Menu Close

Category: Black Collar Crime

Black Collar Crime: Wife and Stepdaughter of Evangelical Pastor Anthony Haynes Sentenced on Witness Tampering Charges

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
alexis fortune and alisa haynes

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 2017, three Toledo, Ohio Evangelical pastors, Anthony Haynes, Cordell Jenkins, and  Kenneth Butler were accused of child sex trafficking. Since then, Haynes and Jenkins have received life sentences for their crimes, and Butler was sentenced to 17½ years in prison.

I have written numerous posts on this sordid story:

In 2019, Cordell Jenkins’ wife, Laura Lloyd was sentenced to 21 months in prison for lying to federal prosecutors.

The final chapter of this story has now been written. Alisa Haynes — the wife of Anthony Haynes — and his stepdaughter, Alexis Fortune, have been sentenced to 24 months and 48 months respectively in federal prison for witness tampering.

In 2019, the Toledo Blade reported:

…are accused of kidnapping one of the teen victims Saturday, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Toledo.

During that time, they’re accused of pointing a gun at her and choking her with a black computer cord to convince her not to go through with testifying at Mr. Haynes’ trial.

The women are charged with tampering with a witness, victim, or informant just weeks before Mr. Haynes’ trial is scheduled in U.S. District Court, where the victim is slated to testify.

….

At roughly midnight Saturday, the girl — whose name was not released — stated she was home with her younger sister when she heard someone knock on her apartment door. She looked through the peephole but could not see anyone, according to the criminal complaint.

he girl knew by the person’s voice that it was Ms. Fortune; she opened the door and saw Ms. Fortune wearing a mask, black gloves, and holding a silver revolver, according to the criminal complaint. Ms. Fortune is accused of pointing the loaded gun at the girl’s head, forcing her way into the apartment — locking the door behind her — and taking the girl’s phone.

Ms. Fortune is accused of then choking her with a computer cord, according to the complaint. Shortly after, Ms. Haynes entered the apartment and Ms. Fortune directed the girl into the kitchen for a “heart-to-heart” conversation.

“Alexis told [the victim] how hard it is for their family to live financially and emotionally since Anthony’s been arrested, how they are depressed, and begged [the victim] not to go to trial,” according to the complaint.

In May 2020, Haynes and Fortune were both sentenced to federal prison for trying to get the victim to recant her story.

The Toledo Blade reports:

Alisa Haynes, 45, the wife of Anthony Haynes, and his stepdaughter, Alexis Fortune, 25, appeared by video conference to be sentenced by visiting Judge Bernard Friedman. Both women agreed to proceed with the hearing by video rather than in person at U.S. District Court in Toledo due to the coronavirus. 

Haynes was sentenced to an agreed upon 24 months in federal prison, while Fortune was sentenced to 48 months for their roles in having a victim in a multiple year sex-trafficking case leave a voice message on Haynes’ cell phone which contradicted her story to law enforcement. 

“Ms. Fortune gave one of the victims a phone in order to leave not just one, but two voicemail messages recanting what the victim said to law enforcement officers about what happened in the underlying sex-trafficking case,” U.S. Assistant Attorney Ashley Futrell said on Tuesday. “Your honor, that was the goal and the purpose of this night.”

On Tuesday, Fortune asked Judge Friedman why she was being sentenced to 48 months when the guideline range suggested a 30 to 37 month sentence for the sole offense of tampering with a witness or victim. She was originally charged with false statement or representation made to a department or agency of the United States and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Through a plea agreement, 48 months was a negotiated sentence as federal prosecutors said her initial charges would have led to significant time behind bars. The firearm offense alone carried a minimum of seven years in federal prison, said U.S. Assistant Attorney Michael Freeman. 

Haynes and Fortune previously pleaded guilty in November to tampering with a witness or victim for going to the girl’s apartment on Jan. 4, 2019, which led to several hours of them and the victim’s minor sister driving around Toledo. 

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Missionary Baptist Pastor Curtis Brown Sentenced to 33 Years in Prison for Child Sexual Abuse

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments
pastor curtis 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.

