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.
Shane Wiggins, pastor of Baldwin Baptist Mission Church in Baldwin, Louisiana, stands accused of child rape and molestation.
Shane Wiggins, pastor of Baldwin Baptist Mission Church, Baldwin, Louisiana, was arrested April 9 on charges of rape and molestation.
Wiggins has been with the Baldwin congregation, a mission of Little Pass Baptist Church in Charenton, La., since March 2015.
According to the police department of Morgan City, La., Wiggins was arrested in Paris, Texas, and faces extradition.
The Morgan City Police Department (MCPD) reported via Facebook April 9 that Wiggins has been under investigation since December of last year when a mother filed a complaint accusing Wiggins of inappropriate behavior with her child. Recently, unable to contact Wiggins at his residence or by phone, MCPD detectives suspected he had left the state. Police did not report why they believed Wiggins was in Paris, Texas, but that was where they focused their search in collaboration with the Lamar County Sheriff’s and Paris Police departments. Wiggins was arrested while driving in Paris and is now detained in the Lamar County Jail in Paris.
In an email to the Baptist Message, Chris Holloway, senior pastor of Little Pass Baptist Church, said that Wiggins had abandoned the Baldwin congregation at least as early as the first Sunday in February.
Holloway also serves as the associational mission strategist for the Gulf Coast Baptist Association that includes both congregations.
Wiggins is being held in the Lamar County Jail in Texas while awaiting extradition to Morgan City.
Hollaway said Wiggins had previously served as pastor of the Baldwin Baptist Mission Church prior to 2011 and had returned in 2015 to again lead the small congregation (which averages 10 in worship services according to the Louisiana Baptist database).
“Shane left town around the first of February,” Holloway wrote. “My last conversation with him was on Jan. 28, 2025.”
Holloway also noted that Wiggins had been replaced as pastor on Feb. 12 by Warren Guidry, the associate pastor of Little Pass Baptist Church, and the Baldwin congregation merged with First Baptist Church of Franklin, La., on April 13.
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.
