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.
Clarence Hungerford, pastor of Aurora Baptist Church in Benton, Kentucky, stands accused of soliciting nude photos from an eleven year old church girl.
The Roys Reports reported in June 2025:
A Kentucky pastor remains jailed after confessing to soliciting photographs of a preteen and trying to destroy the evidence, according to the Marshall County, Kentucky, Sheriff’s office.
Clarence Barry Hungerford, 58, of Mayfield is being held on $10,000 bail, the sheriff’s office said Friday.
He was arrested Wednesday on charges of unlawful use of electronic means with the commonwealth to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities and with tampering with physical evidence.
These came after telling authorities he destroyed his cellphone to try to prevent law enforcement from searching the contents of his phone, a press release stated.
….
The sheriff’s office said the allegations surfaced when the family of an 11-year-old girl contacted them after the child reported she had been solicited for photographs of her body by her pastor.
The case against Clarence “Barry” Hungerford was continued to January during a Tuesday, Dec. 9, court appearance.
Hungerford was charged in the summer with tampering with physical evidence and unlawful use of electronic means within the commonwealth to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activity.
During the Dec. 9 court appearance, no new information was made available, and the case was continued to Jan. 13, 2026.
Charges were first brought against Hungerford in late June 2025. On June 25, a report was made by the family of an 11-year-old girl. The family reported to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office that she had been asked for pictures of her body by the pastor of her church. Following a brief investigation, it was determined that Hungerford was the one to send the messages.
According to a news release, Hungerford was arrested the same day, and admitted both to contacting the girl and to destroying his cell phone in an attempt to prevent the contents from being accessed.
Hungerford is a resident of Mayfield, Kentucky, but was a pastor of a church in the Aurora community of Marshall County, and kept a part-time residence in Marshall County. It is believed that he was at that residence when the messages were sent.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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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