In 2019, Curtis Brown, pastor of Grace Baptist Church (Chapel) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was accused of sexually assaulting a five-year-old boy.  Grace is a King James-only Missionary Baptist congregation. Brown resigned after his arrest. According to news reports, Brown pastored Grace Baptist for over eighteen-years.

KRQE reported at the time:

Curtis Ray Brown has been charged with criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact of a minor. The charges stem from an August 23, 2019 incident in which authorities say Brown sexually abused the boy while he stayed at his home overnight.

A criminal complaint states that the boy would spend Tuesday afternoons after school with Brown and details that after staying with Brown, the 5-year-old boy told his father of his “secret.”

According to police, the child’s father then confronted Brown, who allegedly didn’t deny the allegations, and told the child’s father “it just happened,” and “started in the shower one day.”

The child’s father told authorities of a Facebook messenger “group chat” in which the child’s mother, Brown, and other members of his family are a part of, and that Brown had allegedly apologized for his actions.

Screenshots of the chat message were provided to police and were transcribed in the criminal complaint which reads in part:

“I know no amount of words or actions can undo the damage that I have done. I can only express my shame and disgust in what I have done. I am truly sorry for what I am putting our family through. “

In March 2020, Brown pleaded guilty to sexually molesting his five-year-old grandson. That’s right, the boy in this story was Brown’s grandson.

In May 2020, Brown was sentenced to 33 years in prison for his crime.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Jerry Zweitzig Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

Bruce Gerencser 7 Comments
pastor jerry zweitzig

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.

Jerry Zweitzig, pastor of Horsham Bible Church — a now-defunct independent congregation –in Horsham, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty several weeks ago to charges of manufacturing and attempted manufacturing of child pornography. In a previous case, Zweitzig was charged with five counts of manufacturing and attempted manufacturing of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He later pleaded guilty to these charges. He will be sentenced on both cases in September.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

A retired pastor from Hatboro has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing an infant, marking the second time he has admitted abusing a child since October.

Jerry Zweitzig, 71, who had been a pastor at the now-closed Horsham Bible Church until his 2016 retirement, pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing and attempted manufacturing of child pornography.

….

The charges stem from Zweitzig’s admitted sexual abuse of an infant and his videotaping of that abuse. Investigators found the video, which was created in 2010, while preparing for Zweitzig’s sentencing hearing in a separate child sexual abuse and exploitation case, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain’s office said in a statement.

In the first case, Zweitzig was charged in May 2019 with five counts of manufacturing and attempted manufacturing of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Prosecutors say he sexually abused a girl, beginning when she was 5 years old and continuing until she was 11 and photographed and videotaped that abuse. He also had an extensive collection of child pornography involving thousands of other children, they said.

In October 2019, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported:

A 71-year-old former pastor from Montgomery County pleaded guilty Monday to forcing a girl to pose for sexually explicit photos and videos, and amassing more than 10,000 images of child pornography.

Appearing in federal court in Philadelphia, Jerry William Zweitzig of Hatboro withdrew his not-guilty plea and admitted to manufacturing and possessing child pornography. “I plead guilty to all six counts against me,” Zweitzig told U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone.

….

The victim, born in 2003, first reported the abuse to her parents in 2014, shortly before they moved from Pennsylvania. Investigators later found a video, 13 minutes long, in which Zweitzig is seen telling the girl that he would miss her, that she could do anything with him sexually but he would never force her, and that she shouldn’t tell anyone about what they did together.

He told her he had taken explicit photos of her when she was 9 and said he wanted to take more. As Zweitzig removed his clothes and began touching himself in front of her, the child fled the room. She locked herself in the bathroom and called her parents to tell them about the abuse, Gibson said.

Her father went to the police, but for reasons that are not clear, no charges were filed against Zweitzig. After the family moved from Pennsylvania, Zweitzig sent the girl letters, including pages from his journal about her.

