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.
Matthew Jacobson, youth pastor (church website called him their assistant pastor) at Bethel Baptist Church in Linton, Indiana, was arrested after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a church girl.
The Green County Daily World reports:
A former local youth pastor is accused of having inappropriate contact with a juvenile.
Matthew Joel Jacobson, 30, Linton, was arrested on a warrant for Level 6 felony child seduction.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Indiana State Police Richard Klun with Greene Superior Court, Jacobson served as an assistant youth pastor at Bethel Baptist Church, north of Linton.
The probable cause states the church’s pastor reported the incident to law enforcement and has since stated Jacobson was previously employed at the church. The pastor also stated he believed Jacobson’s position may “exert undue influence” on the juvenile and Jacobson would have been aware of the juvenile’s age.
The probable cause states Klun and Child Protective Services Case Agent Christie Burton met with the juvenile in late December to discuss the allegations. The juvenile reported the incidents started in December, when Jacobson allegedly made the juvenile uncomfortable by touching the juvenile’s hand. The juvenile said later that night, Jacobson reached out via social media.
Tiffanie Irwin, pastor of Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford, New York, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Eight other church members were sentenced for their parts in the crime.
The pastor of a small church where two brothers were beaten for hours during a counseling session that she called pleaded guilty on Friday to manslaughter and assault.
Three other church members admitted to less serious charges for their roles in the all-night beatings that killed Lucas Leonard, 19, and injured Christopher Leonard, 17, last October.
Word of Life Christian Church Pastor Tiffanie Irwin, her brother Joseph Irwin and mother and son church members Linda Morey and David Morey were the last of nine people charged to be convicted in the attack.
Investigators said the attack took place after the brothers discussed leaving the congregation.
Joseph Irwin and the Moreys each pleaded guilty to assault.
Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara called the case ‘a terrible tragedy.’
‘I can only hope that Luke can rest in peace, Chris can get on with his life,’ McNamara said.
The victims’ parents and half-sister and the pastor’s mother and a second brother were among those charged after members of the secretive church took the bloodied body of Lucas Leonard to a hospital, where doctors initially thought he had been shot.
Authorities later found his badly injured brother still inside the converted New Hartford school building that housed the church and living space for its leaders.
Christopher Leonard testified at an earlier hearing that Tiffanie Irwin asked his family and some others to stay behind for a meeting after an eight-hour Sunday service last October.
Over the next 14 hours, he said, he and his brother were pummeled in their torsos and genitals with an electrical cord.
McNamara has said the brothers were ordered during the beating to repent for a variety of sins, including using a voodoo doll.
Police have said there was no evidence to support a claim by their half-sister, Sarah Ferguson, that they had molested her children.
Ferguson was convicted of manslaughter and assault after a non-jury trial in July.
The only defendant to decline a plea deal, she was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison.
The victims’ parents, Deborah and Bruce Leonard, pleaded guilty to assault.
The church’s matriarch, Traci Irwin, and her son Daniel Irwin, a deacon, admitted to counts of unlawful imprisonment.
Sentencings are scheduled for December and January.
As of January 9, 2017 the disposition of the cases against the nine people involved on the assault on Lucas Leonard are as follows:
Bruce Leonard, the father, who whipped both boys during the session pleaded guilty to felony assault was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
Deborah Leonard, the mother, who whipped them during the session pleaded guilty to felony assault, and was sentenced to five years in state prison.
On September 1, 2016 half sister Sarah Ferguson was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted in July 2016 of manslaughter and assault.
Pastor Tiffanie Irwin, age 29, who called for the counseling session and oversaw its organization was sentenced on Dec. 19, 2016 to 12 years in state prison for manslaughter.
Joseph Irwin was sentenced on Dec. 19 to eight years in prison for gang assault.
David Morey was sentenced on Jan. 9, 2017 to five years in prison for assault.
Linda Morey who pulled the power cord out of the closet was sentenced on Jan. 9 to five years in prison for assault.
Traci Irwin, 50, and Daniel Irwin, 25, both pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment. Traci Irwin, who pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful imprisonment in the first degree, has been sentenced to one year for each count. Daniel Irwin received two years in jail for his role in the death of Lucas Leonard.
