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Category: Black Collar Crime

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Fernando Maldonado Convicted of Sex Crimes, Flees to Mexico

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pastor fernando maldonado

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.

Fernando Maldonado, a pastor at Morello Baptist Church in Martinez, California and Grace Bible Church in Pleasant Hill, California, was convicted Wednesday of child sexual abuse. Maldonado jumped bail and apparently fled to Mexico with his wife and children.

Sarah Ravani, a reporter for LMT Online, writes:

A Contra Costa County jury convicted a Martinez pastor of 23 counts of child sexual abuse days after he failed to show up at his trial and apparently fled to Mexico with his wife and children — jumping $1.29 million in bail secured by relatives, prosecutors said Thursday.

Fernando Maldonado, 37, faces up to 34 years in state prison for crimes ranging from committing lewd acts upon a child to unlawful sexual intercourse and sodomy of a person under the age of 18.

A jury convicted him on all charges Wednesday after deliberating for 2½ hours. But the defendant was not present when the panel announced its decision.

A bench warrant was issued for him when he failed to show up for his trial on Monday. Maldonado was last spotted driving south on Interstate 5 near San Diego on Sunday, said Jordan Sanders, a Contra Costa County deputy district attorney.

“Based on this information, I am comfortable assuming he is driving to Mexico with his wife and children,” Sanders said.Shortly after his arrest in April 2016, Maldonado was released on $1.29 million bail secured by six relatives who put up to their properties as collateral.

Prosecutors said Maldonado had a sexual relationship between 2012 and 2016 with a young girl, beginning when she was 13 years old and while he was a minister at Morello Baptist Church in Martinez. The victim, whose name was not released, was a church parishioner, said Sanders.

Their relationship continued until the victim ended it in December 2014 when she was about 16 years old, Sanders said.

“At the time, he was married and had a newborn baby,” Sanders said, adding that Maldonado was also a minister at Grace Bible Church in Pleasant Hill.

The victim testified against Maldonado on Thursday and Friday, before he decided to flee, Sanders said.

Sanders said that during the trial he played the jury a recorded phone call, in which the victim confronted Maldonado about the sex abuse.

Additionally, a criminalist testified that Maldonado’s semen was found on a church couch, corroborating the victim’s testimony that they had sex inside the church, Sanders said.

….

Maldonado’s bio on Grace Bible Church’s website states:

fernando maldonado

An April 4, 2018 SF Gate news report states:

An East Bay pastor who was convicted of molesting a teenage girl has been caught in Mexico, where he fled during his trial, the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Fernando Maldonado was deported from Mexico on Tuesday and flown to Los Angeles, which will send him to Contra Costa County for sentencing April 13. The Mexican government located Maldonado after county officers contacted U.S. marshals, said district attorney’s spokesman Scott Alonso.

Maldonado was charged in 2015 with sexual abuse of a girl in his parish at Morello Baptist Church in Martinez, starting when she was 13 and continuing until she was 16. Prosecutors said she broke off contact with him in December 2014.

Maldonado, who was also a minister at Grace Bible Church in Pleasant Hill, was released on $1.29 million bail, put up by six relatives who used their property as collateral. The trial began in December 2017, and after two days of testimony by the girl, Maldonado disappeared. The lead prosecutor said Maldonado, 37, had been seen driving south on Interstate 5 near San Diego, apparently headed to Mexico with his wife and children.

….

An April 13, 2018 SF Gate report states that Maldonado was sentenced to thirty-four years in prison for his crimes:

A Martinez pastor who fled to Mexico during his 2017 sexual molestation trial, only to be captured and extradited back to the U.S., was sentenced Friday to 34 years in prison.

A judge gave Fernando Maldonado, 37, the maximum sentence in a Richmond courtroom two weeks after he was captured in the resort town of Cancun.

Maldonado, in a yellow jail shirt, said nothing during his sentencing, according to Contra Costa district attorney spokesman Scott Alonso. He had been returned to the custody of the county Tuesday.

Maldonado was charged in 2015 with sexual abuse of a girl in his parish at Morello Baptist Church in Martinez, starting when she was 13. At the time of his trial, he was free on $1.29 million bail.

….

Black Collar Crime: Six Mormon Families Sue LDS Church Over Sexual Abuse Cover Up

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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.

