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 2018, Albert Weathers, pastor of Logos [Baptist] Church in Detroit, Michigan, murdered Kelly Stough, a transgender woman. Astoundingly, Weathers continued to pastor Logos Church while out on bail.
Jessica Williams Stough often was amazed at the resilience that her transgender daughter showed facing hostility from strangers and others.
Kelly Stough “never let it get her down,” she said. “She never became bitter. ‘You’re not going to make me feel any less than who I am.’ I respected her so much for that.”
Now, those who know the 36-year-old Detroiter best are struggling to cope with her slaying.
Authorities announced Monday that a man has been charged in connection with her death. And as loved ones prepare for a funeral this weekend, they question the circumstances leading to the loss of a friendly, outgoing, aspiring designer with friends across the country.
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A police officer found Stough’s body early Friday near McNichols Street at Brush, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. She had been fatally shot.
Authorities have charged Albert Weathers, 46, in the death. The Sterling Heights resident was arraigned Monday in 36th District Court on charges of open murder. Bond was set at $1 million.
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he Prosecutor’s Office assigned the case to Special Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz from the Fair Michigan Justice Project, a collaboration between the Prosecutor’s Office and Fair Michigan Foundation Inc. The foundation helps state law enforcement officers and prosecutors in solving crimes against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
“This case reflects the excessive brutality that members of Detroit’s transgender community constantly face,” said Fair Michigan president Dana Nessel, the state’s incoming attorney general, in a statement. “We thank the Detroit Police Department for their efforts to investigate the facts of this tragic crime.”
Five years later, Weather’s pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a felony gun charge. He will be sentenced in September. He faces up to ten years in prison.
The suspect charged in the fatal shooting in 2018 of a transgender woman in Detroit has pleaded guilty, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday.
Albert Weathers of Sterling Heights entered the plea to second-degree murder and felony firearm, the Prosecutor’s Office said. That was in addition to a sentence agreement of eight years for second-degree murder and two years for felony firearm.
Weathers “was given a bond in the case over the prosecutor’s objection and was not incarcerated while awaiting trial,” Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor’s Office, told The Detroit News. “With courts not having jury trials during the pandemic, this slowed things down. One the courts re-opened the prisoners in jail took priority on the trial docket. That is why his case took longer to go through the system.”
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Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 8 before Judge Bridget Hathaway.
She died of a single gunshot wound in her left underarm.
The 36-year-old Detroit native, also known as Keanna Mattel, performed in the city’s ballroom scene.
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Weathers, a pastor, told investigators Stough tried to rob him after he dropped his daughter off at school.
Authorities have alleged the shooting stemmed from a dispute over payment for sex services.
A sex worker testified in court in 2019 that Weathers routinely sought out dates in the Six Mile and Woodward area.
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“This guilty plea hopefully brings a long-awaited sense of closure to the family and friends of Kelly Stough. Further, it demonstrates a firm commitment to justice from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and our team at the Fair Michigan Justice Project,” said FMJP President Alanna Maguire.
On September 8, 2023, Weathers was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Former pastor Albert Weathers has been sentenced in connection to fatally shooting 36-year-old Kelly Stough in Detroit in 2018.
The incident happened on Dec. 7, 2018, on East McNichols Street near Brush Street. At about 6 a.m., Detroit officers discovered that Stoughs, a transgender woman, had been fatally shot.
Detroit police conducted an investigation, and on Dec. 10, Weathers, of Sterling Heights, was arraigned on the charges of open murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
On July 27, 2023, Weathers pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony firearm, with a sentence agreement of eight years for the second-degree murder charge and two years for the felony firearm charge.
“The transgender community is among the most marginalized communities in this country,” said Prosecutor Kym Worthy. “The Wayne County Prosecutors Office is committed to that not being the case in Wayne County. Today, yet another step was taken to protect our trans community members. Defendant Albert Weathers pled guilty this morning to the murder of Kelly Stough. She will not be forgotten. She mattered. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who bring harm to this and other Wayne County communities.”
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Gerardo Gonzalez, the pastor of an unnamed church in Mission, Texas, stands accused of sexually groping at least four women during prayer services.
A Mission pastor was arrested after allegedly groping several female attendees during one-on-one prayer, court documents revealed.
Gerardo Gonzalez was arrested on four counts of indecent assault by McAllen police and two counts of sexual assault by Mission police, according to Hidalgo County Jail records.