In March 2000, Joe Combs and his wife Evangeline were tried and convicted on numerous criminals charged related to their ritual abuse and rape of their adopted daughter. Joe Combs was the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bristol, Tennessee. He previously had been a trusted member of First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana and a teacher at Hyles-Anderson College.
The Combses case was brought to memory recently when police arrested “David Turpin and Louise Turpin earlier this month in Riverside County, California, on charges of torture, child abuse, dependent adult abuse and false imprisonment.”
Dalena Mathews and Robert Sorrell, reporters for the Bristol Herald Courier had this to say:
Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus said news of the Turpin case brought back memories of a case he prosecuted in 2000.
“I immediately remembered the Combs trial and started comparing it to what’s happening in [the Turpin] case,” Staubus said in a recent interview with the Bristol Herald Courier.
“The difference is that in the Combs case, it centered on the sadistic, brutal treatment of Esther Combs.”
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In November 1998, Bristol Tennessee Police arrested Joseph D. Combs, pastor of the now-defunct Emmanuel Baptist Church on Weaver Pike, and his wife, Evangeline Combs, on charges that they brutalized, Esther, a girl they were raising as their daughter.
The couple and their children were living in the church parsonage at the time the abuse took place.
Grand jury indictments against the couple were the culmination of a multi-jurisdictional investigation that began in February 1997, according to Blaine Wade, who now serves as Bristol Tennessee’s police chief.
Police began investigating when Esther, then 19, was taken to Bristol Regional Medical Center for treatment after she attempted to commit suicide.
Hospital staff discovered that her body was covered in layers of scar tissue. It was revealed during the trial that she had more than 400 scars.
The case went to trial more than a year later in March 2000. Lawyers questioned 121 jurors over six days before agreeing on the 12-member jury. The 12 jurors selected for the case included five retirees, a nurse, a press room manager, a bread salesman, a fast food restaurant manager and several Eastman employees. The group also included two church deacons and a Sunday school teacher.
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Subpoenaed witnesses for the defense included two Michigan lawyers who represented Esther in a civil action against the Combses and against the Indiana adoption agency that placed her with the family.
Esther led a tortured life behind the locked doors of a Bristol church, enduring rapes, beatings and burnings at the hands of the people who should have protected her, Staubus said in his opening statement.
“Inside this locked, closed fellowship hall, there were sinister things going on,” Staubus said.
The couple systematically beat and abused the girl with baseball bats, wood burners, pliers, pieces of tin and metal whips, the prosecutor said.
“Mrs. Combs found out about [the abuse], and she blamed Esther and she viciously abused her,” Staubus told the jury.
Along with physical abuse and rape came other forms of cruelty, Staubus said. Esther was starved, denied an education and medical treatment and was “separated out to be the family servant,” the prosecutor said. “You will hear and see evidence of lies, betrayed trust, assaults, injuries, brutality, molestation and even torture.”
Defense attorneys, Spivey and Joe Harrison, said Esther had an ulterior motive. “She has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, and has received compensation for stories she has told to news agencies and newspaper people,” Spivey said.
Spivey said the most important evidence would come from the girl’s five brothers and sisters, who would testify she was a “disturbed young woman who inflicted injuries on herself.”
The jury was shown 58 photographs, which were taken by Richmond on the day the young woman was admitted to the hospital. The photographs showed red, whip-like marks covering the young woman’s back, raised scars on her buttocks and near her genitals, and other scars on her forehead, chin, neck, wrists, arms, breasts and legs.
When the detective tried to uncover the cause of the disfiguring marks on the young woman’s body, she was met by silence, Richmond said.
“Joe Combs told me he did not know she had scars and that he had never seen the scars before,” Richmond said. “He said she was very clumsy and she fell down a lot on the pavement.”
Esther took the stand on the 12th day of the trial, where a standing-room only crowd filled the courtroom. Joseph and Evangeline Combs showed little reaction to the testimony and rarely looked at Esther Combs while she was speaking.
“My earliest memory is of being tied to the high chair and thrown down the stairs by Mrs. Combs,” Esther testified, drawing gasps from the crowd of courtroom spectators.