Six Virginia Mormon families have filed a civil lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), alleging the church knew “one of their members was abusing children and actively covered up the abuse that continued for years.”

KUTV reports:

A group of families are suing the LDS church, alleging it covered up child sex abuse by another member in West Virginia.

A total of six families with nine children filed the lawsuit against The Corporation of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints according to court documents — available at the end of the story.

The families allege LDS leaders knew one of their members was abusing children and actively covered up the abuse that continued for years. The case is scheduled to go to trial in January.

“My church family preached to me about forgiveness — that I needed to forgive him,” Helen said. “How do you forgive something like that?”

The abuse allegedly took place over the course of two months in 2008.

According to documents, in January 2012 the children told their parents what Jensen had done to them five years before.

She didn’t contact law enforcement immediately when she discovered the abuse.

“That is something that does eat at me. It is something that I wish that if I could go back and change, I would have done it differently,” Helen said. “I felt if i couldn’t even get these people that are supposed to have my family’s best interest, why would a jury believe what happened?”

In 2012, the abuser, Michael Jensen, was indicted for abusing other children and she contacted law enforcement. She said one of her sons testified at the trial but the court proceedings were not about his abuse.

According to court documents, Jensen was on trial for abusing two children in 2007. The papers say the boys, 3 and 4-years-old at the time, were forced to perform oral sex on Jensen while he was their babysitter. In 2013 Jensen was sentenced for up to 75 years in prison after he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for abusing the two boys.

The appellants’ brief states:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day (sic) Saints knew that it had a sex offender in its midst as early as December 2004-January 2005, when Michael Jensen was charged in Provo, Utah, with felony sexual abuse of two girls and pled guilty to two sex offenses in the presence of his parents (who became Church leaders) and a Church bishop in Provo.

Is says that instead of warning others about Jensen, even as his predations began to mount, local church leaders “covered up, minimized and denied” his abuse and “dangerous proclivities; sponsored false explanations when evidence of abuse surfaced; touted him as a trustworthy and exceptional member of the Church community.”

Attorneys in the civil case contend local church leaders discussed the allegations of Jensen’s abuse as early as 2007 and no one reported them to law enforcement. The layers also claim LDS church leaders in Utah knew Jensen was convicted of other sex crimes in Utah in 2004.

….

The legal papers state that between April 2007 and August 2012, after moving from Provo, Jensen sexually abused nine children.

Helen said she doesn’t want to forgive, she wants justice.

“And this is the only way I know how to do it,” she said. “The only way for [my son’s] voice to be heard and my voice to be heard and to force them to change their policies so that this doesn’t happen again.”

….

Black Collar Crime: IFB Bus Pastor Wayne Bean Charged with Lewd Molestation

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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.

Wayne Bean, bus pastor at Ada Baptist Temple in Ada, Oklahoma, has been charged with three counts of lewd molestation. Astoundingly, Bean was accused of similar crimes in 2005 — giving a teen girl “daddy” kisses — and not charged.

KXII-12 reports:

[It] hurt like scared for the kids,”Ada resident Bryan White said.

That’s how White felt after learning a member of the Ada Baptist Temple was charged with lewd molestation.

Ada Police say Wayne Bean inappropriately touched four girls while working as the bus minister.

Detective Brian Engel says he began investigating in May after an 11 year old girl refused to get on the bus.

“She started crying and the mother talked to her about why she didn’t want to get on the bus,” Engel said,”she disclosed to her mother that an individual from the church that rides the bus had been inappropriately touching her.”

Engel says the child’s mother contacted another mom, who’s 7 year old daughter also rode the bus he says, that girl also said she was touched by Bean.

“During my investigation I found out that there was a 13 year old that had also disclosed that this man had been inappropriately kissing her on the lips, when she got on and off the bus,” Engel said.

“It is actually disgusting and shameful that it actually happened with somebody that you actually trust,” White said.

….

He tells us Bean was investigated in 2005 for inappropriate acts with an 11 year old girl who says it started on the bus.

“He stated that [when] he met her, she was riding the church bus and they ended up developing a relationship and he would take her places in his own vehicle, and that in the interview he stated he would give her daddy kisses,” Engel said.

No charges were filed in the 2005 case.

