The Sounds of Fundamentalism is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section. Let’s have some fun!
Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of IFB pastor Jack Hyles saying that if women dress immodestly and get raped that they are asking for it. The story told by Hyles is likely a bald-faced lie.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Tana Reneau, a youth leader with North Whatcom County Young Life and a mother of six children, stands accused of first-degree child rape, second-degree child rape, third-degree child rape, and four counts of second-degree child assault. She also faces one count of drug possession involving prescription drugs that did not belong to her.
Probable cause documents released by Whatcom County Superior Court detail the alleged child abuse by a Blaine mother of six, who is a former teacher and current candidate for the Blaine School Board.
Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was arrested by Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies Friday, June 2, on charges of child rape and child assault.
The prosecutor’s office intends to formally charge her with first-degree child rape, second-degree child rape, third-degree child rape and four counts of second-degree child assault, according to court documents. She also faces one count of drug possession involving prescription drugs that did not belong to her.
The arrest came after Whatcom County detectives were assigned the investigation through the state Child Protective Services. Three female children ranging in age from 7 to 14 and one male child over the age of 10 known to Reneau came forward with allegations that she had been physically and sexually abusing them as punishment, documents state.
“Horrific is a good word for it,” Whatcom County Superior Court Commissioner Jonathan Richardson said regarding the allegations during Reneau’s first appearance in court on Monday.
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Child forensic interviews conducted by staff at Brigid Collins Family Support Center found that some of the physical pain suffered by the children “was equivalent to that produced by torture.” Medical exams by a nurse found scarring and markings consistent with abuse. Two of the children were found to have chipped teeth, the documents state.
Some of the children were forced to sleep naked in the shower, in the garage or without blankets or pillows. All four children were forced to run laps, the documents state.
The children were physically abused using closed fists and household items including boards, cords and a shovel, the documents state.
One child was severely beaten and then, upon examination of the injury, sexually assaulted by Reneau, the documents state. One child was sexually assaulted as punishment for perceived stealing, according to the documents.
Three of the children are Black and reported that Reneau called them racial slurs, according to the documents.
“It’s a very egregious case,” said deputy prosecuting attorney David Graham “(The probable cause document) has some very specific and very disturbing allegations and, in the state’s view, there is a community safety concern.”
The court issued a domestic violence no-contact order that protects the four unnamed victims. Reneau’s bail was set at $500,000. She remained in custody as of June 6, according to jail records.
Reneau has six children, four of whom are adopted.
Reneau taught in the Kennewick School District for 13 years before moving to Blaine in 2011. It’s unclear whether she ever taught in Blaine schools, but she served on multiple curriculum and technology adoption committees.
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Reneau has filed to run for an open seat on the Blaine School Board and will face two other candidates in the Aug. 1 primary. She previously ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 2019.
She also has been involved with North Whatcom County Young Life ministry and as a leader in a program called YoungLives, which aims to offer guidance, resources and support to teen mothers.
In 2021, Reneau opened a candy company called Better Buttermint Co., where she employed young adults with developmental disabilities.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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, Gary Miller, pastor of Sycamore Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri (the church is permanently closed), was accused of raping a female church member. Previously, Miller had been investigated on child abuse allegations, but never charged.
Officials say a Springfield man accused of using an elaborate scheme to extort and rape a woman was a pastor.
And a former churchgoer says the pastor admitted at least parts of the act to his congregation six years ago.
Gary Miller, 41, was charged Tuesday with forcible rape and forcible sodomy following allegations that he sent “anonymous” threat letters to set up a sexual assault in 2012.
Sherry Clark said Miller was her pastor in 2012 at Sycamore Baptist Church in Springfield.
Clark said one day in 2012, Miller stood in front of the congregation and admitted to having sex with the victim.
Clark said she could not remember if Miller also admitted to other parts of the alleged scheme, like sending the threat letters.
“I was shocked because he’s got kids of his own,” Clark said. “He never seemed like he would be that type of guy.”
Clark said the day of Miller’s admissions was her last at Sycamore Baptist Church, and she assumed that Miller would soon face legal consequences.
Clark said she doesn’t understand why it took six years for charges to be filed in the case.
“Why they are just now opening up a case about it is insane to me,” Clark said.
Public court documents indicate police only recently became aware of the alleged rape scheme while they were investigating other sexual abuse allegations made against Miller.
According to a probable cause statement, a woman told police last week that in August 2012 she got a letter in the mail from an “anonymous” sender that threatened harm against her loved ones if she did not film herself having sex with Miller.
