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.
Jose Artero, pastor of Palabra Viva Iowa in Des Moines, Iowa, stands accused of sexual exploitation by a counselor and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
Police arrested a Des Moines pastor on Wednesday for alleged sexual misconduct.
Jose Artero was charged with sexual exploitation by a counselor and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. In January, Artero allegedly exposed his genitals to a 20 year-old woman and made further unwanted communications, according to Sgt. Paul Parizek, spokesperson with the Des Moines Police Department.
Court documents made available Thursday showed Artero met the victim through his role as pastor for Palabra Viva Iowa, a Latino church in the Drake neighborhood of Des Moines. Artero allegedly reached out to her over Facebook to discuss relationship problems she was having. He then offered to come to her house. When he arrived, he exposed his genitals, prompting the church member to ask him to leave, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint states Artero admitted he would have had sex with the woman if she would have allowed. Artero is now on pretrial release and is set to appear in court on March 27.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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 2021, Lindsey Melnick, a youth pastor at Breakthrough Church in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, was accused of sexually assaulting a fifteen-year-old girl she met as a teacher’s aide in her school classroom. A reader familiar with this story told me that the assaults took place while Melnick was employed by Cornerstone Christian Church in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. I found one document that shows that Melnick worked for Cornerstone in 2012.
Police charged a Perry County church pastor with four felonies after a woman told police she was molested 10 years ago by the pastor when she was 15.
Pennsylvania State Police arrested Lindsey Melnick, 36, on Monday in connection with charges of statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact of a minor. The charges allege Melnick sexually assaulted the teen several times a week for about one year starting in August 2011.
At the time, Melnick was about 26 and had been the girl’s soccer coach at a school and a church counselor at summer camp, according to court records.
Her next court hearing was set for Jan. 11. She is free on $15,000 unsecured bail.
According to the report filed by the Pennsylvania State Police:
A woman told police in July she felt she was “manipulated and groomed” by Melnick when they first met in 2010, and also a teacher aide for most of her classes while she was in eighth grade.
They would pass a notebook back and forth during class, Melnick gave her a cell phone, and they communicated by that cell phone and through Facebook, including a “fake” account that Melnick allegedly created under the name Sophia Martin, according to police.
The victim said if she didn’t answer phone calls from Melnick, the woman would become angry with her so she felt she had to take her calls. Melnick also snuck into her parents’ home dozens of times using a hidden key, the court records said. Melnick would hide under her bed, the girl said.
Eventually, the girl said, she started sleeping on her parents’ floor to avoid Melnick.
Melnick eventually became controlling of “every aspect of her life,” according to court records, which said Melnick resigned from the school soccer team because teachers and staff members “were catching on” to what was going on.
Melnick would pick her up from her friends’ homes or events and take her to a graveyard.
A youth group teammate confirmed to police in July that she saw Melnick giving the girl a back massage at an event at someone’s home when they were 14 to 15 years old, according to the report.
The teammate said Melnick spent the night and when she would leave the room to get a drink of water or something, she would return to see Melnick on top of the victim, giving the girl a back massage. But when she entered the room, Melnick would “stop what she was doing and act like nothing had happened,” according to the report written by police.
Police recovered Facebook messages from the account of “Sophia Martin” in December 2011 to the girl that said she was angered “about how you were torn away from me.”
Melnick’s church bio page stated:
Lindsey Melnick is a 2008 gradute [sic] of Colorado Christian Univeristy [sic] and a 2019 graduate of Liberty Univeristy [sic]. She has degrees in both Youth Ministry and Professional Counseling. This blend of Biblical knowledge and Mental Health training allows her to have a good balance of Scriptural teaching and counseling.
She has a passion for sharing Jesus with all, discipling believers, and helping people heal spiritually. She focuses on Bibilical [sic] teaching, Youth Ministry, and Outreach opportunities.
She loves Penn State Football, her dogs [sic] Scout and Sherlock, and all types of pasta, especially Mac & Cheese. If you would like to get ahold of Lindsey please e-mail her at XXXXXXXXX.
In December 2022, Melnick was convicted of sexual assault. On Wednesday, Melnick was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Those were the words the former youth pastor called out to her family on Wednesday as she was escorted from the Perry County courtroom after being sentenced to six to 12 years in state prison for sexual assault.
Meanwhile, a 26-year-old woman whom prosecutors say Lindsey Melnick molested 11 years ago sat in the back of the small courtroom within earshot. She was 15 when the assaults occurred.
Melnick, 37, the former youth pastor, soccer coach and teacher’s aide at Susquenita Middle School, maintained her innocence at her sentencing hearing despite being found guilty in December by a jury of sexually assaulting the girl repeatedly in 2011.
