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Update: Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Roy Shoop Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Rape

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pastor roy shoop

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

In 2020, Roy Shoop, pastor of Cowboy Gatherin’ Church in Inola, Oklahoma, was accused of sexually molesting three girls under the age of sixteen who were either working on his farm or taking horse riding lessons from him.

Channel 6 reported:

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

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

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

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

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

Shoop denied the charges leveled against him.

Channel 8 reported:

In his own words Roy Shoop is an innocent man.

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

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

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

….

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

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

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

….

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

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

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

The Tulsa World reported:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four years later, Shoop faced his accusers in court.

News-6 reported:

The trial is underway for an Inola pastor who was charged more than four years ago with eight counts of lewd or indecent acts involving five girls.

Rogers County deputies arrested Roy Shoop at his home in 2020 after they say he molested girls who were either working on his farm or taking horse riding lessons from him.

The girls who were mentioned Wednesday were as young as 12 when they said Shoop assaulted them. 

Deputies said they interviewed Shoop at the beginning of the investigation, and he denied the allegations and he’s pleaded not guilty to the charges.

News On 6 was at the jury trial Wednesday, and a forensic interviewer, one of the girls, that girl’s sister and her mother testified.

There was a large group of Roy Shoop’s friends at court, supporting him and praying with him. 

The forensic interviewer showed three interviews from 2020, where three young girls testified Roy Shoop sexually assaulted them while at his home and horse ranch. 

In the first video, a girl said Shoop put his hand under her shirt and touched her leg while she was riding horses when she was 10 or 11.

Another one told the interviewer Shoop had touched her inappropriately while on a horse when she was 12. 

The third interview was with a girl who was 12 the time.

She’s now 17 and testified Shoop sexually assaulted her while at his home back in January 2020. 

She said her family was very close to the Shoop family and since it happened, she’s not been the same and it took her love of riding horses away from her. 

That girl’s older sister who is also one of her legal guardians testified about how the girl was upset and didn’t talk much after it happened.

Shoop’s attorney questioned why the sister didn’t take the girl to a hospital for a sexual assault exam.

The sister said the girl wasn’t ready to talk to authorities and it would have traumatized her.

That victim’s mother also took the stand today and said she confronted Shoop and his wife the day after the girl said she was assaulted, and he offered to have coffee and talk about it. 

After that, the family cut ties with the Shoops. 

Other girls are expected to testify about their allegations along with family members and a counselor this week. 

Roy Shoop and his wife Diana are also expected to take the stand.

Shoop was convicted of rape and two counts of lewd or indecent acts involving young girls. The jury recommended Shoop serve a thirty-five-year prison sentence.

Fox 23 reported:

A jury found an Inola pastor guilty of rape and two counts of lewd or indecent acts involving young girls Thursday morning.

FOX23 told you 4 years ago about Inola pastor Roy Shoop when he was arrested.

“I felt I was looking the devil right in the eye,” said Sheriff Scott Walton from the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office as he explained the moment he handcuffed Roy Shoop, “and I believe he was, and we put him right where he needs to be.”

Shoop was the pastor of the Cowboy Gatherin’ Church in Inola. The DA’s office said he and his wife have trained children to compete in rodeo events such as barrel racing and roping.

Walton said, “A situation came to an end last night that was four years in the making…and here’s my opinion, he was successful at playing courthouse lawyer games and buying himself 4 years of freedom, and last night it came to an end. We handcuffed him, walked him across and stuffed him in the jail where he belongs.”

The Rogers County District Attorney’s Office said during the trial multiple victims testified about suffering abuse from Roy Shoop.

His victims were as young as 5 years old. 

Shoop’s trial started on October 1st and he chose to take the stand in his own defense.

“He took the stand himself and did a decent job lying, but not enough to convince 12 jurors that he’s not guilty,” said Walton.

Shoop was found guilty of rape by instrumentation and two counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 14.

Walton explained, “There were 8 counts there, but three major counts—the three he was convicted on—should put a predator in a cage that will die in the penitentiary…You see lives wrecked, but the good feeling is that where he’s at, he will not victimize any more young girls.”

The jury recommended a 35-year prison sentence and $30,000 in fines. Under Oklahoma law, Shoop must serve at least 85% of his sentence. This means that if the sentencing sticks, Shoop would not be eligible for release until he’s 88 years old, but Walton wants him locked up for good.

“You can rip them out and prosecute them again once they’re in the DOC and you know, you look at his actions and his decisions. They ruined a lot of people’s lives…Hopefully, all we can offer these girls that had their lives change is the closure that we put the animal in jail that harmed them.”

Walton believes there are more victims of Roy Shoop who have yet to come forward.

Today, Shoop was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Channel 6 reports:

A Rogers County judge sentences an Inola pastor to 25 years in prison for molesting young girls during horse riding lessons at his ranch.

A jury found Roy Shoop guilty in October after a week-and-a-half-long trial and the jury recommended he spend 35 years in prison.

Prosecutors read victim impact statements on behalf of the victims. They said Roy Shoop ruined years of their lives, ruined their love for riding horses and broke their trust with the Church and God. They say they are scared of Shoop and Shoop’s followers. 

Shoop was the pastor at Cowboy Gatherin’ Church in Inola and was arrested in 2020 for inappropriately touching several girls during horse riding lessons at Shoop’s ranch, or while the girls stayed at the family’s home.

Prosecutors say Shoop has never taken responsibility for his actions, even after he was convicted, but instead said one of the victims is mentally unwell, and the other made these claims just to get attention. 

Prosecutors called the girls heroes for testifying during the trial and facing Shoop after what he did to them. 

They called Shoop a predator who has been hiding behind his position as a pastor and pillar of the community for far too long. 

Shoop’s attorney asked the judge to sentence Shoop to 20 years in prison, and 15 years probation. He said Shoop is a model citizen, a hard worker and has never been in trouble before and the odds of him committing crimes like this again are almost none. 