The statement says the woman confided in Miller about the letter, and he suggested they meet in person to discuss what to do.
Miller allegedly told the woman that he did not want to have sex with her, but he felt like they had no choice.
The statement says the woman first pushed Miller away but eventually gave in and had sex with Miller as he used his cellphone to film the encounter.
After the incident, the statement says Miller insisted on tucking the victim into bed and praying with her.
The statement says that last week Miller admitted to writing the letters and carrying out the scheme in a conversation with his wife.
In July 2019, Miller pleaded guilty to sexual assault and deviate sexual assault. He was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
A former Springfield pastor was sentenced Friday to 7 years in prison for orchestrating an elaborate plan to manipulate and sexually assault a woman.
Gary Miller, 42, was given the prison time after a hearing in front of Judge Ron Carrier.
A probable cause statement used to charge Miller last year says a woman told police that in August 2012 she got a letter in the mail from an “anonymous” sender that threatened harm against her loved ones if she did not film herself having sex with Miller.
The statement says the woman confided in Miller about the letter, and he suggested they meet in person to discuss what to do.
Miller allegedly told the woman that he did not want to have sex with her, but he felt like they had no choice.
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The statement says the woman eventually agreed to have sex with Miller as he used his cell phone to film the encounter.
After the incident, the statement says Miller insisted on tucking the victim into bed and praying with her.
The statement says that in 2018 Miller admitted to orchestrating the scheme in a conversation with his then-wife.
Miller was initially charged with forcible rape and forcible sodomy, but he pleaded guilty in July to sexual assault and deviate sexual assault. The difference is significant since the maximum sentence for each charge dropped from life in prison to 7 years in prison.
Miller’s attorney Dean Price said the crime involved trickery, not physical force.
“There was never any force used,” Price said. “The charge was amended to reflect what actually happened.”
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Naasón Joaquín García, pastor of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexico-based Evangelical church with branches in the U.S. claiming more than one million members, was charged in 2019 with human trafficking, child pornography production, and child rape. (Church website)
García, 50, faces 26 felony counts that range from human trafficking and production of child pornography to rape of a minor. The charges detail allegations involving three girls and one woman between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles County.
The fundamentalist Christian church, whose name translates to The Light of the World, was founded in 1926 by García’s grandfather. It has been the subject of child sex abuse allegations for years but authorities in Mexico have never filed criminal charges. It has more than 15,000 churches in 58 countries, according to its website. The church’s followers must adhere to a strict moral code in exchange for the promise of eternal salvation.
García — who was a minister in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California before becoming the church’s leader — coerced the victims into performing sex acts by telling them that refusing would be going against God, authorities said. He allegedly forced the victims, who were members of the church, to sexually touch themselves and each other. One of his co-defendants also allegedly took nude photographs of the victims and sent the pictures to García.
García told one of the victims and others in 2017, after they had completed a “flirty” dance wearing “as little clothing as possible,” that kings can have mistresses and an apostle of God cannot be judged for his actions, the complaint states.
The leader of the Light of the World Church, Mexican Naasón Joaquín García, was sent to a state prison in Kern County, California, to continue his sentence of 16 years and 8 months, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of minors. The religious leader pleaded guilty on June 6 to sexual assault of three underage victims.
This prison is located in Delano, a little more than 150 miles north of Los Angeles. He was incarcerated in the Central Men’s Jail in that city, until Wednesday when he was transferred.
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The sentence is the highest that could be imposed on him after an agreement reached with the California District Attorney’s Office. He avoided going to trial on 19 criminal charges including statutory rape, possession of child pornography and human trafficking, which would have placed him in a position to be sentenced to life in prison.
Naasón Joaquín García has been in prison since June 3, 2019, when he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with two of his assistants, who were also implicated in the case. This period between when he was arrested and sentenced will be considered as part of the sentence against him.
The leader of the Light of the World Church, Mexican Naasón Joaquín García, was sent to a state prison in Kern County, California, to continue his sentence of 16 years and 8 months,after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of minors. The religious leader pleaded guilty on June 6 to sexual assault of three underage victims.
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The conviction against Naasón Joaquín García accelerated a civil lawsuit filed by Sochil Martin, a former member of the Light of the World Church.
In February 2020, she sued La Luz del Mundo and its leader for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring that economically exploited victims and sexually abused her since she was 16 years old.
The Light of the World Christian church has its international headquarters in Guadalajara, Mexico, was founded in 1926 by Aaron Joachim, grandfather of Naason. It is currently present in 60 countries and claims to have up to 5 million followers.