Engel also says he found pornographic videos on Bean’s computer showing older men having sex with women were portrayed to be very young.

Bean has since been released from jail on a $250,000 bond, he’s due back in court in February.

“We just need to pray for our community because obviously we need it,” White said.

Video Link

Ada Baptist Temple — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church — calls itself “The Friendliest Church in Town.” Their website also says the church’s services are “the most exciting services in town.”  The church describes itself this way (link no longer active):

Ada Baptist Temple is an old-fashioned, independent, Baptist Church that takes a strong stand for the Word of God and against sin. Fundamental in her doctrinal stand and premillenial in her interpretation.

The Ada Baptist website also has a statement on human sexuality:

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.

They left out child molestation and allowing accused child molesters to continue work with children.

Update

Bean committed suicide.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Teacher Nicole Marie Andrews Accused of Sexually Assaulting Student

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nicole marie andrews

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.

Nicole Marie Andrews, a volunteer youth worker at The Church at Canyon Creek in Austin, Texas and a teacher at Cedar Park Middle School, was arrested Tuesday and charged with the sexual assault of a child.

Kate Winkle and Brittany Glas, reporters for KXAN, write:

A former teacher in Leander Independent School District was arrested Tuesday on charges of having an improper relationship with a Vandegrift High School student whom she met at a church where she volunteered.

At the end of October, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office began investigating an alleged sexual assault and improper relationship involving Cedar Park Middle School’s sixth-grade teacher Nicole Marie Faires Andrews. She was arrested on Dec. 12 after authorities said she had an ongoing romantic relationship with a 16-year-old boy she met at The Church at Canyon Creek, where she was a volunteer youth administrator.

Records show Andrews, 31, started teaching English/Language Arts at Cedar Park Middle School in August of 2015. The district said she resigned on Nov. 6, 2017.

According to court documents, the boy admitted that Andrews had sexual contact with him 11 or 12 times, as well as sending a naked photo of herself, over the summer.

….

The senior pastor of The Church at Canyon Creek, Monty Watson, said in a statement, “Our hearts go out to the victim and the family, and we ask for prayer for all involved. We are working with the authorities and fully cooperating with this investigation.”

Andrews has been charged with sexual assault of a child, which is a second-degree felony.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Luminary Paul Pressler Sued Over Sexual Abuse Allegations

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paul pressler

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.

Paul Pressler, best known for his instrumental roll in turning back the Southern Baptist Convention from its drift into liberalism, stands accused of sexually abusing a former office assistant. The assistant has filed a $1 million civil suit against Pressler, along with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Paige Patterson, and First Baptist Church in Houston.

Adelle M. Banks, a reporter for Religions News Service, writes:

Paul Pressler, a key figure in the self-identified “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970s and early ’80s, is fighting a lawsuit by a former office assistant who alleges the onetime Texas appeals court judge sexually abused him over the course of several decades.

Gareld Duane Rollins Jr. filed the $1 million suit Oct. 18 in the District Court in Harris County.

The plaintiff, now in his 50s, claims he was abused by Pressler starting when he was in his midteens, continuing when he was hired as a “boy Friday” in the judge’s home office and ending around 2014 when Rollins was rearrested and imprisoned for driving while intoxicated.

In a court document responding to the claims, Pressler and his wife, Nancy, a co-defendant, “categorically deny each and every allegation.”

Pressler’s attorney, Ted Tredennick, said the suit’s claims cannot be taken seriously.

“Mr. Rollins is clearly a deeply troubled man, with a track record of multiple felonies and incarceration, and it is the height of irresponsibility that anyone would present such a bizarre and frivolous case,” according to a statement from Tredennick.

The 40-page suit describes sexual acts that allegedly occurred around the time Pressler enrolled Rollins in a Bible study at First Baptist Church in Houston. The suit says Pressler told Rollins he should consider the alleged rape “our secret, our freedom, no one but God would understand.”

Rollins’ attorney who filed the suit, Daniel Shea, is a Houston lawyer and former Catholic deacon who previously represented young men who alleged they were sexually abused by a seminarian who fled to his native Colombia after the charges arose. That case was settled in 2008.

