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.
Benjamin Roberts worked for several church-sponsored childcare facilities in Abilene, Texas. He was arrested in 2018 on child sex crime and child pornography charges. Law enforcement focused on Wylie Baptist Church Child Development Center.
An Abilene man with a history of working with kids has been arrested on child sex crime and child porn charges.
Benjamin Russell Roberts, 24, is charged with indecency with a child and possession of child pornography. His bond was set at $150,000 on each charge.
Roberts was arrested Wednesday after police served a warrant in a north Abilene home. Roberts “admitted to and was found to be in possession of child pornography,” according to the arrest report.
Abilene police said they had info that an unknown person downloaded child pornography from July 19 through Sept. 26, 2017. The investigation began on Feb 27.
On Wednesday, the cyber crimes division was able to identify Roberts as the person who was downloading child porn at his residence. Police said he lived at a community outreach home.
Police seized several devices — a Dell laptop, two iPhone 4s, a Samsung Galaxy, Sony USB — which contained child pornography. They also found “one pair of children’s underwear,” said Sgt. Lynn Beard. No children lived at the home.
Beard said Roberts admitted “to inappropriately touching a child under 12 years old last year.”
According to police, Roberts has worked at least three places where he was in contact with children, including the Wylie Baptist Church’s Child Development Center, Southern Hills Church of Christ daycare and the Beltway Park Church youth program.
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Beard said each of the entities was “completely shocked” when they told them. He said one of them described Roberts as one of their best teachers.
The director of the child development center at Wylie Baptist Church has been fired.
The director’s dismissal comes in the wake of the arrest of a 24-year-old Abilene man on child sex crime charges. Before being taken into custody last week, Benjamin Russell Roberts had previously worked at Wylie Baptist Church’s Child Development Center and youth programs associated with at least two other Abilene churches.
Wylie Baptist Church’s Senior Pastor Mike Harkrider issued a statement Wednesday.
“As you all know Wylie Baptist Child Development Center has been working closely with the Abilene Police Department and the Department of Family and Protective Services in regards to the Benjamin Roberts investigation. At this point in the investigation, the acting director of the Wylie Baptist Child Development Center, has been released from her position as per the Department of Family and Protective Services. The investigation is still ongoing and this is all we know at this time. We are in heartfelt prayer for all of those involved in this difficult situation — Wylie Baptist Church CDC Board of Directors”
When asked the name of Wylie Baptist CDC director, Harkrider said, “The information given on the previous email is all that we can give at this time.”
A south Abilene church daycare involved in a child sex crime investigation has been cited 19 times by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services since March of 2016.
Abilene Police Chief Stan Standridge said that they have been working closely with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services during this investigation.
On the DFPS website, it states that the Wylie Baptist CDC was cited 19 times for deficiencies during inspections, with risk levels ranging from medium to high.
Three of the citations involved supervision of children and had a high risk level.
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Police also said on Wednesday that the director was fired and could face charges. Wylie Baptist CDC was cited March 9, 2016 after “it was determined that the director is not routinely present at the operation,” according to DFPS.
Roberts, who did not have a previous criminal record, had passed a background check, but the child care center was twice cited, April 28, 2016 and August 10, 2016, for not updating background checks on its employees.
After police reviewed surveillance footage at Wylie Baptist Church and spoke with concerned parents, they discovered six of his victims.
There are a total of eight confirmed victims, according to police, and the crimes that Roberts is accused of include indecency with a child and “two or more acts of sexual abuse against children younger than 14.”
A mother reported to police that she found her child in the bathroom with Roberts, and while Roberts reportedly denied any sexual contact, the child told his mother that Roberts kissed him on the mouth and on other parts of his body.
On April 4, the child was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center, where he also told authorities what Roberts had done to him.
Another child was interviewed at the CAC and told police that “Mr. Ben” would “tickle his tummy and rub his back.”
The child also reported that Roberts touched his private area at least two times.
A mother of one of the children in Roberts’ room at the daycare reported that she observed her child sitting on Roberts’ lap on three occasions and that she felt it was “inappropriate.” During a forensic interview, the child reported that Roberts would “slide his hands up her legs when he picked her up.” The child also reported that he would tickle her “belly and feet.” The child also reported that when she was in the playground, she ran up to Roberts and he touched her chest and then “said he was sorry.”
In surveillance footage captured between September and December of 2017, police discovered more evidence of Roberts inappropriately touching victims at Wylie Baptist Church CDC.
In March 2019, Roberts was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison,
Benjamin Roberts was sentenced March 1 to 20 years in prison by a federal court, Abilene police said in a news release Friday.
He was charged at the federal level with child pornography and still faces state charges for continuous sexual abuse of a child and second degree felony indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Roberts was a worker at Wylie Baptist Church’s Child Development Center when he was accused of indecency with a child and possession of child pornography, according to Reporter-News archives.
Abilene detectives began investigating Roberts in February 2018 after serving a search warrant on a residence in the 400 block of Cockerell Drive in northeast Abilene, where a resident was downloading child pornography, police said Friday.
Roberts was arrested March 28 on charges of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony, and indecency with a child, a second-degree felony.
In addition, a Taylor County grand jury in June indicted him on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
In August, police said the local charge of possession of child pornography had been dropped.
….
Roberts, who had been working at Wylie Baptist Church Child Development Center for two years, previously was employed at a daycare at Southern Hills Church of Christ and with youth programs at Beltway Park Church.
Last year, police said Roberts had at least five different victims, all under the age of 14.
Police said they reviewed surveillance footage from the Wylie child care center.
In the footage, court documents said, Roberts acted inappropriately with children, including forcing them to straddle him, tickling them until they squirmed and touching them in inappropriate places.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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 2018, Benjamin Roberts, a childcare worker at Wylie Baptist Church Child Development Center in Abilene, Texas was arrested on child sex crime and child pornography charges. He was also charged with the continuous abuse of children. Later, an arrest warrant was issued for Amanda McKee, the director of Child Development Center. She was charged with failing to report the alleged crimes committed by Roberts.
Roberts was later convicted on federal child pornography charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Benjamin Roberts was sentenced March 1 to 20 years in prison by a federal court, Abilene police said in a news release Friday.
He was charged at the federal level with child pornography and still faces state charges for continuous sexual abuse of a child and second degree felony indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Roberts was a worker at Wylie Baptist Church’s Child Development Center when he was accused of indecency with a child and possession of child pornography, according to Reporter-News archives.