“The bottom line is, a jury of 12 people disagree with that assertion,” Andrew Bender, a Perry County judge, said during the 9 a.m. sentencing hearing. “You were in a position of power over the victim in this case, and you used that and exploited it to your advantage.”
The victim recalled one occasion where she came home alone and received a text telling her to look under her bed. When she did so, she saw Melnick laying underneath, she said.
Melnick sneaked into the victim’s home and hid under her bed “more than 30″ times, according to the victim—and she had to sleep on her parents’ floor to get away from Melnick.
The victim and Melnick met through the Susquenita Middle School’s soccer team, which Melnick was the coach of. Melnick was also a teacher’s aide for most of her classes, and would pass a notebook back-and-forth between them, according to the victim. Melnick was also a counselor for a church camp the victim attended, where she invited the victim into bed with her.
Melnick was also a leader at the youth group the victim attended events at, according to Merris.
The sentence reflects the state guidelines for the convictions of aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and institutional sexual assault.
The judge could have given a lesser sentence had there been mitigating factors in the case, but Bender acknowledged he could not find any.
Melnick must also register on the sex offender’s list upon eventual release from prison, but Bender said she would not be found as a violent sexual predator.
The jury’s verdict hinged on the credibility of the now-26-year-old victim’s statements during court, according to Bender.
“I was left with the impression that she testified very credibly, [and was consistent] with what she told people,” Bender said. “I was not surprised by the jury’s verdict after hearing her testimony.”
But Terry McGowan, Melnick’s lawyer, said the victim’s testimony at trial was inconsistent and that the defense would appeal the sentence.
“We were shocked at the verdict,” McGowan said.
The jurors deliberated for an hour and twenty minutes after the day-long trial in December, according to Merris.
“We love you Lins, stay strong,” family members said Wednesday after sheriff deputies began to escort Melnick from the courtroom.
“How could they do this to her?” one woman sobbed. “There was no evidence.”
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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 February 20222. Terry Compton, pastor of Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church in Damascus, Virginia (no internet presence), was charged with 12 counts of taking indecent liberties with children; 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery; three counts of forcible sodomy, and three counts of object sexual penetration.
Terry Compton, 62, the current pastor of Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church in Damascus, Virginia, was arrested and charged by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Compton is charged with 12 counts of taking indecent liberties with children; 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery; three counts of forcible sodomy and three counts of object sexual penetration.
The abuse allegedly started in 1995 and continued for 26 years.
Officials said that although the initial charges are based on assaults on three minors, multiple victims have come forward.
“The case is in, really, its infancy – he just got arrested last week,” Washington County Commonwealth Attorney Joshua Cumbow told WJHL-TV “This is a big case.”
Compton is being held at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail without bond.
Compton later pleaded guilty to sodomy of a helpless victim (one count), sodomy of a child less than 13 years old (one count), object sexual penetration of a child less than 13 years old (two counts), and aggravated sexual battery of a child less than 13 years old (12 counts). No plea was offered to Compton.
Compton was sentenced to four life sentences — 240 years. He will spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
A former pastor from Southwest Virginia was sentenced to four life sentences after he pleaded guilty to multiple child sex crimes.
A release from the office of Washington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Cumbow states that Terry Frank Compton was sentenced in Washington County Circuit Court. Compton was sentenced to 240 years in addition to the four life sentences. The release states that no time was suspended.
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Cumbow’s office reported that Compton was not offered a plea agreement.
Compton was arrested in February 2022 after a months-long investigation by the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office (WCSO). In a release issued by the WCSO at the time, Compton was identified as the pastor at a baptist church in Damascus.
He was initially charged with 30 felony counts, all against juveniles. The WCSO reported at the time that multiple victims had come forward, and detectives had determined that Compton had been abusing children for about 26 years.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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 2019, Joseph “Jack” Baker, pastor of St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford, Michigan, was accused of sexually assaulting a child.
The Oakland Press reported at the time:
Father Joseph “Jack” Baker, 57, is on an electronic tether following his arraignment July 8 in 29th District Court, according to the Wayne County Jail website. Judge Laura Redmond Mack assigned a $500,000 personal bond at arraignment, which doesn’t require bail to be posted.
Baker, pastor of St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford since 2008, is one of six metro Detroit priests facing sexual abuse charges as part of an ongoing investigation by the state’s attorney general’s office. He was arrested July 8 in Wayne County and is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct – sexual penetration with a person under 13 years old, multiple variables. Court records list the offense date as Feb. 1, 2004.
Baker is also a former associate pastor at St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills and Sacred Heart Parish in Dearborn, and former pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wayne. He also was administrator at St. Benedict in Waterford in 2011, campus minister at Wayne State Medical School Campus Ministry and administrator at three churches in Inkster. He was ordained in 1993.
Attorney General Dana Nessel is calling the case “just the tip of the iceberg,” and said her office is reviewing “hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and files” seized last fall from Michigan’s seven diocese.