In 2018, she gave investigators a more detailed report about the abuse, which she said lasted from 2009 to 2014. Authorities searched Zweitzig’s home and arrested him in December 2018.

Homeland Security Investigations agents found pornographic images and videos from 2013 and 2014 featuring the girl. They also found thousands of images of children downloaded on computers, flash drives, hard drives, and digital cameras.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Brett Monroe Sentenced to 24 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Child

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
pastor brett monroe

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.

Brett Monroe, associate pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation –was arrested in December 2019 and charged with the sexual exploitation of a child. In January, Monroe pleaded guilty. On Tuesday, Monroe was sentenced to 293 months in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child.

STL News reports:

Federal agents executed a search warrant at Monroe’s residence on December 11, 2019.  Monroe admitted to agents that he used his cellphone to create secret recordings of a minor female victim while she showered at his Arlington, Texas home.  According to court documents, Monroe converted the video into still images which he saved in an online storage account.

At sentencing, an agent testified that Monroe admitted to sending, receiving, and trading child pornography online for years to fuel his pornography addiction.  He also confessed to surreptitiously recording multiple other minor victims showering in his residence.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Street Preacher Gary Purgason Accused of Inciting to Riot

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
street preacher gary purgason

Gary Purgason, an Evangelical street preacher from Greensboro, North Carolina, stands accused of inciting to riot. Last Saturday, Purgason and his Fundamentalist sidekicks were at A Woman’s Choice of Greensboro harassing women seeking abortion services.

Yes! Weekly reports:

A white self-professed “street preacher” was the only person arrested during the peaceful 10-hour march protesting the death of George Floyd that blocked off parts of Greensboro and I-40 on Saturday. He was not one of the marchers and was not protesting Floyd’s death.

According to the Greensboro Police Department, Gary Daniel Purgason, 35, of Madison, was arrested in the parking deck at 299 Greene St. and charged with “Inciting to Riot.”

….

Since November 2019, this writer has, on multiple occasions, observed Purgason “preaching” there, along with fellow “street preachers” Chris Pantalone and Sam Wilking.

….

Multiple persons serving as volunteer patient escorts at the clinic on Saturday morning, including pastor Michael Usey of College Park Baptist Church and minister Mark Sandlin of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, told YES! Weekly that Pantalone, Purgason, and Wilking had a confrontation with an African-African man in the company of a clinic patient. They said the confrontation escalated after Pantalone called the man a coward. Both a video shot by a clinic escort and the livestream by Wilking depict the following encounter:

The man, large and muscular, approaches Wilking, Pantalone, Ferguson, and several men in camouflage or hunting gear. As he approaches, he tells them to “Shut the fuck up.”

The man then turns and walks away. Pantalone yells, “You’re a coward, sir!”

The man turns back, approaches them again, and repeats, “Shut the fuck up!”

“You’re being a coward, sir, you’re being a coward,” says Pantalone once the man again turns and walks away. “Go in there and rescue your child!”

The man wheels and strides back toward Pantalone, who quickly shouts, “I didn’t say it, I didn’t say it!”

As the man continues to approach, Pantalone screams, “I didn’t say it!” and runs away from him, repeating, “I didn’t say it, bro, I didn’t say it!”

The man turns around and walks towards his car.

Pantalone returns to the right of the frame and says, “I’m just here to help. You don’t protect your child, sir, that’s what a man is called to do.”

The man returns and, less loudly, again tells Pantalone to shut up.

“Pray for us, guys,” Purgason tells their viewers,” then says to the man, “we want to help you keep your baby, sir.”

Someone yells, “stay and be a man!”

“We love you, bro!” shouts Pantalone as the man again walks away.

“No man knows the day and the hour of when you will die,” says Purgason. “Black lives matter! Black matter!”

“I knew that telling a black person he’s a coward would trigger him” says another protester as the man they angered drives away.

Pastor Usey described this verbal altercation to YES! Weekly as, the morning’s “worst incident” and “a flashpoint for potential violence in Greensboro.”

Usey also alleged that the same men harassed several female escorts.