Abilene detectives began investigating Roberts in February 2018 after serving a search warrant on a residence in the 400 block of Cockerell Drive in northeast Abilene, where a resident was downloading child pornography, police said Friday.
Roberts was arrested March 28 on charges of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony, and indecency with a child, a second-degree felony.
In addition, a Taylor County grand jury in June indicted him on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
In August, police said the local charge of possession of child pornography had been dropped.
Roberts was released Aug. 22 from the Taylor County Jail after his bond was reduced to $50,000 each on the two remaining local counts.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation “picked up the charges and arrested (him)” days later on federal charges, police said.
Roberts’ re-arrest was a collaborative effort between Taylor County, the Abilene Police Department and the FBI.
Amanda McKee, director of the center at the time of Roberts’ employment, was arrested in May on charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.
Police said there had been complaints by parents and staff to McKee regarding Roberts.
Roberts, who had been working at Wylie Baptist Church Child Development Center for two years, previously was employed at a daycare at Southern Hills Church of Christ and with youth programs at Beltway Park Church.
Last year, police said Roberts had at least five different victims, all under the age of 14.
An Abilene day care manager accused of not reporting allegations of inappropriate behavior by an employee now charged with multiple child sex crimes testified during her trial Wednesday.
Amanda McKee, who served as manager of the Wylie Baptist Church Early Childhood Development Center, addressed a packed courtroom, saying “it wasn’t may job to watch a screen all day”, and that’s why she overlooked a lot of worker Benjamin Roberts’ behavior that employees and parents say was ‘strange’.
Surveillance videos played during Day 1 of McKee’s trial for Misdemeanor Failure to Report showed several instances of 26-year-old Roberts putting children on his lap while bouncing and kissing them.
One video showed him chest to chest with a child on his lap and another showed him standing in front of a different child, who was standing with his face close to Roberts’ lower body during a ‘lice check’.
McKee says she did see children in Roberts’ lap, but it was “not like that”, so she didn’t feel compelled to look into the allegations of inappropriate behavior multiple parents and employees say they reported to her.
Reports including allegations that Roberts would following young children into the bathroom and that he would have an erection while they sat in his lap.
When asked why she didn’t report the allegations, McKee began crying, saying that if people had come forward to her with information like this, she would have done something about it.
The parents and employees who say they reported to McKee also testified and maintained they did tell McKee they were suspicious with how Roberts interacted with the children.
A total of 20 children were forensically interviewed in connection to Roberts and investigators believe he had sexual contact with at least 8.
McKee was convicted and sentenced to probation, community service, and a fine.
A former Abilene daycare worker accused of not reporting allegations of inappropriate behavior by one of her employees was found guilty on Wednesday.
Amanda McKee, who served as manager of the Wylie Baptist Church Early Childhood Development Center, heard the verdict just after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
She was sentenced by the judge to 1 year probation, 24 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine plus court costs. The punishment is per a prearranged agreement between the defense and prosecution in the event a guilty verdict was reached.
She testified on Wednesday, saying “it wasn’t may job to watch a screen all day,” and that’s why she overlooked a lot of worker Benjamin Roberts’ behavior that employees and parents say was “strange.”
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Rarely do I have contact with anyone I knew from my campus Christian fellowship or Evangelical church. But when I do it is, to say the least, interesting.
In an earlier post, I talked about “Ivette” who, after many years, told me about something I’d long suspected: a deacon in the church raped her. Not long ago, someone else from that church, and the Christian fellowship, got in touch with me after reading something I’d written elsewhere.
“Marcus” was a kind of role model for me. Or so I wished. A few years older than I, he entered our college and Christian fellowship after serving in the Navy. He was following a family tradition, he explained. Also, being eligible for the draft, he calculated — correctly — that his enlistment and qualification for an in-demand specialty kept him from being tossed like an ember into the cauldron of Vietnam.
That wasn’t the reason I looked up to him, though. I never doubted his commitment to the Lord. He seemed to be an embodiment of something I hoped to be possible: a devotion to the intellect and the creative spirit that was entirely compatible with a love of Christ, and fellow humans.
We were in the same major, with specialties that overlapped, so we took a few classes together. Inside and outside of those classes, we debated whether John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” (before it was turned into a musical) were actually forms of Christian “witness.” (I have to admit that part of my admiration for “Marcus” was that he read “Les Miserables” in the original French without—as I did—reading a translation first.) Naturally, since he was a bit older and thus having had life experiences most of my peers lacked, those discussions were, I felt, more interesting than the usual college bull sessions.
Much later, it occurred to me that we were having such discussions out of earshot of other fellowship and church members. Likewise for our discussions about topics like gays and women’s rights (we were in the ’70s, after all!) and abortion. While I echoed the zealotry of my peers and the rigidity of fellow congregants, I think he knew that, deep down, I didn’t thoroughly agree with them.
By now, you might have guessed that he realized I was struggling to reconcile my own sexuality and gender identity with my faith. To my knowledge, he didn’t have a similar conflict but, I suspect, his experiences—including those in uniform — brought him into contact with a wider variety of people than most people in my college, at that time, would have known.
We graduated, went our ways, came back (I, for a short-lived stint in graduate school), and went our ways again. A couple of years after moving back to New York, I bumped into “Marcus” near St. Mark’s Place where — you guessed it — I’d gone to a poetry reading and had drinks with a couple of friends.
This was not long after Ronald Reagan brought himself to utter “AIDS” publicly. “Marcus” and his wife were helping its victims and the homeless (the term in use at the time) through a faith-based organization, I forget which. Anyway, he said that he had to get away from the “Comfort-ianity” of our old church and others he’d attended. Neither he nor his wife tried to bring me “into the fold” or questioned whether I was living a “godly lifestyle.” Instead, they told me to keep on reading — the Bible and anything else — and to “ask questions and pray.”
Had I continued to believe, that last phrase could have been my mantra. But now, as a non-believer, I believe that the first part — ask questions — is one of the essences of life itself. As I suspect, it was and is for “Marcus” and “Leilani.”
That, most likely, is what led to another event in their lives. In one of his last letters (remember those?) before our recent reunion, he mentioned a son who’d been born to them. He would’ve been a college student or, perhaps, a sailor (like his dad). Note that I said “would’ve”: He didn’t make it to one of those hallmarks of adulthood, or even his high school graduation. For that matter, he didn’t attend high school, or much of any school in the sense that most of us know it. Much like my cousin who passed away three years ago, he never learned to speak, walk without assistance, or do most of the things we do without thinking.