She testified that the abuse continued for the next two decades as she detailed numerous incidents of abuse by Joseph and Evangeline Combs.
So many people wanted to observe the trial, Judge Beck set up a lottery system to determine which members of the public would get seats for the court session. He said he would not let spectators stand in the courtroom, but on certain days, some were allowed to do so.
A number of witnesses testified on behalf of the defense that the Combs children were “normal, happy children.”
The couple’s other children denied the allegations against their parents.
The former pastor adamantly denied allegations that he raped, tortured or enslaved Esther.
“I love her. I thought she loved me,” Joseph Combs said. “I’m bewildered by all of this. I can’t get my mind around it. It doesn’t make sense.”
Combs took the stand, but his wife did not.
After deliberating for just four hours, the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Joseph and Evangeline Combs were found guilty of especially aggravated kidnapping. Joseph Combs was also convicted of aggravated rape, aggravated assault, aggravated perjury and seven counts of rape. Evangeline Combs was also convicted of four counts of aggravated child abuse. The trial ultimately lasted 31 days, one of the longest in Sullivan County history.
On April 26, 2000, Joseph Combs was sentenced to 114 years behind bars. He later died in prison. Evangeline Combs received a 65-year sentence.
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What follows is a video from the trial. Warning! This video is graphic:
The fundamentalist Baptist minister charged with kidnapping, raping and torturing a girl he took from a Porter County children’s home was once a respected Bible teacher at Hyles Anderson College in St. John Township.
When the Rev. Joseph and Evangeline Combs allegedly illegally adopted a 4-month old girl from the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries in Kouts, he was “probably the foremost Bible instructor at Hyles Anderson,” said Jerry Kaifetz, a former student at the school and now an ordained minister. The family settled in a comfortable ranch home along a cul du sac in northwest Merrillville, where neighbors say the children were polite, well behaved and said they were not allowed to talk to adults unless their parents were present.
….
Joyce McGowan, a neighbor of the Combs family when they lived in Merrillville, said the Combses often tried to talk McGowan and her husband into accompanying them to Sunday services at First Baptist Church in Hammond. The Combs children were not allowed to exchange even small talk with McGowan, she said. McGowan also said she recalled the Combses often commenting how often their adoptive daughter seemed to be ill. “She was the one we didn’t see too often,” McGowan said. “She was small at that time, I think she couldn’t have been but 9 or 10 when they moved away. When we did see her, she had the saddest little face you ever saw.”
Prosecutors in Tennessee said the girl lived a hellish existence with her adoptive parents, being tortured and sexually abused as she was brainwashed into believing she was being raised to be the family’s slave because it was “God’s will.” The alleged abuse was discovered when the woman, who turns 21 on Monday, was hospitalized after a suicide attempt last year. Federal court records show the Combses were given the little girl in March 1978 by the operators of the Baptist Children’s Home. The adoption process was never completed. In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Hammond, lawyers for the woman said their client was systematically tortured by the Combses, never allowed to attend school and not told she was adopted or that a judge never awarded custody of her to the Combses. The lawyers are suing the Combses for their alleged abuse and the Baptist Children’s Home for negligence. The lawsuit does not specify the damages being sought.
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Kaifetz said Combs left the area, probably in 1985, during a controversy over his sale of Bible study books at the college. He has had no contact with Combs since then, but did see an advertisement for his ministry several years ago in a religious publication.
The Rev. Jack Hyles, the pastor of the First Baptist Church and chancellor of Hyles Anderson College, could not be reached for comment Saturday. Beverly Hyles, his wife, said neither one of them has had any contact with the Combses since they left the area, taking 40 or so Hyles Anderson students with them to start their Tennessee church. “He has called us several times,” Hyles said. “We have not returned any of his calls.”
The woman’s lawsuit says she faces huge medical bills as the result of her alleged mistreatment. Among the injuries the Combses are alleged to have inflicted upon the woman were broken bones, dislocated joints, severe and repeated lacerations and trauma and damage to the nervous system and vascular systems. She is being cared for in Michigan by a foster family and has met both of her birth parents since her suicide attempt, said Gregg Herman, one of her lawyers.