In October 2022, Baker was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree with a child under the age of 13.
On March 1, 2023, Baker was sentenced to 3-15 years in prison. Afterward, he must register as a sex offender.
Joseph “Jack” Baker, 61, was convicted in October 2022 of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. This charge is used when the victim is under 13.
Baker will spend three to 15 years in prison and must register as a sex offender for life.
He had previously been a pastor at St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford since 2008. He also served as a pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wayne, as associate pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Dearborn and as an associate pastor at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills.
At his sentencing hearing in Wayne County’s 3rd Judicial Circuit Court, Joseph “Father Jack” Baker was ordered to spend 3-15 years in prison, with jail credit of 140 days, for first-degree criminal sexual conduct-sexual penetration of a person less than 13 years old.
Baker was pastor at St. Mary Catholic School in Wayne and his victim was a second-grader there when he was raped in the church sacristy in 2004. Both the victim and Baker were among those who testified at the trial last October, with Baker denying the allegation.
The Oakland Press is not naming the victim due to the nature of the crime.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Bridget Hathaway veered from sentencing guidelines of a minimum 25 years in prison, calling Baker’s case “somewhat unique.”
Noting that the priest was convicted of “one of the most serious crimes in the state,” Hathaway cited several factors for the lighter sentence, including Baker having no other criminal allegations against him and no prior criminal history, compliance with bond conditions for more than three years while he awaited trial, and several dozen letters of support from parishioners and others who, she said, credited him with doing “a great deal of good for the community.”
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Wednesday’s hearing, Kriger had asked the judge to sentence Baker to time served and “a period of probation or home confinement,” claiming he has a history of “dedication to service,” community involvement and helping others “in some of their darkest hours” — as evidenced by the letters written to the court on his behalf.
“This offense is 20 years old and is truly an aberration in Father Baker’s otherwise exemplary life…he has spent the last 20 years being the complete opposite of what he have seen in this case,” she said.
Russo Bennetts, however, argued that the “face (Baker) presented to the community and the face his victim saw” weren’t the same.
“This was not an aberration…he changed and destroyed (the victim’s) life,” Russo Bennetts said. “The people who wrote those letters weren’t sexually assaulted by Joseph Baker. The Joseph Baker in those letters in not the Joseph Baker (the victim) knows.”
Baker was given a lighter sentence because of all the “good” things he did as a pastor. Does anyone seriously think that this was the only time that Baker took advantage of a church minor? I mean, really? As has been shown in countless Black Collar Crime stories, judges often give offending clergy what I call the “preacher’s discount,” sentencing them to lighter sentences than non-clerics receive. Lost on judges is the fact that these men abused the trust their victims had in them, causing untold physical and psychological harm. They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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 2022, Mark Rivera, a lay pastor at Christ Our Light Anglican in Big Rock, Illinois — an Anglican Church affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest — was charged with two felony counts of criminal sexual assault.
A former lay pastor in a conservative Anglican denomination was charged Wednesday (Dec. 29) with two felony counts of criminal sexual assault in the Kane County, Illinois, circuit court. The charges come a year after Joanna Rudenborg reported Mark Rivera, her former neighbor, to Kane County police, accusing him of raping her in 2018 and again in 2020.
According to Pat Gengler, undersheriff at Kane County, bail was set at $50,000 and Rivera was released after a hearing. “He’s on home monitoring, so he does have a GPS bracelet which greatly restricts his movements,” said Gengler.
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“I’m glad he was finally charged and the prosecution is happening,” said Rudenborg. “It’s certainly validating that the state looked at the evidence and said, this is a strong case worth pursuing. … I hope that my story being taken seriously by the authorities will help other people take other victims’ stories more seriously.”
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Rivera is also being prosecuted on charges of felony sexual assault and predatory abuse of a victim under 13 years of age, and at least eight others have made allegations of abuse by Rivera, including child sexual abuse, grooming, rape and assault.
Rivera was a lay minister at Christ Our Light Anglican, an ACNA church plant in Big Rock, Illinois, from 2013 to 2019. He was also a volunteer leader at Church of the Resurrection — the headquarters of the Upper Midwest Diocese — in Wheaton, Illinois, from the mid-1990s until 2013.
On Aug. 28, ACNA announced the members of a Provincial Response Team that would oversee an investigation into the diocese’s handling of the allegations. The denomination was not able to respond to a request for comment by the time of publication, but according to an email sent from the Provincial Response Team to Rudenborg on Nov. 30 and shown to Religion News Service, the group was “ready to begin the initial vetting process to narrow down the list” of investigative firms. That list would then be voted on by both survivors and members of the Provincial Response Team. On Twitter, Rudenborg expressed frustration at the team’s lack of action.