Legal documents filed in the suit against Pressler, now in his 80s, contain letters he wrote on behalf of Rollins to a parole board reviewing his status after he was charged with forgery and driving under the influence. The suit says Rollins turned to drugs and alcohol—leading to multiple DUI arrests—as a response to the alleged abuse.

In one letter, Pressler mentions plans to employ Rollins after the younger man was granted parole and released from rehab.

The suit also names as defendants Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president, Paige Patterson, and Houston’s First Baptist Church, and claims they are liable for their professional, personal or denominational connections with Pressler.

The legal document also goes into the movement led by Pressler and Patterson starting in 1979 that turned the Southern Baptist Convention in a more conservative direction after deep theological battles. It claims the movement was focused on power, which the suit called “a key ingredient in the abuse of children and women.”

Mark Lanier, a Houston lawyer representing Patterson and his seminary, rejected the allegations, saying they are “riddled with errors and falsehoods.”

“We will diligently defend the fine reputation of Dr. Patterson and SWBTS in court,” he said, referring to the seminary.

….

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Dan Johnson Accused of Sexual Misconduct

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pastor dan johnson

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.

Dan Johnson, pastor of Heart of Fire Church in Louisville, Kentucky and a Kentucky state representative, has been accused of sexual assault by a female church member. As of the writing of this post, no criminal charges have been filed.

Bruce Schreiner and Adam Bean, reporters for the Associated Press, write:

A Republican state representative in Kentucky says a woman’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in 2013 has no merit and he will not resign.

Dan Johnson made the announcement at his church on Tuesday, a day after the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published a story quoting a woman as saying Johnson had sexually assaulted her in his basement on Jan. 1, 2013. The woman, Maranda Richmond, was a member of the church, where Johnson is the pastor.

The Associated Press does not generally identify alleged sexual assault victims, but is doing so because Richmond has gone public with her story.

Police documents from an interview with Richmond in 2013 corroborate what she told the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. But Johnson called her story “totally false.” He said it was part of a scheme to attack Republicans running for office, citing Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces accusations from multiple women of sexual misconduct.

“I don’t think in every case women lie. Not at all. I think it is the season. Last election it seemed to be racism. This one seems to be sexual impropriety,” he said. “If the police or anyone involved had thought that this was a real case, don’t you think they would have pursued that? There is no way they would have let up if they thought there was something to it.”

Police documents obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting show a detective closed the case because Richmond would not cooperate. Richmond denied this, saying she never once wanted to stop the investigation.

….

Johnson is listed as the bishop of Heart of Fire Church in Louisville. The church is known for its “gun choir,” which features Johnson and others holding guns while singing “Amazing Grace.” Johnson held a news conference Tuesday from the pulpit of his church. He began by leading his supporters in singing part of the Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

Richmond said she spent the night at Johnson’s home on New Year’s Eve 2012. She said she awoke a few hours after midnight to find Johnson standing over her. She said he put his hand down her pants and put his hand in her vagina, despite her begging him to stop. She said he eventually left and she slipped away early that morning before he woke up.

Johnson said he remembered that night, but he said “there was nothing that really happened.” Johnson’s wife, Rebecca Johnson, said Richmond was sleeping in the same bed as the couple’s daughter. Rebecca Johnson called the accusations “crazy.”

“She had a lot of issues in her life and we tried to be friendly with her, be a family close to her,” Rebecca Johnson said of Richmond. “I counseled her a lot, just like a daughter. I don’t know, I guess that didn’t go over real good.”

Johnson said he did not want to “blast” Richmond, adding he has “compassion for her” and he is “very sorrowful she is in this dark place in her life.”

But later, he added: “This woman is not my friend.”

“For this to be laid against me as an accusation is horrible,” he said. “I’m mad as can be. No one wants to be accused falsely.”

Update

A December 13, 2017 WDRB report says that Johnson was found dead, likely by his own hands.

