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.
Steve Sumner, former pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Anderson, Indiana (an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist congregation), and a former Madison County Councilman was charged in 2022 with rape and other sex crimes.
The Herald Bulletin reported at the time:
The trial of former Madison County councilman Steve Sumner has been continued until Oct. 3.
Sumner, 52, is facing a total of 13 criminal charges for alleged sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16.
If convicted Sumner is facing a possible sentence ranging from 10 to 57 years and maximum fines of up to $120,000.
The most serious charge is rape, a Level 3 felony.
Sumner is currently free after posting a $5,000 bond.
Special Judge Jeffrey Todd of Grant County granted a continuance of the trial that had been set for May 16.
The charging information for the rape charge states that between July 1, 2020 and Aug. 4, 2020, Sumner did knowingly or intentionally have sexual contact with a girl under the age of 16 when the person was compelled by force or the imminent threat of force.
Following his arrest in December, Sumner said he was innocent of the charges.
He was arrested initially on criminal charges of child solicitation and possession of child pornography, both Level 6 felonies.
Sumner was elected to the Madison County Council from District 2 in 2018 and resigned from his seat on the council in 2021.
He also served as a pastor with the Lighthouse Church in Anderson.
The probable cause also states that on multiple occasions, Sumner would open the shower curtain when the girl was taking a shower and at one point he climbed into the shower and asked the girl to wash the soap off of him.
Investigators obtained forensic information off of both Sumner’s and the girl’s cell phone. On Sumner’s cell phone investigators found numerous images and videos of a young nude female.
The girl said all but two of the photographs were of her taken in 2019 or the beginning of 2020, according to the charging information.
The girl told investigators Sumner indicated to her he looked at the images and it “turned him on.”
She also said that in August 2020 Sumner entered her bedroom, asked her to get on the bed and touched her upper thigh with a vibrator while everyone else was in the house was sleeping.
Facing an upcoming court date and trial, Sumner decided to flee the state of Indiana.
It is believed that former Madison County Councilman Steve Sumner has fled the state of Indiana.
An informed source that didn’t want to be identified said Monday that Sumner has left Indiana after failing to appear at a court hearing last week.
The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office charged Sumner with a felony count of failing to appear.
Once he is apprehended, Madison County officials will seek to return Sumner to Indiana.
Sumner, 52, was supposed to appear Thursday in Madison Circuit Court Division and did not appear.
A warrant for his arrest was issued by Special Judge Jeffrey Todd of Grant County.
“I have no idea why my client did not show up,” Sumner’s attorney Cody Cogswell said.
Cogswell was recently appointed to represent Sumner after attorney Bob Summerfield withdrew from the case.
“That Counsel has not made contact with the Defendant since being appointed on the case and has tried every avenue to do so,” Cogswell’s motion for the continuance states.
Sumner is facing a total of 13 criminal charges for alleged sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16.
If convicted Sumner is facing a possible sentence ranging from 10 to 57 years and maximum fines of up to $120,000.
The most serious charge is a rape as a Level 3 felony.
The charging information for the rape charge states that between July, 1, 2020 and Aug. 4, 2020, Sumner did knowingly or intentionally have sexual contact with a girl under the age of 16 when the person was compelled by force or the imminent threat of force.
Following his arrest in December, Sumner said he was innocent of the charges.
Sumner was elected to the Madison County Council from District 2 in 2018 and resigned from his seat on the council in 2021.
He also served as a pastor with the Lighthouse Church in Anderson.
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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