District Attorney Matt Ballard says he hopes this sentence sends a message that no one is above the law. 

“The sentence was a victory for some young women that came in and told the jury about the worst thing that ever happened to them in their lives. They came in and did that in the face of a group of people who didn’t have all the facts. They had to come in, they had to be brave and it’s a justice verdict for them,” said Ballard. 

Rogers County investigators believe there are more victims out there and encourage them to come forward.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

The Paranoia and Persecution Complex of Evangelical Christians

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Originally published in 2015. Edited and expanded.

As of today, there is NO religious persecution in the United States. Every citizen is free to worship any or no God. All citizens can worship when, where, and how they wish. I know of no law that prohibits the free exercise of religion. The United States, when it comes to religion, is the freest nation on the face of the earth. Yet, despite the evidence, many on the religious right think they are being persecuted, and if liberals have their way Sharia law will be instituted and Christianity will be outlawed. They think that If the socialist/communist/liberal/Democrat horde is not repelled by King Trump and his mighty army of Evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons, Christians will be persecuted, incarcerated, and possibly killed — just as the Jews were in World War II.

Think I am kidding?  What follows is an excerpt from an article written by American Family Association (AFA) author and CIO Jim Shempert titled America’s Future: Christian Persecution. (AFA has removed the article from their site.) What graphic did AFA and Jim Shempert choose for the article?

prison camp survivors

That’s right, Shempert and AFA think that Christians will soon be treated much like the Jews, gypsies, and mentally handicapped were treated by Hitler and the Nazis in World War II.

Here’s what Shempert had to say:

…This blog is intended for the Church. If you are not a Christian, and your only goal is to tear down Christianity, you can stop reading here.

Church, Christianity is under attack all across the globe. The persecutions of the Church are definitely not the same but they all have the same root. Imagine trying to be a Christian in Iraq/Syria/anywhere south of Turkey right now… Standing for your faith will be met with loss of property, threats, beatings, and death. These are common occurrences. If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to go to Google. Type in “Middle East Christian persecution” and hit “search.” In literally half a second, Google will return to you 1.1 million articles/pages on persecution of Christians in the Middle East. To focus on a different area, go back to Google and search for “Christian persecution in Africa.” In .6 seconds, you are greeted with 2.5 million articles/pages that deal with Christian persecution in Africa.

Now, the current resident of the White House believes that the atrocities committed by Muslim terrorist groups are not indicative of all Muslim people. Here’s a potential fire starter: I happen to agree with him there. Personally, I believe the Muslim faith to be incorrect in its focus. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. As those Muslims must surely think that I am wrong in my focus. However, I do not think that all Muslims are terrorists, or that they are all on jihad. I also don’t believe the line that these extremist groups are not focused around Islam. I know that the resident of the White House likes to continue his crusade against Christianity by reminding us that at one time, horrible atrocities were committed by those who claim the name of Christ. His problem, and all those who claim moral equivalency, is that he is unable to call EVIL what it is: EVIL. He is able to quickly tear apart Christianity, and say that America was never a Christian nation, but he is unable to say that Islamic terrorism is evil.

I’ve had a long conversation with a friend on this, and we came to the conclusion that if any group that claims Christianity starts cutting off people’s heads while singing “Just as I am,” the first people to respond will be Christians. We will police our own. The soldiers sent to stop them will probably be Christians, at least in some part. Rest assured, the current White House, will seek great joy in touting that it is CHRISTIANS doing this. “See…they are doing it too!” A 5 year old child has more intellect and intelligence.

The point is… American is no longer a Christian nation. Those are hard words to hear. They were even harder to type. That’s not to say that it never was. America was built around Christian principles, with Christian men and women leading it. Those who claim otherwise are just repeating a Goebbels lie: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” The nation that I grew up in, is no more. Being viewed as an evangelical Christian now, is to be seen as a leper. “Those close minded, bigoted, judging Christians.” “Why don’t you just love? That’s what Jesus did.” (That one usually comes from someone who hasn’t opened a Bible since grade school) “Judge not, that you be not judged.” That’s Matthew 7:1 for any of you that use it. You might want to continue down chapter 7 to verses 15-20. Might do you some eternal good…

…What’s the next step for those who only want their ears tickled? To silence those who don’t! Anyone who preaches the Light, will be resisted by the darkness. Offensive words will be created to describe them and shouted over and over and over until the masses begin to repeat them. They will be chastised in the media, lose their jobs, their businesses, their property, their ability to live their lives the way they choose. The assertion that they are ignorant will be constantly repeated. Their very freedom will be threatened. Oh wait, that’s already happened…

Martin Niemoller was a pastor in Germany during the Nazi regime and also a concentration camp survivor. He is remembered most for this quote:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Ronald Reagan is by far the greatest president of my lifetime. He said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Those words could never be truer than they are today. As Christians, we are at a crossroads in America. We can stand up, and let our voices be heard. We can fight at the ballot box for the rights that we were always guaranteed. Or, we can continue to allow our anti-Christian government to destroy the basic tenants of our faith. The choice is ours…

…What happens to those of us that resist? How long before we become “enemies of the State?” How long before we are sent to “camps” for re-education? Sound crazy? The German people in the ‘30’s would have said the same thing. In a few short years, millions would be imprisoned and executed for their faith…

…I live in relationship with Jesus Christ as my Savior. My life is forfeit. If it is His will that I must be sacrificed for my stand for His Name, then so be it. Even Jesus didn’t turn away from death when presented with it. He was obedient to the end.

American Christian, most of the rest of the world knows this already, from experience. But there is coming a day when to identify as a Christian in America will bring consequences…

I love it when groups like AFA use Martin Niemöller’s quote to suggest that what happened in Hitler’s Germany will soon happen here. Here’s the problem: no one has come for the socialist, trade unionist, or Jew. Yes, many on the political and religious right fight against socialism and trade unions, but no one would suggest that the religious right is persecuting socialists or union members — though that could change in Trump’s second term. They most certainly are not persecuting the Jews. The religious right loves Israel, well at least until Jesus comes back to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation and slaughters all the unbelieving Jews.