Jennifer Talirico, another former neighbor of the Combses, said she was horrified to learn of the charges pending against the Combses. “They kept to themselves, they certainly weren’t the type to have neighbors over or anything like that,” Talirico said. “But God, I wish I knew what was going on in that house.”
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.
Dorothy Nicolo, treasurer for Aenon Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, stands accused of using church funds to pay for personal goods and vacations.
Karl Etters, a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, writes:
For the past five years, investigators say, Dorothy Nicolo used the bank accounts of Aenon Baptist Church like her own pocketbook.
The 70-year-old paid for vacations, shopping sprees and a lifestyle beyond her means with the $119,000 she is accused of stealing from the west Leon County church.
Nicolo, who served as the church’s volunteer treasurer for 24 years, was arrested Wednesday by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office on 40 felony counts that include grand theft of more than $100,000, scheme to defraud, fraudulent use of a credit card and forgery.
Church leadership caught onto the thievery when it went to repave its parking lot.
Heavy machinery to be used was delivered to the church on a Sunday in September. Nicolo asked why it was there and told several people the church did not have enough money to complete the $30,000 project, according to court records.
The church only had about $20,000, a fraction of what should have been available.
Nicolo had been altering the monthly expenditure records to conceal the purchases and money she was funneling from two bank accounts, according to court records. Church officials never noticed the discrepancies because Nicolo had financial statements mailed to her house.
Nicolo, who worked at Florida State University as a secretary for 30 years, was confronted about the thefts and admitted to Pastor Jason Whitelock to using the church’s credit cards.
“I know I was wrong, I’ve admitted it and I’m very sorry about it,” she told investigators. “It just seemed easy and I lost my sense of judgment.”
She spoke in front of the church’s congregation in October, asking for forgiveness and promising to repay the money.
The letter she read aloud is included in court records. Nicolo said she’d worked out a repayment budget and offered $5,000 in inheritance money as a down payment. She told Whitelock she’d tried to pay back the money incrementally by putting cash in the collection plate, but he told investigators there was no indication that had occurred.
Once the scheme was uncovered, Nicolo began to return to the church items she purchased with the stolen money.
Court records indicate Nicolo returned: 427 rolls of yarn, two shotguns, two Canon cameras, 86 Sea World picture frames, 158 stuffed animals, theme park cups, 76 assorted coffee mugs, acrylic bears and ceramic animal figurines, 234 bags and purses, 52 shirts and jackets, cell phone chargers and accessories, luggage and an Apple Watch.
She told investigators she’d used the church’s money to fund trips to Sea World, Disney World, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and made purchases in Cozumel while on a cruise.
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.
Luis CruzCruz, youth pastor at San Jose Seventh-Day Adventist Church in San Jose California, stands accused of sexting a thirteen-year-old church girl.
A San Jose youth pastor was arrested last week on suspicion of sending sexually explicit images of himself to a 13-year-old girl who was part of the congregation that he served, according to San Jose police.
Luis CruzCruz, 24, of Fremont, was booked into the Santa Clara County jail Wednesday on suspicion of two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor, jail records show. He is being held on $50,000 bail.
An investigation by the SJPD Internet Crimes Against Children and Child Exploitation Detail task force contends that between November and December last year, CruzCruz sent multiple illicit images to the underage victim. There is no current evidence that the victim sent any in return.
The victim and her family attended Iglesia Adventista Del Séptimo Día San José (San Jose Seventh-Day Adventist Church), where CruzCruz worked as a youth pastor, police said.
CruzCruz was arrested in Fremont, and an examination of his electronic devices suggest that he might have sent similar illicit material to other minors, Sgt. Enrique Garcia said.
Garcia encouraged congregants to talk with their children about any possible contact with CruzCruz.
“We want to encourage kids to be honest so proper action can be taken by law enforcement,” he said. “Parents need to tell their children that they won’t be held responsible for the suspect’s actions. He preyed on children, and parents need to support their kids and ensure he doesn’t do this to other children.”
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.
Jody Hilliard, assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in Duncan,Oklahoma and a high school teacher and principal, will stand trial March 21, 2018 for allegedly sexually molesting a ten-year-old girl.