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On Sept. 5, McAllen police officers spoke with a woman who reported an assault that occurred at a hotel ballroom at the 1900 block of S. 10th Street. The woman said that on Aug. 20, she was attending a weekly church service provided by Gonzalez, who was the pastor, and his wife.
After the service ended, Gonzalez called her to the podium for a “one-on-one prayer,” the affidavit alleges.
“During that time, Pastor Gonzalez stood in front of [the woman] and placed his right hand on her shoulder and his left hand down by her genital area,” the document stated.
She said Gonzalez would move the podium to the side, positioning himself and whoever he is praying with in a way where the podium would block others from seeing the lower portions of their body.
The affidavit stated that at the time of the report, three other female victims had also come forward.
Police spoke with a second woman, who said that on Aug. 9, Gonzalez escorted her up to the stage and also positioned her behind the podium.
“[The woman] stated Pastor Gonzalez placed her hands over his genital area and began to move them up and down,” the affidavit stated. “[The woman] stated she could feel Pastor Gonzalez begin to get an erection.”
Gonzalez then adjusted his pants and went to the restroom, the document stated.
A third woman said that on April 2, she was also called to the podium for a one-on-one prayer. Gonzalez allegedly placed one hand on her neck, grabbed her hand and pulled it toward his genital area.
“[The woman] stated she could feel Pastor Gonzalez continuously pulling her body into his causing her to feel uncomfortable,” the affidavit states.
Police spoke with the fourth woman, who said that on Aug. 9, she was called to the podium for a one-on-one prayer and Gonzalez placed his left hand on the back of her lower head. He then grabbed her hands and moved them towards his genital area, the document states.
“[The woman states she then heard the sound of footsteps and turned to see the Pastor’s wife … approaching them,” the affidavit reads.
He then ended the session without finishing the prayer.
A detective spoke with Gonzalez, who admitted to moving the podium off to the side and standing close to attendees during their one-on-one prayers. He also admitted to placing his hands on their hands, shoulders, head or back of their necks.
Gonzalez said his wife is always present at his side and will place her hand between their bodies if he is praying for a female, the document states.
However, when detectives spoke with his wife, she said she does not place her hand between the pastor and the person he is praying for, nor is she always present by his side. She said at times she is distracted by other attendees and is not always watching him directly.
Gonzalez was arrested by McAllen police on Sept. 7 and his bond was set at $20,000. Records show he was released from jail the following day but then arrested by Mission police on two counts of sexual assault.
Details regarding the two alleged sexual assaults are not immediately known. His bond for the two new charges was set at $400,000 and he remains jailed as of Tuesday.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Earler this year, Garrett Biggerstaff, pastor of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield, Illinois, was accused of sexually grooming a child. Pleasant Grove is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. After his arrest, Biggerstaff resigned from the church. Biggerstaff was also an employee of Spring Garden Consolidated Community School District in Ina, Illinois.
A former pastor and Illinois school district employee has been arrested and charged with two counts of sexually grooming a child, following a months-long investigation.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office posted an update to Facebook announcing the arrest of 28-year-old Garrett S. Biggerstaff of Mcleansboro.
According to authorities, the investigation into Biggerstaff began last September when “the Benton Police Department received information from a juvenile claiming to be the target of some form of sexual exploitation.”
“Officers handling the complaint in Benton contacted Detectives from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and a coordinated investigation [began],” stated the sheriff’s office.
“Evidence was collected and examined by the Sheriff’s Office member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. From this work, a second juvenile victim was identified.”
After Biggerstaff was arrested Thursday, he was transported to the Jefferson County Jail and booked on felony charges. His bond was set at $150,000.
Biggerstaff was a pastor at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield, but was “suspended immediately,” reported Baptist Press about the church which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Upon being arrested, he offered his resignation, which church leadership accepted on Sunday.
Additionally, Biggerstaff had also been employed at the Spring Garden Consolidated Community School District in Ina, Illinois, resigning last November as the investigation continued.
Today, Biggerstaff pleaded guilty to one count of child grooming.
A 28-year-old former pastor and athletic director pleaded guilty Monday in Jefferson County Court to one of two felony charges of child grooming.
Garrett Biggerstaff, who was a pastor at the time for Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield, was arrested in January in two separate cases accusing him of child grooming. The church terminated Biggerstaff shortly after his arrest. He was also serving as Athletic Director at Spring Garden Consolidated Community School District at the time but resigned after the information became public.
Investigations into the two cases began in September 2022 when Benton Police received information from a juvenile claiming to be the target of sexual exploitation.