“They were aggressively following several of the female escorts, yelling at them in their faces, calling them names, and saying things like ‘Hey, can I take you to lunch and do a Bible study with you?’ I am beyond repulsed by these pugnacious dullards. This is white privilege and rape culture on parade.”

Usey said that none of the six “street preachers” and 49 other protesters at the clinic were wearing masks and that all were white. He alleged that the six police officers present did nothing to prevent protesters from harassing patients or the 12 clinic escorts, all of whom wore masks and attempted to maintain social distancing.

Usey alleged that one preacher using a personal amplification system harassed Mark Sandlin and Sandlin’s wife by “yelling, ranting, and screaming Bible verses” at the couple “from 6 feet away for a full 45 minutes.”

Evangelical clinic protesters are the worst of the worst, in my opinion.

This is how Purgason responded to the murder of George Floyd:

gary purgason george floyd

One of Purgason’s preaching buddies is a man by the name of Chris Pantalone.

In November 2019, Yes! Weekly reporter Ian McDowell wrote an article titled Race, Religion and Greensboro’s Abortion Divide. Pantalone features prominently in McDowell’s story. What follows is a short video of Pantalone “sharing” his beliefs:

Video Link

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Baptist Student Pastor Christopher Keys Fakes Kidnapping to Cover-Up Hiring a Prostitute

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
pastor christopher keys

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.

Christopher Keys, a student pastor at Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia and a former teacher at Tattnall Square Academy, stands accused of faking his kidnapping to cover-up hiring a male prostitute.

The Daily Mail reports:

A Georgia Christian school teacher has been charged for solicitation of sodomy after local authorities looked into a robbery and kidnapping that was spawned from a rumor ‘circulating around Facebook.’ 

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office arrested 56-year-old Christopher Keys and are investigating the robbery that he initially reported on May 19. 

They shared in a Thursday press release that the office had received an inquiry about a rumored ‘carjacking and kidnapping’ that took place on Wednesday at the CVS Pharmacy on 1600 block of Forest Hill Drive. 

….

According to an incident report, deputies met with Keys at the Regency Inn & Suites for calls about an armed robbery. 

Keys claimed that he had been in the motel when he heard a knock at his door. Once he opened the door, two masked men robbed him of his wallet, house, truck and work keys, and a cell phone. One of the men was armed, Keys told deputies. 

He told authorities that he was able to get his cell phone back only after a stranger retrieved it from a nearby Walmart parking lot. 

Keys explained to deputies that he was supposed to meet a man in his hotel room, having responded to an ad on Craigslist. 

An investigation revealed that Keys had been frequently visiting the hotel since January. 

….

Towleroad adds:

Key subsequently told an acquaintance that he had been kidnapped in his truck at a nearby CVS, forced to drive to the motel, and robbed. After a woman posted Keys’ story about the kidnapping and robbery on Facebook (above), it was shared hundreds of times, prompting WMAZ-TV to look into the rumor.

As it turns out, Keys met with police at the hotel after the robbery, telling a sheriff’s deputy that “he liked to play around and was married to a woman,” the station reports. In an interview with the deputy, Keys even revealed his plan to tell his family that he was kidnapped at the CVS. Two days later, he was arrested and charged with solicitation of sodomy, a misdemeanor. (Although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in 2003, Georgia’s solicitation of sodomy statute has been upheld.)

….

Keys recently worked as a teacher at Tattnall Square Academy, where he taught upper-school Bible, worked with the chapel band, and served as coordinator for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to his now-deleted bio (above).

“I am a people person and love to teach young people the truths of the Bible,” he wrote in the bio.

“I have been married for 20 years to my wife Jennie. I am a graduate of FPD and Mercer University and Southwestern Seminary. I am currently the student pastor at Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church in Macon and I’ve been in student ministry for 28 years.”

….