After the arrest of its leader, hundreds of followers protested, claiming that Naasón Joaquín was unjustly accused, despite the testimonies and evidence presented against him, which forced him to reach an agreement with the California District Attorney’s Office, in order to receive a lesser sentence.
Meanwhile, five women, known as Jane Does, who said García sexually abused them between 2015 and 2019, filed a civil lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking damages against the church. They also named García, his wife and children, and three other women in the suit, who they said either knew about the abuse or helped groom them for García. According to the suit, the victims said they were “routinely coerced” since they were children to believe that García’s wishes were direct orders from God and that if they didn’t obey, it would “lead to catastrophic consequences including, but not limited to, eternal damnation, unspeakable tragedy, infertility, and countless other harms.”
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Tyree Coleman, founder and operator of Refuge Place in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been charged with the promotion of child sex trafficking, rape, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation. Another news report stated Coleman is an elder at Seven Pillars Faith Ministry.
An Indianapolis pastor who ran a non-profit to feed homeless people is now accused of rape and offering a 17-year-old $1000 to have sex with him.
Tyree Coleman, 43, is charged with the promotion of child sex trafficking, rape, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation.
According to court documents, a 17-year-old came forward in June 2022 and told police that Coleman offered to pay him to have sex with him.
The 17-year-old told police Coleman initially sent him $50 to buy new shoes. The teen told police that Coleman said he was bisexual and offered the teen $1,000 to either have sex with him or show him his genitals, according to court records.
Court documents reveal that after the teen came forward to police, they got a search warrant for Coleman’s cell phone and located several messages that showed Coleman was paying for sex along with nude photos of “young-looking males.”
The detective estimated the photos were of males ranging in age from 15 to their late 30s.
Police discovered that Coleman was the founder of Refuge Place Indy, which feeds homeless people in Indianapolis.
According to court documents, investigators believe Coleman was using donations to his non-profit to pay for sex acts.
During that investigation, police received a new complaint from a Logansport man who accused Coleman of raping him.
The man told officers he missed his bus in Indianapolis and was left stranded in the city. He later saw Coleman handing out clothing and food in Indianapolis and said Coleman offered him a room at his home, according to court records.
The victim told investigators that Coleman would pay him to perform oral sex and later agreed to have sex with Coleman. According to court documents, while the two were having sex the victim told Coleman to stop several times but Coleman refused.
The victim also told police that Coleman threatened to kill him if he had a sexually transmitted disease.
“My faith says this is what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to serve,” Coleman said during an interview with FOX59/CBS4 in 2019.
Coleman repeatedly made pleas on television and online for donations to Refuge Place Indy to support the homeless feeding. Court documents do not reveal how much of that money was used to pay for sex.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Eddy Noelsaint, the pastor of an unnamed church in Kissimmee, Florida, stands accused of raping a woman at his home.
A Kissimmee pastor was arrested after he allegedly sexually battered a member of his church twice at his home, Osceola County deputies said.
Eddy Noelsaint, 51, was arrested on two charges of sexual battery after a woman told deputies he raped her twice at his home and reportedly drugged her on one occasion in 2022.
On July 15, 2022, the woman said she was at Noelsaint’s house undergoing what she thought was a “spiritual revival as part of her cultural and religious beliefs.” During her baptism at Noelsaint’s church, she was assigned a spiritual grandmother who is Noelsaint’s wife, an arrest affidavit states.
That evening, Noelsaint’s wife left to go to work at 7 p.m. and the woman was instructed to take a shower. Noelsaint reportedly walked into the bathroom making an advance toward her, which she declined.
Later that evening, Noelsaint made the woman a green tea and kept asking her how she felt while she drank the tea. She said she wasn’t feeling well, so Noelsaint gave her two pills which gave the woman a headache and made her feel sleepy. A couple of hours later, he gave her two more pills, and she asked Noelsaint to call 911 because she felt her heart racing, deputies said.
He then took her into another room and sexually battered her. He also took her wedding ring the next day telling the woman there were bad spirits contained in it. When she asked for the ring back, he told her he threw it away.
A couple of months later in November 2022, she went to Noelsaint’s house again thinking she would be meeting with his wife who would be taking her to look for apartments.
Instead, Noelsaint was there, and he sexually battered her a second time, according to an arrest affidavit.
On Feb. 28, 2023, Noelsaint met with police and initially gave them conflicting stories about both incidents. He then confessed to sexually battering the woman.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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, Russell Davis, a Methodist pastor, was accused of raping a church teenager.
