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.
Aaron Williams, Jr., pastor of Maddox Memorial Church of God in Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, stands accused of having sex in an SUV with a woman who is not his wife.
Aaron Williams Jr., an aspiring politician and pastor of Maddox Memorial Church of God in Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, is set to be arraigned in Mansfield Municipal Court on Tuesday after he was arrested in late August for allegedly engaging in a sex act with a woman who is not his wife in the back of an SUV at the Clearfork Reservoir Park.
The Mansfield Police Department confirmed with The Christian Post on Monday that Williams was arrested for public indecency. But when contacted by CP, Williams denied he was arrested and alleged he was dealing with political persecution.
“I wasn’t arrested. It’s politically motivated,” Williams told CP before clamming up and insisting he would make no further comment.
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On his church’s website, Williams is presented as the son of the church’s late pastor, a “devoted husband,” “proud father of three beautiful daughters” and a Gulf War veteran who is deeply committed to his community.
“Above all,” states the church, “Pastor Williams lives to please God, serve His people, and inspire transformation in everyone he encounters.”
Records provided by the Mansfield Police Department show that at about 1:32 p.m. on Aug. 30, a patrol officer saw a grey 2022 Land Rover in Picnic Area #1 at Clearfork Reservoir Park. The officer saw Williams and a woman, CP has chosen not to identify because she is not a public figure, in the back seat of the vehicle, engaging in a sex act. Both of them were charged with public indecency.
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Williams took over the leadership of the church in September 2016 from his late father. Online broadcasts from the church on Sunday did not show him at his pulpit.
When asked if he was still the pastor of the church, the 56-year-old said he had no further comment.
In an earlier interview with The Roys Report, Williams said he never told anyone he was perfect and argued that his misconduct was being “blown out of proportion.”
“I’m not a villain. … I know people jump on stuff like this because they always want to look for something that the church is wrong about,” he told the news outlet. “I never said I was better than anybody or higher and mightier than anybody. I’ve never said I was holier than anybody.”
Williams told CP that he regrets making those comments to The Roys Report, insisting his words were being taken out of context, and questioned why the story was being covered by CP.
When informed that the role of pastor is in a high public office in the context of the Church, he ended the interview after stating that: “Nobody can hold me more accountable than the Father, myself or my family.”
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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