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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Lonny Remmers Begins Serving One Year Prison Sentence for Fraud

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Lonny Remmers, pastor of Heart of Worship Community Church in Corona, California, reported to prison today to begin serving a year-and-a-day sentence for defrauding an Ohio developer.

Brian Rokos, a reporter for The Press Enterprise, reports:

His last-minute bid to remain free for a few more weeks denied, Corona pastor Lonny Remmers on Tuesday, Aug. 22, reported to prison in Lompoc to begin serving his year-and-a-day sentence for his role in swindling $2 million from an Ohio developer.

Remmers in August 2016 pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was ordered to pay $95,000 restitution. Two others made pleas as well.

The day before he was due to turn himself in to the federal prison, Remmers, 59, filed a motion to delay that, writing that he had to care for his wife, Lisa, who Remmers said was bedridden with shingles, severe bronchitis and vertigo.

“It would be a great help to his wife, and would put defendant Remmers at ease if he could stay at home and take care of her for the next two to three weeks before he has to report to Lompoc,” Remmers wrote in the federal filing.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick denied the request without comment.

Remmers, Robert Milam and Mark O. Wittenmyer solicited $2 million from an Ohio developer as seed money for an investment fund but instead used the money for their own purposes. They had promised Larry Dillin a substantial return on his investment and said the plan was backed by assets in a different, multi-million fund that actually had no assets.

Remmers is head of the Heart of Worship Community Church, which has about two dozen members, many of them recovering drug addicts or others who sought refuge with Remmers from their troubled lives.

….

Readers may remember Remmers from a 2012 story detailing his use of pliers to pinch the nipple of a teenage boy as punishment for sexually assaulting his sister. Rokos reported:

In his latest case, Remmers, pastor of a Corona church with 15-20 members, is accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy whose mother brought him to Remmers to be straightened out.

Remmers was charged in April with assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a child.

Authorities say that as head of the Heart of Worship Community Church, he directed two men living at one of the church’s group homes — Darryll D. Jeter Jr. and Nicholas J. Craig — to scare the boy.

Jeter, 28, and Craig, 22, both are charged with assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, making criminal threats, inflicting corporal injury on a child and assault. Authorities say that on March 18, the two men took the boy to Barstow, forced him to dig a grave, hit him with a shovel and threw dirt on him. Jeter and Craig returned the boy to Remmers, who then assaulted the boy’s nipples with pliers, authorities say.

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Remmers was sentenced to two-years in prison for his crime. And, as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, numerous Christians thought Remmers should have received a pat on the back, not prison, for “helping” the boy:

For one, people who had avoided speaking out during the case that began in March 2012 decided to speak publicly Friday, and they didn’t leave anything out as they tried to persuade Fields to give Remmers probation instead of prison.

The victim in the case and his mother – she moved in with Remmers after his arrest on charges that originally included kidnapping – spoke on the pastor’s behalf Friday.

The boy, now 16, said Remmers “is the best father I have ever known. He means the world to me. He doesn’t deserve any of this. He’s done more to help me in my life than anyone else I’ve ever known. I love this man.”

The boy’s mother, who is not being identified because it could identify the boy, spoke next. She said Remmers pleaded guilty so the boy wouldn’t have to testify about molesting his younger sister. But then she told the court what her son did to her daughter.

She said the incident should have been taken care of in “the family” and not involved police. Remmers taught her son that when it comes to rape, “No means no.”

She claimed that the plea deal was made because of a lack of evidence. Fields interrupted her, reminding her that Remmers voluntarily pleaded guilty.

“Respectfully, you seem to be ignoring that,” Fields said.

Remmers said he pleaded guilty to inflicting corporal injury on a child and assault with a deadly non-firearm weapon so the boy would not have to testify. But Remmers then made public for the first time a contention that the boy had been molested as a 3-year-old, being “passed around like a party favor.”

Remmers said the boy does not fear him.

“The day that this supposed incident went down, the young man came up to me and said ‘Grandpa, thank you for saving my life.’ Not ‘Why did you do this to me?’”

Several church members told Fields that Remmers’ counsel kept their marriages intact. Others said Remmers saved their lives, giving them hope and a place to live and be loved after they had been molested by various relatives or acquaintances. Others said that Remmers, who was ordained in the late 1990s – after serving a contempt of court sentence – is an outstanding pastor.

“I have never been closer to Jesus than I am now because of Pastor Lonny,” said Robert Guzeman, who said he has known Remmers 30 years. “I love you, Pastor.”