“At this point, I’m safe from Mark, I’m not in any direct danger, so really what I want is for him to not be able to harm anyone else,” Rudenborg told RNS. “The only way we can be sure that that’s going to happen is if he goes back into custody. So it’s kind of still a waiting game.”
In December 2022, Rivera was found guilty of two counts of felony predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and three felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Mark Rivera, 49, of Winfield was found guilty of two counts of felony predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and three felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Feb. 10.
Rivera was a lay pastor at the Anglican Church of North America in Big Rock when he sexually assaulted a child under the age of 13 multiple times between June 2018 and May 2019, according to a news release from the Kane County state’s attorney’s office. The abuse was reported to authorities after the victim told her mother.
“Mr. Rivera is a predator who used his position of respectability and stature in a church and within the community to prey on this child with no consideration for the trauma he caused,” Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Rodgers said. “The victim showed great courage in telling her mother about his criminal conduct, in preparing for this trial and in facing him in court.”
Rivera will have to register for life as a sexual offender, authorities said. He remains in custody at the Kane County jail on $500,000 bail.
After Rivera’s arrest, it came to light that he allegedly molested other children. A damning third-party report was revealed in October 2022, calling into question the Anglican denomination’s culpability in Rivera’s crimes.
A long-awaited third-party report on sexual abuse reveals that leaders in an Anglican Church in North America diocese failed to act on tips about sexual misconduct and abuse and defended an alleged abuser as innocent while questioning reported survivors’ credibility.
The probe into events in the Upper Midwest Diocese, conducted by the investigative firm Husch Blackwell, also found that an ACNA priest did not report abuse by a lay pastor to the Department of Child and Family Services, claiming a church lawyer told him he was exempt from mandatory reporting laws, and that Bishop Stewart Ruch III and others allowed a church volunteer to have contact with teenagers after he had lost his teaching job for inappropriate behavior with students.
As serious as the report’s findings are, the investigation went forward without hearing from at least five alleged survivors of abuse who refused to participate over concerns about transparency.
The Upper Midwest Diocese in the ACNA—a small denomination formed by a 2009 split with the Episcopal Church over its LGBTQ-affirming policies—has been roiled since 2019 by allegations that Mark Rivera, a former lay pastor in the diocese known for his charisma and physical affection, had sexually abused young people he had met through Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois, and Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, Illinois.
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At least 10 individuals have made sexual abuse or sexual misconduct allegations against Rivera, who is now on trial in Kane County, Illinois, on charges of felony sexual assault and predatory abuse of a victim under 13 years of age. Rivera also faces charges for two felony counts of criminal sexual assault of a separate alleged adult victim.
Ruch is on leave after admitting he made serious mistakes in handling the abuse allegations against Rivera, including failing to initially tell members of the Upper Midwest Diocese about those allegations.
ACNA spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.
Four years earlier, in 2015, several leaders became aware that a lay leader at Christ Our Light Anglican, Chris Lapeyre, had been fired from a high school teaching position that year over concerns about a relationship with a female student, according to the report.
The Rev. Rand York, a priest at the church, told investigators he knew that Lapeyre had lost his job and why but allowed Lapeyre to stay in leadership, saying that he “was not concerned about Lapeyre interacting with young people at COLA because Lapeyre had three daughters of his own.”
Ruch, bishop of the diocese, reportedly told investigators that he also knew that Lapeyre had been fired over a “boundary crossing” issue but took no action. Lapeyre said his termination didn’t limit his leadership opportunities at either Christ Our Light Anglican or Church of the Resurrection, the diocesan headquarters in Wheaton.
The report states that Lapeyre, a friend of Rivera’s, told investigators he was aware of sexual misconduct by Rivera involving an adult woman in 2018 but did not tell anyone about it until 2020.
The report goes on to say that Ruch and York did not attempt to learn more about additional abuse allegations against Rivera made known to them in 2019, and Ruch did not consider reaching out to parents of at-risk teens who might have been vulnerable to abuse by Rivera.
Released online late Tuesday evening (Sept. 27), the report follows a monthslong investigation that was contentious from the start due to the objections from some of Rivera’s accusers.
“I have no reason to believe that anything about this investigation is independent,” said Cherin Marie when the investigation was announced in January. Cherin Marie, whose then-9-year-old daughter reported being sexually abused by Rivera in May 2019, has asked that her last name not be used to protect her family’s privacy.
Joanna Rudenborg, who says she was abused by Rivera, too, tweeted on Sept. 17 about her skepticism toward the anticipated report: “(T)he investigation has never been about justice or healing for survivors. It has been first and foremost about doing damage control.”
Survivors and advocates affiliated with ACNAtoo, an anti-abuse advocacy group, have publicly criticized the report on social media for including explicit details about a minor’s sexual abuse without the child’s consent.