As you might expect, they — who were still believers — heard the usual Christian platitudes about God’s “will” and his unwillingness to “put you through anything he won’t help you through.” Few who haven’t been through the trials of raising someone with severe developmental disabilities can understand how condescending or simply insulting such declarations can sound even to someone who believes them. Not to mention that like “thoughts and prayers” for them (or victims of gun violence), they do nothing to help alleviate the suffering or offer strength to carry on.
But even that wasn’t enough to shake “Marcus’” or “Leilani’s” faith. Rather, it was a question “Marcus” tried to answer through his extensive reading of the Bible, as well as various theologians and apologists. His and his wife’s faith was premised on “accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” and gleaning the will of said Lord through prayer and Bible reading. Their son, of course, could do none of those things. So, they wondered, would he join them in the joyous afterlife that, they believed, was promised to them for their commitment and faith?
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that one pastor, then another, and a scholar from the seminary “Marcus” attended for a time told him “No.” Their son, through no fault of his own, has no hope of eternal salvation — just like people who had the misfortune of being born in the “wrong” century or part of the world and thus missed out on the privilege of hearing the Word of God.
Oh, and if you don’t believe the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, “Marcus” and “LeilanI” are similarly doomed — for loving their child enough to abandon a belief in a God that condemns him for something he couldn’t control.
In a way, it’s ironic: Did Matthew ever consider that some people’s devotion to their faith is based on little or nothing more than the hope that they will accompany their loved ones in Heaven, or to whatever form of eternal bliss they hope to find after this life?
In any event, “Marcus” and “Leilani” did more than the God they once believed in for their son. If that isn’t reason enough for any parent to abandon their faith, I don’t know what is.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
This is the latest installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.
Today’s Song of Sacrilege is I’ve Met Jesus by Hot Leg.
Worked hard at school Did all the right things Got a job Got a car Got a girl Went and got the girl a ring
Go to your church And sing your happy hymns And you thank your little Jesus that you’re just like him
I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus And he’s nothing like you Nothing like you…
I know you think you’re right But you’ve got it wrong And your finding your way to a fight Oh but you love that psalm
You’re a bigot You’re a fool with a fundamental flaw Jesus doesn’t love you just for keeping all the laws
I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus And he’s nothing like you Nothing like you…
Fun is fornication Everything’s a sin Oh if Jesus was a bouncer He’d never let you in
You’re a judge You’re a jury You get drunk on your own fury If I thrill you it will kill you But you’ll never get to heaven ‘cos you’ll die of shock again
Ow!
I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus And he’s nothing like you There’s no resemblence whatsoever
I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus I’ve met Jesus And he’s nothing like you (Nothing like you…)
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
This is the latest installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.
Today’s Song of Sacrilege is Get Born Again by Alice in Chains.
Sat suffering, I knew him when Fair-weather friends of mine Try not to think, I merely blink Hope you wish away the lies
Can you protect Me when I’m wrecked I pretend you’re still alive-ive Yeah
Who will deny All in time All the lies Who will deny All in time All the lies
I choose the day, one damp and gray Thick fog that hide our smiles
Clear all your sins Get born again Just repeat a couple lines-ines Lines Yeah, yeah
Who will deny All in time All the lies
Can you protect Me when I’m wrecked I pretend you’re still alive
I choose the day, one damp and gray Thick fog that hide our smiles
Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Get born again (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Get born again (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Get born again (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Get born again (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Get born again (who will deny, all in time, all the lies) Sat suffering (who will deny, all in time, all the lies)
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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.
Daryl Stagg, a prominent Louisiana Southern Baptist pastor and denomination leader, stands accused of three counts each of oral sexual battery, first-degree rape, aggravated crimes against nature (felony), and indecent behavior with juveniles.
A prominent Louisiana Baptist leader in the Central Louisiana area has been arrested.
Daryl Stagg, 60, of Pollock, was arrested on June 8 and is being held at the Grant Parish Detention Center in Colfax.
Stagg has been charged with three counts each of oral sexual battery (felony), first degree rape (felony), aggravated crimes against nature (felony) and indecent behavior with juveniles (felony). Bond has been set at $500,000. He remains in jail at this time.
The Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office said that there will be a press conference on Monday, June 12, at 11 a.m. to discuss a recent investigation involving sex crimes with young children as victims. Sheriff Steven McCain said that he is concerned that there may be other victims related to the case. The Union Parish and Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Offices will be at the press conference as well.
The Louisiana Baptists confirmed that Stagg has been the Associational Mission Strategist for the Big Creek and CenLa Baptist Associations.
Daryl Ray Stagg, 60, of Pollock, was arrested last Thursday in Grant Parish, Louisiana, on 12 felony sex crimes. The initial charges included
three counts each of first-degree rape, oral sexual battery, aggravated crimes against nature, and indecent behavior with juveniles. On Monday, authorities in nearby Union Parish announced a fourth count of each of these felony crimes had been added to charges against Stagg, following another alleged victim coming forward. Stagg is being held at Grant Parish Detention Center on a $500,000 bond. A Third District judge set an additional retainer of $950,000 in Union Parish, if Stagg were to make bond in Grant Parish. At a press conference on Monday involving sheriffs from three area parishes, Union Parish Sheriff Dusty Gates stated the crimes involved “young children.” Gates said: “These are very heinous crimes. We want to work hard to get this individual off the street and not have him be able to return to society.” The current allegations go back “several years,” but not decades, he added.
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In the 2021 Annual Report of the LBC, Stagg’s name appears multiple times, including as a member of the LBC’s Church Site Corporation Committee.
Prior to his current role in Louisiana, Stagg served in a similar role in an SBC association in central Missouri, according to his LinkedIn profile. From 2005 to 2012, he served as a domestic missionary in Lake County, Illinois, for the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB).
He previously served as a pastor for 19 years prior to his role as “pastor to pastors,” according to a 2018 article. Stagg was a pastor in a succession of three Louisiana churches and pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
(Editor’s note: And houses. And shopping. And minimalism. As is the custom of this author, she rambles.)
