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.
Gabriel Hardy, pastor of an Evangelical house church called Army of the Lord in Hazell, Washington, stands accused of beating a child with a belt while church members stood by and did nothing.
The pastor of a home church in Hazel Dell was arrested on Thursday after a woman who attended the church said the pastor had whipped her 6-year-old child, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
According to deputies, the mother reported on Monday that 42-year-old Gabriel Hardy of Vancouver had whipped her child with a belt, leaving bruises and welts across the child’s lower back, hips, and buttocks.
The mother said she had asked a friend to take her child to services on Feb. 16 at the church called “Army of the Lord – Ministry of Defense” when she had been unable to attend herself. She said she asked the friend to ask Hardy to speak with her child about “recent disrespectful behavior,” according to deputies.
The child came home with bruises and welts, and told their mother that Hardy had whipped them about 12 times.
Investigators determined that Hardy preached about corporal punishment of young children and said he was divinely ordained to chastise children. Hardy also allegedly told the child’s mother that he had whipped them with a belt to discipline them.
On Thursday, detectives served a search warrant at Hardy’s home. He was not home at the time, but deputies said they found and seized related evidence.
Later that day, detectives contacted Hardy and, according to deputies, he said he hit the child with a belt.
Hardy was taken into custody and booked into the Clark County Jail for third-degree assault of a child.
Last week, Hardy pleaded not guilty. Fox-2 reports:
The pastor of an in-home church in Hazel Dell pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday after a woman who attended the church alleged that a pastor whipped her 6-year-old child, leaving him with welts and bruises on his body.
42-year-old pastor Gabriel Hardy pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault of a child with a weapon following his arrest in February. Hardy was arrested for allegedly beating a six-year-old boy with a belt at his home, which also is the location of his church called ‘Army of God Ministry of Defense.’
According to court documents, the mother of the boy asked Hardy to speak with her son about his bad behavior, and when he returned from church, the mother located several red raised welts on her son’s lower back and buttocks. Which disturbed those only doors from the church.
“It’s heartbreaking to think to do that to a kid in front of all those people who just sat there, and no one wanted to help him,” said neighbor Jennifer Alexander.
Hardy confirmed to police he used a belt on the child for disrespecting and cursing at his mother. The mother claims she knew children were disciplined at the church but had not seen a child disciplined physically and did not give the pastor consent to strike her child.
“If the story is true that the mother sent them there for disciplinary action, then that’s when you sit there, and you pray with the child or say what else could you have done. But you don’t sit them in front of a bunch of peers and beat them,” said Alexander.
According to court documents, Hardy said his chastisement of the young boy was to protect and defend children by the word of God.
However, not everyone is convinced that this is so, and many fear more could happen at the in-home church.
“I can’t imagine any pastor that I’ve ever met ever doing this, so what else am I to think could it be a cult? Could this neighborhood be filled with people that I don’t want near my kids?”
And now neighbors said they want the in-home church gone.
“Who do you trust if you cannot trust your church, you know I go to my church when I need help, when I need something, where do they go now? They don’t have that security anymore.”
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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