A Seabrook man is being held without bail after he was accused of raping a child while he was serving as a pastor in the Methodist Church.
Russell Davis, 65, faces several charges in Massachusetts. Seabrook police said they arrested Davis Thursday on a fugitive from justice warrant. The Essex County District Attorney’s Office said he is being held without bail because he is still employed in the ministry and has access to children.
Davis pleaded not guilty in Newburyport District Court to charges out of Rowley, Massachusetts, of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, and a charge of rape from Newbury, Massachusetts.
Prosecutors said the allegations involve the same victim and incidents that occurred in April 2004.
According to the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, Davis was a licensed Methodist minister from 1999 to 2015. His first assignment was in Warren, New Hampshire.
Davis moved among several churches in Maine and Massachusetts after that until his license was discontinued in 2015. A spokesperson for the church would not say why his license was discontinued but said it was not related to sexual misconduct.
It’s unclear whether Davis has been affiliated with any churches in New Hampshire since then.
A former pastor accused of raping a child will have the chance to be released from custody as he awaits trial. A Newburyport District Court judge ordered that he be held on $5,000 cash bail, following a dangerousness hearing on Monday.
While Russell Davis, 65, of Seabrook, was found dangerous by the court, he will be released should he post bail. If released, he will need to wear a GPS monitoring device, live in Massachusetts, stay away and have no contact with his alleged victim and have no unsupervised contact with children under 16. He is due back in court May 16.
Monday’s dangerousness hearing, which is to determine whether a defendant poses too great a risk to his alleged victim or society to be afforded bail while awaiting trial, was originally scheduled for last week. But an Essex County prosecutor told Judge Peter Doyle that Davis’ attorney was not available that day.
On March 30, Davis pleaded not guilty to charges of rape of a child with force, as well as indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. Those offenses took place in Rowley in 2004, according to the Essex District Attorney’s office.
In addition, Davis also pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape, which allegedly occurred in Newbury in 2004, the DA’s office said. No information was available about when the allegations surfaced. Davis was arrested a day earlier in Seabrook. A judge ordered all police reports related to Davis’ arrest impounded.
Other victims came forward, reaching a total of three. It is likely there were other victims whose assaults were not prosecuted.
Five years later, Davis pleaded guilty to raping and attempting to rape the three boys. Astoundingly, Davis was only sentenced to three years in prison. Davis’s attorney wanted probation!
They were boys who’d already suffered significant losses in life: A parent to cancer, other parents to substance abuse. They had been put into foster care with other family.
In the then-mostly rural communities of Byfield, Newbury, Salisbury and Rowley, in the late 1980s, the 1990s and early 2000s, the vulnerable teens were steered toward a local United Methodist Church — and into the path of a lay pastor, a man who, though not ordained, had been given a type of license by the church to work as a youth minister.
On Thursday, Russell Woodman Davis, 70, pleaded guilty to raping and attempting to rape the three boys at various times between 1988 and 2006, in Newbury, Rowley and Salisbury.
Davis was sentenced to three to four years in state prison, a sentence that Salem Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler had offered if Davis opted to plead guilty before his trial, which had been scheduled for next week.
Drechsler said Thursday that he hopes the sentence balances the “profound trauma and damage” done to the three victims and Davis’ abuse of a position of trust, with Davis’ advanced age and cancer, which, he also pointed out, has been in remission.
Davis, who had been free on bail in the case, was taken into custody in the courtroom, first placed into handcuffs and then, after being led to a chair, into leg shackles.
One of his victims, as well as several family members and friends, craned their necks to watch.
On Tuesday, Drechsler heard from one of the victims, now an adult, about his ongoing struggle to recover from the trauma.
He was back in court on Thursday, where he appeared overcome by emotion at several points during the hearing, burying his face in his hands as the prosecutor detailed again, for the record, what had happened to him and the other boys.
The judge heard from one more person on Thursday, the sister of one of the victims, who had taken him in after the death of their mother from cancer.
The woman, whose name is being withheld by the newspaper so as not to identify her brother, said the abuse began within four weeks of their mother’s death.
“There is no amount of jail time that could punish him enough,” she told the judge, before saying she hopes Davis will “rot in hell.”
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall, who had requested a five- to seven-year prison term, told the judge that had the case gone to trial, she would have made a “significantly higher” sentencing request, given the “abhorrent nature of the acts and unimaginable destruction inflicted upon these men.”