In April 2016, Christian Betancourt, a reporter for the Duncan Banner, wrote:
Police arrested a 71-year-old retired Duncan assistant pastor after they say he had indecent acts with an out-of-town 10-year-old female relative while she visited last summer.
Jody Hilliard, 71, was arrested and charged with two counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child under 12, a felony.
According to police reports, on March 11, detectives with the Duncan Police Department received a report from the Department of Social Services in the state where the victim resides advising them about an ongoing sexual abuse while the minor was in Duncan.
The report stated Hilliard allegedly touched the girl in her private parts without clothes on and made her touch him in his genital area.
As part of their investigation, the report states a DPD detective received a video interview and several reports of the victim giving detailed, consistent descriptions of the alleged abuse to several law enforcement members during her month stay in Duncan.
Hilliard did not give a statement to police.
“Reverend Hilliard vehemently denies these horrible allegations, and we look forward to defending him in court,” stated Hilliard’s defense attorney Ed Blau.
A motion to set appropriate bail filed by Blau stated Hilliard was a pillar of the community for 32 years, served as assistant pastor for the First Baptist Church in Duncan for 26 years, was minister of education for three years at the Central Baptist Church in Lawton and was a high school teacher and principal for 11 years in Elgin and Ninnekah.
“The crimes alleged in this crime are serious,” stated the motion. “There appears to be no physical evidence to support the allegation. (Hilliard) maintains his innocence of the crimes alleged. By all accounts, (Hilliard) has a sterling reputation in the community, and the allegations made in this case are completely outside the bounds of that reputation. The outcome in this case will likely turn on who the jury believes is telling the truth. “
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.
Richard Taylor, youth pastor at Dutch Fork Baptist Church — located in Irmo, South Carolina — in the 1980s, has been charged with “third-degree criminal sexual conduct and common law assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.”
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has announced the arrest of a former Columbia pastor charged with sexual assault from the late 1980s.
Sheriff Leon Lott says Richard Taylor has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and common law assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
During a bond hearing on Wednesday, a judge awarded Taylor with a $25,000 surety bond.
According to the department’s investigation, between 1989 and 1991, Taylor sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male victim on several incidents while serving as a youth pastor at Dutch Fork Baptist Church located at 3517 Dreher Shoals Road.
RCSD investigators were able to obtain arrest warrants for Taylor who turned himself into investigators on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
We spoke with the alleged victim in this case who told us he came from a very safe home, but he often didn’t feel like he was getting much love or attention.
He says this made it easy for the former youth pastor to quickly gain his trust by showing him a lot of affection and buying him gifts — those gifts came at a much higher price.
“Meeting my emotional and psychological needs that I wasn’t getting at home or through my social group of friends and he provided love, support, attention, gifts – that eventually came at the cost of fondling, mutual sexual acts and then rape,” the victim said.
Pastor Dr. Chuck McAlister with Dutch Fort Baptist Church says that Taylor has not been a part of their church for more than 20 years and they have not had any contact with him.
“Given the nature and direction our society is going, it’s sad these things happen,” McAlister said. “Our hearts go out to the victims. Our message is of redemption and anyone can find healing in whatever they have experienced through Jesus Christ. Our church stands ready to offer to heal to anyone in need.” [Talk about a bullshit “apology”, blaming society for Taylor’s criminal behavior. Everyone just needs to get saved and all will be well, right? Isn’t Taylor saved? Isn’t EVERY pastor featured in the Black Collar Crime Series saved? It seems clear, then, that salvation does not keep men from committing sex crimes.]
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.
Robert and Cindy Litzinger, pastors at Church for Life in Santa Maria, California, have been sued by a church member who accuses them of sexual battery and assault.
A Santa Maria church and two of its former senior pastors are facing a sexual battery, harassment, assault, and gender violence civil lawsuit that was filed anonymously by a churchgoer in July 2017.
The plaintiff, listed as Jane Doe in court documents, alleges that Robert and Cindy Litzinger, who left Church For Life in 2016 because of other alleged complaints, used their positions as leaders and teachers to satisfy Robert’s “sexual fetishes.” The complaint also claims that Church For Life failed to adequately investigate complaints against Robert, who allegedly taught premarital and purity courses at the church, for years.