We live in a free society. While I think personal liberties are under attack by corporate, military-industrial complex, and surveillance-industrial complex interests, I have no fear of being persecuted or jailed if I oppose those interests. Much like Evangelical Christians, atheists are free to write about, attack, critique, and make fun of religion. I don’t fear the government breaking my door down and arresting me for something I have written.

Unfortunately, when one lives in a country where freedom of belief and practice are ensconced in its founding documents and law, the slightest denial of freedom or inconvenience can be viewed as an attack on freedom and personal rights. The religious right thinks legalizing same-sex marriage and justice and equal protection under the law for LGBTQ people is an infringement of their religious rights. However, allowing same-sex couples to marry in no way infringes on a person’s right to believe and worship as they see fit. Legalizing same-sex marriage changed nothing for Christians.  Christians are still free to pray, read the Bible, evangelize, attend a house of worship, and — get this — forbid LGBTQ people from being members of their church. Nothing in federal or state law requires churches and or clerics to accept LGBTQ members or perform their wedding ceremonies.

No clergyperson will ever be required to marry a same-sex couple. Since marriage is a secular function of law, a pastor is free to choose whom he will or won’t marry. It is the marriage license, not the ceremony, that gives a marriage legal force. This is why public officials must issue marriage licenses to heterosexual and same-sex couples alike. They are acting on behalf of the state, a secular institution. If they cannot, according to their conscience, fulfill their legal obligation to issue a marriage license to all who request one, then they should resign. Their resignation is not persecution. All of us have beliefs and moral and ethical values that might, in some circumstances, preclude us from holding certain jobs. Not being able to hold those jobs is NOT persecution.

The American Family Association, and other right-wing religious groups like them, know that their followers must constantly be poked lest they become apathetic and stop sending donations. What better way to wake people up than to scream PERSECUTION!  Until Christians realize groups like the AFA are manipulating them for political and financial gain, they will continue to be outraged every time they are told they need to be outraged. (The outrage machine One Million Moms is an arm of the AFA. Please see the 2015 report I wrote titled, Follow the Money: The American Family Association and their Support of the Gay Agenda) Until they are willing to actually think for themselves and thoroughly investigate the issues without checking in with Fox News first, there’s little hope of meaningful dialog.

“But Bruce, same-sex marriage and homosexuality are wrong!” Why? Without referencing the Bible, please defend your anti-LGBTQ position. I have yet to have someone successfully defend the prohibition of same-sex marriage and homosexuality without appealing to their religious beliefs and a sacred text such as the Christian Bible. Once religion is removed from the equation, there is no reasonable argument to be made for prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying or for permitting people to legally and freely engage in same-sex relationships.

That said, I still believe in the American political process. Christians are free to work towards a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. They have the same rights and privileges as I do. Let’s duke it out in the public square. Of course, the religious right doesn’t want to do this, knowing that they would likely never get enough states to approve a constitutional amendment. So, instead, they whine and complain about PERSECUTION!

The real issue here is that Christianity is losing its preferential place at the cultural table. For most of our country’s existence, the Christian religion has been seated at the head of the table. This is natural, of course, since most Americans self-identify as Christian. However, more and more Christians are moving to the left politically and religiously, especially young adults. More and more Americans no longer have any religion. Atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, religious indifference, and “none of the above” continue to increase. Like it or not, right-wing Christians must recognize that they no longer have the political and social power and clout they once had. If they don’t like this, I suggest they get busy attracting new people to their cause. Good luck with that.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Worker Jackson Gatlin Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Sex Crimes

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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.

Jackson Gatlin, a youth worker at The Vineyard Church in Duluth, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal sexual misconduct and was sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Gatlin’s parents were the church’s senior pastors. None of the Gatlins are currently affiliated with Duluth Vineyard.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports:

Jackson Gatlin was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday, the first of back-to-back days of sentencings after the former youth leader from Duluth Vineyard pleaded guilty earlier this month to felony-level sexual misconduct.

In early 2023, a handful of women came forward with similar stories of sexual assault from when they were teens or younger at the hands of Gatlin — who held a position of authority at the church where his parents, Michael and Brenda Gatlin, were senior pastors. On Nov. 6, Jackson Gatlin, 36, pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal sexual conduct.

“I hope you conquer your demons,” Judge Dale Harris said to the defendant on Monday.

Gatlin, dressed in orange, did not comment in the courtroom. When he is out of prison, he will have to register as a sex offender.

The first day of sentencings were tied to two separate victims, numbered 4 and 5 in court documents: one who said she was 14 when Gatlin, then 21, snuck her into his parents’ basement and committed the first of several sexual assaults, according to the criminal complaint. It ended when she saw his flirtatious text messages with other girls from a youth group. The second woman was in middle school when she said Gatlin started sending her sexual text messages and later trapped her in a bus seat during the church’s annual retreat weekend in the Twin Cities. He assaulted her and threatened that if she told anyone, the police would get involved, according to the criminal complaint.

The courtroom was at capacity, with the victims sitting together in a row.

“We’re talking about something, for them, that is nearly 20 years in the making,” the victims’ attorney Paul McBride said after the sentencing. “Finding justice is a journey. This is one step toward that. Hopefully we can come to a meaningful end.”

….

Since Gatlin’s plea earlier this month, nine victims have filed civil charges against him — in addition to his parents, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA, its governing body.

In the civil complaints filed Nov. 6, Gatlin is accused of extended hugs, touching teenage girls over and under their clothes, making them touch him, tackling them in the guise of playing games, and raping them. He is accused of tying a girl to his bedpost. In one case, Brenda Gatlin reportedly walked into her bedroom and found her son sexually assaulting a girl. Nothing came of it, according to the complaint.