My earliest memory involves a toy. I’m sitting on a floor of red and black square tiles in the kitchen of our mostly underground home, in about 1964. The home was a rectangle, with a long hallway in the middle down the long axis, effectively dividing it into two areas. The area to the east was the parent’s bedroom, then the living room, then the gun room. We called Dad’s workshop the gun room because it was where he worked on his guns. I think he was rebuilding old muzzleloader guns back in the early 1960s, although my memories are unclear. The gun room was always locked when not in use, and I didn’t even go in there when he was working there. It was clearly my dad’s private space. He kept the door open, but still.
The hallway was useful for many things, including playing “Mother May I” with our babysitters. And racing toy cars. And it made a wonderful circle in the house, around which we could chase each other.
The other side of the house, to the west, was the kids’ bedroom (yes, I shared a bedroom with my two younger brothers, which didn’t bother me much. I just yelled at them to “get out” when I needed alone time.), then the junk room, then the shared bathroom/laundry room, then the kitchen. In between the bathroom and the kitchen was the entryway to the house. This was my favorite part. It was a long set of wooden stairs up to the surface of the world. It was like coming out of a hidden burrow each time we went outside. The wall between the stairway and the kitchen had a window without glass. We called it the kissing window. Because Dad would climb two stairs, stick his head through the window, and Mom would kiss him goodbye from the kitchen. We stored little items like keys and such on the windowsill. I can’t imagine why a window would be in that location but I loved it.
The bathroom was unique in that the toilet area was a foot higher than the rest of the floor. It was probably to accommodate plumbing, but it was truly a throne in my eyes.
The outside of the house was about 3 feet above ground level, with a flat roof covered in many layers of tar paper. The entrance stood up above the roofline, and when the snow drifts gathered around the house it was easy to imagine that the entrance was a tiny little building all on its own, barely big enough for one person to stand in. Decades before my parents bought it in 1959, someone else had built it as the first part of a whole house construction project. They lived in it, hoping to someday add the upper stories to the basement. That day never came.
My dad drew many iterations of plans for the new house. The new house was at least a decade in the planning stages, and then another five or so years in building it. I was an adult before I realized that a big house could be built in under half a year if you hired some help. My dad did most of the work on the new house himself. I helped him with the bricks. Over the course of several summers, I carried bricks and mortar to him while he laid the bricks. I also thought that bricking a house always took several years. I sang songs to him while we worked. His favorite was “This land is your land.” I had no idea of its colonialist message back then, celebrating the stealing of land from the original Americans. I just liked the song.
(Late footnote per the author’s sister Jackie: “This Land Is Your Land” is more of a communist/socialist song, written in opposition to “God Bless America”, a true colonialist anthem. She cited sources. She is correct. The author confused two anthems about her native land. The author believes that colonialism and socialism are, however, equally vilified depending upon which news channel one watches.)
My dad was always a champion of Native Americans. He often talked about how horribly we Europeans had treated them, sometimes with tears in his eyes. He read a lot about history, especially about the land around his farm and where he grew up. When Roots was on television, it was a family event each night of the miniseries. He also instilled in us how horrible slavery and racism are. We had some adopted black cousins, and I was always proud of that fact as a kid. I was eager to see more skin colors in my world.
I was an innocent and gullible child. When it was time to start digging the foundation of the new house, Dad took the whole family outside to look at the hill that he was about to start digging into with his bulldozer. He had marked out the outline of the new house in chalk on the hill. The back half of the house was two stories above ground, and the front half was only one story above ground. This half-basement plan made the house warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, and also less susceptible to holding too much moisture like basements tend to do in swampy northwest Ohio. This was all clearly taught to us by our father. He wanted us to understand these things. He also demonstrated to us and to our visitors how the walls of the basement house were not straight. He would hold a wooden yardstick (always to be respected because, on the rare occasions when we were spanked, it was with that very yardstick) up against the wall of the living room, and the wall was at least six inches closer to the yardstick in some places as compared with others. It was clear that we should not complete the other man’s long-ago idea of adding stories on top of the basement house. The walls would fall in.
So we were out there looking at the chalk lines. And my mom turned to me and said, “Tammy, go over there and wash the dishes.” I thought she wanted me to go into the basement house and start the dishes, and I didn’t want to miss out on the first scoop of dirt that Dad was almost ready to take out of the hill! But she was in fact pointing at the imaginary kitchen in the new house. And I realized that I had been gullible once again. I was about ten years old and expected more of myself by that age.
Speaking of walls falling in, I was the sole responsible oldest person in the house when the water was falling in through those walls. My parents, with my youngest brother Joe, went to Toledo one evening and left me and my brother Rick home alone. There was a rainstorm, and then there was a lot of rain, and then something happened that had never happened before. The rain started pouring down the walls around the window in my bedroom. It was flooding the house, and as the oldest child and the person in charge, I was trying to figure out what to do. I got a bucket and old towels and started mopping up the water and dumping it down the shower drain. Rick continued to watch television. I continued to mop. After many buckets of water, I called my Grandma Stuckey. I needed help. She came over and stayed with us until our parents and Joe got home. Grandma didn’t seem to mind the flood. She just sat with us in the living room and I felt so much better. In retrospect, I think there were drains in the floors, seeing as it was a basement, and mopping was not necessary until the rain stopped refilling the puddles on our floors.
Back to toys.
So I’m sitting on the kitchen floor and Rick is sitting to my left. He’s only about a year old. He can’t walk yet. But he’s strong. I’m over three years old, but he seems stronger! He has a big plastic blue spoon, a toy for use in a sandbox. He is hitting the toy box with the blue spoon. Quite vigorously. I’m intimidated. I’m also shy. I also know he won’t understand my concern. So I moved away from him and let him hit the toybox. My first memory. Self-preservation.
I got a really cool Christmas gift one year at Grandma Stuckey’s house. I think it was from one of my young aunts. I had lots of aunts. But there were three young ones on the Stuckey side who ranged in age from six to ten years older than me. They were the best because they weren’t busy with their own husbands and kids! Joan, Donna, and Elaine. I’m sure it was one of them who got me this most wonderful Christmas gift. High heels! They were plastic, translucent, with a bow, and so very elegant. And they fit my feet! I walked around in those high heels for a very long time.