Officers handling the complaint in Benton contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and started a coordinated investigation that ultimately resulted in a search of Biggerstaff’s homes.
Investigators say a collection of evidence revealed a second juvenile victim and the completed investigation was turned over to the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Warrants were then issued on January 4, 2023, for Biggerstaff’s arrest and he was taken into custody the following day.
Judge Jerry Crisel denied a defense motion last week to again vacate a jury trial scheduled for next week on both cases, with a final pretrial hearing scheduled for September 11.
During a final pretrial Monday, Biggerstaff entered into a plea agreement with the state and filed an open plea of guilty in one case in exchange for the other case being dismissed. An open plea of guilty doesn’t come with a sentencing agreement.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced on October 19.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Chrystal Frost, a teacher at Crenshaw Christian Academy in Luverne, Alabama, stands accused of having sex with two minor students.
An Alabama math teacher at a private Christian school is accused of having sex with two teenage boys who had both been her students, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Fox News Digital.
Chrystal Frost, 35, a married mother of three, resigned last month from Crenshaw Christian Academy, known as Home of the Cougars for its football team, after she was allegedly caught exchanging explicit photos with a student on Snapchat.
“Frost sent an obscene photo and asked that the student send a photo from the abs down,” according to a police report.
The school received an anonymous tip that a 15-year-old student, identified as GT, had a “nude breast photo of the math teacher on his phone,” which he had shared with some classmates.
An administrator confronted Frost, who allegedly “admitted to a different photo she sent to the cheerleaders where she pulled her Nike shorts up high allowing her butt cheeks to show, took the picture and sent it as a joke.”
Frost resigned Aug. 24, and the next day, the school reported the incident to the Luverne Police Department, which launched an investigation.
A student told police that GT had shown him the breast photo and then dropped a bombshell. He said GT and the teacher had been intimate.
In an Aug. 29 interview, GT admitted that his teacher sent him the lewd photo and then offered him sex. They met on a piece of land owned by his family in Pike County at least four times for the sick trysts.
On another occasion, when he went to feed the dogs as part of his chores, she met him and “performed oral sex on him” in a car. The student said he put an end to the disturbing relationship in early summer.
Police tracked down a second teenager, a 16-year-old student identified as AP, who was Frost’s student the prior school year. Frost allegedly used the same tactics to prey on him.
After he started homeschooling, Frost allegedly sent him a photo of her breasts before asking if he knew a place to have sex, the police report said.
The two met on a farm only once, where they allegedly had oral sex and intercourse. “The teacher made no conversations with him from arrival to ending of the sexual contact,” the report said. After the encounter, Frost allegedly sent two more lascivious photos and then blocked him from Snapchat.
In a police interview, Frost allegedly confessed to the depraved conduct and was arrested.
She is charged with traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, electronic solicitation of a child, two counts of a school employee engaging in a sex act, and two counts of a school employee distributing obscene material to a student.
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.
Six years ago, I posted the first story in the Black Collar Crime Series. Focused primarily on clergy sexual misconduct, the sheer level of reports puts to rest the notion that such crimes are committed by a “few bad apples.” Numerous times a day, I receive notices from Google Alerts, notifying me that a new report of alleged clergy crime has been posted to the Internet. I look at every notification, choosing to only publish the stories that are publicly reported by reputable news sites. I am often contacted by victims who are looking to expose their abusers. I do what I can to help them, but if there are no public news reports or other information that can corroborate their stories, I am unable to do anything for them. Believe me, I WANT to help them, but it would be legally reckless of me to post a story without sufficient evidence. I generally also only publish reports about clerics from the United States — mostly Protestant, Evangelical, Southern Baptist, and Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB). While I post stories featuring Catholic priests from time to time, I usually leave such reporting to others. The same could be said of widespread clergy sexual misconduct in Africa. The point I am trying to make here is this: the 1,000+ published reports in the Black Collar Crime Series are just the tip of the iceberg. As of today, I am also sitting on over 1,000 clergy sexual misconduct stories I have not published due to lack of sufficient evidence or a shortage of time to do so.
Not only are there more than just a “few bad apples” preying on church members, when you add to the total the number of pastors and other religious leaders who have consensual sexual relations with congregants, it is clear for all to see that so-called “men of God” are hardly the pillars of moral virtue they claim to be. In 2015, I wrote a post titled, Is Clergy Infidelity Rare? Here’s an excerpt from the post.