Church member Ryan Parks said he was a partier and drinker until he met Remmers, and that the pastor helped him with his marriage. “When I was introduced to the Lord by this man, everything changed for me.”

But two parents of church members said Remmers broke families apart and forbade parents from contacting their loved ones. Jim Forbes said he hadn’t seen his grandchildren for years until he walked past them in the court room.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor David Pugh Accused of 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.

David Pugh, pastor of First Assembly of God in Phillipsburg, Kansas has been charged with child sex crimes ranging from “indecent liberties with a child to sexual exploitation of a child.”

KCWH-12 reports:

A former Phillipsburg pastor is charged with child sex crimes.

Pastor David Pugh resigned from Phillipsburg’s First Assembly of God Church in May.

Prosecutors say the crimes for which he’s accused happened between November 2016 and March 2017. These charges range from indecent liberties with a child to sexual exploitation of a child.

We do not know if Pugh’s position as pastor had anything to do with what prosecutors say happened. Police arrested Pugh earlier this month. He has since bonded out of jail.

On Wednesday, Eyewitness News did get a hold of Pugh briefly over the phone. Pugh said he did not want to comment at this time

Black Collar Crime: Is there a Connection Between Sexual Abuse by Clergy and Drug Addiction?

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What follows is an excerpt from an article that suggests that being abused by clergy often leads to substance abuse and addiction. Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

Stephen Huba, a reporter for Trib Live, writes:

A group of Catholic lay people and clergy is calling on Greensburg Bishop Edward C. Malesic and other church hierarchs to acknowledge that the clergy sexual abuse scandal is feeding the opioid epidemic.

“He’s got to take some responsibility,” said Tom Venditti, founder of Faithful Catholics Against Pedophilia.

Venditti of Bolivar said he founded FCAP earlier this year to help victims of clergy sexual abuse and encourage them to stay in the Catholic Church.

….

Venditti said he wanted to address “Malesic’s failure to acknowledge clerical sexual abuse as a doorway to heroin abuse and death.”

“We’re here specifically because one of the things you’re not going to hear tonight … is that the majority of victims of clergy sexual abuse become addicts, whether it’s to alcohol or heroin or other hard drugs,” he said.

Venditti said he supports Malesic’s push to involve the Catholic Church in solutions to the opioid epidemic but that more is needed. He said bishops should call on priests accused of sexual abuse to repent and resign.

“These men are not going to get to heaven if they don’t repent,” he said.

Malesic did not respond to Venditti’s claims, but diocesan spokesman Jerry Zufelt said, “The diocese is doing everything it can to protect its children, young adults and vulnerable adults from the evils of abuse.”

About FCAP, Zufelt said, “We support anybody who is working to help abuse survivors.”

Venditti cited two recent cases — one involving a retired priest in the Diocese of Greensburg and one involving a priest in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown — as proof that the problem of clergy sexual abuse is still not being handled effectively.

He alleged that a recent overdose victim in Johnstown had been sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar accused of abusing students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown from 1992 to 2001. Three Franciscan superiors were indicted in 2016 in connection with the case.

Baker was found dead of apparent suicide at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg on Jan. 26, 2013, days after the announcement of a multimillion-dollar settlement with his accusers. He was first accused of sexual abuse in 1988, but his superiors never reported allegations to police.

“All of the victims of clergy sexual abuse that I’ve dealt with are either suicidal or addicted to drugs or alcohol — every single one of them,” Venditti said.

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Black Collar Crime: Pentecostal Pastor Jose Bernal Accused of Sexually Assaulting Children

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Jose Bernal, pastor of Tabernaculo De Vida Pentecostal Church in Fort Worth, Texas, stands accused of sexually abusing two girls.

The Star-Telegram reports:

Police arrested a man Wednesday on suspicion of sexually abusing two girls when he was a preacher at a Fort Worth church.

Hurst police reported that officers executed two felony arrest warrants on Jose Francisco Bernal, 52, at his residence in the 7200 block of Deville Drive in North Richland Hills. Bernal was in the Hurst Jail on Wednesday facing two counts of continuous sexual assault of a child. Bail was set at $50,000 for each charge, police said.

Two adult females made outcries of numerous sexual abuse incidents that occurred when they were both juveniles living in Hurst between 2007 and 2013, police said.