I also had a full set of plastic dishes, along with a little stove, refrigerator, and some other kitchen appliances. I played with them a lot. I usually liked them. But there were so many of them! Keeping them all organized was so hard. I didn’t even know how many there were in total. They were a source of fun and stress all at the same time. I liked toys that were more unified. Fewer pieces. Ideally one big piece. So easy to organize and keep track of those types of toys. So I’ll tell you a secret if you don’t tell my mom. I would dump all the plastic silverware and plates and bowls on the floor. I hoped my brothers would walk on them and break them. Then I could throw some away and have less to keep track of and less to pick up and less to organize. I would never break them on purpose. That would be so bad. But accidents do happen.
Minimalism was a part of me from the beginning. I liked playing “Girl Scout,” It involved one of my mother’s scarves and a blanket and a cookie and a doll. Brothers were welcome if they wanted to join me. The idea was to wrap myself in the blanket, tie the scarf around my head, and sit with my doll on the grass while eating the cookie. I had everything that I needed. All that stuff in the house was not necessary, and I could look at the sky and live outdoors on the grass. It made me so content to sit there with only a few things.
When I was older, I would take long walks on the farm. I often walked through the woods behind Dad’s shop, on the paths that he mowed with the lawnmower every summer. Once I got all the way through the woods and across a small creek, where there was a meadow. I would lie down in the meadow and look at the sky. All I could see was clouds and the meadow grass blowing around me. It was perfect. I needed almost nothing to be happy and no one knew where I was.
I wonder if the draw of minimalism comes from feeling overwhelmed. Too much stuff, too many people, too much noise – I just wanted less of everything.
Mom was ready to pull her hair out when I was in junior high. She took me shopping for clothing a few times a year. As I got older, I was more resistant to going. I don’t know that I ever refused her (I always wanted to be a good kid and get along with everyone) but I distinctly remember telling her that I don’t need more clothing. I told her that I had a pair of jeans, so why would I need a second one? Many of our shopping trips were all-day events, with various aunts and cousins joining us. It was a day of grand plans. A few different shopping malls in Toledo were involved.
My favorite thing was always lunch. I could sit down for a while and refuel. I remember being so tired in the stores. I would sit on the floor sometimes while waiting for others to finish their shopping. We tended to shop in a large group, so I had lots of people showing me clothing and asking me if I liked it. Then they would bring it in different sizes to the changing room for me. It was concierge-level service. But I had no idea what clothing I liked. I didn’t know if I liked it when I tried it on. I couldn’t really tell if it fit or looked good on me. There were so many opinions from everyone else that I couldn’t find mine. So I bought whatever my mom thought I should buy. After wearing things a few times to school, then I knew what I liked.
All of this shopping was with the Stuckey aunts. We never shopped with the aunts on the Wyse side, and I never asked why not. There were just some things that were as they were, not to be questioned.
I wonder if I had low blood sugar as a kid. The meal was such a relief. A physical relief, like I was going to fall over soon. I didn’t talk about this much, in my memory. Maybe my mom thinks otherwise! Anyway, I hate shopping to this day and online shopping is the best invention ever. In very small amounts as too much clothing causes one to want to throw it on the floor and hope someone rips it apart so the closet isn’t so full …
As an adult, I went shopping once with my sister-in-law Elaine. We went to a large discount store in Toledo, and I planned to buy some dress shirts for Jim. It’s so easy to buy for men. They have consistent sizing between brands and don’t even need to try things on most of the time. Elaine and I were walking around the store, and after several minutes she said, “You don’t have to stay with me. You can look around on your own, and we’ll meet up at the cash registers when we’re done.”
I then realized that I had been following her, probably because I didn’t like to shop and I thought that was how you shopped with another person. I was over two decades old before I realized that the aunts who had stayed close together as a large group, always within each other’s view throughout the entire shopping experience, were an anomaly. Elaine was gently redirecting me to a different way of shopping. I was probably annoying her. And I hate shopping. So there’s that.
When I was a preschooler, I remember lining up my stuffed animals on the back of the couch before taking a nap. They all needed to be sitting beside each other, looking out over the living room. Then I could go to sleep. A few decades later, there was a little boy named Aaron who lined up his dozens of stuffed animals in a similar manner before going to sleep. Only they shared his bed and each one had to have his eyes clearly visible above the blankets so they could see what was happening as he fell asleep.
My favorite toy ever was a 10-speed bike. I saved up about $100 and Dad took me to the bike shop. I think he paid half and I paid half. It was the coolest thing available in the 1970s. I rode that thing everywhere. I would ride it the eight miles to Archbold for marching band practice. Ride eight miles, march and play music for 3 hours, and ride home for eight miles. I often rode around the country mile on our farm, just for fun. I don’t remember telling my parents that I was doing that. I wonder if they ever thought they’d lost me.
In MYF (Mennonite Youth Fellowship, the best part of the entire church experience in my opinion) we had a biking/camping weekend with an organization that set those things up for church groups. I was in the four-person group with two high school guys and Sam Wenger, who was the pastor of the church whose kids combined with ours for youth group activities. This was before I knew that he would be my future brother-in-law. Sam told me to lead the group. So I did. I didn’t want them to be bored with a slow girl leading the way, so I made sure to go fast enough the whole time. Years later, after Sam was my brother-in-law, he told me that he chose me so that he would be able to keep up with the younger people. And I went so fast that he could hardly manage to stay with our group.
And my other memory of favorite toys are not toys at all, but pets. We had a few cocker spaniel dogs. We would have a litter or two of puppies from them every summer and would raise them to a few months old and then sell them to people from the nearby cities. We had so much fun with those puppies. I sat outdoors with them many times, playing with them for hours. One time I leaned back in the grass, and a bee stung my right hand. But the puppies were so much fun that I just pulled the bee’s stinger from my hand and kept on playing.
I also had a baby goat named Peggy, who climbed all over my dad’s car. And a baby raccoon named Racky, who I fed with a baby bottle. I had scratches on my arms from where Racky held onto me as I fed him. And there were chickens, geese, and turkeys. And we hatched eggs in the incubator my dad made. We had baby chickens, baby ducks, baby geese, baby turkeys, baby quail, and maybe more that I’m forgetting.
My first experience with grief was when my dog died. I was about twelve, and I cut some fur from her to remember her color before Dad buried her. It broke my heart. But there’s a grief experience that I don’t remember, except from the stories my mom tells me. My dog was named Do-Do, both O’s are pronounced with a long sound like in the word “So.” I named him. I think it was because he was trying to get the clean laundry off the clothesline and my mom called him a Do-Do. Like a dodo bird.