Keys also once worked as a bailiff for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested him. Sheriff’s investigators are still searching for the robbery suspects, who made off with Keys’ wallet, cell phone, and keys — although his phone reportedly was recovered in the parking lot of a nearby Walmart.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Ryan Crawford Convicted of Producing Child Pornography

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
child image on first baptist church website
Picture of children on First Baptist Church’s Youth Page. I wonder if this is what Pastor Crawford’s photos looked like.

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 2017, Ryan Crawford, assistant pastor, choir director, Sunday school director, and youth/teens director at First Baptist Church in Pineville, Missouri, was accused of having “illicit and inappropriate photographs of a young female on his cell phone.”

KOAM-7 reported at the time:

A 32-year-old Youth Pastor Pineville, Missouri, man is arrested after a report to the local police department alleging he had illicit and inappropriate photographs of a young female on his cell phone. Initially, the investigation of Ryan Crawford was conducted jointly by the Pineville Police Department and the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office.

The children were referred to the Children’s Center in Joplin, MO, and subsequent to those interviews, Crawford was interviewed by the investigator of the McDonald County Prosecutor’s office. During that interview, Crawford made statements that were corroborative of the allegations against him.

Prosecutor Bill Dobbs initially filed charges of child molestation in the first degree, a class A felony, and sexual misconduct in the first degree, a class E felony. However, based upon additional allegations, the initial complaint has been amended to reflect an additional four (4) counts of child molestation in the first degree, bringing the total number of felony counts to six. These acts allegedly occurred in Crawford’s home.

….

A January 30, 2018 Joplin Globe report stated:

A Pineville man waived a preliminary hearing Monday on child molestation charges and was ordered bound over for trial.

Ryan D. Crawford, 32, waived the hearing in McDonald County Circuit Court on five counts of first-degree child molestation and a single count of sexual misconduct with a child. Associate Judge John LePage set Crawford’s initial appearance in a trial division of the court for Feb. 26.

The defendant was arrested on the charges in December following an investigation by Pineville police and the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department of a report that he had illicit photographs of a minor on his cellphone.

A probable-cause affidavit states that Crawford had told of having “had a porn problem” and that he had been “watching” porn on his cellphone. The McDonald County prosecutor later indicated in a news release that an unspecified number of suspected child victims were interviewed at the Children’s Center in Joplin before an interview of the defendant in December when he allegedly admitted having touched a child younger than 14 inappropriately while she was sleeping.

The affidavit states that the defendant further acknowledged that his addiction to pornography and related misconduct with children had been “going on for a long time.”

….

Yesterday, Crawford was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison without parole. On September 16, 2019, Crawford pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography.

KY-3 reports:

Crawford admitted that he had touched the 9-year-old victim’s genitals with his hands, and that he had photographed her genitals with his cell phone while she was sleeping. Investigators located sexually explicit images of the child victim on Crawford’s cell phone.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Roy Shoop Accused of Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
pastor roy shoop

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.

Roy Shoop, pastor of Cowboy Gatherin’ Church (currently, their Facebook has been set to private) in Inola, Oklahoma, stands accused of sexually molesting three girls under the age of sixteen who were either working on his farm or taking horse riding lessons from him.

Channel 6 reports:

Rogers County deputies arrested an Inola pastor after he was accused of molesting three girls under the age of 16.

“It should be sickening to hear this from anyone who would commit those acts on children. They were placed in a position where they should have been able to trust a man. It takes it to another level to see this from a man who stands on a pulpit and leads a church,” Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said.

Deputies said they arrested Roy Shoop on May 20 at his house after they said he molested three girls that were either working on his farm or taking horse riding lessons from him.

Documents said a 12-year-old girl came forward in January to say Shoop sexually assaulted her. Deputies said that girl was receiving horse riding lessons from Shoop.

Documents also showed two other girls, ages 13 and 15, came forward with sexual assault accusations. The documents said the 15-year-old was sexually assaulted four times.

Shoop denies the charges leveled against him.

Channel 8 reports:

In his own words Roy Shoop is an innocent man.

“I can assure you I have done nothing inappropriate with these young ladies or in any manner,” said Pastor Roy Shoop.

The Inola pastor and well known figure in the community is facing sexual assault accusations involving three girls; accusations he says are false.