Davis’ lawyer, Edward McNaught, had initially hoped for probation — a disposition previously rejected by another judge in 2021 — but sought two years in custody.
MacDougall described the facts of the case in court chronologically, though the victims came forward at different times — including one who, in 2010, reported his abuse to police. They did not pursue the case at that time.
In 1988, the first victim was 12 when his mother died and he went to live with his sister.
He met Davis at the church.
The second boy, who had been placed with an aunt, met Davis in 2003 when she brought him to her church. That boy would later introduce Davis to the third boy, who was about a year older.
Davis, said the prosecutor, “would take these young men under his wing under the guise of providing mentorship.” He would spend time alone with that boy and the others, coercing and forcing them into sexual acts to which they were too young to consent or that they did not want to engage in.
“Did you commit those acts?” Drechsler asked Davis at the conclusion of the prosecutor’s remarks.
“Yes I did, your honor,” Davis replied, with no emotion.
Davis pleaded guilty to a series of rape and attempted rape counts involving each of the boys.
But prior to trial, prosecutors were forced to drop other counts, including disseminating obscene material and unnatural acts, due to the statute of limitations having run.
Davis told the judge that he had a high school equivalency and had attended a seminary but did not finish.
Prior to working for the church, he was a U.S. Postal Service employee for 20 years, he told the judge.
In a January 2001 interview with The Salem News, Davis discussed his recent appointment as pastor of Peabody’s First Methodist Church on Washington Street — and his work with a group of 10 high school boys at a church in Byfield, where he was known as “Pastor Rusty.”
According to archived stories from The Daily News of Newburyport, Davis worked as pastor of the East Parish United Methodist Church in Salisbury and the Community United Methodist Church in Byfield, and had also served as chaplain in the Byfield Fire Department for a decade.
In a statement released after he was first charged in 2018, the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church said Davis had lost his church license to work as a pastor in 2015 but said it was unrelated to the allegations against him.
After completing the prison term, Davis will be on probation for three years, with conditions that he register as a sex offender, undergo a sex offender evaluation and treatment, and have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18, as well as have no contact with the victims and their families.
If he violates any of the conditions of that probation he could be returned to prison for up to life.
Prosecutors may also seek to keep Davis in custody after he completes his sentence if he is determined to be a sexually dangerous person.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
Bob was my mom’s brother-in-law. Married to my dad’s sister, Bob was a rough-and-tumble truck driver and dirt-track race-car driver. Bob’s parents were devout Fundamentalist Baptists. Bob was raised in the church, and at the age of seventeen he walked the sawdust trail at a revival meeting and asked Jesus to save him from his sin. According to Independent Fundamentalist Baptist theology, Bob was now an eternally saved child of God.
After high school, Bob left home and abandoned the Baptist faith of his parents. Over the next six decades, Bob lived as if God did not exist. In every way, he lived as the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. He was a booze-drinking skirt chaser known for sexually harassing and assaulting women. Female family members knew to steer clear of Bob lest they find themselves a target of his sexual advances. Age didn’t matter to Bob, and more than a few teen family members endured his touches, squeezes, and other demeaning behaviors.
Women got “used to” Bob’s sexual assaults. Viewing him as harmless, they would recount to me, “Oh, that was just Bob being Bob.” It was the 1960s and 1970s, after all, and that’s just how men were, I was told. As I will share in a moment, Bob was anything but harmless.
In early 1969, we lived east of Farmer, Ohio in a farmhouse owned by my dad’s sister and brother-in-law. I was in the sixth grade at Farmer Elementary School. One day, I was home from school sick. I spent the day in bed recuperating. In the early afternoon, Bob pulled into the drive. I figured he was there to see my mom, so I stayed in my room. A short time later, Bob left and I heard my mom calling my name. She was crying, saying that Bob had just raped her. She asked me to go to the neighbor’s house and call someone (I can’t remember who). I did, but no one ever came to our home.
You see, Mom had mental health problems — lots of problems. This meant, of course, in the minds of “healthy” people, she couldn’t be relied on to tell the truth. Bob was well-known in town. Bob would never rape anyone. Yes, he was a “little” too friendly with women, but, hey, that was just “Bob being Bob.” A few months later, we moved to Deshler, Ohio. Mom never talked about Bob after that. I suspect that she buried the rape deep in the recesses of her mind, right next to memories of her father repeatedly sexually assaulting her as a child.