Investigators concluded that Bernal met the girls while he was their pastor at the Tabernaculo De Vida Pentecostal Church on West Dickson Street in Fort Worth.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor David Volmer Convicted of Sex Crimes and Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison

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David Volmer, pastor of ACTS Christian Church in Perth, Australia, pleaded guilty in 2015 to various sex crimes perpetrated against a 13-year-old girl.

In an August 10, 2015 story, Daniel Piotrowski, a reporter for the Daily Mail, wrote:

A teenage girl allegedly abused by a shocking paedophile ring of eight men including her own father was drugged with amyl nitrate and raped by an evangelical preacher.

David Volmer, 41, a married father of two and the South African-born pastor of the ACTS Christian Church in Perth, pleaded guilty to 12 charges relating to the 13-year-old girl’s abuse last month.

Among the offences were three counts each of sexually penetrating a child, indecently dealing with a child under 13 and indecently dealing with a child aged over 13 and under 16.

Court documents obtained by Daily Mail Australia show Mr Volmer also pleaded guilty to three counts of administering amyl nitrate – a ‘stupefying vapour’ – with intent to sexually penetrate and indecently deal with the girl.

….

The drug amyl nitrate is sometimes used a sex aid as it relaxes involuntary muscles, according to an Australian Drug Foundation fact sheet.

WA Police announced last month that seven other men, including the unnamed father, had been arrested as part of the ring, who face 503 charges in total.

Daily Mail Australia has also obtained a copy of a semi-autobiographical book Mr Volmer published in 2012, titled The God Standard: Breaking Through The Ordinary.

In the book, Mr Volmer doles out spiritual advice and reflects upon his own spiritual ‘journey’ and an ’emptiness… burning in the depths of my heart’.

He was candid about his marriage difficulties on his path to accepting his ‘God Standard’ and how his relationship with his wife, who he said he viewed at one point as a ‘Christian extremist’, in fact led him to God.

‘The standards she adopted from God meant that I would not be able to listen to the latest music because of its sexual references or its raunchy music videos.

‘Her standard (the God Standard) meant the men’s magazines I had with the semi-naked women on the cover would need to go.

‘It was clear to me that she had taken things way too far and was what I would label a “Christian extremist.

‘Our marriage went through severe difficulty, but my wife continued to pray for me for over five years.’

Mr Volmer said God used his wife as a ‘conduit’ to ‘open my eyes’ and he was terrified she was right – and feared Satan was ‘using’ his thoughts.

‘The void inside me grew bigger each day, and I continued to lash out at my wife.

‘Pride had grabbed such a hold on my life that I could not get myself to confess that what she had was better than what I had.

‘Even worse was that I was terrified of the consequences if she was right! To admit that she was right would mean to admit that I was on my way to hell.

‘Satan used that thought to keep me captured in fear, but the Holy Spirit continued to draw me closer and closer each day.’

In one passage, Mr Volmer also lamented that ‘in a world where sexual immorality has become a way of life through meaningless sexual encounters, homosexuality, and much more, the word of God has been completely abandoned.’

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In a November 5, 2015 article, Piotrowski wrote:

A court has heard horrific details of how a ‘deviant’ Christian pastor and father-of-two drugged and rubbed his genitals on a teenage girl as she laid naked, blindfolded and in tears on a bed – as her father is alleged to have watched on.

David Volmer, 41, from Perth’s northern suburbs, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to 12 offences against a minor including sexual penetration of a child, and stupefying with intent to commit an indictable offence.

In a statement of facts read by the prosecution and not disputed by Volmer, the West Australian District Court heard the pastor’s crimes against the girl – who was aged 12 and 13 at the time – occurred after the victim’s father replied to an advertisement Volmer put on Craiglist promoting his ‘sexual massage services’.

The prosecution said Volmer first met the father and his daughter at a park in Perth’s north in February of March 2014.

In admissions to police, Volmer said as soon as he saw the victim he knew in his heart she was younger than 16, despite the father’s assurances to the contrary.

The court heard days later, Volmer booked a hotel room in the Perth CBD, which both the victim and her father attended.

Volmer and the girl stripped naked and he indecently dealt and assaulted her, rubbing his naked body and genitals against her, according to the prosecution.

When the victim started to cry, Volmer stopped what he was doing and the girl was chastised by her father, the court heard.

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n February 2015, Volmer contacted the father again using the messaging app Kik, the court heard.

He came to the father’s home and fondled the victim as she lay blindfolded to the bed in the home’s master bedroom, before progressing to further sex acts.

Weeks later, he attended the home again, with her father sitting in the corner with a blindfold on. He twice sexually penetrated the girl, the court heard.

