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.
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.
Acton Bowen, an Evangelical evangelist, stands accused of committing sex crimes in Florida. ABC 33/40 reports:
The list of sexual abuse accusations against evangelist Acton Bowen has crossed state lines. Bowen was charged with lewd or lascivious battery in Bay County, Florida according to the local sheriff’s office.
The charge was filed on May 23rd. According to Florida state law, a person commits lewd or lascivious battery by engaging in sexual activity with a person 12 years of age or older but less than 16 years of age or encouraging, forcing, or enticing any person less than 16 years of age to engage in sexual activity.
….
I suspect that this will not be the last time one of Bowen’s victims comes forward alleging sexual misconduct.
Bowen remains jailed in Florida, unable to post a $1.06 million bond.
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.
Randall Carter, a youth pastor at an unnamed church and a fifth grade teacher at Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy in Kansas City, Missouri, stands accused of rape of a child, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Fox-4KC reports that Carter allegedly assaulted two girls under the age of fourteen. Carter denies the charges. His lawyer, Philip Sedgwick, attempted to cast doubt on the allegations by saying:
You have to wonder why somebody would take that long to say something about what happened to them.
Carter’s bond was reduced from $500,000 to $250,000. If Carter posts bail, the judge ordered “he must wear [an] ankle monitor and can not be around children, including his own.”
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.
Alfonzo Carter preaches monthly at Greater First Baptist M.B. Church in Chicago, Illinois. In April 2018, Carter started counseling the victim, hoping to help her deal with problems she was having at school. According to the Chicago Tribune, his “help” turned into emotional manipulation that later led to sexual intercourse. The Tribune reports:
In mid-April, the girl was staying at her grandmother’s. About 3 a.m. April 20, Carter drove to the house and picked up the teen in an alley a few houses down. He then parked and the girl lay down in the back seat, where he told her to take off her clothes. He then had intercourse with her, prosecutors said.
Carter then drove the teen back to the grandmother’s house.
Carter continued to contact the teen via phone and Facebook. He asked her to perform sex acts on him as well as for nude photos, but the teen refused. He then told her to delete the messages and texts he had sent, prosecutors said.
Seven days later, Carter drove to the grandmother’s house again about 3 a.m. and picked the girl up in the alley, and the two had intercourse again, prosecutors said.
Carter asked the girl if he could come over the grandmother’s house on May 5 so the two could have sex, but this time he wanted to meet at 6 p.m. Once he arrived, the teen opened the back door, he went inside and upstairs. The grandma grew suspicious and went upstairs to check on the teen. When the grandmother turned on the lights, she found Carter hiding in a closet. The teen girl got scared and ran from the house while Carter tried to explain, prosecutors said.
The teen’s mother came to the house, and both the mother and grandmother refused to accept his explanation, so he left, prosecutors said.
The teen was found later that evening and told her relatives about the relationship with the minister. The mother and pastor of the church met with Carter the next day and confronted him. Carter then apologized for getting too personal, prosecutors said.
He apologized for “getting too personal?” Is that what sexual assault is called these days?
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.
Joseph Potts, a volunteer youth worker at Jubilee Fellowship Church in Littleton, Colorado stands accused of sexually assaulting two teen boys.
Fox-31 reports that “Potts is being held in the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility without bond.”
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.
Kenneth Lewis, a Catholic priest, is facing child sexual abuse charges stemming from an allegation that he sexually assaulted a thirteen-year-old boy while on trip. Lewis has been accused numerous times over the years of sexual abuse, but due to the statute of limitations, he was never prosecuted. Astoundingly, in 1995, after yet another round of sexual abuse allegations, Lewis was allowed to continue in the ministry once he received “treatment.” According to Chicago Sun Times, Catholic officials ordered Lewis not to be alone with children. This is akin to a sugar addict working in a candy store being told not eat the merchandise. The crimes Lewis is now accused of were allegedly committed in 2001. It seems, then, that whatever “treatment” Lewis received did not cure him of his predilection towards sexually abusing children.
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.