Johnson posted the following to his Facebook wall:

The accusations from NPR are false GOD and only GOD knows the truth, nothing is the way they make it out to be. AMERICA will not survive this type of judge and jury fake news . Conservatives take a stand. I LOVE GOD and I LOVE MY WIFE, who is the best WIFE in the world,My Love Forever ! My Mom and Dad my FAMILY and all five of my kids and Nine grandchildren two in tummies and many more to come each of you or a total gift from GOD stay strong, REBECCA needs YOU . 9-11-2001 NYC/WTC, PTSD 24/7 16 years is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. IT Has Won This Life . BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME. “PLEASE LISTEN CLOSELY, Only Three things I ask of you to do,if you love me is (1)blame no person,Satan is the accuser, so blame the Devil himself. (2) Forgive and Love everyone especially yourself .(3)most importantly LOVE GOD. P.S. I LOVE MY FRIENDS YOU ARE FAMILY ! GOD LOVES ALL PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT

Black Collar Crime: Catholic Priest John Feit Found Guilty of 1960 Murder of 25-Year-Old School Teacher

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John Feit, a former priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas, was found guilty today of murdering a 25-year-old parishioner in 1960.

My San Antonio reports:

A former priest accused of killing a Rio Grande Valley beauty queen in 1960 was found guilty of murder with malice aforethought Thursday after a jury deliberated for about six hours.

John Feit, now 85, sat stone-faced and showed no emotion as he was convicted of killing Irene Garza, a 25-year school teacher, when he was 27 and serving as a fill-in priest in the Valley. Family members of the victim hugged each other after the verdict was read.

Garza was last seen going to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen where Feit heard her confession. Her body was found five days later in a canal. Autopsy results showed she had been raped while unconscious and died of asphyxiation, likely from suffocation.

Garza’s grisly killing during Holy Week 1960 haunted South Texas for decades and was the subject of a 48 Hours television special.

Feit’s conviction brings an end to one of the oldest cases in the Hidalgo County judicial system, but leaves unresolved allegations of a deal cut between the district attorney and church leaders to stop the investigation into Feit and avoid a scandal.

Black Collar Crime: Civil Suit Against Temple Baptist Church and Mike Holloway Continues

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pastor mike holloway

Please read previous posts on this scandal: Black Collar Crime: Woman Claims Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Knew She Had Been Sexually Abused and Did Nothing, Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Denies He Knew Anything About Woman’s Sex Abuse Claim, Black Collar Crime: Another Victim Comes Forward in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal, Black Collar Crime: The Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal Continues, Black Collar Crime: Alleged Victim Count Up to Ten in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sexual Abuse Scandal, Black Collar Crime: The Cover-up Continues at Temple Baptist Church in Kokomo, Indiana and Black Collar Crime: Jane Doe Files Civil Suit Against Temple Baptist Church and Pastor Mike Holloway.

Today, The Kokomo Perspective released another episode in their ongoing coverage of the Temple Baptist Church sex scandal. Devin Zimmerman writes:

Both the Croddys and Temple Baptist Church have responded to the civil suit filed against them by Jane Doe, and a new venue might be selected for the case.

Both defendants in the case denied the allegations made by the unnamed female plaintiff in a civil suit filed in September. Doe sought damages for alleged sexual abuse she claimed to have endured at an early age at the hands of Donald Croddy and involves Temple Baptist Church and its pastor, Mike Holloway, in that she claimed to have been put under Croddy’s care by the pastor.

In the initial complaint, Doe claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Croddy while between the ages of 12 and 14 years old while living with him and his wife, Elfriede, in the early ‘90s.

The living situation, according to the suit, was suggested by Holloway in 1992 while Doe attended Temple Baptist Church via its bus ministry. Due to difficulty in attending church events and activities associated with Temple Christian School, which is operated by the church, the living situation allegedly was suggested so she could increase her attendance. Then, while living with the Croddys on weekends from 1992 to 1994, Doe claimed to have been sexually abused by Donald.

The suit partially hinges on whether Holloway knew of Donald’s tendencies, which the suit claims he was made aware of during a confrontation that involved similar allegations made by an individual in both Holloway and Donald’s presence.

However, both the Croddys, the church, and Holloway denied the allegations in their answers to the complaint, with the Croddys most recently filing their answer on Nov. 22.

Temple Baptist Church and Holloway’s initial response cited several affirmative defenses in the civil suit, including a claim that the statute of limitations bars Doe’s claims. The defendants also requested the action be tried by a jury.

The Croddys, in their response, sought dismissal of the case and also cited a statute of limitations in their affirmative defenses.

Additionally, a special judge was appointed to the case after a motion to change the venue of the case was filed in September. As a result, Rich Maughmer of Cass County was appointed; however, a second change of venue was filed on behalf of Doe on Nov. 30. As of press time, the second special judge had not been appointed.