Gatlin told several girls he was going to teach them and show them the love of God, according to court documents. A parent found sexual text messages from Jackson Gatlin to their daughter and notified at least one of his parents.

The Gatlins, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA are accused of continuing to give Jackson Gatlin access to minors, even though leadership had been told of his actions, not providing proper training, covering up information and not going to the local Police Department, among other accusations.

Jackson Gatlin was fired from his position with the church in mid-February 2023 and was not allowed back on the church campus. Michael Gatlin resigned as senior pastor at Duluth Vineyard and from various positions and the board tied to the church in February 2023. He had been with the church for two years. Brenda Gatlin, who was a super regional leader for Vineyard USA, resigned soon after.

The church has the following blurb on its website:

As a church community, we face a heartbreaking and very serious situation. Our former pastoral assistant (Jackson Gatlin) has pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct. Five criminal complaints were filed against him. We have also received an independent investigation report from Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) finding extensive abuse by both Jackson Gatlin and our former senior pastors (Michael and Brenda Gatlin). These findings include sexual misconduct, cover up, abuse of pastoral or spiritual power, and emotional abuse. Civil lawsuits have also been filed against Jackson, Michael, Brenda, Duluth Vineyard, and Vineyard USA.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Worker Timothy Brown Found Guilty of Sodomy and Other Sex Crimes

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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.

Timothy Brown, a volunteer youth worker at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, was convicted last Wednesday of statutory sodomy, enticement or attempted enticement of a child, third-degree child molestation, and sexual misconduct involving a child under 15 years old. The victim was twelve.

KQ-12 reports:

A St. Joseph, Mo. man was found guilty on four felony counts of child molestation and sodomy Wednesday that only took a 12-person jury two hours to decide.

Timothy Brown was found guilty of statutory sodomy, enticement or attempted enticement of a child, third-degree child molestation, and sexual misconduct involving a child under 15-years-old.

Brown faced the felony charges stemming from an inappropriate relationship he had with a 12-year-old girl from May to November of 2019. At that time, Brown was a volunteer with the youth group at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph. 

The 17-year-old victim, who was 12 when the abuse happened, took the stand Tuesday in which she outlined the details of the sexual abuse Brown inflicted on her.

The victim testified that Brown had touched her and exposed himself to her on multiple occasions.

She journaled the entire experience and the journal was presented as evidence in court.

Police also presented the court with photos of teenage girls found in his phone and a previous alleged victim from Indiana in the late 1990s.

A former Frederick Boulevard Baptist pastor testified that Brown applied to be the youth pastor in the early 2010s but could not be considered due to an allegation against him in Nebraska from years earlier. Despite the allegation, Brown was allowed to volunteer with the youth group at the church. 

In closing arguments Wednesday morning, the state presented the victim deserved to be heard. They said she was honest and credible throughout the entire process.

The defense presented that this was a case of “she said…” and that the church had no complaints against Brown before the abuse happened.

Brown showed no emotion when the verdict was read while members of his family broke down in tears.

The victim and her family breathed a sigh of relief and the parents did send KQ2 a written note that said “Today justice has brought a new beginning for our daughter and others like her.”

And for the church? They knew of at least one previous sexual misconduct allegation against Brown. What did they do? The church allowed Brown to be a youth group volunteer.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why Did God Kill Lot’s Wife and Turn Her Into a Pillar of Salt?

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Some people think this salt pillar is Lot’s wife [sigh]

Remember Lot’s wife. (Jesus, Luke 27:32)

And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:12-17, 24-26)

Most of us likely remember the story of Lot, his wife, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities — killing all living things, except Lot and his two virgin daughters. Every person, including babies, children, and the unborn died. Every animal died. All the vegetation died. According to many Evangelicals, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and its inhabitants because of rampant homosexuality. However, Ezekiel 16:48-50 says:

 As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

As you can see, the sins of Sodom were more than just men having sex with each other. The Lord also destroyed them for pride, hoarding food, idleness, and not caring for the poor and needy. Why don’t Evangelical preachers mention the rest of the story?

The Contemporary English version puts it like this:

They were arrogant and spoiled; they had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy. They thought they were better than everyone else, and they did things I hate. And so I destroyed them.

I was an Evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. I was the ONLY preacher I ever heard mention ALL the sins of Sodom. My fellow clerics were obsessed with anal sex, so they didn’t have time to tell the rest of the story.

Back to Lot’s wife.

When the appointed day of destruction came, the angels made Lot, Mrs. Lot, and their two daughters leave the city, warning them not to turn around and look at what was happening behind them. As they left the city, fire and brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Imagine the noise and the smell as the equivalent of an atomic bomb being dropped on the cities. Lot’s wife turned to look at what was happening to her home, and when she did, God killed Mrs. Lot and turned her into a pillar of salt.

Most Evangelicals are taught that God killed Lot’s wife because of disobedience/lack of faith. If she had only lived, she would have been alive to see “righteous” Lot get drunk and have sex with both of his virgin daughters — impregnating them. Genesis 19: 30-36 says in the Contemporary English Version:

Lot was afraid to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill country. One day his older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to marry. Let’s get our father drunk! Then we can sleep with him and have children.” That night they got their father drunk, and the older daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there. The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with my father last night. We’ll get him drunk again tonight, so you can sleep with him, and we can each have a child.”  That night they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him. But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there. That’s how Lot’s two daughters had children. The older daughter named her son Moab, and he is the ancestor of the Moabites. The younger daughter named her son Benammi, and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.

In light of this story, please explain 2 Peter 2:6-8:

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.)

Lot, a man who had incestuous sex with his daughters and impregnated them; a just and righteous man? No wonder Donald Trump and his merry band of degenerates think they are Christians.

Back to Lot’s wife.

Why did God really kill Mrs. Lot and turn her into a Sunday school lesson? I’m inclined to think God turned her into a five-foot, two-inch pillar of coarse salt because she was curious. She heard the sounds and smelled the acrid smoke, and, yes, wondered about what had become of her home of twenty years, according to some scholars. Because she dared to turn her head and look, God killed her and sent her to Hell with the rest of the people of the plains.