“The minor is one of multiple survivors of Mark Rivera’s sexual assault that chose not to participate in the investigation because it was obvious that the investigation was not safe,” Abbi Nye, an ACNAtoo advocate, tweeted on Friday morning. “They were right.”
Members of ACNAtoo say that while many of them reached out to ACNA leaders days ago asking them to redact the minor’s details, the report remains online, unedited.
“The account of the young girl’s abuse in the report is all hearsay, from two leaders who are implicated in mishandling her abuse,” Nye told RNS.
Investigators were asked to gather information about how ACNA leaders handled abuse allegations—but were barred from recommending charges or punishments.
“We were charged with gathering evidence regarding such issues and reporting the information collected, but we were explicitly directed not to render any legal determinations, evaluate or opine about any governance structure issues, or seek to address whether any discipline is warranted,” the firm wrote in its report.
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The Rev. Gina Roes and Christen Price, an ordained deacon and attorney, respectively, told Religion News Service that the report is difficult to evaluate, given the severe limitations of its scope. Both women resigned in January from the Provincial Response Team originally charged with overseeing the investigations, claiming its process “never felt survivor-centered.”
“It sort of defeats the purpose of having an investigation if there are no conclusions that can be made from the report,” said Roes, pointing to the report’s lack of analysis. “It leaves it in the hands of the ACNA and the diocese to interpret and characterize those facts.”
When asked about next steps, Roes and Price said denominational leaders who were excluded from the report due to its diocesan scope should be investigated. “There needs to be an investigation of the province,” said Price, referring to ACNA.
In interviews with Husch Blackwell, Ruch admitted the diocese lacked protocols for responding to sexual misconduct allegations and left the matter largely for law enforcement to pursue.
But the report identifies another obstacle to reporting abuse: In notes and emails, church officials repeatedly expressed their belief in Rivera’s innocence.
“While I believe this entire accusation to be spurious (something has happened to this girl, but Mark is not the culprit), I fear however that this will spell the end of Christ Our Light,” York reportedly wrote in a May 20, 2019, email. “I believe Mark to be innocent. I would be stunned to find anything untoward with regard to his actions,” he wrote in another email days later.
Charles Philbrick, the church lawyer who reportedly advised York he wasn’t obligated to report the allegations, told Husch Blackwell he found the child’s allegations “hard to believe.” (The report says York was investigated by DCFS for failing to report, but nothing seems to have come from the investigation.) Philbrick said he gave Rivera a referral to a defense attorney, but only, he told investigators, out of his ethical obligation as an attorney, not in his capacity as chancellor, or church legal officer.
As you can see, what seemed important to denomination officials was protecting the “good” name of their sect and the churches in question. I suspect the “truth” has yet to be revealed as far as the extent of Rivera’s sexual misconduct is concerned. Heads should roll, but it is unlikely that they will. They will bury Rivera’s proverbial body, lament his fall from grace( he was such a nice guy), and move on. Left behind are Rivera’s victims. I hope the victims sue.
Yesterday, Rivera was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
A former lay pastor at a Big Rock church was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for molesting a 9-year-old member of the church.
Kane County Judge John Barsanti sentenced Mark Rivera to six years apiece on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and three years on a charge of criminal sexual abuse.
Barsanti convicted him in December.
Rivera will have to serve at least 11.7 years before being eligible for parole but will receive credit for the approximately three years he has spent in jail or on electronic home monitoring while he awaited trial and sentencing.
On multiple times from June 2018 to May 2019, Rivera assaulted the child he knew. At the time, Rivera was a lay pastor at the Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock. The victim’s family attended the church.
The abuse happened at Rivera’s home in Big Rock.
The victim’s family and Rivera had previously attended a church in Wheaton.
Rivera, who now lives in Winfield, must register for life as a sex offender.
Rivera was also charged, in 2021, with sexually assaulting an adult who was unable to give consent due to intoxication. That case is scheduled for a jury trial in May in Kane County.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Gary Buckaloo, a youth pastor and worship leader at First Baptist Church in Normangee, Texas, stands accused of one count of Indecency with a Child-Sexual Contact, a 2nd-degree felony, and one count of Sex Abuse of a Child Continuous: Victim under 14, a 1st-degree felony. Buckaloo is also a teacher at Buffalo ISD in Buffalo, Texas. First Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Buckaloo has been scrubbed from the church’s website.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Department said Gary Buckaloo surrendered to authorities Monday after being indicted on two felonies.
Buckaloo is charged with one count of Indecency with a Child-Sexual Contact, a 2nd-degree felony, and one count of Sex Abuse of a Child Continuous: Victim under 14, a 1st-degree felony.
Buckaloo is listed as a Life Skills teacher with Buffalo ISD, but hasn’t been on campus since December 2022, according to a statement released by the district superintendent Lacy Freeman to KBTX.