He died when a car hit him when he went on the road. Dad buried him behind the shop and put up a gravestone that was still there when I was in high school. I repeatedly said to my mom afterward, for many months, “Member Mommy? Do-Do died? Daddy cover up Do-Do? Member Mommy?”
All of our family pets were buried there over the years. When Jackie’s cat died a few years ago, in about 2015, I believe that she took it to the same site for its internment.
So there you go. A long rambling story about toys and all the other things that my mind wandered to while thinking about them.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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.
Jordan Webb, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) missionary to the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, was convicted of one count of second-degree sexual abuse with persons under the age of 12, a Class B felony; incest, a class D felony; and child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor. Webb was sent out as a missionary by Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The church also operates Harvest Baptist Bible College.
It took a Webster County jury just under two and a half hours late Friday afternoon to convict a former Christian missionary of sexual abuse.
Jordan Dee Andrew Webb, 30, of Fort Dodge, was found guilty of one count of second-degree sexual abuse with persons under the age of 12, a Class B felony; incest, a class D felony; and child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor.
“We are pleased with the outcome and that the jury provided justice in this matter,” Assistant Webster County Attorney Bailey Taylor told The Messenger.
Taylor, along with Assistant Webster County Attorney Brad McIntyre, prosecuted the case.
Webb was arrested in April 2022 following an investigation by the Webster County Sheriff’s Office and Webster County Attorney’s Office that was prompted by “some health concerns involving a juvenile,” the WCSO reported at the time.
During the investigation, a search warrant was executed at 1940 225th St. in Webster County, which is owned by Harvest Baptist Church and is used for its Harvest Baptist Bible College.
From 2019 to February 2022, Webb served as a missionary in the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia. According to a now-deleted Facebook page and website for Webb’s “Christ in the Caribbean” missionary work in St. Lucia, Harvest Baptist was the “sending church” for his mission work.
Webb’s alleged victim, who will be known as Jane Doe, was diagnosed with gonorrhea in early April 2022. The Messenger does not identify victims of sexual assault. Just days before Jane Doe was diagnosed, Webb was also diagnosed with gonorrhea, Taylor said during trial. The state alleged that Webb committed a sex act on the victim, infecting her with the STD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gonorrhea is a “very common” sexually transmitted disease that infects the mucous membranes of the reproductive tract, mouth, throat, eyes and rectum.
Over the course of the three-day trial, the jury heard testimony from a range of witnesses, including Dr. Regina Torson, an expert in child abuse pediatrics with UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s Child Protection Center in Hiawatha. On Friday afternoon, the jury heard the closing arguments from the parties.
Taylor began her closing argument acknowledging that the state did not have any direct evidence of how the defendant allegedly infected the victim with an STD, but that she believes the sheer volume of circumstantial evidence proves Webb’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Among that circumstantial evidence is the timeline of when Webb was infected with gonorrhea and when the victim would have become infected.
Taylor poked holes through the defense’s suggestions that the infection could have been spread in a non-sexual manner — through using the same towel, or taking a bath together or helping a child clean up after using the toilet.
During Torson’s testimony, she stated that it is possible to contract gonorrhea by non-sexual means, but it is extremely rare.
“It’s possible, but is it reasonable?” Taylor asked the jury in her closing. “If this is so possible, why aren’t we seeing it more? … There is absolutely nothing reasonable about getting gonorrhea from a bathtub. That’s not a thing, because if it was, there’d be a lot more cases of gonorrhea. It wouldn’t be a sexually-transmitted disease, but it is.”
During his closing argument, defense attorney Dean Stowers challenged Torson’s credibility as a witness.
“She is a child abuse advocate,” he said. “She is not a neutral, unattached witness. Let’s get that straight.”
Stowers also emphasized that Torson’s expertise is not in infectious diseases and that she used words like “generally” and “typically” when describing how gonorrhea is spread.
“This case is a walking, talking, living, breathing reasonable doubt,” he said. “Every one of their witnesses is a reasonable doubt.”
In her rebuttal, Taylor again highlighted the amount of circumstantial evidence the state has presented.
“You put those pieces together to come to a conclusion,” she said. “Don’t ignore what happened to this child. Don’t ignore all of the evidence that you have seen.”
Just prior to the jury announcing its verdict, Stowers motioned for a mistrial based on something Taylor had said during her final rebuttal. After a brief conference, District Court Judge Christopher Polking denied the motion.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 5 at the Webster County Courthouse. Webb is facing a maximum of 32 years in prison if all three counts are ordered to be served consecutively.
On June 9, 2023, Webb was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for his crimes.
A former Christian missionary has been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree sexual abuse, incest and child endangerment.
On Friday, District Court Judge Christopher Polking sentenced 31-year-old Jordan Webb, of Fort Dodge, to 25 years for the sex abuse charge, five years for the incest charge and two years for the child endangerment charge. Polking cited the charges stemming from the same offense as part of the reason for ordering the sentences to be served concurrently, or all at the same time.
The sex abuse charge does carry a mandatory minimum of 70 percent of the sentence, or 17.5 years, to be served in prison before Webb can be deemed eligible for parole. He must also successfully complete a sex offender treatment program before he can become eligible for release.
“The state is pleased with the outcome and sentence in this matter,” Assistant Webster County Attorney Bailey Taylor told The Messenger. “We’d like to thank law enforcement, medical professionals involved and the Webster County community’s help to ensure justice in this matter.”
Taylor, along with Assistant Webster County Attorney Brad McIntyre, prosecuted the case.
Webb was convicted by a Webster County jury on April 28. A year before, he was arrested following an investigation by the Webster County Sheriff’s Office and Webster County Attorney’s Office that was prompted by “some health concerns involving a juvenile,” the WCSO reported at the time.
From 2019 to February 2022, Webb served as a missionary in the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia. According to a now-deleted Facebook page and website for Webb’s “Christ in the Caribbean” missionary work in St. Lucia, Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge was the “sending church” for his mission work.
Webb’s alleged victim, who will be known as Jane Doe, was diagnosed with gonorrhea in early April 2022. The Messenger does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Just days before Jane Doe was diagnosed, Webb was also diagnosed with gonorrhea, Taylor said during trial. The state alleged that Webb committed a sex act on the victim, infecting her with the STD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gonorrhea is a “very common” sexually transmitted disease that infects the mucous membranes of the reproductive tract, mouth, throat, eyes and rectum.