Let’s face it, no verse in the Bible commends curiosity. Nope, God demands obedience, under penalty of judgment, death, and eternal torture in the Lake of Fire. Curiosity killed the cat, and it killed Lot’s wife too.

Jesus said to remember Lot’s wife, and so I have with this post. I have concluded that this God is not worthy of my worship. Why would I worship a deity who killed a woman for being curious? And does anyone really think Lot and his two daughters didn’t turn their heads too or look out of the corner of their eyes? Why single out Lot’s wife? For one reason . . . this is a fictional story written by a patriarchal man. There’s no evidence for the existence of Lot, Lot’s wife, or the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Just wait, renowned Bible archeologist Dr. David Tee is preparing a response to this post, declaring it is all lies, lies, lies. Here’s what actual experts think, according to Smithsonian Magazine:

The destruction of Tall el-Hammam, a Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley, by an exploding comet or meteor may have inspired the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, a new study suggests. (“[N]otoriously sinful cities,” Sodom and Gomorrah’s devastation by sulfur and fire is recorded in the Book of Genesis, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.)

At the time of the disaster, around 1650 B.C.E., Tall el-Hammam was the largest of three major cities in the valley. It likely acted as the region’s political center, reports Ariella Marsden for the Jerusalem Post. Combined, the three metropolises boasted a population of around 50,000.

Tall el-Hammam’s mudbrick buildings stood up to five stories tall. Over the years, archaeologists examining the structures’ ruins have found evidence of a sudden high-temperature, destructive event—for instance, pottery pieces that were melted on the outside but untouched inside.

The new paper, published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, examined possible causes of the devastation based on the archaeological record. The researchers concluded that warfare, a fire, a volcanic eruption or an earthquake were unlikely culprits, as these events couldn’t have produced heat intense enough to cause the melting recorded at the scene. That left a space rock as the most likely cause.

Because experts failed to find a crater at the site, they attributed the damage to an airburst created when a meteor or comet traveled through the atmosphere at high speed. It would have exploded about 2.5 miles above the city in a blast 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, writes study co-author Christopher R. Moore, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina, for the Conversation. 

“Air temperatures rapidly rose above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit,” Moore explains. “Clothing and wood immediately burst into flames. Swords, spears, mudbricks, and pottery began to melt. Almost immediately, the entire city was on fire.”

Seconds after the blast, a shockwave ripped through the city at a speed of roughly 740 miles per hour—faster than the worst tornado ever recorded. The cities’ buildings were reduced to foundations and rubble.

“None of the 8,000 people or any animals within the city survived,” Moore adds. “Their bodies were torn apart and their bones blasted into small fragments.”

Corroborating the idea that an airburst caused the destruction, the researchers found melted metals and unusual mineral fragments among the city’s ruins.

“[O]ne of the main discoveries is shocked quartz,” says James P. Kennett, an emeritus earth scientist at the University of California Santa Barbara, in a statement. “These are sand grains containing cracks that form only under very high pressure.”

The archaeologists also discovered high concentrations of salt in the “destruction layer” of the site, possibly from the blast’s impact on the Dead Sea or its shores. The explosion could have distributed the salt across a wide area, possibly creating high-salinity soil that prevented crops from growing and resulted in the abandonment of cities along the lower Jordan Valley for centuries.

Moore writes that people may have passed down accounts of the spectacular disaster as oral history over generations, providing the basis for the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah—which, like Tall el-Hammam, were supposedly located near the Dead Sea.

In the Book of Genesis, God “rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven,” and “the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” According to the Gospel of Luke, “on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them.”

Whether Tall el-Hammam and Sodom were actually the same city is an ongoing debate. The researchers point out that the new study does not offer evidence one way or the other.

“All the observations stated in Genesis are consistent with a cosmic airburst,” says Kennett in the statement, “but there’s no scientific proof that this destroyed city is indeed the Sodom of the Old Testament.”

So there ya have it. An ancient religious text or a modern scientific theory? I know which one I am going with.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Anti-Personnel Landmines: U.S. President Joe Biden Said He Wouldn’t, But He Did

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joe biden warmonger

President Joe Biden seems hellbent on stoking the flames of war, both in Ukraine/Russia and Palestine before he leaves office. It is hard not to conclude that Biden is a warmonger — one who urges or attempts to stir up war. Instead of trying to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, Biden stokes the war by giving Ukraine increasingly sophisticated offensive weapons. U.S. armaments have slaughtered countless Russian soldiers — many of whom are conscripts. Recently, Biden permitted Ukraine to use U.S.-provided missiles in Russia. Russia’s response was to shoot a new kind of ICBM missile armed with a conventional warhead into Ukraine. These missiles could be armed with nuclear warheads.

Anti-personnel land mines are indiscriminate weapons that kill and maim civilians, and especially children, for generations after wars end. These weapons cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants as required by international humanitarian law.

Hichem Khadhraoui, executive director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict

In 2022, Biden released the following statement about changes in U.S. policy on anti-personnel landmines:

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing important policy changes to U.S. Anti-Personnel Landmine policy. After conducting a comprehensive policy review, the United States is joining the vast majority of countries around the world in committing to limit the use of anti-personnel landmines (APL).These changes reflect the President’s belief that these weapons have disproportionate impact on civilians, including children, long after fighting has stopped, and that we need to curtail the use of APL worldwide. They also complement longstanding U.S. leadership in the clearance of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
 
The new commitment announced today will align U.S. APL policy outside of the Korean Peninsula with the key requirements of the Ottawa Convention – the international treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of APL – which has more than 160 parties, including all of our NATO Allies. This means that the United States will:

  • Not develop, produce, or acquire APL;
  • Not export or transfer of APL, except when necessary for activities related to mine detection or removal, and for the purpose of destruction;
  • Not use APL outside of the Korean Peninsula;
  • Not assist, encourage, or induce anyone, outside of the context of the Korean Peninsula, to engage in any activity that would be prohibited by the Ottawa Convention; and
  • Undertake to destroy all APL stockpiles not required for the defense of the Republic of Korea.