In October 2013, Doug Phillips, president of the now-defunct Vision Forum Ministries confessed to church leaders that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman who is not his wife. Defenders of Phillips took to their blogs, websites, Twitter, and Facebook to do damage control on the behalf of Phillips and the patriarchal movement. One such defender is Independent Baptist pastor Voddie Baucham, a man who is widely viewed as the African-American version of Doug Phillips.
Dennis, You ask, “How many times do we see this in Christian leadership?” The answer may surprise you, but it is actually quite rare. There are hundreds of thousands of churches in America. We hear of these types of things on a national basis when they happen to high profile people. However, considering the number of people in Christian leadership, the numbers are quite small. As to your other point, most men who go through something like this never recover. Of course, there are exceptions. Moreover, there are some circles wherein things like this, and much worse, are merely swept under the rug. However, in circles where leadership is taken seriously, it is very difficult for a man to come back from things like this. People have long memories, and tend to be rather unforgiving. (emphasis mine)
Baucham repeats the oft-told lie that clergy sexual misconduct is quite rare. I have heard this line more times than I can count. It is an attempt to prop up the notion that clergy are more moral and ethical than most people; that they are pillars of virtue and morality. Such claims are patently false.
Of the one thousand fifty (1,050 or 100%) pastors we surveyed, every one of them had a close associate or seminary buddy who had left the ministry because of burnout, conflict in their church, or from a moral failure.
Three hundred ninety-nine (399 or 38%) of pastors said they were divorced or currently in a divorce process.
Three hundred fifteen (315 or 30%) said they had either been in an ongoing affair or a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner.
So much for clergy sexual infidelity being rare.
Numerous studies have been conducted concerning sexual infidelity among married people. The percentage varies widely, but it is safe to say that between ten and twenty percent of married people have been sexually unfaithful to their spouse. The percentage is higher for men than it is women.
We know that men of the cloth are not morally or ethically superior. In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 600,000 clergy. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion and Research, this total includes active clergy and “retired clergy, chaplains in hospitals, prisons and the military, denominational executives, and ordained faculty at divinity schools and seminaries.” This number does not include clergy who are affiliated with independent churches. If between ten and twenty percent of married people commit adultery, and clergy are no different morally from non-clergy, then this means that between 60,000 and 120,000 clergy have committed adultery. Again, so much for clergy sexual infidelity being rare.
Keep in mind, this is only the number of CONSENSUAL sexual relationships.
Most people in the United States profess to be Christians. Taught to think that their churches are safe havens and their pastors have only their best interests at heart, many of them have a hard time believing and accepting that bad things happen, and far too often the perpetrators are pastors, deacons, elders, youth leaders, worship leaders, Sunday school teachers, church janitors, evangelists, missionaries, bus drivers, Christian school teachers, and principals. Wherever Christians have authority over others, you will find sexual misconduct — both legal and criminal.
What makes churches and clergy so dangerous is that congregants trust pastors. It’s the world they need to worry about, or so church leaders tell them anyway. Led to believe that Christians — thanks to salvation and the Holy Ghost — are above the fray and oh-so-humbly morally superior, church members naively trust those who have “God-given” authority over them. Even after their pastors and other church leaders have been exposed as sexual predators, many congregants refuse to believe that the men and women they looked up to abused others. You who read the Black Collar Crime Series regularly know that it is not uncommon to have congregants comment, defending their pastor or suggesting that the police or district attorney are out to get their preacher.
Sadly, it is not uncommon for church members to blame victims instead of putting the blame where it belongs: on their ministers, youth pastors, and other church leaders. Even after church leaders are found guilty in criminal court, congregants will often line up to testify at sentencing hearings; letting courts know that their pastors are good men who made a momentary mistake (never mind the fact that most pastors convicted of sex crimes are repeat or habitual offenders). Worse yet, on way too many occasions, once incarcerated clerics are released from prison, they find their way back to churches looking for pastors, or they start new churches — hiding from their new congregations their criminal past. One of the reasons I continue to publish Black Collar Crime stories is that this blog becomes a database of sorts for people doing their due diligence before accepting as fact the “testimony” of prospective pastors.