….

In previous interviews and social media postings, the church has maintained the defense that Holloway sought council from the Christian Law Association (CLA), wherein he was encouraged to take the precautionary measure of restricting Donald from all activities involving children.

In a Facebook posting in April, Holloway wrote, “Since that decision and up to this present time, I have received no information indicating concern about Don’s behavior.”

Black Collar Crime: Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Accused of Sexual Assault

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tariq ramadan

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.

Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar and professor at Oxford University, stands accused of sexually assaulting several women.

Carlotta Gall, a reporter for The New York Times, writes:

Tariq Ramadan, a renowned scholar of Islam, has taken a leave of absence from his teaching post at Oxford University after two women filed complaints that he sexually assaulted them in France.

….

Mr. Ramadan, 55, a Swiss-born theologian and philosopher, is a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the university and a senior research fellow at St. Antony’s, an Oxford college that focuses on international affairs.

The accusations have created a storm in Islamic and academic circles across Europe. Mr. Ramadan is a grandson of Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the 1920s. He is the author of a dozen books in English on modern Islam and the Western world, and a familiar presence on television news shows and on social media.

Mr. Ramadan has said that the accusations are unfounded and has vowed to fight the cases in court. He has filed a defamation suit in Paris against one of his accusers, the French activist and author Henda Ayari.

Ms. Ayari accused Mr. Ramadan of raping and assaulting her in a hotel on the sidelines of a conference in Paris in 2012. She said Mr. Ramadan had acted as an online teacher and mentor to her and then had suggested one day that they meet at his hotel.

She wrote about the encounter in a book in 2016, but did not name her attacker at the time. Last month, encouraged by the wave of denunciations by women outing their sexual aggressors in the #MeToo campaign on social media after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Ms. Ayari identified Mr. Ramadan as her attacker. She said she had not spoken out earlier because Mr. Ramadan had threatened her and her children.

Ms. Ayari has lodged a complaint with the French police, alleging rape, sexual assault, harassment and intimidation. Her lawyers said she had also submitted evidence with her complaint.

A second Frenchwoman has also filed a complaint with the police in Paris, accusing Mr. Ramadan of assaulting and raping her in a hotel in Lyon in 2009. That woman, who has not been named publicly, described a horrifying assault by Mr. Ramadan to two French newspapers.

Other allegations have surfaced in French and Swiss newspapers, including accounts from two women who said they had sexual relations with Mr. Ramadan before they had reached the age of consent, and a third who described having a consensual but violent relationship with him.

….

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor and Concert Promoter Harry Thomas Accused of Sexually Assaulting Minors

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pastor harry thomas

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.

Harry Thomas, pastor of Come Alive Church in Medford, New Jersey and the founder of Creation Concerts (Festivals), has been accused of sexually assault four minors over a sixteen-year period. Thomas has already been scrubbed from the church’s website.

Jim Walsh, a reporter for the Courier Post, writes:

A 74-year-old pastor active in promoting Christian music festivals is accused of sexually assaulting four minors here over a 16-year period, authorities said Thursday.

Harry L. Thomas, who preached at Come Alive Church in Medford,  allegedly assaulted his victims between 1999 and 2015, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.

It did not name the victims or describe their relationship with Thomas, a Medford resident who played a prominent role in a sensational child-abuse case more than a decade ago.

The prosecutor’s office asked anyone “who may have experienced inappropriate contact” with Thomas to contact investigators.

According to online information for Come Alive Church, Thomas founded the church in 1983, holding its first services in a township school building.

He also is the founder of Creation Concerts, a Medford-based promoter of Christian music concerts.

Thomas in 1979 held the first Creation Fest, which bills itself as the nation’s largest Christian music festival. The multi-day summer festival has shows scheduled for 2018 in Mount Union, Pa., and Kennewick, Washington.

Come Alive Church includes “both traditional and contemporary music” in its services, according to the church’s website.

“The art of music can also be a way to present the gospel message in a disarming way, and at the same time inspire and encourage the body of believers,” it says.

In 2003, Thomas served as an advocate for Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of Collingswood, church members accused of starving four foster children.