In a motion for a new trial filed last week, Dean Stowers, attorney for Webb, argued that Polking’s decision to admit statements the victim made to a nurse practitioner at the Allen Child Protection Center in Waterloo violated the confrontation clause under the U.S. and Iowa constitutions. Because the victim was not called to testify at trial, Stowers argued, statements she made were hearsay and did not fall under a medical exception to hearsay.
Stowers also argued that the victim’s statements were “fundamentally ambiguous and capable of causing the jury to speculate as to what [the victim] meant.”
In his motion, Stowers also attacked the circumstantial evidence on which the state’s case is based.
“When one looks at the evidence in this case, we have a bunch of speculative inferences and conclusions that would have to be drawn to get to the verdicts we have today,” he wrote. “The weight of the evidence does not support these verdicts.”
On Friday afternoon, following brief oral arguments from the parties, Polking denied the defense’s motion for a new trial and proceeded to the sentencing.
Before Polking handed down the sentence, he gave Webb an opportunity to speak on his own behalf.
“I would just like to say that I still maintain that I did not do this,” Webb said.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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 2022, Leroy Lane Jr., pastor of Straight Gate Pentecostal Power Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a church teenager.
Leroy Lane Jr. preached at the former Straight Gate Pentecostal Power Church. Multiple allegations have been made against Lane, accusing him of preying on and inappropriately touching teenage girls from his church.
Back in September 2021, Lane was accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl who was interviewed by investigators about the allegations.
According to documents obtained by 16 News Now, the girl was helping Lane prepare for a Super Bowl party at his home. She told investigators she was in his basement when he asked her to come sit with him on a reclining chair. She proceeded to sit on the arm of the chair.
He then asked her to sit on his lap, but she did not want to. That’s when he allegedly grabbed her, picked her up and put her on his lap. The victim then says Lane began to touch her thigh and rub her leg from her knee to the upper thigh.
The victim told investigators she yelled for her sister to come downstairs because she was concerned that Lane would touch a private part.
The victim also told investigators that Lane rubbed her backside while she was standing near a table of food later that same day.
Meanwhile, an older teen who is considered an adult in the court claims she was sexually assaulted by Lane in 2018.
The victim told investigators that Lane was helping her while she was going through a tough time financially, and even helped her obtain an apartment. She says Lane required her to give him a spare key to the apartment in case she lost hers.
She claims she was sexually attacked multiple times while she was sleeping after Lane would enter the apartment unannounced. She also told investigators that Lane had a handgun in his possession during these assaults.
Lane is denying the assault allegations and claims the incidents with the older teen were consensual.
After being ousted from Straight Gate, Lane now preaches at Rhema Word Ministries on Napier Avenue.
Leroy Lane Jr. has been a pastor in Benton Harbor for over twenty years, and preached at Straight Gate Pentecostal Power Church– the congregation on Pipestone Street– now re-named New Birth Apostolic Church after cutting all ties with Pastor Lane when several allegations were made against him preying on teenage girls from his church.
Lane refused to say anything after his hearing on multiple criminal sexual conduct charges was postponed Tuesday at the Berrien County Courthouse.
According to court documents obtained by ABC57, Pastor Lane paid for an apartment for a teenage girl at this church whose family was struggling financially, and in 2018, he allegedly entered the apartment twice– without her knowledge– and sexually assaulting her, one time telling her that he wanted to do that for years after having intercourse with her, and another time he told her he came in to “tuck her in for the night,” before another assault.
Lane is also accused of inappropriately touching a thirteen-year old girl in 2020– picking her up against her will and putting her on his lap, then touching her inner thigh and backside.
Police began investigating Lane Jr. after the thirteen-year old came forward, though he denies the assaults and has claimed that any prior sexual encounters were consensual.
But Deacon Curtis Sherrod, who worked at Straight Gate Pentecostal with Pastor Lane for sixteen years, called him a predator.
“He utilized and weaponized the pulpit in order to keep people silent and to pump fear into people instead of giving them the ability to be free as they should be,” said Sherrod.
He added that two of the victims are people close to him– and said that Lane has harmed far more than just the two girls.
“There are victims that are, from what I understand, that cannot be found, that I watched grow up in the church, that he took advantage of,” he said. “There are two, that while they may not be counted in the case as victims, two of them are my nieces, and as a family we were able to clearly see that he was plotting to head in the direction of grooming them in some way.”
After being ousted from Straight Gate, Lane now preaches at Rhema Word Ministries on Napier Avenue.
I knocked on the church doors to see if anyone there knew of the allegations, though no one answered.
“He just continues to propagate,” Sherrod said. “I would like to see that no one deal with or have the experience of what me and my peers, who were a tight-knit spiritual family at Straight Gate Pentecostal Power, I don’t want to see anyone go through that.”
Sherrod added that others need to come forward to prevent any other girls from becoming a victim.
“If we sit silent, he’ll only do it again,” he said. “He’s proven that. If someone actually stands up and says something—and it’s not just me—but someone has to do something. And if it’s me, so be it.”
A Benton Harbor pastor pleaded guilty to lesser charges following accusations that he was preying on young members of his congregation, according to prosecutors.
Leroy Lane pleaded no contest to assault and battery and assault with a dangerous weapon.
These are reduced counts from his criminal sexual conduct charges.
Lane appeared in court on June 12, 2023, and was sentenced to five years of probation. He must register as a sex offender for 15 years, stay off social media, stay away from children, and serve 960 hours of community service.
Benton Harbor Pastor Leroy Lane Jr. will not serve any jail time for sexually abusing a teenage girl who was a member of his church at the time.
He was also accused of sexually abusing other young women while he was the pastor of the Straight Gate Pentecostal Church in Benton Harbor.
Lane received a sentence of five years of probation, he must register as a sex offender for 15 years, stay off social media and stay away from children, and serve 960 hours of community service.
His victim, Jacqueline Prather, appeared in court today to face lane during his sentencing.
She was very disappointed with the sentence, but felt it was important to be there.
Lane’s victim was at the sentencing. She expressed disappointment with the judge’s sentence. Disappointment? How about outrage? Lane sexually molested a 13-year-old church girl and was accused of sexually molesting other minors. And he gets a slap on the wrist? This is a miscarriage of justice; yet another reminder that some judges do not take sexual assault seriously. What possible mitigating factors could lead to such an offensive, harmful sentence?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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 October 2020, Sean Higgins, a youth pastor and music director at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, New Jersey, and a teacher at Harbor Baptist Academy (located in the church), was accused of posing as a teen girl and persuading 13 boys on social media to send him nude pictures and videos of them masturbating. Harbor Baptist is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation, pastored by Pat Higgins. The church was started by Higgins’ father. Sean Higgins may be related to Pastor Higgins, but I could not verify this information.