On all three occasions, Volmer drugged the girl with amyl nitrate, a drug commonly used as a sex aid which he obtained from a sex shop.

The victim told child protection officers in April 2015 the substance, which she was made to sniff out of a brown bottle, left her feeling ‘woozy and lightheaded’.

After the last incident, Volmer felt guilty and told the victim’s father they should hand themselves in to police, the court heard.

The prosecution said the victim’s father told Volmer he was ‘making a fuss about nothing’.

The priest, then a pastor at the ACTS Christian Church in Carramar and chief executive of Prison Fellowship Western Australia, broke off all contact.

He made full admissions to the offences when he was interviewed by police on June 18 and pleaded guilty to all charges shortly afterwards.

Defence counsel Nick Scerri said Volmer had tried to find the words to say sorry, but felt they were ’empty and powerless’ and could not undo what he did.

‘He wants to say it (sorry) over and over again, shout it from the rooftops,’ he told reporters outside court.

Mr Scerri said Volmer accepted the consequences and hoped the community would forgive him one day.

Judge Herron said it must have been a ‘frustrating and distressing’ experience for the ‘vulnerable and defenceless’ girl.

He added that the ‘degrading and humiliating’ acts were committed for Volmer’s own sexual gratification.

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Black Collar Crime; Evangelical Nikolay Kalka Says I’m a Pastor, I Would Never Sexually Molest a Child

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nikolay kalka

Nikolay Kalka, a Pentecostal pastor, is on trial for sexually assaulting a girl in a swimming pool.

Cory Shaffer, a reporter for Cleveland.com, reports:

75-year-old Ukrainian-born pastor testified Tuesday that he did not grope a 10-year-old girl and hold her head under water at the Middleburg Heights Recreation Center pool.

Nikolay Kalka, of Parma Heights, carried his oxygen mask and tank to the stand and told jurors through a translator that the girl and her friend splashed him, so he grabbed her and held her head beneath the stream of a gushing fountain for nearly a full minute to teach the pair a lesson.

“I was doing it out of love because I wanted to show them what it was like to splash at people,” Kalka said through the translator.

He did not, he insisted, grope the girl.

“It couldn’t have even come to my mind to do such a thing,” he said. “I live my life a certain way. I’ve been a pastor.”

Prosecutors on Tuesday presented their entire case against Kalka, who faces more than a decade in prison if he is convicted of gross sexual imposition and kidnapping charges that say he touched the girl with a sexual motivation.

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The girl and her friend, who each have turned 11 since the March 11 incident, testified that Kalka grabbed and squeezed the girl’s breast and vagina as she struggled to free herself from his grasp.

Grainy surveillance video of the incident showed the encounter, and that the friend grabbed the girl’s arm and tried to pull her free as Kalka continued to hold onto her.

“I was feeling really uncomfortable and unsafe, and really scared,” the girl told jurors after she broke down in tears earlier on the stand.

Kalka’s version of the story — that he had been fed up with the girls splashing him and his denial that he ever touched the girl’s vagina and breast — seemed to contradict his lawyer’s theory in opening statements.

Marein told jurors Tuesday morning that Kalka “probably did” touch the girl’s private parts. The video, which Marein said “speaks for itself,” clearly shows Kalka grabbing the girl and her struggling to get away. But Marein painted the encounter as “horseplay.”

“Could it have happened? Of course it could have,” Marein said. “Am I hear to say that she is a liar? No. I’m here to suggest to you that this was done without any sexual purpose whatsoever, that this was blown incredibly out of proportion and that this is completely inconsistent with the life that this man has led.”

Kalka, a Pentecostal pastor in his home country, came to the U.S. in 1990 to escape religious persecution under the Communist regime of the Soviet Union. He formed a small neighborhood church after settling in Cleveland.

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But Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Jennifer Driscoll repeatedly pointed to the video, which showed that the girls swam up to him and splashed him in the pool’s whirlpool section. He splashed them back.

The girls later approached Kalka near a fountain in the kiddie pool and start splashing him again. The lifeguard on duty that day, Nathaniel French, testified that the girls looked happy and he thought they were horsing around with Kalka, who he thought may have been their grandfather.

Then Kalka grabbed the girl.

He forced her head under the stream of the fountain. He held her there for nearly a minute. The friend, after failing to rip the girl free, went to summon French.

Kafka let the girl go, walked into the pool’s steam room and sauna, then to the locker room before a police officer at the rec center arrested him.

