that time, Brown was a volunteer with the youth group at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph. 

The 17-year-old victim, who was 12 when the abuse happened, took the stand Tuesday in which she outlined the details of the sexual abuse Brown inflicted on her.

The victim testified that Brown had touched her and exposed himself to her on multiple occasions.

She journaled the entire experience and the journal was presented as evidence in court.

Police also presented the court with photos of teenage girls found in his phone and a previous alleged victim from Indiana in the late 1990s.

A former Frederick Boulevard Baptist pastor testified that Brown applied to be the youth pastor in the early 2010s but could not be considered due to an allegation against him in Nebraska from years earlier. Despite the allegation, Brown was allowed to volunteer with the youth group at the church. 

In closing arguments Wednesday morning, the state presented the victim deserved to be heard. They said she was honest and credible throughout the entire process.

The defense presented that this was a case of “she said…” and that the church had no complaints against Brown before the abuse happened.

Brown showed no emotion when the verdict was read while members of his family broke down in tears.

The victim and her family breathed a sigh of relief and the parents did send KQ2 a written note that said “Today justice has brought a new beginning for our daughter and others like her.”

And for the church? They knew of at least one previous sexual misconduct allegation against Brown. What did they do? The church allowed Brown to be a youth group volunteer.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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2 Comments

  1. Avatar
    ObstacleChick

    Background checks aren’t really useful if the organization ignores them. How disgusting – we won’t pay an alleged abuser, but we’ll let him volunteer.

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