Additionally, the United States will undertake diligent efforts to pursue materiel and operational solutions to assist in becoming compliant with and ultimately acceding to the Ottawa Convention, while ensuring our ability to respond to contingencies and meet our alliance commitments. 

The new policy announced today represents a further step to advance the humanitarian aims of the Ottawa Convention, and to bring U.S. practice in closer alignment with a global humanitarian movement that has had a demonstrated positive impact in reducing civilian casualties from APL.   

Even as the United States takes this further step, the unique circumstances on the Korean Peninsula and the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea preclude the United States from changing anti-personnel landmine policy on the Korean Peninsula at this time.  As the United States commits to continuing our diligent efforts to pursue material and operational alternatives to APL, the security of our ally the Republic of Korea will continue to be a paramount concern.

World Leader in Humanitarian Mine Action

The United States is the world’s single largest financial supporter of steps to mitigate the harmful consequences of landmines and explosive remnants of war around the world, including through land clearance and medical rehabilitation and vocational training for those injured by these weapons.  Since the United States Humanitarian Mine Action Program was established in 1993, the United States has provided over $4.2 billion in aid in over 100 countries for conventional weapons destruction programs. Through this assistance, the United States has:

  • Helped 17 countries become free from the danger of landmines;
  • Provided assistive devices and other rehabilitation services to over 250,000 people in 35 countries through the U.S. Agency for International Development-managed Leahy War Victims Fund.

This vital U.S. assistance has helped post-conflict countries consolidate peace and set the stage for reconstruction and development.  Clearance efforts and victim assistance programs return land and infrastructure to productive use and assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration into society of survivors of mine and explosive remnants of war incidents.
 
— end of statement

This statement is little more than the Biden Administration’s attempt to gaslight the American people; presenting the United States as being aligned with 160 other nations in banning anti-personnel mine use. Of course, the U.S. is NOT a signatory to the Ottawa Convention! Biden wants to tell the rest of the world what to do, but reserves the right to use anti-personnel mines.

Ukraine is a signatory of the Ottawa Convention. Explain to me, then, Biden casting aside what he said in 2022 and sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine to use in their war against Russia. Explain to me, then, Ukraine’s use of these mines in direct contravention of the Convention they signed in 2022.

Politico reports:

Human rights groups are fiercely criticizing President Joe Biden’s decision to give Ukraine anti-personnel land mines as it fights off a Russian invasion.

The decision reverses a pledge Biden made to limit the use of such land mines in 2022. It comes as Biden prepares to leave office and reflects mounting U.S. concerns over Russia’s battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine.

But although the type of land mine the Biden team is handing to Ukraine has certain safeguards, rights groups nonetheless warned that the weapons pose special and long-term dangers.

“Anti-personnel land mines are indiscriminate weapons that kill and maim civilians, and especially children, for generations after wars end,” said Hichem Khadhraoui, executive director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict advocacy group. “These weapons cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants as required by international humanitarian law.”

Ben Linden, a top official with Amnesty International USA, said, “It is devastating, and frankly shocking, that President Biden made such a consequential and dangerous decision just before his public service legacy is sealed for the history books.”

The Biden administration defended the move on multiple grounds. It noted that the types of mines it is providing are “non-persistent,” meaning they become inert after a time.

“They are electrically fused and require battery power to detonate. Once the battery runs out, they will not detonate,” said a U.S. official, who was granted anonymity to candidly explain the administration’s choice.

The Biden administration in July 2023 began to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions that had been held in large numbers in U.S. military stockpiles since the end of the Cold War, but which the United States had previously been barred from sending. But it held off on sending anti-personnel land mines, such as the ones it is sending now, which can be effective in stopping massed infantry assaults that Ukraine is likely to face from thousands of North Korean troops that have arrived in the Kursk region of Russia, but can be left on the battlefield for generations, potentially long after the conflict is over.

More than 50,000 square miles of Ukraine needs to be searched for land mines and explosives, according to Ukrainian government estimates, an area larger than England.

Biden in 2022 issued a new policy to bar the U.S. use or transfer of anti-personnel mines outside of the Korean peninsula. This came after then-President Donald Trump in 2020 undid Obama-era restrictions on U.S. land mine uses.

The latest decision underscores growing unease within the Biden administration over the desperate battlefield situation as Russia makes slow and costly but incremental gains against Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine.

The land mine decision follows another Biden reversal: He recently agreed to let Ukraine use American-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia following months of pressure from Ukraine and its strongest supporters in the West.

In providing the mines, Biden said to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “Hey Volod. How ya doing, buddy? Hunter says, Hi! Please don’t use these in Russia or Ukrainian civilian areas. Promise, pinky swear?” Zelenskyy replied, with fingers crossed behind his back, “I promise, Uncle Joe.”

Here’s what I know about war. Nations start with high ideals, promising to adhere to international law such as the Geneva Conventions and making appeals to just war theory. The longer wars go on and political and military leaders become more desperate for victory, international law falls by the wayside and warring nations use any and every means to win — including dropping atomic bombs on Japanese civilians in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, firebombing citizens in Dresden and Tokyo, and dropping napalm on helpless Vietnamese.

The United States has a long, continuous history of military intervention, violence, and bloodshed. Biden’s actions are unsurprising. He is just another president in a long line of presidents who think war begets peace. This is a delusional lie; one that warmongers use to convince themselves that they are good people.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Nazarene Church Member Charles Sulivant Accused of Sexual Abuse — Pastors and Superintendent Covered-Up Crimes

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Charles Sulivant

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.