“Buffalo ISD has been made aware of the indictment of a current District employee by a Leon County Grand Jury,” the statement said. “The District is in close communication and cooperation with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department. At this time, it is our understanding that the charges are unrelated to the individual’s employment at Buffalo ISD and do not involve any BISD students. While the individual has not been on campus since December 2022, the District has placed the employee on administrative leave immediately upon notification of the indictment. Should any parents or staff have specific concerns regarding this educator, please contact your campus principal. As student and staff safety and well-being are our top priority, we will continue to closely monitor this situation as more information is made available.”
Buckaloo was also listed as the Youth Pastor and Worship Leader for First Baptist Church Normangee. As of Tuesday afternoon his name has been removed from the staff directory. KBTX reached out to the pastor of the church, but our calls have not been returned.
Buckaloo is being held at the Leon County Jail on a $100,000 bond. KBTX reached out to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office multiple times for a mugshot, they said their system is currently down.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Eddy Noelsaint, the pastor of an unnamed church in Kissimmee, Florida, stands accused of raping a woman at his home.
A Kissimmee pastor was arrested after he allegedly sexually battered a member of his church twice at his home, Osceola County deputies said.
Eddy Noelsaint, 51, was arrested on two charges of sexual battery after a woman told deputies he raped her twice at his home and reportedly drugged her on one occasion in 2022.
On July 15, 2022, the woman said she was at Noelsaint’s house undergoing what she thought was a “spiritual revival as part of her cultural and religious beliefs.” During her baptism at Noelsaint’s church, she was assigned a spiritual grandmother who is Noelsaint’s wife, an arrest affidavit states.
That evening, Noelsaint’s wife left to go to work at 7 p.m. and the woman was instructed to take a shower. Noelsaint reportedly walked into the bathroom making an advance toward her, which she declined.
Later that evening, Noelsaint made the woman a green tea and kept asking her how she felt while she drank the tea. She said she wasn’t feeling well, so Noelsaint gave her two pills which gave the woman a headache and made her feel sleepy. A couple of hours later, he gave her two more pills, and she asked Noelsaint to call 911 because she felt her heart racing, deputies said.
He then took her into another room and sexually battered her. He also took her wedding ring the next day telling the woman there were bad spirits contained in it. When she asked for the ring back, he told her he threw it away.
A couple of months later in November 2022, she went to Noelsaint’s house again thinking she would be meeting with his wife who would be taking her to look for apartments.
Instead, Noelsaint was there, and he sexually battered her a second time, according to an arrest affidavit.
On Feb. 28, 2023, Noelsaint met with police and initially gave them conflicting stories about both incidents. He then confessed to sexually battering the woman.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
In June 2021, Josh Henley, a former youth pastor at Washington Avenue Church of Christ in Evansville, Indiana, was arrested on three counts of statutory rape and one count of aggravated sexual battery.
Josh Henley, 32, of Newburgh was arrested in Benton County, Tennessee on three counts of statutory rape. He’s also charged with aggravated sexual battery.
Authorities say there are at least three teenage girls who are confirmed as victims. Henley is being held in the Benton County Jail on a $500,000 bond and will be arraigned tomorrow.
Investigators believe there may be more victims in other states, including Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Eyewitness News contacted Evansville Police, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff and the Warrick County Sheriff. They told us they do not have anything in their system about Henley.
Court documents say Henley is currently employed at Washington Avenue Church of Christ in Evansville. Officials at the church declined to comment at this time.
On behalf of our entire church family, the Eldership at Washington Avenue Church of Christ is praying for accountability, healing and justice in light of the recent arrest of Joshua Henley who served as our youth minister for the past three months. Mr. Henley’s employment with the church has been terminated effective immediately and he has been relieved of all duties and responsibilities. We take the allegations against Mr. Henley very seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement in connection with all investigations. We are heartbroken by this news and our prayers are with all involved.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in 2018, Henley was pastor at Holladay Church of Christ in Benton County and coached Holladay Elementary School’s girls’ basketball team. In April 2021, they said he took a position with a church in Evansville, Indiana. Then in June 2021, he drove back to Tennessee to pick up a girl, taking her back to Indiana to “help with his Vacation Bible School there.” Prosecutors said Henley had sex with the girl who had just turned 15. They said the girl told them that Henley had been engaging in sexual activity since she was 13, and asking her to take sexually explicit pictures to send him through a chat app.
Investigators said in 2020, another 15-year-old girl in Evansville said Henley asked her to send sexually explicit pictures to him.
Henley was arrested in June 2021 as he was driving the first girl back to Tennessee. Investigators said after getting a warrant for his cell phone, they found sexually explicit pictures of both girls, and video of Henley having sex with a third girl in November 2020, who had just turned 14.