The plaintiff claims that while enrolled in Robert’s premarital counseling course, he told women to masturbate before their wedding nights, provided them with a list of sexual acts to do while married, and instructed them to do “whatever their husbands wanted.” Robert also allegedly asked the plaintiff and other women for “intimate” photos.
Robert sent the plaintiff unsolicited nude photos of himself, she claims in the court documents, and after several persistent requests, the plaintiff sent Robert similar photos in return, but she claims she eventually complained and asked him to stop. Still, the plaintiff claims Robert’s conduct continued.
While at the Litzingers’ house, the plaintiff alleges that Robert groped her breasts and genitals. When the plaintiff told his wife, according to the report, she said it must have been a mistake. When the plaintiff complained to Church For Life’s executive pastor, he allegedly instructed her to speak with Robert directly.
The complaint states that other claims against Robert led Church For Life to investigate and eventually remove him in 2016.
Paul Greco, defense attorney for the Litzingers, said his clients have completely denied the allegations listed in the complaint. Greco also said that because the lawsuit is a civil case, anything can be written in the complaint before a formal investigation takes place.
“Mr. Litzinger denies the allegations, and the discovery process will bring more information to light that will support his position,” Greco said.
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.
John Bishop, former pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, Washington, was arrested in December and charged with smuggling 282 pounds of maijuana into the United States from Mexico.
Jessica Prokop, a reporter for The Columbian, writes:
John Bishop, the former lead pastor of Vancouver’s Living Hope Church, is facing a federal drug charge in U.S. District Court in Southern California for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 280 pounds of marijuana into the country from Mexico.
The 54-year-old was arrested Dec. 11 after he was stopped about 5:25 a.m. by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while re-entering the country through the port of entry at San Ysidro, Calif. Bishop reportedly told border patrol agents he was driving to Chula Vista, Calif., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
While conducting a routine inspection of Bishop’s gray Volkswagen Jetta, the officer found packages hidden in a wheel well. A narcotics detection dog was summoned and subsequently alerted officers to the undercarriage and trunk of the car, the affidavit states.
The car was taken apart revealing 105 packages weighing 281.88 pounds that field-tested positive for marijuana. Packages were removed from the car’s bumpers, rear seat, dashboard and at least one wheel well, the court document said.
Bishop was taken into custody and charged with unlawful importation of a controlled substance, according to a complaint filed Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court.
He entered a not-guilty plea Jan. 4 to the one count, and his trial was set for Feb. 8. He is being represented by Gerloni Cotton with the Federal Defenders of San Diego.
Bishop was released from federal custody Jan. 9, the Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows. Court records indicate that he posted $25,000 bond.
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The arrest marked a spectacular fall for one of Clark County’s most dynamic and successful clergymen.
A petition for legal separation filed by Bishop’s wife, Michelle, on Jan. 2 in Clark County Superior Court states that he now lives in San Diego, Calif. — where his release documents say his travel is restricted to — and asked the court to find that their marriage ended Dec. 11, the same day he was arrested.
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The Bishops started Living Hope Church in 1996. It grew to be one of Clark County’s largest, attracting thousands of worshippers each week. They targeted “people who don’t do church” and Christians who might be in need of grace and second chance. Under Bishop, the church staged elaborate sermons, including a nativity with a live camel. Bishop once appeared onstage with a 350-pound live tiger.
The church, now along Andresen Road, is nicknamed the “Kmart church” because it occupies a former Kmart building.
After 19 years, Bishop stepped down as senior pastor in November 2015 after allegations of moral indiscretions. The church did not go into detail about the indiscretions, but Bishop had said he went “off the grid” while on a mission trip over the summer of 2015 in Los Cabos, Mexico. Court records show that he and his wife owned a vacation home there.
At the time, Bishop said he planned to seek alcohol abuse treatment, according to Columbian archives.
“As a church, we continue to pray and hope the best for John Bishop,” Living Hope Church Executive Pastor Doug Frazier said in a written statement issued Tuesday. “Ties have been cut for over two years, and we continue to pray for him regularly and do not harbor any ill will.