Charles Sulivant, a member in good standing at Shawnee First Church of the Nazarene in Shawnee, Oklahoma, stands accused of sexually abusing several church children and preying on others over the years. Worse, two pastors, Johnny Stephens, the pastor at Shawnee First, and Drew Dinnel, a pastor at a youth camp, knew of the allegations against Sulivant and initially did nothing, as did retired District Superintendent Terry Rowland. Stephens pastored Shawnee First for over twenty years. Dinnel is the pastor of Muskogee Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Dinnel texted me and stated he first contacted the parents, asking them to contact law enforcement, went to his superiors who pressured him not to report the alleged crime, and later reported it himself. Dinnel, however, had a legal responsibility to immediately report the crime. Kudos for reporting it, but he should have done so without delay. It was not up to the parents or Dinnel’s superiors to decide the validity of the allegation. That role belongs to law enforcement. (Dinnel told me about 24 hours elapsed from knowledge of the allegation to reporting it.) All three so-called men of God should investigated, and, if warranted, disciplined, excommunicated, or charged with a crime. The only way to give teeth to mandatory reporting laws is to hold clerics responsible when they fail to do so.

Channel 4 reports:

According to police records 91-year-old Charles Sulivant had been allegedly molesting young girls, and several pastors at the time knew, but didn’t call police.

“I talked to the parents,” said Johnny Stephens who had been the pastor at the time of the alleged abuse. He was one of the pastors at the time who didn’t call the police, News 4 confronted Stephens Thursday.

Documents showed that one victim’s mother reported the alleged abuse her daughter (who was 16 years old at the time) experienced in 2016.

However, charges weren’t officially filed and interviews weren’t conducted until this year. Five other victims were revealed after the original victim came forward.

Their interviews were conducted over the summer while the crimes were alleged to have happened before 2016.

In one of the cases, documents allege Sullivant lured a nine-year-old girl to his truck in the church parking lot, promising a gift. There he reportedly touched her inappropriately, kissed her, and tried to “get under her clothes.”

That victim, it said, went to her pastor at the time Stephens. Police were not called.

Records said that the Nazarene District Superintendent at the time Terry Rowland was told. Still, he allegedly told the girl that a family member of hers would lose their minister’s license if it were pursued further, so it seemed like it wasn’t.

Another victim told police that when she was twelve years old Sulivant allegedly molested her and tried kissing her on the mouth saying, “I could go for a girl like you.” Police weren’t called after that, reportedly.

Another victim said she was fourteen years old and said when he molested her she was able to elbow him in the groin and get away.

Pastor Stephens was told and she said he told her she was a “bad kid” and that people wouldn’t believe her. She also said he allegedly told her that a family member could lose their job at the church.

Several other victims had interviewed with police with similar stories.

Documents stated that a different pastor at the time [at a youth camp], Drew Dinnel, had heard about two victims at least and told the superintendent at the time Rowland. However, Rowland allegedly tried telling Dinnel to not report it, and to leave it up to the girls’ families to report it.

Dinnel is said to be the lead pastor at Muskogee Church of the Nazarene. He didn’t call News 4 back when reached out for comment.

Sulivant was brought in by Shawnee Police for an interview where he confessed to much of it and said, “You know, I had forgotten all about this.”

When told that the girls didn’t forget, he said, “Well all I can say is I’m sorry about it. We all do a lot of stupid things and this was one of them.”

Even though he seemingly confessed when brought into the department in August, he wasn’t booked into jail until November 5.

News 4 confronted former Pastor Stephens, who said he had since retired as pastor of the church. [The church’s website still lists him as employed by the church.]

People are going to say that Sulivant should have been taken out of the church completely. What do you think?

“Well, I’m not going to excommunicate somebody,” said Stephens.

Why? Even if they’re molesting little girls?

“Well, I need to find out. That’s why I wanted her mother and dad to talk to him and they did. They assured me that they talked to him and things were okay. So, you know every part of it is redemptive. I was trying to redeem Charles,” said Stephens.

But you failed, right? Four or five girls possibly getting molested by this gentleman.

“Did he? Did they?” Asked Stephens. “I tried my best to watch him.”

What would you do if you could go back in time? Actually, call the police?

“What would I do, police, yeah,” said Stephens.

And not let him back into the church?

“No, no. Let him in church,” said Stephens.

Even after he molests girls?

“I’m thinking if I had to do it all over again then yeah. I would have probably called the police. But I was trying to redeem him,” said Stephens. “I was just at the moment trying to figure it all out. So that’s what I did. Maybe it was wrong.”

Maybe?

“I don’t doubt that it was wrong,” said Stephens.

Sulivant posted bond pretty soon after he was booked in Pottawatomie County Jail. News 4 confronted him at his home in Macomb where he denied an interview.

He is charged with three counts of Lewd Acts with a child under 16 and two counts of Sexual Battery.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Anglican Vicar Ifor Whittaker Sentenced to Life in Prison for Raping Six-Year-Old Church Boy

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lfor whittaker

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.

Ifor Whittaker, a former priest at St John The Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, England, and a serial sexual predator, was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to raping a six-year-old boy in the vestry of the church.

The BBC reports:

A former Anglican vicar who admitted raping a child in his parish has been jailed for life with a minimum term of eight years.

Ifor Whittaker, 80, admitted rape and gross indecency of a boy in the vestry of St John the Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where he served as a priest at the time under the name of Colin Pritchard.

The offences are reported to have taken place during the late 1990s when the victim was a young child.

Judge Gary Lucie said Whittaker had baptised him, and that the victim was often left in his care.

He told Whittaker: “You told him… it would be your little secret. Even now he still suffers with mental health issues and had flashbacks.

“There are, in my opinion, serious concerns that you remain a danger to young children,” the judge said.

“You are a predatory paedophile, I doubt that you will ever cease to be a danger to young boys.”

Whittaker was sentenced on Tuesday at Hove Crown Court.

In 2018, Whittaker was jailed for 16 years for sexually abusing a boy and conspiring with another priest to abuse the child.