…..

Driscoll hammered Kalka on cross-examination. She asked if he felt her trying to get away.

“Yes, I could tell she was trying to get away, but I wanted her to get wet from the fountain,” Kalka said through the translator.

Driscoll, in a raised voice, asked if he would approve of a strange man grabbing his grandchild and holding them underwater against their will. When Kalka said he treated the girls as his own grandchildren, Driscoll asked if he ever held his own children against their will and groped them.

“Children when they see me, they just run to me,” a clearly flustered Kalka said.

Driscoll pointed out the girls were trying to run from him, not to him.

“No, they weren’t running away from me,” he replied. “I love them, they love me. And the little ones just run all over me and I have to listen to what they want.”

Update

Cleveland.com reports:

A Ukranian-born pastor who faced a potential life sentence for groping a 10-year-old girl at the Middleburg Heights Recreation Center pool this summer was instead sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday.

Dozens of 75-year-old Nikolay Kalka’s friends and family wailed after Judge Kathleen Ann Sutula sent the ailing man to prison for five years, and exchanged words with the judge over the sobs of Kalka’s wife and children.

“Twelve jurors found him guilty, not this court,” Sutula replied. “Watch the video. God saw.”

Kalka faced a potential mandatory life sentence with his first shot at parole in 10 years after a jury found him guilty last month of kidnapping the child with sexual motivation at the pool on May 11.

But Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley’s office asked Judge Kathleen Ann Sutula to sentence him instead on two counts of gross sexual imposition, which carried a maximum of five years in prison each.

Sutula ran the counts concurrent to one another, “only out of mercy, not because I don’t think you deserve the full 10 years,” she said.

Kalka will also have to register as a sex offender every six months for the next 25 years.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor David Thorne Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes

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David Thorne, youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Picayune, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Monday to “one count of sexual battery and one count of touching a child for lustful purposes.”

The Sun Herald reports:

A former pastor at a Pearl River County church is facing jail time after pleading guilty to two sex crime charges in Hancock County.

The Sea Coast Echo reports that David Matthew Thorne, 35, of Picayune, on Monday pleaded guilty in Hancock County Circuit Court to one count of sexual battery and one count of touching a child for lustful purposes. He will be sentenced Sept. 25.

Thorne was arrested in March 2016 for molesting a 15-year-old girl in a church van while he was the youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Picayune.

He was also arrested on a charge of sexual battery, his third sex crime charge, in Pearl River County less than 24 hours after his arrest in Hancock County. The alleged crimes came under investigation after the child’s parents notified law enforcement officials.

Hancock County sheriff’s Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan told the Sun Herald the child was first abused Jan. 31, 2016, in Hancock County.

Thorne was relieved of his duties at Goodyear Baptist Church after his arrest.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor James Harris Convicted of Sex Crimes

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James Harris, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Belle Glade, Florida, was convicted in 2012 of “felony sex crimes involving a 15-year-old boy.”

The Wisconsin Gazette reported:

An evangelical Christian pastor tried to commit suicide in a Florida courtroom moments after a jury found him guilty of felony sex crimes involving a 15-year-old boy.

The Rev. James Harris, 64, formerly the pastor of Belle Glade’s Second Baptist Church, stuffed several pills in his mouth and tried to swallow them before West Palm Beach courtroom deputies pounced on him and ordered him to spit them out. Deputies called West Palm Beach Fire Rescue who removed Harris from the courtroom handcuffed to a gurney, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Harris had sat emotion-less through a three-day trial leading up to the verdict, according to reporters. He faces up to 80 years in prison.

Prosecutors charged Harris with luring his victim by claiming to have professional contacts who could help the boy realize his dream of playing in the NFL. The victim testified that Harris had performed sex acts with him on two occasions.

Prosecutors played a video that Harris made of his victim masturbating according to his directions while watching a porn movie. They played also played a video showing the boy having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend.

Harris was previously arrested in March 2009 for aggravated assault after attacking a woman with a baseball bat at the Belle Glade Elks Club.

Harris is being held on suicide watch at the Palm Beach County jail pending his Oct. 5 sentencing hearing.

Georgia Newsday reported:

When a disgraced ex-pastor swallowed suspicious-looking white pills in court after he was found guilty of sex crimes against juveniles, a shocked courtroom assumed it was a suicide attempt.

But a toxicology report revealed yesterday that those tablets were, in fact, breath mints.