A Burlington County teacher and youth pastor has been indicted for coaxing underage boys on social media to send him nude pictures and videos, then using that material to blackmail his victims into performing sexual acts on themselves for his enjoyment, authorities said.
A grand jury indicted Sean Higgins, 31, of Palmyra on 75 total counts that included charges of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, cyber harassment, child endangerment, and obscenity to a minor, they said.
Thirteen of the counts were first-degree charges, according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw.
Higgins is accused of committing these crimes in 2020 while serving as the youth pastor and music leader at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, and serving as a teacher at the Harbor Baptist Academy, a private K-12 school that is housed in the same facility.
The indictment includes 13 victims, ranging in age from 12 to17, who resided in Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Tennessee, Bradshaw said.
….
The investigation revealed that Higgins would adopt the persona of a teenage girl and utilize Snapchat and Instagram to begin a conversation with a juvenile male, introducing himself as Julie Miller. After establishing a rapport, he would suggest that they trade photos. Higgins would then send pictures of an unidentified female teenager, the prosecutor said.
In return, Higgins would often receive nude photos that the victims took of themselves. Immediately upon receiving those images, he would take a screenshot of the victim’s friends list that was visible on the forward-facing social media platform. Higgins would send that screenshot back to the victim and threaten to send the nude photos he had just received to the list of the victim’s friends unless the victim did exactly what Higgins demanded, Bradshaw said.
In most of the cases that were investigated, Higgins then demanded that his victims go into the bathroom at their residence and place the phone on the floor, or at an angle looking up, and would instruct the victims to masturbate or perform sexual acts on themselves. Higgins would record what was transpiring.
According to the videos made by Higgins that were obtained during the investigation, victims would often beg Higgins to be allowed to stop engaging in sexual conduct, but Higgins would demand that they complete his instructions, or face the consequences of having the recordings he was making of the incident be sent to their list of friends.
….
The investigation began after a youth in Berks County, Pa., contacted Snapchat and reported that he sent nude photos of himself to someone he believed to be an unknown female. The unknown female, who in actuality was Higgins, had threatened to expose his nude photographs after they exchanged pictures. An underage male in Alabama also reported his communications with Higgins to law enforcement authorities.
In January 2023, Higgins pleaded guilty to four counts of endangering the welfare of children.
A former youth pastor has admitted he tricked boys on social media into sending him nude pictures, then used the photos to blackmail the youths into performing sex acts on camera.
Sean Higgins, 32, of Palmyra faces a 27-year prison term under a plea agreement, said the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
An investigation found Higgins would pose as a teenage girl, Julie Miller, to begin conversations with boys on Snapchat and Instagram, the prosecutor’s office alleged in a statement.
Higgins would suggest they trade photos and would send a picture of an unidentified teenaged girl. The boys often responded by sending nude photos of themselves, the statement said.
Higgins then would threaten to send the boys’ photos to people on their friends lists “unless the victim did exactly what Higgins demanded.”
In most of the cases that were investigated, Higgins ordered the boys to perform sex acts on camera.
“Higgins would record what was transpiring,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Videos made by Higgins showed victims often begged to be allowed to stop engaging in sexual conduct, the prosecutor’s office said.
But, it said, Higgins would tell the boys to follow instructions “or face the consequences of having the recordings he was making of the incident be sent to their list of friends.”
The offenses did not include physical contact with the victims.
An investigation began after a victim in Berks County, Pennsylvania, contacted Snapchat. A boy in Alabama also reported his experience to law enforcement authorities.
“Multiple state and local agencies assisted in confirming the identities of additional victims,” the statement said.
Higgins allegedly committed the crimes in 2020 while serving as the youth pastor and music leader at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport. He also taught at Harbor Baptist Academy, a private K-12 school in the same facility.
The crimes to which he admitted guilt did not involve members of the Hainesport church or students at the school, the statement said.
Higgins pleaded guilty Tuesday to four counts of endangering the welfare of children, the prosecutor’s office said.
Today, Higgins was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crimes.
A youth pastor at a New Jersey church who previously pleaded guilty to blackmailing four underage boys into performing sex acts online was sentenced Monday to 25 years in state prison, officials said.
Sean Higgins, 32, of Palmyra in Burlington County, pleaded guilty in January to four counts of endangering the welfare of children, but he was not charged with having physical contact with his victims, and none of the charges involved members of his church’s congregation or students at a school where he worked, according to a statement from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Higgins committed the crimes in 2020 while serving as the youth pastor and music leader at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, and he also worked as a teacher at the Harbor Baptist Academy, a private K-12 school that is housed in the same facility, the office said.
The investigation began in 2020 after a youth in Berks County, Pennsylvania, contacted Snapchat and reported that he sent nude photos of himself to someone he believed to be an unknown female, detectives said. The unknown female, who in actuality was Higgins, had threatened to expose the youth’s nude photographs after they exchanged pictures.
An investigation revealed that Higgins would adopt the persona of a teenage girl and utilize Snapchat and Instagram to begin a conversation with a boy, introducing himself as Julie Miller, authorities said. After establishing a rapport, he would suggest that they trade photos. Higgins would then send pictures of an unidentified female teenager.
In return, Higgins would often receive nude photos that the victims took of themselves, investigators said. Immediately upon receiving those images, he would take a screenshot of the victim’s friends list that was visible on the forward-facing social media platform. Higgins would send that screenshot back to the victim and threaten to send the nude photos he had just received to the victim’s friends list unless the victim did exactly what Higgins demanded.
In most of the cases that were investigated, Higgins then demanded that his victims go into the bathroom at their residence and place the phone on the floor, or at an angle looking up, and would instruct the victims to perform sexual acts on themselves, the office said. Higgins allegedly would record what was happening.
Higgins has been held in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly since he was arrested at his home in October 2020, officials said.
“The crimes committed by this defendant are among the cruelest, most depraved ever prosecuted by this office,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said in a statement. “Some of these victims contemplated suicide to get out from under the extreme anguish that accompanied the defendant’s debauched, unrelenting demands. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important it is for parents to routinely discuss with their children the dangers that lurk in cyberspace.”
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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