Joshua Henley, 33, who has lived in Benton County, Tennessee, and Evansville, Indiana, is set to be sentenced in August after pleading to charges of producing sexual abuse material involving three minors, transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity, sending obscene videos and images to a minor, and possessing and transporting child sexual abuse material.
Today, Henley was sentenced to forty-five years in prison for his crimes.
A former youth pastor at Washington Avenue Church of Christ in Evansville has been sentenced after he was arrested on sexual assault charges.
Officials say Joshua Henley, formerly of Benton County, Tennessee, and Evansville, Indiana, pled guilty in federal district court to an eight-count indictment, admitting that he produced child sexual abuse material involving three minors, transported a minor interstate with the intent to engage in sexual activity with the minor, sent obscene videos and images to a minor and possessed and transported child sexual abuse material.
Documents say Henley was arrested on June 18, 2021, as he was driving one of his victims back to Benton County. Investigators say they found a cell phone in his possession and obtained a warrant to search it and found sexually explicit images of his victims, as well as a video of Henley having sexual intercourse with another victim.
A federal judge handed down a sentence of 45 years in prison plus 10 years supervised release.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Verrnon Willis, a student ministry leader at the Seacoast Church Dream Center in North Charleston, South Carolina, stands accused of inappropriately touching ten church girls aged twelve to sixteen.
Authorities in South Carolina say a former student ministry leader is facing more than a dozen assault charges for inappropriately touching young girls.
According to North Charleston authorities, Vernon Tyrell Willis, 26, has been arrested and charged with 13 counts of second-degree assault and battery.
Willis is accused of touching underage girls without their consent while he was a student ministry leader for the Seacoast Church Dream Center.
Police say detectives were able to identify 10 victims ranging in age from 13 to 16 years old.
Lowcountry attorney Mark Peper, who represents some of the victims, said Seacoast Church placed Willis on administrative leave and subsequently terminated him in December 2022 after multiple minors reported being touched inappropriately while attending a youth group.
However, the law firm initiated an investigation that revealed the church allowed Willis access to one-on-one contact with multiple female minors without any supervision, according to Peper.
The attorney stated that Seacoast had knowledge of Willis’ proclivity to use his role to unlawfully touch and seclude minor females on the church campus as far back as 2020.
Seacoast Church Executive Director Margaret Little said the team is heartbroken, calling Willis’ actions inexcusable and indefensible. She said the church is grateful for the young women who shared their stories, which allowed them to put an end to such behavior.
According to Little, Willis was immediately placed on leave and barred from campus once an initial report came in, with him being terminated in less than 48 hours after they found he clearly violated the church’s code of conduct.
The church said it notified all parents of students regarding the situation and offered resources along with working with law enforcement.
Seacoast Church Executive Director Margaret Little released a statement on behalf of the church:
As a place of worship and a home to so many families in the community, Seacoast Church is heartbroken by a former employee’s inexcusable and indefensible actions. We are grateful for the young women who shared their story, which allowed us to put an end to this behavior and want to thank these students and their families for being brave and coming forward.
On December 5, 2022, an initial report was made to Seacoast of inappropriate interactions with a minor by a member of staff at the North Charleston campus.
We immediately placed that employee on leave and barred the employee from campus while we investigated the report. We concluded that the employee had clearly violated our code of conduct. The employee was terminated in less than 48 hours. We reported the incident and information we had gathered to law enforcement.
Within the week, Seacoast leaders informed North Charleston campus students that the employee had been terminated for violating our code of conduct. Three days later, all parents of students at the campus were informed of the termination, offered resources, and the opportunity to meet with leadership. Within the same week, we connected all families of victims with counseling resources and the case number of the active investigation and contact information for North Charleston law enforcement. Since then, Seacoast leadership has hosted a Parent Night to discuss the matter openly with campus parents and concerned church members. Additionally, we have engaged an attorney to conduct an independent internal investigation of the matter.
Throughout this time, North Charleston law enforcement has been conducting an investigation. We have unreservedly supported law enforcement in their efforts, and part of this support has meant that we limited our communication while the investigation is active.
We will continue ongoing work to ensure all students can worship freely in safe and protected spaces. As leaders, we are grieved over the actions of a former staff member. Our commitment to the church and community is to continue to operate in transparency and support the victims and their families of this situation in their healing process.
Note that the church investigated the claims before they called law enforcement. The church needs to be reminded that they are legally obligated to call law enforcement IMMEDIATELY when there are allegations of sexual misconduct. Not wait until you have your ducks in order, IMMEDIATELY.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Verity Beck, a school teacher at Saint Katherine School of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania stands accused of murdering her parents by shooting them in the head and dismembering their bodies with a chainsaw.