Rev. James Richard Harris, of Belle Glade, Florida, was placed on suicide watch after a jury convicted him of molesting a 15-year-old boy and videotaping several teens having sex.

The 64-year-old was accused of trapping his young victims by abusing his connection to Glades Central High School’s football program.

He was found guilty of performing two sex acts on a 15-year-old boy he had lured with promises of introductions to football scouts and trainers to further the teen’s chances of NFL stardom.

He videotaped the teen masturbating while a pornographic movie played in the background, according to the Sun Sentinel.

The 64-year-old was also found guilty of filming an unwitting 14-year-old girl and her 16-year-old boyfriend, who is described as Harris’ godson, having sex at his house, according to the Palm Beach Post.

The two victims sat in court last week as the disturbing videos were played in front of a jury

But as a judge told Harris he would be imprisoned until his sentencing on October 5, he grabbed a glass of water on the defense table and attempted to down some pills.

Deputies rushed towards him and tackled him to the ground, shouting: ‘Spit it out! Spit it out!’ according to the Post.

‘Oh, my God, it’s cyanide,’ others whispered.

Harris was escorted out of the courtroom, handcuffed to a stretcher, looking barely conscious, and was placed on suicide watch at the Palm Beach County jail.

He had refused to tell paramedics what he had downed but alleged he would be dead by nightfall.

But, in a bizarre twist, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office toxicology report revealed yesterday that Harris had merely swallowed mints, according to wptv.com.

‘Yes, mints,’ prosecutor Chrichet Mixon told the channel. ‘My initial reaction was the same as the one I had at the time this happened: Nothing this man does surprises me.

‘It just goes to show that he always has an ulterior motive,’ she added. ‘He clearly had an ulterior motive when he befriended those children, and he had a motive for doing what he did in the courtroom.’

….

The Sun Sentinel reported:

Once a respected Belle Glade pastor and civic leader, James Harris may spend the rest of his life in a jail cell.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John S. Kastrenakes on Tuesday said he sentenced Harris, 65, to 30 years in prison for his convictions on six felony sex crimes.

Last week’s sentencing brings closure to the case of a predator whose “insatiable desire for teenage boys” threatened the community for at least a decade, say prosecutors who had urged the maximum sentence of 80 years.

“He was a reverend, a politician, and a supporter of teenage boys having the dream to play professional football,” Assistant State Attorney Chrichet B. Mixon wrote in a memo to the court before Friday’s hearing. “However, Harris’ most suitable title is that of a master manipulator.”

The prosecution involved Harris’ encounters with a 15-year-old boy in 2008 and 2009. He lured the victim, an athlete, with claims of professional contacts such as trainers who could help the boy achieve his dreams of playing in the National Football League.

During the trial in August, the victim testified that Harris performed sex acts on him on two occasions, and took videos. The jury watched two videos: one showed the boy masturbating under Harris’ direction as a porn movie played in the background; the other showed the boy having sex with his girlfriend, 14, who did not initially realize Harris was recording them.

Defense attorney Christopher Haddad argued there was a lack of evidence of Harris’ crimes, aside from the victim’s testimony and deposition, which he called contradictory.

But a jury convicted Harris on all charges: lewd or lascivious battery; unlawful sexual activity with a minor; lewd or lascivious conduct; two counts of promoting sexual performance by a child; and showing obscene material to a minor.

In urging a prison term closer to the 17-year minimum, Haddad said Harris “tried to use his life as a positive force for change and to improve the lives of those around him.”

Harris emerged from a childhood of poverty in Belle Glade, achieved higher education, assumed leadership of a ministry, and became outspoken “against segregation, discrimination and economic inequality,” Haddad wrote in a memo to the judge.

“Although charges involving sexual conduct are very serious, Mr. Harris should not be judged solely upon the misdeeds of this case but by the entirety of his life experience,” Haddad wrote.

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Daniel Hoffman Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Boy

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Daniel Hoffman, formerly a youth pastor at Alive Ministries in Jenison, Michigan and a former employee of Jenison Public Schools, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Wood-8 reports:

A former youth pastor has admitted to sexually abusing a young boy in Jenison a decade ago.

Daniel Hoffman, 31, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Authorities say Hoffman was being treated at a Zeeland hospital for a “psychotic break” last autumn when he told a nurse about the abuse. The victim, who used to be neighbors with Hoffman and is now an adult, confirmed to detectives that it happened between 2003 and 2008.

Since the period when the abused happened, Hoffman has worked at Jenison Public Schools and as a youth minister.

….

