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.
Rodney Locklear, pastor of now-closed Victory Church in Ruckersville, Virginia, stands accused of aggravated sexual battery of a minor, abduction with intent to defile a minor, indecent acts with a minor, and other charges alleged by a teenage victim. Locklear pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The Green County Record reports:
A Ruckersville pastor charged with child sex crimes pleaded not guilty in Greene County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Rodney Martin Locklear, 48, was arrested Feb. 1 after a grand jury indicted him on charges of aggravated sexual battery of a minor, abduction with intent to defile a minor, indecent acts with a minor, and other charges alleged by a teenage victim. The alleged sexual assaults occurred May 5 of last year at Locklear’s residence as well as the now-closed Victory Church, where he was pastor.
The assaults occurred over multiple hours during a Cinco de Mayo celebration held at Victory Church, the victim alleges. The party began at church near the intersection of state Routes 29 and 33 in Ruckersville. But Locklear and multiple teenagers later left the church for his residence, where the first alleged assault occurred.
Locklear reportedly approached the young girl in his house, pushed her against the kitchen counter and inappropriately touched her against her wishes. Even though she protested and told him to stop, Locklear continued touching her without her consent while she repeatedly told him to stop, according to court documents.
The assault continued until Locklear heard someone coming up the stairs, the victim alleges.
The youth group and Locklear returned to the church later in the day to continue the Cinco de Mayo party. The alleged victim and others from the group planned to go together to a Wendy’s fast food restaurant, across the parking lot from the church.
“She [the victim] went back inside to get her wallet. While alone in the church, she went to the bathroom and she heard someone’s keys lock the door,” according to court documents.
Alone together again, Locklear proceeded to assault the young girl again a second time, she alleges.
“Locklear pushed her against the wall and began touching her. She refused again and told him to stop,” according to court documents.
Locklear had been ministering in the Greene County area for more than a decade prior to his February arrest. He served as pastor at Victory Church for six years before his arrest and the church’s closure. Before that, he attended and preached at Solid Rock Full Gospel Church in Barboursville, 5 miles away from Victory Church. He and his wife, Becky Morris Locklear, also founded Abundant Life Pentecostal Outreach Church in Ruckersville in 2012.
Solid Rock and Victory churches both still have sermons and material credited to Rodney Locklear on their social media.
Locklear and his wife also served in the gospel singing group Restoration, which toured in the 2000s throughout Central Virginia, West Virginia and Georgia.
Restoration won Group of the Year 2008 at the Music City Gospel Showcase Convention and Awards Show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Larry Morris, pastor of Solid Rock Full Gospel Church, was also in the Southern gospel group.
Locklear’s trial begins March 17 of next year in Greene County Circuit Court.
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
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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