An Abington Township woman fatally shot her elderly parents and then used a chainsaw to dismember them, an alleged crime that authorities described as “a horrible, tragic situation.”
The discovery of the victims’ bodies and the arrest of Verity A. Beck on homicide charges were announced at a Wednesday evening news conference by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy.
Beck, 43, who lived with her parents in the 1100 block of Beverly Road in the Jenkintown section of the township, was charged with first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the deaths of 73-year-old Reid Beck and his 72-year-old wife, Miriam.
“There were signs of extreme trauma and a chainsaw was found and both Reid and Miriam were found in different stages of dismemberment,” said Steele, describing the incident as “a horrible, tragic situation. These were not easy autopsies to conduct based upon the fact Verity used this chainsaw and then put parts of her parents into trash bags and had covered them up. They were actually in two different trash cans.”
The autopsies revealed that both victims suffered single gunshot wounds to the head.
“We believe that happened first,” Steele alleged.
Steele said the investigation is continuing.
“We are looking for what motive could have been behind this. We can’t share one with you at this time. I don’t know what was going on between these folks. That’s all under investigation and that’s going to be continuing and maybe we’ll have more on that later,” Steele told reporters during a news conference at the county detective bureau in Norristown. “We also believe that this happened over a period of some time.”
Steele explained the victims’ voices were last heard by another family member on Jan. 7.
Authorities revealed that a check of police logs showed there were no previous police contacts made at the home.
Steele said “it has not been an easy day” for the victims’ family or for the detectives who investigated the case.
“It’s been a difficult day for everybody working on this,” said Steele, referring to the disturbing nature of the alleged crime.
Beck, who was a teacher at the Saint Katherine School of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Wynnewood, Lower Merion, was remanded to the county jail without bail to await a Feb. 1 preliminary hearing on the homicide charges before District Court Judge Juanita A. Price.
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Prior to beginning her service at Saint Katherine’s last January, Beck produced criminal background checks and child abuse clearances, neither of which showed any prior misconduct, Heeney wrote. Additionally, no complaints “of any kind” were lodged against Beck during her brief time with the school community, officials said.
“All of us are shocked by these developments. Please know that the safety and protection of your children are always our primary concerns,” Heeney wrote. “Understanding the traumatic nature of this news, we will have counseling personnel available to anyone who may need those services. We are also exploring additional modes of support that may be needed.”
The investigation began on Tuesday, Jan. 17 after the victims’ son notified Abington police that he had gone to his parents’ home to check on them, because he hadn’t spoken to them by phone since Jan. 7, which was unusual, and he observed a deceased person lying on a floor, covered with a bloody sheet and a chainsaw near the body, according to a criminal complaint.
The son told police he spoke to his sister and when he asked if something bad had happened to their parents she responded, “Yes.” Beck allegedly told her brother that things at the home had “been bad.”
Abington police arrived at the home around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 and attempted to make contact with Verity Beck but received no answer. Officers deployed a remote-controlled robot into the first floor of the home in an effort to locate Beck and deployed a drone to peer through the windows to determine her location but both attempts failed to locate Beck, court papers indicate.
At 12:10 a.m. on Jan. 18 police entered the residence through a side door.
“Officers immediately noticed a strong odor of decomposition in the residence,” county Detective Anthony Caso and Abington Detective Robert Hill Jr. wrote in the arrest affidavit.
When police announced themselves and asked Beck to make her whereabouts known she followed commands and entered the kitchen. When police asked Beck about her parents she allegedly replied, “They are dead.”
Detectives found a deceased male wrapped in a cloth sheet and determined he was decapitated, according to the criminal complaint.
“In close proximity to the male’s body detectives located a 55-gallon trash receptacle. This receptacle was filled with white trash bags and these trash bags were filled with assorted severed body parts,” Caso and Hill alleged.
“An electric-powered chainsaw with biological material in the chain portion indicated this chainsaw had been used to sever, at least some, of the body parts,” detectives added.
Detectives found additional severed body parts in a trash can in an attached garage, court documents indicate.
“This is somebody that is dismembering her mother and father and putting body parts in trash cans so clearly she’s trying to get rid of the evidence of her crime,” Steele alleged.
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In the second-floor master bedroom detectives found a safe mounted into the wall and tools nearby and drill marks on the safe indicating someone, without a key or combination, had been trying to access the safe.
Detectives found a pillow that contained powder burns and a hole, consistent with a firearm projectile having been fired through the pillow, according to court documents.
In Beck’s bedroom detectives found two .38-caliber handguns, one containing one spent round and four live rounds and the other containing two spent rounds and three live rounds, according to the arrest affidavit. Both firearms were registered to Beck, detectives said.
Additionally, detectives recovered a third .38-caliber handgun containing two spent rounds and three live rounds but a check for ownership returned a result of “no record found,” court documents indicate.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