The pastor created a now-defunct website, savethejacksons.org, and offered emotional and financial support to the family, according to Courier-Post reports from that time.

“I find it very hard within me to believe they have done this in any purposeful way, if in fact they have done it,” he told a Courier-Post reporter in November 2003.

Thomas was criticized at a congressional hearing on the case in November 2004, after he minimized weight gain by the children after they were removed from the Jacksons’ care.

The boys, ages 9 to 19, each weighed less than 50 pounds after a neighbor alerted police after he found a boy looking for food in his trashcan.

During his testimony, Thomas suggested the boys may have been weighed with their shoes on and said the boys might be responding to attention from authorities, said a Courier-Post report.

“We’d all gain weight in that environment,’ he told the panel.

Vanessa Jackson received a seven-year prison term in 2006 for endangering the welfare of the children. Raymond Jackson died in 2004.

A representative of Come Alive Church, which is on the 200 block of Old Marlton Pike, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Thomas, a Queens Lane resident, was arrested Wednesday morning, and “is being treated at a medical facility, where he is under guard,” the statement said.

The pastor is charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault and three counts of sexual assault, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The Medford man also faces four counts of endangering the welfare of minors.

….

Update

On December 19, 2017, NJ.com reported:

Harry Thomas, the 74-year-old church pastor accused of sexually assaulting four minors over more than a decade, consented to remain detained pending further court proceedings.

At a detention hearing in Burlington County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, Thomas said he would voluntarily remain in prison, at the advice of his attorney, public defender Anthony Aldorasi.

Thomas, a Medford resident and pastor at Come Alive Church, was charged earlier this month with a series of alleged assaults that took place between 1999 and 2015.

In addition to his role at Come Alive Church, Thomas is also a popular national figure in the Christian community, and founded the country’s largest Christian music festival, the Creation Festival.

Both Come Alive Church and the Creation Festival have indefinitely suspended Thomas from his leadership and ministry roles.

Authorities are withholding information about where the alleged assaults took place, as well as the victims’ ages, to shield their identities.

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In a February 17, 2018 story, the Burlington County Times reported:

The former pastor of a Medford church was solemn, weeping at one point and sniffling often, as he admitted in court Friday that he sexually assaulted or abused five minors over a 14-year period.

Harry L. Thomas, 74, of Queens Lane in Medford, will likely die in prison after he agreed to a plea deal before Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert that would have him serve 15 to 20 years without parole.

Thomas, founder of the Come Alive New Testament Church on Old Marlton Pike, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Under the deal, the state will argue that he serve 20 years; the defense will seek 15 years. Thomas’ sentencing is tentatively scheduled for June. He had faced the possibility of up to 25 years for first-degree aggravated sexual assault and 10 years each on the other charges, Covert told him.

When questioned by his attorney, Anthony Aldorasi, Thomas admitted to the sexual assault of a 9-year-old in 2005; sexual contact with three girls who were 7, 8 and 9, in 2000 and 2010; and exposing himself and endangering the welfare of a girl between 2008 and 2010, when she was 8 to 10 years old.

All of the crimes occurred in Medford, according to comments in court. Any additional information about the victims was withheld to protect their identities, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. The office also would not comment on whether the victims were church members.

Aldorasi said although Thomas could not recall the exact dates of the offenses, he did not dispute the allegations. Thomas pleaded guilty before being indicted on any charges, waiving his right to grand jury proceedings. Both sides indicated that he wanted to plead guilty quickly out of consideration for the victims and their families, some of whom were in court.

Thomas will be evaluated to determine if he should undergo treatment as a repetitive and compulsive sexual offender. He will also be subject to Megan’s Law requirements, including registering as a sex offender.

Thomas, who has been in jail since his arrest in December, told the judge he has had serious health problems, including strokes and congestive heart failure. He was sniffling throughout the proceedings, but told Covert he was in a clear mind frame in admitting his guilt.

On its website, the church posted: “Harry Thomas has officially resigned all associations and ministry roles with Come Alive New Testament Church, Creation Festivals and Come Alive International, effective immediately. The leadership of these organizations have accepted Mr. Thomas’ resignation as the proper course of action and will continue to actively cooperate with the authorities. While we are unable to share the details of what was reported, we have been informed that the charges are not related to any of his roles in these ministries.”

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