And to churches who hire registered sex offenders, knowing what they did at their previous churches? Don’t be surprised when your new God-fearing pastor treats your church as a hunting ground. Get your head out of your ass and protect the children, teens, and vulnerable adults in your churches. “But, Bruce, as Christians, we are supposed to forgive and forget. It’s forgetting I have a problem with. Forgetting what clergy have done in the past invites and encourages new abuse and harm. A few years ago, a family member who is an IFB pastor, mentioned in a positive light the “ministry” David Hyles has to “fallen” preachers. (Please see Disgraced IFB Preacher David Hyles Helping Fallen Pastors Get Back on Their Horses and Is All Forgiven for David Hyles? and David Hyles Says My Bad, Jesus, and UPDATED: Serial Adulterer David Hyles Has Been Restored.) I thought, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! But, when you believe in 1 John 1:9 Christianity (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness), it is easy to dismiss past bad behavior as being “under the blood” and “buried in the depths of the sea of God’s forgetfulness.” No matter what Christians do — including rape, murder, and fraud — wiping their slates clean is but a prayer away. (Note: I later talked to the family member. He genuinely didn’t know about David Hyles’ past. He was a child in the 1980s when the Biblical Evangelist published its expose on Jack and David Hyles. I guess I am officially an old man.)
Years ago, a former colleague of mine in the ministry, told me that at his church they believed in forgiveness, and that’s why they didn’t run criminal background checks on church workers. “Bruce,” this pastor said, “when a person gets saved, their past ‘sins’ are forgiven and remembered no more. If God doesn’t remember their sins, neither should we.” In his naive, Bible-sotted mind, once a person is really, really, really “saved,” there’s no reason to not “trust” them, even if, in the past, he or she was a murderer, rapist, serial adulterer, or child molester. “Either our sins are under the blood, or they are not, Brother,” this preacher told me. Many years ago, I warned him that one of his daughters was in a sexual relationship with a teen boy in my church. He told me, “Oh, they would never do that!” Right, two horny kids, all alone on a back-country road? What were they doing, studying the Bible and praying? A month or so later, he came home early from his church’s midweek prayer meeting, only to find his daughter and her boyfriend naked and having sex on the living room floor. Sadly, in far too many churches, trusted church leaders are assaulting and abusing congregants, and everyone around them is saying, “oh, they would never do that.” As the Black Collar Crime series makes clear, such thinking is not only naive, it’s dangerous. Throw in pastors who psychologically manipulate congregants and use those who trust them as a means to an end, and I can safely say that churches are some of the most dangerous places in the United States; that parents who “trust” church leaders with their children and teenagers risk their charges being misused, abused, and assaulted.
No, I am not saying all church leaders are bad people, but I am saying a large enough percentage of them are — more than a few bad apples, to be sure — that wisdom and prudence demand keeping children right by your side when attending houses of worship. Better safe than sorry, I say. (Dear Evangelical Church Leaders: It’s Time to Get Rid of Your Youth Pastors and Youth Departments) Suppose you went to the local grocery with your children to buy some groceries. Suppose there were 200 shoppers in the store, and ten of them were child molesters or registered sex offenders. Knowing this, would you let your children wander through the store unattended? Of course not. Why, then, should churches and preachers be treated any differently?
Let me leave you with one poignant thought: countless Christians have prayed for God to deliver them from the hands of their abusers, and without exception, God ignored their prayers. If left up to “God,” predator church leaders will, with impunity, cause untold harm. It is up to us to put a stop to clergy sexual misconduct. All I can do is write about the subject. But if you are a church-going Christian, you have the responsibility and duty to make sure children, teens, and vulnerable adults are safe when attending church, school, or church events. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Corey Herthel, pastor of Green Bay Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was accused of attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor.
A Green Bay pastor, Cory J. Herthel, has been arrested and charged with multiple online crimes allegedly aimed at a child in Venezuela, according to an article by WeAreGreenBay.com. The charges were brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and include attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor. The complaint alleges that the 40-year-old pastor had first encountered the child during his missionary work in Venezuela, subsequently maintaining contact through online channels.
Herthel is alleged to have solicited inappropriate videos from the minor in exchange for monetary payments, further incriminating himself by reportedly sending the child explicit images of himself. The sustained contact and transaction of obscene materials form the basis of the charges, exposing the child to grave psychological and emotional harm.
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Investigation into this case is being jointly conducted by the FBI offices in Green Bay and Milwaukee, working in collaboration with the Green Bay police department. These combined efforts aim to thoroughly assess the extent of Herthel’s actions and secure all necessary evidence to strengthen the prosecution’s case.
If convicted, Herthel faces significant legal consequences. The charge of attempted production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, extendable up to 30 years in federal prison. The charge related to the transfer of obscene materials could add another ten years to his prison sentence. In addition to the potential jail time, a conviction on either charge would necessitate that Herthel register as a sex offender, marking him permanently in the public record.
