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 December 2024, Anthony Strickland, pastor of Freedom Center in Bono, Arkansas (no web presence), pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
In a previous case (June 2019), Strickland was charged with felony rape and second-degree battery.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported at the time:
Jonesboro police said a Memphis hospital contacted the department last week after a 43-year-old woman came in with several injuries. She told police that 53-year-old Anthony Lee Strickland had attacked her, the affidavit said.
She said Strickland was intoxicated, and she gave investigators a “detailed account” of him hitting her at least two times in the face before raping her, according to the affidavit.
Officials said officers found three guns in Strickland’s car seat when they arrested him during a Wednesday traffic stop.
Authorities charged the Jonesboro resident with felony rape and second-degree battery.
Strickland is a pastor at the Freedom Center, a congregation he started in 2003, according to police and business records filed with the Arkansas secretary of state.
Phone numbers and social media accounts listed under the church’s name appeared to be deactivated on Friday.
Strickland was free on a $125,000 bond that he posted Thursday evening, according to the Craighead County sheriff’s office.
A judge set a no-contact order with his alleged victim and required Strickland wear an ankle location monitor.
According to the Jonesboro Sun:
The rape charge was dropped in July 2019 by then-Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington, and Strickland pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic battery and was sentenced to 60 months of probation.
On October 8, 2021, KAIT-8 reported:
A former Craighead County pastor faces up to 60 years in prison following his arrest for rape.
Jonesboro police arrested 55-year-old Anthony Lee Strickland of Bono on Oct. 6 on suspicion of rape and second-degree sexual assault.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the two victims claimed Strickland sexually assaulted them at his home.
On Friday, Craighead County District Court Judge Tommy Fowler found probable cause to arrest Strickland and set his bond at $150,000. The judge also ordered he have no contact with the victims.
According to the Jonesboro Sun, Strickland has now been officially charged with rape:
A former pastor has been charged with rape and second-degree sexual assault in a case involving a then-11- to 13-year-old girl and her 11-year-old sister.
District Judge Tommy Fowler found probable cause to charge Anthony Lee Strickland, 55, of Bono on Friday. Fowler set Strickland’s bond at $150,000.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the older girl, now 18, told her parents that when she stayed over about five to seven years ago with Strickland, who was a friend of the parents for 20 years and pastor of their church, he watched a movie with her. She said Strickland began rubbing her privates and asked her if it felt good.
The victim said she was able to get away and run downstairs.
After the victim’s mother was made aware of what happened with the older daughter, she sat down with her other children and asked them to tell her and her husband if anyone had touched them inappropriately and not be afraid to tell them.
The older girl briefly told her siblings what happened to her, and her 11-year-old sister broke down crying and said, “Momma, he did that to me, too,” the affidavit states.
The younger girl said Strickland began rubbing her private parts and she attempted to yell and scream. She said Strickland covered her mouth and said “shhhh.”
She said Strickland digitally penetrated her. She told him she needed to go to the bathroom and ran and got into bed with her brother.
On December 16, 2024, Strickland pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
After his case was postponed 11 times, and almost a decade after the crimes occurred, a former minister has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting young girls.
Anthony Lee Strickland, 58, of rural Bono, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of second-degree sexual assault, according to court records. He had originally been charged in 2021 with one count of rape and one count of second-degree sexual assault involving two girls whose parents attended his church.
Strickland was the founder of Freedom Center, a congregation he established near Bono in 2003.
One of the victims disclosed the crime after she turned 18. According to the court information, the incidents occurred between October 2015 and December 2016.
After turning 18, the older girl told her parents that when she spent the night with Strickland, he watched a movie with her. She said Strickland began rubbing her genitals and asked her if it felt good.
The victim said she was able to get away and run downstairs, according to a court affidavit.
After the girls’ mother was made aware of the allegations, she sat down with her other children and asked them to tell her and her husband if anyone had touched them inappropriately and to not be afraid to tell them.
One of the younger children spoke up to say a similar situation happened to her, too. That child would have been under the age of 7 at the time.
Rape carries a potential penalty of up to life in prison. Under Arkansas law, Strickland could have received 20 years for second-degree sexual assault.
Strickland had previously been charged in 2019 with rape and felony domestic battery in the second-degree. The following year, he pleaded guilty to the domestic battery charge and the rape charge was dropped. Court records show Strickland was placed on five years of probation.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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