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 2019, Karey Heyward, pastor of Eternity Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. Heyward, a musician, also goes by the name Pastor Sage.
According to police reports, the female minor and her mother reported ongoing sexual misconduct to officers on March 20, and said it took place between 2012 and 2015.
She said the suspect touched her in sexually inappropriately ways, engaged in inappropriate conversations about sex, and asked her “what would happen if they did have sex,” reports say.
The Moncks Corner man was released on a $100,000 bond after being charged with 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Heyward’s Linkedin page listed the following information:
- Senior Pastor at Eternity Ministries
- Owner/creative director of Genesis 1 Media, LLC a film, video, music, and publication company
- Law Enforcement with the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy
- Founder of a youth organization known as Radical Revolution Ministries that hosts youth events and founded a youth pastors and leadership alliance known as the Holy City Alliance.
- Specialties: Licensed Minister,Gospel Rapper, cinematographer/editor/director
In 2021, Heyward pleaded guilty to assault and was given a suspended sentence.
The Post and Courier reported:
Months after his arrest on child sex charges, a former North Charleston pastor has pleaded guilty to assault and avoided jail time.
Karey Montrel Heyward, originally charged with third degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 16, pleaded guilty Thursday to second degree assault and battery.
Judge Markley Dennis sentenced Heyward in North Charleston to the maximum penalty of three years in prison, but suspended the punishment to 18 months probation, according to court records.
It’s unclear whether Heyward, who lives in Monck’s Corner, still works in the ministry. He served at Eternity Church in North Charleston when he was arrested in July 2019.
Police records allege that Heyward had inappropriately touched and spoken to a child several times between 2012 and 2015.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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