“We are so thankful to now be in a financially healthy and stable place and to have the opportunity to serve our community. Living Hope continues to have a daily impact on our local community — from feeding the homeless and shut-ins, and serving those in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse to offering a variety of ministries and worship services seven days a week.”
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.
Shawn Lawson, a former pastor of Baptist churches in Texas and Indiana, has spent the last four decades impersonating FBI agents so he could defraud gullible, trusting people. The following story calls Lawson a serial imposter.
Kevin Krause, a reporter for the Dallas News, writes:
When Shawn Lawson flashed his FBI badge, people believed he was the real deal. As one victim noted, he was older. And convincing.
But Lawson, 79, was never a federal agent and his badge was fake. He’s a former Baptist preacher who’s been conning people for decades — including his own congregations and other pastors — by posing as a federal agent and offering to help them with various matters for cash, the FBI says.
Lawson moved to Dallas after being forced out by two churches in Indiana in the 1990s, according to published reports. His reputation in Gary, Ind., earned him the nickname, “Lyin’ Lawson,” according to reports from the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana. One of the pastors he scammed called him a “pulpit pimp,” the newspaper reported.
Lawson was convicted in Waco federal court in 2015 on a charge of impersonating a public servant. He was ordered to repay his victims a total of $25,950.
Lawson was sentenced to time already served behind bars and was released from probation in 2016, court records show. Until recently, he was living in a Flower Mound nursing home. He was previously evicted from his Dallas apartment and presided for a time over his own church in Dallas, according to newspaper reports and public records.
He could not be reached, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
An FBI search warrant obtained by The Dallas Morning News chronicles his escapades over the years. That and other court records and newspaper reports paint Lawson as a serial impostor who bounced from church to church and spent his time playing slot machines in convenience stores while spinning tall tales of his life as a high-ranking federal official.
Lawson has been arrested for impersonating law enforcement at least four previous times in several states dating to 1980, according to the search warrant.
One of his arrests occurred in his own church, in Indiana.
Lawson met some of his victims on dating websites, the search warrant says.
Lawson told them and many others he could find them cheap homes and cars sold at federal auction, the warrant said. He told one woman he could get her deported brother back into the U.S. for a fee. He told another he could make a drug trafficking investigation go away. But when the women gave him cash for his help, they got nothing in return. And he wouldn’t return their calls, court records say.
“He didn’t want to take a check. It was always cash,” said Ansuade Boyefio, pastor of Holy Grounds Assembly International in Richardson.
Boyefio said Lawson claimed he could get some land that Boyefio needed for his growing church. It never happened, he said.
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Lawson was born in Arkansas. He was arrested in Little Rock in 1980 for criminal impersonation, the search warrant said. Three days later, he was arrested again in Little Rock — for impersonating an FBI agent.
In 1983, Lawson was arrested in Chicago for impersonating a federal officer, according to the search warrant.
And the FBI in Dallas arrested him in 1985 for impersonating a public servant, the warrant said.
Lawson moved to Gary, Ind., in the 1990s where he worked as a church pastor.
St. James Baptist Church in Gary ousted Lawson as its pastor after winning a court judgment against him, according to published reports.
A judge ruled in the 1996 court order that Lawson did not have a bachelor’s degree or doctorate and had not “pastored the churches” he listed in his resume, according to newspaper reports. The order also said he never held “any position with the National Baptist Convention.” It said Lawson defrauded St. James and that his employment contract with the church was “void.”
Lawson was ordered to leave the church and was restrained from acting as its minister or pastor, according to published reports.
Lawson later became pastor of a different church, Abyssinian Baptist Church in Gary, Ind., according to a newspaper article in which he was quoted.
He also helped incorporate in 1997 a Gary nonprofit entity called Concerned Pastors of the Central District Inc., corporate records show.
It didn’t last.
The Post-Tribune in Indiana reported that while serving as pastor of Abyssinian, Lawson was charged with theft for taking money from two people with the promise of finding them homes being auctioned for delinquent taxes. Police arrested him in the church.
In March 2000, Joe Combs and his wife Evangeline were tried and convicted on numerous criminals charged related to their ritual abuse and rape of their adopted daughter. Joe Combs was the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bristol, Tennessee. He previously had been a trusted member of 