In May 2017, Hoffman was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Wood-8 reports:

An Ottawa County man is facing charges more than 10 years after police say he sexually abused a young boy.

24 Hour News 8 has learned that in the time since the alleged abuse, the suspect has held a number of jobs involving children.

Daniel Hoffman, now 31, is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Court records from March — when an arrest warrant was issued — show the alleged abuse happened over the course of several years from 2003 to 2008. A police sergeant who testified in court in March said the suspect and the victim were neighbors in Jenison.

Before that, in January, an Ottawa County sheriff’s detective wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant that Hoffman was being treated at a Zeeland hospital for a “psychotic break” in October 2016 when he told a nurse that he had inappropriately touched the victim when the boy was 6 years old. Hoffman would have been 17 or 18 at the time.

The detective interviewed the alleged victim, now an adult, who said that from the age of 5 or 6 until he was 10 to 12 years old, Hoffman repeatedly fondled him. The alleged victim said it happened at Hoffman’s house, in his camper and at Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya in Shelby, where Hoffman was a counselor and the boy was a camper.

The alleged victim’s family chose not to talk to 24 Hour News 8 on camera Tuesday, but said the alleged victim has suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide in the years since the alleged abuse. The family released a statement saying that the suspect “has been involved with so many young people that there are possibly more victims.”

The family said they “want parents and children to know that there are people out there like this, more than we think, and they are devious. If you suspect that your child has been abused look for the signs of mood swings, depression, nausea in the morning and a reluctance to be part of society… even with months of therapy our son was reluctant to say anything because this individual had groomed him to think it was OK until going through maturity realizing it was not. There isn’t anything wrong with bringing this to people’s attention. There is help out there and in our case our son has a huge support system that is helping him, but he has been permanently affected by this and his youth was taken away from him. Don’t let people like this destroy your life talk to someone and above all if it does not feel right say no.”

Court records show Hoffman was a paraprofessional at Jenison Public Schools and also a youth minister, most recently at Alive Ministries in Jenison, 24 Hour News 8 learned. Court records show both of those positions have since been terminated. The lead pastor at Alive Ministries said Hoffman was asked to resign in August.

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Update

Wood-8 reports:

A former youth pastor who admitted to sexually abusing a young boy in Jenison a decade ago is headed to a state prison.

In Ottawa County Circuit Court Monday, Daniel Hoffman was sentenced to between 3.5 and 15 years in prison. He received credit for 36 days served.

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Black Collar Crime: Pastor George Bradburn Guilty of Repeatedly Molesting Boy

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george bradburn

George Bradburn, pastor of Queen City Christian Church in Queen City, Missouri, pleaded guilty yesterday to “fourteen counts of committing sodomy in the first degree and deviant sexual intercourse with a person less than 14-years-old.”

Echo Menges, a reporter for nemonews.net reports:

According to court documents, just over one year ago, a young man, formerly of Queen City, MO, told investigators about being sexually abused throughout his childhood by his former pastor, George Charles Bradburn, 69.

Bradburn befriended the boy at age nine, who commonly spent time at the church assisting in various duties such as cleaning or helping out. When the child was 12-years-old, Bradburn began molesting him, which is stated in the Probable Cause Statement filed in the case.

According to the court documents, the molestation began in 2003 and lasted for six years until 2008 when the victim was 18-years-old.

The documents also state, Bradburn went out of his way to stay in contact with the child. After the child moved away from the area, Bradburn maintained contact with the family, often picking up the child for visits, bringing him back to Queen City and continuing to molest him.

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On Friday morning, August 11, 2017, Bradburn pled guilty to committing the ultimate betrayal in a plea deal made with the Schuyler County Prosecutor’s Office.

Bradburn has pleaded guilty to two of the 14 felony counts of committing sodomy in the first degree, deviant sexual intercourse with a person less than 14-years-old.

 

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Last year, KTVO reported:

A northeast Missouri minister is charged with a sex crime against an underage boy.

Pastor George Bradburn, 68, of Queen City Christian Church is charged with one count of first-degree statutory sodomy.

Schuyler County Sheriff Joe Wuebker said his office arrested Bradburn at his Queen City home on Tuesday.

The arrest comes after a two-month investigation.

Wuebker originally received a tip from the Kirksville Police Department on April 12, 2016, after the incident was reported to that department.

After speaking with the alleged victim, Wuebker determined, due to particular circumstances with this case, the investigation would be turned over to the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team (STAT).

