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Tag: Attempted Murder

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Danny Prenell, Jr. Shoots His Wife in the Presence of His Children

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment
pastor danny prenell jr

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.

Danny Prenell, Jr., pastor of Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, Mississippi, shot his wife in the presence of his children at a Hampton Hotel and then tried to kill himself.

The Enterprise-Journal reports:

A Louisiana pastor and his wife have been identified in a shooting that took place on the first floor of the Hampton Inn and Suites in McComb Wednesday afternoon.

According to WJTV, police identified the couple as 25-year-old Danny Prenell, Jr., and 27-year-old Gabrielle Prenell. Both are in a Jackson hospital with gunshot wounds.

A Jackson TV station quoted McComb police as saying Danny Prenell, who is the pastor of Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, allegedly shot his wife two times and then shot himself around 3: 30 p.m

Both were airlifted from Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Further information was not available.

After the shooting, McComb police blocked off the hallway on the first floor, where what looks like blood, towels, and a pillow could be seen on the floor by the elevators.

The couple’s children have been placed in state custody.

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

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Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Pastor David Jones Accused of Drunk Driving and Attempted Murder

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
arrested

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.

David Jones, pastor of Hilton Oaks Baptist Church in Ferndale, Michigan, stands accused of drunk driving and attempted murder. This is the ninth drunk driving charge against Jones.

ABC-12 reports:

An Oakland County pastor is accused of trying to murder two Arenac County sheriff’s deputies by ramming his car into theirs.

The scary situation happened earlier this week just off I-75 at the Alger exit in Arenac County.

The pastor, who we’ve learned has had eight prior drinking and driving offenses, is in jail tonight facing up to life in prison if convicted.

The deputies were called to a convenience store for a suspicious situation involving a man in a car, but when they got there, they say the man would not cooperate, drove off, smashed into a building, and then into the deputies SUV.

The Arenac County deputies were called to the Forward’s Convenience Store near Alger at around one o’clock Wednesday morning where investigators say 57-year-old David Jones sat in his car.

“Not wanting to cooperate with the deputies who could tell he was intoxicated, refusing to roll down his window, refusing to do anything,” says Arenac County Undersheriff Don McIntyre.

They say Jones then drove off, across the highway, into the parking lot of the store across the street, eventually ramming the backside of the business.

“Struck their building, turned his vehicle towards deputies, accelerated, smashing our patrol car, luckily our deputies were not injured.” says McIntyre.

Deputies had to break the windows on Jones’s car because he still refused to get out after the crash. Jones faces ten charges in all, including attempted murder.

“You turn your vehicle around and intentionally collide with a police vehicle, you are going to be charged with attempted murder on police,” McIntyre says.

Jones has told an attorney that he is a pastor and a website indicates he’s the pastor at the Hilton Oaks Baptist Church in Ferndale.

Court papers indicate he has previously been arrested eight times for drinking and driving offenses, his most recent in August in Oakland County. He is suspected of driving drunk in the Arenac County incident. McIntyre credits his deputies for possibly saving lives.

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

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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 Raul Diaz Moreno Found Guilty of Attempted Murder and Rape

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

raul diaz moreno

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.

Raul Diaz Moreno, pastor of Victory Outreach in Merced, California, was convicted today on charges rape and attempted murder. The Merced Sun-Star reports:

A month-long trial ended Friday in Merced County when a former pastor was convicted of raping his two adopted daughters for many years before shooting them and another man in 2016

Raul Diaz Moreno, who once led the Victory Outreach church, opened fire Oct. 28, 2016, shooting one of the girls in the head and the other in the leg outside his home on Beckman Way in Merced. The now 54-year-old Merced man also shot another man who was helping the young women, the Merced Police Department reported.

….

According to news reports, the girls were abandoned by their mother and taken in by Moreno. Not long after, Moreno began sexually abusing them.

Jurors found Moreno guilty on all fourteen charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder, assault, shooting at police, aggravated sexual assault, sodomy by force, lewd acts and oral copulation with minors. Moreno faces a minimum of 120 years in prison.

2016 news story titled, Victim in shooting involving Merced pastor says suspect had dark double life.