Today, Herthel pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
Cory J. Herthel, 40, pled guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor on Thursday.
According to a plea agreement, the church where Herthel worked as a pastor contacted the FBI in May regarding information it had obtained about a potential inappropriate sexual relationship between Herthel and a Venezuelan minor.
An investigation revealed that Herthel had sent the child videos of himself masturbating, and the child sent similar photos and videos at Herthel’s request.
Herthel said he met the child begging on the streets during a mission trip to Ecuador. After the child and the child’s mother returned to their native Venezuela, Herthel kept in touch with the child.
When confronted with the explicit images and videos, Herthel admitted to asking the minor to send him the content, as well as to sending monetary payments to the child using various online applications.
Herthel will receive his federal prison sentence of at least 15 years on Dec. 4. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Kevin Lentz, a youth leader at Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and a teacher at Henry Clay High School, stands accused of 10 counts of distribution of obscene matter to a minor, seven counts of use of a minor in a sexual performance (under 16), and six counts of tampering with physical evidence.
A Lexington high school teacher, Kevin Lentz, 49, has been charged with 17 sexual offenses involving minors and has been placed on leave by the Fayette County district, according to a report by the Herald-Leader’s Valarie Honeycutt Spears. Lentz, an English teacher at Henry Clay High School, was arrested and charged with 10 counts of distribution of obscene matter to a minor, seven counts of use of a minor in a sexual performance (under 16), and six counts of tampering with physical evidence.
The Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson, Dia Davidson Smith, confirmed the arrest, emphasizing the district’s commitment to student safety and cooperation with the authorities. Lentz is currently being held at the Fayette County Detention Center, and the investigation is ongoing.
Lentz was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the Lexington Police investigation. He had been employed with the district since August 11, 2005. The school principal, Corye Franklin, informed families of the arrest and reassured them of the school’s commitment to transparent communication and support.
Additionally, Lexington’s Faith Lutheran Church Pastor Dana Lockhart stated that Lentz had volunteered in the youth program but would be removed from his role under child protection policies.
A 49-year-old high school teacher in Kentucky is facing a spate of felonies for allegedly enticing a 9-year-old boy to send him photographs of his genitals while sending the child pornography in return.
Kevin Daniel Lentz was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with 10 counts of distribution of obscene matter to a minor, seven counts of use of a minor under age 16 in a sexual performance, and six counts of tampering with physical evidence, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Lentz was an English teacher at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky, since 2005, but administrators placed him on leave following his arrest earlier this week.
“We have been made aware of the arrest of Mr. Kevin Lentz,” Fayette County Public Schools said in a statement sent to Lexington NBC affiliate WLEX-TV. “The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. FCPS will fully cooperate with all authorities during their investigation. We remain committed to maintaining a secure and supportive learning environment for all our students.”
The school also said that Lentz’s administrative leave is dependent upon the outcome of the investigation.
According to a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader, investigators with the Lexington Police Department said Lentz told the victim to delete their unlawful sexual conversations, telling the boy to do it “so his parents wouldn’t know” about their ongoing relationship. When Lentz allegedly exchanged messages with the victim, the former teacher reportedly sent at least 10 pornographic images to the boy.
Lentz allegedly began messaging with the victim in July, the Herald-Leader reported.
Following his arrest, Lentz appeared before Fayette District Court Judge Lindsay Thurston, who ordered him to be detained in lieu of $50,000 bond, the Herald-Leader reported. Jail records show Lentz was still incarcerated at the Fayette Detention Center on Thursday afternoon. Should he post bond and be released, Judge Thurston prohibited Lentz from having contact with minors.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Delfino R. O’Day-Figueroa, the former pastor of Song Nulife Gospel Oasis in Wausau, Wisconsin, was convicted of sexually assaulting a minor church girl. O’Day-Figueroa was also convicted in 1995 of sexually assaulting children. He was convicted again in 2008 on similar charges. He was a registered sex offender at the time he was pastoring Song Nulife.
The girl described the man as “Pastor Ray” and said he was a leader at Song Nulife Gospel Oasis, a church that was located on Scott Street in the Landmark Building and held worship services on Saturday mornings for several years. The girl was unaware that the man, identified by police as Delfino R. O’Day-Figueroa, is a lifetime sex offender registrant with a prior felony conviction for assaulting children, and said she believed he was a pastor there until roughly 2019.
The Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry shows O’Day-Figueroa, 53, was convicted in 1995 in Milwaukee County of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Online court records also show a 2008 conviction on fourth-degree sexual assault charges in Marathon County. He is also known by the name Delfino Figueroa.
The alleged victim, now 18, spoke to police in August after O’Day-Figueroa approached her at a store where she works as a clerk. She told investigators that the abuse began in 2014 and continued for several years and began after her father had medical issues and O’Day-Figueroa began coming to her home to help the family. The alleged victim and several of her friends frequently stayed at O’Day-Figueroa’s home, where he lived with a woman he claimed was his wife, court documents state.
The alleged victim’s father told police he stopped the visits after learning from a neighbor that O’Day-Figueroa was a sex offender.
On Nov. 3, prosecutors filed charges of repeated sexual assault of a child against O’Day-Figueroa. He is being charged as a persistent repeater, because he was previously convicted of a serious child sex offense. Because of that factor, O’Day-Figueroa could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In July 2023, O’Day Figueroa was convicted of sexual assault and is awaiting sentencing.
Delfino R. O’Day-Figueroa was convicted by a jury in July following a three-day trial. Jurors deliberated for about three hours before finding him guilty of repeated sexual assault of the same child, involving at least three violations, according to online court records.
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O’Day-Figueroa will be sentenced Sept. 5 by Circuit Judge Scott Corbett.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Allen Jones, pastor of Lifeway Community Church in Loxley, Alabama, stands accused of child pornography possession. Lifeway Community is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
A 48-year-old pastor at a Loxley church has been arrested and charged with four counts of possession of child pornography, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
Allen Kyle Jones of Loxley was taken into custody after a weeks-long investigation which began after the sheriff’s office received a tip Jones was downloading child porn.
After the initial tip, investigators developed enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant for Jones’ cell phone, with child pornography found on the device.
According to both his own LinkedIn profile and the church’s Facebook page, Jones has been a pastor at Lifeway Community Church since January 2015. The address listed for Jones on the Baldwin County Jail docket is the church’s address at 16373 Thompson Road in Loxley.
Jones has been formally charged with four counts of possession of obscene matter containing the visual depiction of a person under 17 years of age. He was booked into the Baldwin County Jail Tuesday morning and released later that day after posting $60,000 bond.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation remains open and more charges are possible after additional evidence is analyzed.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Michael Fisher, a youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty-seven months in prison for sexually assaulting a minor teen girl.
A former youth pastor at a Halifax-area Baptist church has been found guilty of sex charges involving a victim who was 17 at the time of the crimes.
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Darlene Jamieson delivered her verdict Monday in the case of Michael Oliver Fisher, who was found guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference.
The victim is 29 now and testified against Fisher, 40, at his trial last month.
The woman told the judge that she considered Fisher to be a mentor and spiritual adviser. The two first met when she was 14.
At that time, Fisher was the youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hammonds Plains, northwest of Halifax.
It wasn’t until she turned 17 that they had a series of sexual encounters from January to July 2008 at his apartment in New Minas and at a house in the Halifax area.
Fisher testified in his own defence and disputed the notion that he was in a position of trust over the girl. He also said she initiated all of the sexual activity.
Jamieson had doubts about Fisher’s testimony.
“I find large portions of Mr. Fisher’s evidence to be inconsistent, implausible and evasive,” the judge said in her decision.
“For example, in relation to questions as to whether he considered himself an adult after two years of college in Bermuda and four years of university in Halifax [when he was age 25], his response was that he wouldn’t classify himself as an adult or as a youth and that he would not use such terminology.”
After the verdict, Crown prosecutor Rick Woodburn said the trial was not a “credibility contest.”
“But when you looked at Mr. Fisher, you found him to be very evasive and not truthful in his answers,” said Woodburn outside court.
“And on the other hand, the complainant was very credible and quite accurate with her memory of the events that took place.”
In November 2020, Fisher was convicted and sentenced to twenty-seven months in prison.
A former youth pastor at a Halifax-area Baptist church has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for sexual interference involving a 17-year-old girl.
At his trial, the court heard that Michael Oliver Fisher began grooming the girl when she was just 14 and by the time she was 17, contact between the two involved kissing, massages, nudity and eventually sexual assault.
The victim, who is now an adult, testified it was her first sexual experience and she had assumed that the first man she kissed would be the man she would eventually marry. Fisher, 41, is 12 years older than the woman.
The offence occurred in 2008 when Fisher was a youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hammonds Plains, N.S. He was fired from that job and subsequently lost a job as a youth counsellor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., when the charges were laid.