At the time of that sentencing, the judge said the abuser had “plied the victim with alcohol” and “emotionally blackmailed the boy by saying ‘no one would believe you over a priest'”.

He had previously been jailed for five years in 2008 for the abuse of two children in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, between 1979 and 1983.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Chichester said its safeguarding team had worked closely with Sussex Police on the case since it was reported.

They said the sentence reflected “the terrible nature of his crimes”.

“The victim in this case has shown extraordinary courage in coming forward to report Whittaker’s crimes,” they added.

“We apologise unreservedly to him for the appalling abuse he suffered.”

Sussex Police Det Con Nicky Beard said: “Ifor Whittaker is a predator who used his position of trust in the community to rape and sexually abuse young children.”

The Express and Star adds:

One of the survivors of Whittaker’s abuse, Phil Johnson, present at the sentencing, said the judge’s move felt like “moral justice” to hand down a life sentence, as the impact on victims is lifelong.

“I think this is a really powerful message, because in nearly 30 years of being involved in cases like this, I’ve never heard of a life sentence being handed down in this way before,” he said.

The 59-year-old who runs support groups for adult survivors of child sexual abuse said it sends a powerful signal to other victims that there is hope and to abusers that this could happen to them too.

But Mr Johnson, who has waived his right to lifetime anonymity, said he first reported Whittaker to authorities several years before the abuse he was sentenced for on Tuesday took place.

“Had the police and the church taken these allegations more seriously, this offence wouldn’t have happened. Whittaker wasn’t even suspended from his job whilst he was on police bail. That’s just utterly appalling.

“Thankfully, things have changed and improved since then, but it’s been a long and hard battle.”

In a message to other survivors of abuse, he added: “I would encourage other victims and survivors to come forward and speak about their abuse, because it’s only by doing that that we can prevent these things happening in the future.

“I would encourage people to get support. Talk about it. The more you talk about it, the easier it gets.”

Sussex Police said the initial investigation into Whittaker did not result in a conviction and the force recognises the impact this had on the victim of that investigation.

“We have made significant improvements to how sex offences are understood and investigated in the intervening years and remain fully committed to bringing offenders to justice,” a spokesman said.

Speaking outside of court, Sussex Police investigating officer Nicky Beard urged other victims of sexual offending to report it to the police, adding: “We will listen to you.”

Reacting to the sentencing, she said: “The victim has lived with the impact of this abuse for all his life, most of his life, and he’s shown so much courage to come forward and report him, to help us to get justice for him.

“I hope this outcome can finally give him closure, and Whittaker spends most of it, if not the rest of his life, behind bars.”

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Zachary King Indicted on Seven Sex Crimes

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pastor zachary king

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.

Zachary King, pastor of Lexington City Church in Lexington, Kentucky, stands accused of one count of rape first degree, one count of sodomy first degree, one count of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities, one count of unlawful transaction with a minor first degree with a victim under 18, one count of rape third degree, one count of sodomy third degree, and one count of sexual abuse first degree.

Lexington City has since closed its doors. This isn’t the first time the church has faced a sex scandal. In 2014, the lead pastor stepped down after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a female pastor on the staff.

Fox56 reports:

The former pastor of a Lexington megachurch was indicted on Tuesday on seven felony counts.

On Thursday, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced the indictments against former LexCity Church Executive Pastor Zachary King.

According to Coleman’s announcement, an investigation from the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Special Prosecutions Unit resulted in the indictment of 47-year-old King on seven felony counts by a Fayette County Grand Jury.

….

King was first arrested after authorities said he admitted to having sexual contact with an underage girl.

King allegedly admitted to having a sexual relationship with a minor, who was then 15, from January 2023 to April 2024, arrest records show. He reportedly called and messaged her using Snapchat and WhatsApp to arrange meetups and receive explicit pictures of her.

….

In July, Lexington City Church announced it would close.

“Due to the continued effects of the financial situation our church inherited several years ago and the impact of the ongoing investigation of a former staff member, we have lost the ability to remain financially viable and fulfill our God-given mission,” the church said in a statement.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Geoffrey Carter Accused of Several Sex Crimes Against a Minor

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Geoffrey Carter

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.

Geoffrey Carter, pastor of Apostolic House of Deliverance in South Bend, Indiana, and director of the Children’s Choir of Michiana, stands accused of child exploitation, possession of child pornography, sexual battery, child seduction, and voyeurism using a camera.

WNDU reports:

WNDU 16 News Now is learning 36-year-old Geoffrey Carter is in the St. Joseph County Jail on multiple charges, including child exploitation, possession of child pornography, sexual battery, child seduction, and voyeurism using a camera.

According to court paperwork, the 17-year-old unnamed victim filed a police report earlier this month against Carter. A few days later, the victim revealed to Mishawaka police investigators they were staying with Carter at his Mishawaka home.

The victim claimed they were awakened on Halloween morning after feeling someone rubbing their leg and “squeezing” their buttocks. They said they turned around and saw Carter in the bedroom, pulling his pants up and quickly hiding his phone. They also reportedly observed a camera flash. The victim also indicated later seeing a video of Carter masturbating near them around the time this happened.

Court paperwork goes on to talk about how the victim knew the passcode to Carter’s phone. He accessed it, looked through his camera roll and discovered numerous pictures and videos in the phone’s hidden folder. That victim handed the phone to police as evidence.

A search warrant was executed on Carter’s home, and more nude pictures and videos of the victim were reportedly discovered in Carter’s phone from the bathroom. The video was consistent with the victim’s allegations from Halloween morning. Officials also found a fake smoke detector and hidden camera in the home.

On Monday, Carter spoke to police and said the victim was staying with him since October as “his mother” was having housing issues. He admitted to putting cameras in his bathroom and recording the naked victim. He also admitted to recording himself masturbating while standing over the victim.

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Carter was arraigned in court on Thursday. His bond is set at $15,000 cash. As of Thursday night, he remains in custody.

He’s due back in court for an initial hearing on Dec. 2.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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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