Matthew Everly, an associate pastor of worship arts with Eastview Church in Normal, Illinois, stands accused of causing physical harm to his two-month-old daughter. The infant’s injuries include a broken arm and two broken legs. Everly’s attorney Scott Kording stated:
Matt Everly is a wonderful and talented young man. The filing of these serious allegations visits great difficulty upon him and his family. In response, we ask that judgment be reserved until all the facts are known. He is innocent of these charges.
Everly’s church bio page states (from archive.org):
Ever since a short term missions trip to NYC in 2009 I have felt called to Worship Ministry. I have always loved music and have been passionate about seeing the Church give their lives in worship to our King. I have lived in Bloomington/Normal my whole life and in 2013 I began volunteering with the high school ministry. Shortly after I was asked to be on staff part time while finishing my Worship Ministry degree from Lincoln Christian University. Two years later and I have finished my degree moved to the Associate Worship Pastor position have and married my best friend Emily. God has been and is always incredibly faithful when we leave it up to His plan. On a free day you will find Emily and I hiking through Starved Rock State Park or hanging out with good friends. We are incredilbly [sic] blessed by the staff, leadership, and congregation at Eastview. We are thankful to be here!
While Mike Baker, the pastor of Eastview Church, refused to confirm whether Everly is still employed with the church, his name has been scrubbed from the church’s website.
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.
Last week, Philip Wilson, the Archbishop of Adelaide, was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse. He will be sentenced on June 19, 2018. Wilson pleaded not guilty, but the judge found the evidence against him compelling. After his conviction, Wilson stated, “I am obviously disappointed at the decision published today. I will now have to consider the reasons and consult closely with my lawyers to determine the next steps.”
The charges against Wilson hail from his days as a young priest. Several children came to Wilson will allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priest James Fletcher. Wilson did nothing. Fletcher would continue to abuse children for decades until he was arrested and convicted of nine counts of child sexual abuse in December 2004. Fletcher died in prison in 2006.
Frank Brennan, an Australian Jesuit priest, human rights lawyer and academic, stated:
I would think that the mind of Pope Francis at this stage would be that if there be a conviction of a bishop in relation to a failure to disclose abuse in circumstances where the state thought that was criminal activity, then I would think the mind of the pope would be that that doesn’t measure up in church terms either and that therefore it would be impossible for someone to remain in the job as a bishop.
There’s no doubt that Archbishop Wilson in recent years … has been one of the good guys. He has been one of the bishops in the Catholic Church who have been trying to clean things up
But this relates to when he was a young priest. Even someone like him who later got it back in those years was so confined by our culture that it would seem there was no disclosure.
Brennan seems to be saying that people shouldn’t be too hard on Wilson. His nondisclosure of the allegations was typical of the times; and that Wilson in recent years has been one of the good guys, someone who tried to hold priests accountable for their criminal behavior. Really? Where’s the evidence for this claim? How many pedophile priests were reported, arrested, and prosecuted for their crimes under his watch? How many other children found deaf ears when they reported being sexually abused?
…. Wilson came under scrutiny regarding two incidents relating to sexual abuse in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
The first of these cases related to the alleged sexual assault of two girls in 1985 by Father Dennis McAlinden, a priest in the diocese. Wilson, the diocese’s vicar general at the time, was sent to speak to parents at the school where the assault was alleged to have taken place. The principal told the media that Wilson’s response was to remove McAlindon from his position and to provide help for him. In fact, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), “McAlinden was … transferred to a remote parish in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Over the next decade he sexually assaulted five more girls under the age of 10”. In 1995, Wilson was again asked by Bishop Leo Clarke to deal with the case, requesting that he take statements from the alleged victims. Wilson took the statements and returned them to the bishop. The ABC reported that the statements were never provided to police and, instead, Clarke defrocked McAlinden, with the promise “that his ‘good name’ would be protected”. In a statement to ABC in 2010, Wilson said he told Clarke that McAlinden should have been confronted in 1985 and, that as far as he was aware, this had occurred. He denied involvement in McAlinden’s transfer to Western Australia or his defrocking.