“All I can do is just continue to pray and to seek the Lord and follow him in this manner and that means praying for the young ladies as well,” said Shoop.

….

“I am heartbroken that these accusations could be made against him. My Dad is a man of God; my mentor,” said Daughter Shanelle Gray.

Through this week’s arrest Shoop has had his family behind him, especially his daughter Shanell Gray.

“He has raised up a church that serves the Lord fearlessly and we just pray that these accusations get stopped,” said Gray.

….

In the meantime Shoop’s family is staying by his side.

“He’s my daddy there’s no greater character of a man who would lay down his life for his friends and his family,” said Gray.

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton says it’s possible more allegations could surface.

The Tulsa World reports:

One victim told authorities that Shoop would inappropriately touch her while he was instructing her on horse riding and while she was at his Inola, Oklahoma, residence, according to the affidavit.

“These events took place while (the victim) was staying at the Shoop’s residence where she was being instructed on barrel racing with her new horse her father had purchased from Roy and Diana Shoop,” investigators state in the affidavit.

The other two victims reported similar accounts. Each reported going to Shoop’s residence for horse riding or rodeo-related lessons when the alleged abuse occurred.

One victim reported the abuse occurred in October 2018. Another victim reported the abuse occurred between April 2018 and April 2019, and the third victim reported abuse occurring in January.

Investigators state in the affidavit that the victims were not related to one another.

Deputies arrested Shoop on Wednesday. He was booked into Rogers County jail on the charges and subsequently posted a $300,000 bond.

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Baptist Pastor Gary Eaches Accused of Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
pastor gary eaches

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 Eaches, pastor of United Baptist Church (an American Baptist congregation) in Scranton, Pennsylvania stands accused of plying a teenager with alcohol and marijuana and then sexually assaulting her.

WNEP-16 reports:

According to court paperwork, Gary Eaches of Scranton gave a 16-year-old girl alcohol and marijuana and then improperly touched her.

Police say they later responded to Eaches home after he was found depressed and suicidal.

Police say Eaches admitted to the assault and told officers he recently lost his job at United Baptist Church in Scranton.

Gary Eaches is locked up on $50,000 bail and faces assault and other charges.

Eaches’ last posted on Twitter May 3, 2020. Here’s what he tweeted:

christians known for

Based on the aforementioned news report, Pastor Eaches Peaches is now known for sexually assaulting a teen girl. Too bad he wasn’t against such behavior.

Eaches’ name and bio has already been scrubbed from United Baptist’s website. Other Christian websites have also deleted Eaches’ sermon and music videos.

Eaches’ handle on YouTube is “Scandalous Christian.” Eaches mentions on social media that he suffers from addiction and mental illness. As someone who has battled depression most of his adult life, I do wonder whether Eaches should have been a pastor. Knowing the rigors of the ministry, was it really wise to put Eaches in a position where his mental health issues could be exacerbated, and, perhaps, lead to addiction problems? Or were these issues minimized, believing that Jesus was the cure for what ailed Pastor Eaches?

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.

Connect with me on social media:

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Tony Shaw Accused of Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
pastor tony shaw

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.

Tony Shaw, pastor of Ruby Valley Baptist Church in Sheridan, Montana, stands accused of sexually assaulting a teen church girl. Ruby Valley is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation.

The Montana Standard reports:

Authorities say a pastor at Ruby Valley Baptist Church in Sheridan had inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old girl in the basement of the church.

They arrested Tony Aaron Shaw, 55, on a felony complaint of sexual assault on Tuesday and he was taken to the Gallatin County jail, where he later posted $75,000 bond and was released.

Shaw, contacted by telephone, told The Montana Standard on Thursday that the allegation “had to do with how someone perceived something” and was false.

“It was nothing,” he said.

….

According to the complaint, someone performing work at the church witnessed Shaw having inappropriate contact with the girl in the basement of the church. Sheriff’s officials say they had received a prior sexual assault complaint involving Shaw.

Bruce Gerencser