Bob died a few years ago. His funeral was held at First Baptist Church in Bryan, Ohio. Bob’s parents helped start this congregation and were pillars of the church for decades. I attended First Baptist as a teenager. I went to Bob’s funeral, wanting to see what kind of send-off the once-saved-always-saved Baptists would give Bob, the Saved Rapist. The pastor, John MacFarlane, gave a sermon that spoke of the night sixty years prior that Bob had been gloriously saved, and that he was now in Heaven with his mom and dad. The pastor never mentioned that Bob hadn’t darkened the doors of the church since the 1960s and he, in every way, lived a life of debauchery. The pastor cared more about protecting the memory of Bob’s parents than he did telling the truth. I have seen this behavior countless times over the years: degenerate people preached into Heaven, all because they mentally assented to a set of theological propositions. And therein lies the vulgarity of once-saved-always-saved soteriology. It’s the same theology that says I am still a Christian, and that no matter what I say or do I will go to Heaven when I die. Just pray the right prayer, believe the right things and Heaven is yours!
As the funeral service went along, I found myself becoming increasingly angry. I wanted to rebuke the pastor for his lies. I wanted to scream at the congregation for their willful ignorance of what kind of man Bob really was. Most of all, I wanted to be my mom’s voice. Not a mile away, Mom lay silent in her grave. Oh, to bring her to life again so she could give testimony to what Bob did to her! On that day, I so wished that there was a Hell. If anyone deserved endless torment, it was Bob. Alas, there is no Hell, so the only satisfaction that comes from Bob’s death is that no other woman will ever have to suffer the indignity of being sexually assaulted by him. I wish Mom had been alive to see Bob meet his end. Unfortunately, fifteen years prior, Mom turned a Ruger .357 on herself, pulled the trigger, ripping a hole in her heart. Her beautiful, tragic life instantly came to an end at age fifty-four, due in no small part to men who saw her as an object of sexual desire and gratification, and not as the thoughtful, intelligent — and yes, beautiful — human being she really was.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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.
Donald Williams, pastor of several Evangelical churches in Georgia, was recently sentenced to a minimum of twenty years in prison for rape. Astoundingly, Williams was already a registered sex offender while preaching at several of these churches.
A Macon pastor jumped around several Central Georgia churches while he was on Georgia’s sex offender registry.
Donald Williams was pled guilty and was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl. A judge sentenced him to at least 20 years in prison Monday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Sex Offender Registry says Williams was added to the registry in August 2010. 13WMAZ obtained records of two cases where Williams is accused of sexually assaulting or attempting to abuse a minor.
The most recent case happened in September 2021. According to a Bibb County incident report, the 14-year-old victim was walking home from school when Donald Williams pulled up and offered her a ride.
The girl told deputies Williams asked how old she was and started touching her. He drove her four miles away behind an elementary school on Woodfield Drive. Then the report says, he parked at the dead end and assaulted her.
Macon District Attorney Anita Howard says after he assaulted the girl, he drove to a balloon release in memory of a homicide victim.
While he preached and prayed there, he kept the girl in his car.
Later, he dropped the girl off near her home and gave her his business card with his picture.
Houston County Superior Court records say this isn’t the first time he’s been convicted of a sex offense.
In April 2010, he offered a ride to a 16-year-old multiple times while he exposed himself in plain view to the child. He pleaded guilty to attempting to commit child molestation and public indecency.
Shortly after, Williams was added to Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry.
Under Georgia law, sex offenders can not work or volunteer at churches.
But it seems no one picked up on the red flags.
Between 2010 and 2021, Facebook posts and videos show he preached at several Central Georgia churches.
He was a pastor at First Baptist Church in Jeffersonville for at least two years starting in 2016.
Then, he preached at some Macon churches–either as a guest or staying for a short time.
One of those, Greater Little Rock Baptist Church on Felton Avenue in Macon. We spoke by phone to Lead Pastor Paul Kelley.
Kelley says he didn’t know Williams was on the sex offender registry. He told 13WMAZ he wouldn’t “judge” or “slander a friend” when asked if he could interview on camera.
Kelley called Williams a “dynamic young preacher and singer” whom he’s known over the past 10 years.
In response to the case, District Attorney Anita Howard says pastors are in “an unusual position of high trust in our society. This has the potential to create an opportunity for them to take advantage of innocent people. That is exactly what happened in the case involving Donald Williams.”
She says every organization, including churches, should do background checks on employees and volunteers who work with children whether the law requires it or not. She says it’s an obligation to protect the children in our community.
Bibb County Chief Superior Judge Howard Simms gave Williams a 45 year sentence with at least the first 20 in prison.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