Brian Bailey with the STAT conducted an interview with the victim on May 3, 2016, regarding the sexual abuse allegation. The victim stated when he was a juvenile, he and his family came to know Bradburn as the pastor of a local church.

The victim then stated at approximately age 9 he began spending time at the church assisting in various duties such as cleaning or helping out, when he and Bradburn became good friends.

The victim described when he was approximately age 12, Bradburn began touching his private parts, both over and under the clothing, with his hands.

The teen recalled this happening “several times per week” until the age of approximately 15, at which time the boy went to live in another part of Missouri.

The victim then stated Bradburn would come pick him up once per month and bring him back to Queen City for visits, at which time victim reported the encounters continued by Bradburn. This cycle continued until the victim turned 18.

The teen reported the incidents normally occurred in the pastor’s home. The victim also stated Bradburn told him not to tell anyone or both he and Bradburn would get in trouble.

On June 14, 2016, Bailey conducted an interview with Bradburn. During this interview, the sheriff’s office says the minister admitted to fondling the victim beginning when the boy was approximately 13 years old.

Investigators say Bradburn admitted to sexual acts with the victim approximately 50 times from the age of 13 until he was 18 years old.

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Update

The Edina Sentinel reports:

The mood in the courtroom in the Knox County Courthouse was stoic as Second Circuit Presiding Judge Russell E. Steele sentenced former Pastor George C. Bradburn, 69, of Queen City, MO, to serve two ten-year terms to run consecutively in prison for molesting a Schuyler County child and parishioner of the Queen City Christian Church, where Bradburn was the Minister.

Bradburn wore a bullet proof vest over his orange jail issued jumpsuit during the sentencing hearing, which was moved to Knox County on a change of venue, and set before Judge Steele on a change of judge from Schuyler County.

Also, there was an increase in the number of law enforcement officers at the courthouse during the hearing. Three to four officers were posted inside the courtroom during court, including one posted directly inside and one posted directly outside the main entrance to the courtroom.

During the court proceeding, the mother of the victim was allowed to read a statement to the court and address Bradburn despite objection from Bradburn’s attorney, Jennifer Richardson.

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The victim’s mother told the court what it was like for her family during the years then Pastor Bradburn was molesting her young son from an early age to adulthood, how the child exhibited exceedingly troubled behavior as his visits with Bradburn persisted and built up to two or three times per week. She was emotional when she told the court her child did not want to go with Bradburn, but she insisted. She thought Bradburn was trying to help her son.

Bradburn also addressed the court prior to being sentenced. He unfolded a piece of paper and read from it for some of his statement. Bradburn eyes left the paper and he looked into the gallery where the victim and his family were seated.

“There are not enough words to express how sorry I am,” said Bradburn. “Yes, it does haunt me and it forever will haunt me.”

Bradburn talked directly to the victim several times while addressing the court and, besides asking for forgiveness, Bradburn asked the victim to “remember the good times we shared” and to remember a talk they had had, when the victim was a child. At several points during Bradburn’s address he seemed to be preaching to the victim and the victim’s family.

The victim’s mother told Bradburn, during her statement, forgiveness would not be given by her family.

“George Bradburn, you are lower than a snake,” said the victim’s mother. “One family was in the church and left, they tried to get you in trouble for what you did to their child. The people in the church (were) convinced by you that it didn’t happen – including me. I had to go to this family and beg them to forgive me for not believing them and tell them it happened to (my son) too. I pray that you think of all the children you have harmed and all the issues you have caused them. George, I often wonder why you moved to Queen City, Missouri, where you didn’t know anyone. Why did you leave Cherryville, Kansas? What were you running from?”

Richardson pressured the Judge to allow Bradburn to serve probation for his crimes or to reduce the agreed upon sentences from ten years to five years on each charge he pleaded guilty to, two felony counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree, which were reduced from 14 counts in exchange for Bradburn’s guilty pleas.

“George did a lot of good in the community,” argued Richardson. “He counseled a lot of children.”

Richardson argued Bradburn was not a threat to the community, which was rebutted by Gravett.

“This is a case where a minister took advantage of his position and molested a child,” argued Gravett. “He told law enforcement he’s always had a fascination with young children, and it’s something he’s struggled with all his life.”

The prosecutor went on to explain Bradburn previously positioned himself to be involved in children’s activities including being an announcer at school basketball and football games.

Bradburn was asked if there were other victims as he was being brought out of the courthouse by Schuyler County Sheriff Joe Wuebker. He did not respond to the question.

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