Robert Stone, the magistrate who found Wilson guilty, had this to say about the Bishop’s crimes:
The likelihood of two young boys individually telling the accused [Wilson] of acts of sexual misconduct by another priest who the accused knows … are matters I am very confident would be remembered for a very long time. You have to ask why the accused did not do what he himself says he would do now [go to the police] in the same situation. The answer I believe relates to the accused having a sense of knowing what he was hearing was a creditable allegation. In addition, the accused wanted to protect the church and its image.
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 Pugh, the pastor of First Assembly of God in Phillipsburg, Kansas, pleaded guilty to indecent liberties with a child and sexual exploitation of a child. The court sentenced Pugh to thirty-two months in jail. Pugh resigned from First Assembly in May 2017.
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.
Cameron Giovanelli, the president of Golden State Baptist College — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution operated by Pastor Jack Trieber and North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, stands accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a church teenager when he was the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk, Maryland. As of the writing of this post, no criminal charges have been filed. Giovanelli’s name has been scrubbed from Golden State’s website.
On May 11, 2018, the victim, Sarah Jackson, posted the following on Facebook:
Stacey Shiflett, the current pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk, Maryland — the church Giovanellli pastored when he allegedly assaulted Jackson — released the following video:
There’s much about this video that irritates the living hell out of me, especially the fact that the pastor “investigated” instead of immediately calling law enforcement. If the allegations against Giovanelli are true, then he sexually assaulted a minor girl while he was in a position of authority over her. This action, in most states, is criminal. I also don’t like the fact that the pastor used the word “consensual” in describing the relationship between Giovanelli and the victim. Again, in most states, the relationship, legally, could not have been consensual. And the general IFB verbiage about ministry, loyalty, and the appeal to authority and personal experience, were, at least to me, unnecessary. I do give Shiflett credit for one thing: he was willing to publicly call out Cameron Giovanelli, Jack Trieber, and Golden State Baptist College. Kudos for speaking the truth and letting the shit land where it may. Shiflett says in public what many of us have known for years: the IFB church movement tends to cover-up criminal behavior out of fear of damaging their “testimony.” Here’s to hoping that the light that Shiflett turned on the IFB movement will lead to the exposure of other sexual predators who have been hiding in plain sight for years.
Update
I received an email from Pastor Shiflett about this post. He clarified his use of the word consensual and shared with me that his investigation was for his own peace of mind since Giovanelli was a friend and the former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. He made it very clear that if such things happen at his church to a minor, it is immediately reported to law enforcement. Shiflett, as you can imagine, has received a flood of emails, comments, etc. Most pastors would not do what he did, so he deserves a lot of credit for doing the right thing. That said, it should continue to trouble everyone that way too many pastors are either sexual predators/abusers or they go to great lengths to cover-up misconduct in their churches. Imagine how much better it might be for sexual abuse victims if their pastors not only listened to them but acted morally, ethically, decently, and responsibly on their behalf. Instead, abuse victims are often told to shut-up or are blamed for what happened. It is for this reason, that I continue to post Black Collar Crime stories, regardless of the threats and abuse hurled my way. Why? It’s the right thing to do. I know this blog has high traffic numbers, and leveraging this traffic to expose alleged sexual abuse seems, at least to me, to be something I can and must do. On this point, I stand with Pastor Shiflett.
Golden State Baptist College released the following statement:
It has come to our attention that allegations of inappropriate conduct have been made against Cameron Giovanelli, a member of our staff. Upon receipt of the notice of the allegations, we immediately placed him on administrative leave of all activities and responsibilities, to conduct a thorough and honest investigation. During the course of that investigation, Cameron Giovanelli tendered his resignation to the ministry and his resignation has been accepted. All responsibilities of any nature whatsoever, were permanently and immediately terminated with receipt of his resignation. There were no allegations of wrongdoing of any nature that involved the ministries of North Valley Baptist Church or Golden State Baptist College. Please keep our ministry, the Giovanelli family and all others involved in your prayers.