Fisher was found guilty last December. The sentencing was delayed almost a year by an accident involving one of the lawyers, an illness and COVID-19.
Prior to his sentencing Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Fisher addressed the judge.
“Everything about my involvement was wrong,” he told Justice Darlene Jamieson. “My choices placed her in a situation she should never have been in.
“I feel ashamed of what I did and how ignorant I was.”
Fisher’s lawyer had suggested that the victim had started the behaviour by kissing him. Jamieson dismissed that idea.
“He cultivated the relationship and used his position to sexually exploit a young person,” the judge said in her sentence. “Her participation simply does not matter.”
The woman testified at Fisher’s trial, but did not return to court for his sentencing. Instead, she had a victim impact statement read into the record by the Crown.
“I felt like the shell of a person whose worth and innocence had been taken,” she wrote. “Michael ensured that I isolated myself by telling me to keep everything with him a secret.”
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In addition to the prison term, Fisher’s name will be placed on the national sex-offender registry for 20 years and his DNA will be recorded in a national data bank.
A former Upper Hammonds Plains pastor is appealing his conviction and sentence for sexually exploiting a member of the church’s youth group.
Michael Oliver Fisher, 42, was found guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax in December 2019 on charges of sexual exploitation and sexual assault, for engaging in sexual activity with the girl over a five-month period in 2008, before she turned 18.
Justice Darlene Jamieson sentenced the Dartmouth man to 27 months in prison on the sexual exploitation charge last November after staying the other charge.
The judge said Fisher used his position of trust as youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church to build a relationship with the girl starting when she was 15.
“It is clear that Mr. Fisher groomed (her) in order to sexually exploit her,” Jamieson said. “Mr. Fisher, as her youth pastor, youth leader and mentor, was responsible for (her) well-being when she was with him. … He was responsible for leading her on the right path, not on a path to satisfy his own sexual desires.”
Fisher told the court at sentencing that he knew everything about his involvement with the girl was wrong and he was sorry for his actions.
“I know that my choices placed her in a situation that she should never have been in, as someone who was not a grownup,” he said. “They resulted in great pain to her and her family and so many other people over the years, and I regret that she had to deal with that.”
But in his notice of appeal filed in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Fisher threw his trial lawyer, Michelle James, under the bus.
Most of his 14 grounds of appeal allege ineffective representation or, as he calls it, “misrepresentation.”
Fisher claims his lawyer was unprepared for trial and neglected to prepare him for the hearing “despite multiple asks” or call witnesses to rebut Crown evidence.
He criticizes the lawyer’s cross-examination of the complainant and says she neglected to “seriously consider” her motive.
Fisher says the lawyer also didn’t seriously consider his concerns about whether he was fit to take the stand at trial because his father was undergoing amputation at the time, and his concerns about “potential biases of the court.”
He claims the judge placed an “undue burden of proof” on his testimony.
Fisher, who filed his notice of appeal from the Springhill Institution, is asking that his conviction be overturned and a new trial ordered. If the conviction stands, he does not specify how he wants the sentence changed.
A date has yet to be set for the appeal to be heard.
The complainant’s identity is protected by a publication ban. She testified at trial that she met Fisher at the church when she was 14, joined the youth group when she was 15 and began attending its leadership meetings after she turned 17.
She said she had late-night and early-morning video chats and phone calls with Fisher and told the court she trusted him with everything and considered him a gift from God. He began telling her he had feelings for her, loved spending time with her and wanted to hug her.
While cuddling and watching a movie in February 2008, she said she gave Fisher a light kiss on the lips and it was like an explosion happened. She said the relationship quickly progressed to full nudity, sexual touching, oral sex and, by May 2008, intercourse.
Fisher was working part time at the church while attending university. He became a full-time employee in June 2008 after graduating from Acadia Divinity College and was ordained in November 2009.
The church fired Fisher in 2014 after receiving a complaint from the young woman. She went to police in 2016 and Fisher was charged in 2017.
At sentencing, prosecutor Rick Woodburn recommended three years in prison. James requested a conditional sentence of 12 to 15 months.
The judge said a conditional sentence would not provide adequate denunciation and deterrence. “Incarceration is the only suitable way to express society’s condemnation of Mr. Fisher’s conduct,” she said.
She ordered Fisher to register as a sex offender for 20 years and prohibited him from having firearms for 10 years. He also had to provide a DNA sample for a national databank.
The disposition of Fisher’s appeal is unknown.
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.
