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Tag: Sex Sting

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Shane Cruse Arrested in Sex Sting

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor michael shane cruse

Shane Cruse, pastor of Restoration Life Church in Hamilton, Mississippi,  was arrested Saturday and charged with “illegal sex act with a minor and prohibited use of electronic communication system to procure a minor.”

The Clarion Ledger reports:

A Mississippi business owner and pastor was arrested in Kentucky as part of an online sex sting operation.

Michael Shane Cruse, 46, of Columbus, was arrested Saturday in Danville, Kentucky, WCBI reported, and charged with an illegal sex act with a minor and prohibited use of electronic communication system to procure a minor, also a sexual offense.

Cruse is accused of communicating with whom he believed was a 16-year-old boy online and arranging to meet for a sex act. Cruse was actually communicating with an undercover law enforcement agent in Boyle County, Kentucky.

He was released by the Boyle County Sheriff’s Office on a $20,000 bond.

….

The Dispatch reports:

A Hamilton pastor and local businessman is behind bars in Kentucky on a charge of an illegal sex act with a minor through use of electronic communications.

Shane Cruse, 46, was arrested in Danville, Kentucky, on Saturday as part of a Boyle County Sheriff’s Office online sting operation targeting child sex offenders.

BCSO said a detective, posing as a 16-year-old male, met Cruse online and agreed to meet Cruse in Kentucky to have sex.

Cruse came into public attention in 2012 when, on behalf of the church he pastored, he offered a $175,000 bid to purchase the Lee Middle School property, which had been put on the market a year earlier. Then the pastor at Point of Grace Church on 18th Avenue in Columbus, Cruse told the Columbus Municipal School District board he hoped to expand his church’s operations through the purchase. His offer was declined because it did not comply with state criteria governing the sale of school properties.

Cruse later moved into the restaurant business, purchasing Cattleman’s Steak and Fish on Tuscaloosa Road in Columbus in October 2016 and, just three weeks ago, purchasing the Highway 45 North restaurant Little Tokyo, which he renamed Samurai Sushi and Steakhouse.

Cruse is listed as pastor at Restoration Life Church in Hamilton. According to the church’s Facebook page, it was launched in July 2016 ….

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor David Diehl Pleads Guilty to Sex Crime Charges

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor david diehl

Last November, David Diehl, pastor of Church on Fire in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was arrested and charged with ” child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime.”

MLive reports:

A pastor pleaded guilty to accosting a child for immoral purposes for an online conversation with an undercover officer posing as a man willing to prostitute his young daughters.

David Robert Diehl, 40, of Kentwood, was to stand trial Monday, Oct. 9, facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted of child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime.

He instead pleaded guilty to a four-year felony.

He will be sentenced Jan. 11 by Kent County Circuit Judge Dennis Leiber.

Diehl told investigators he worked full-time in a funeral home and was a pastor at Church on Fire in Grand Rapids.

State police detective Matthew McLanin had put a notice on Craigslist warning about a fictitious man named “Daddy Dave,” who was trying to prostitute his young daughters.

Diehl emailed the investigator for the phone number of the man. The detective sent his own number.

Police said Diehl admitted to texting “Daddy Dave” about his 11-year-old daughter and the possibility of meeting her for sex.

“Diehl admitted there was a strong possibility he would have met with Daddy Dave for the purpose of having sex with the 11-year-old girl if there was zero chance of Diehl being arrested by police or having to go to jail,” McLanin wrote in court documents.

Defense attorney Matthew Borgula has acknowledged that his client’s conversation with the investigator was “disgusting.” But Borgula said Diehl didn’t commit a crime, he only considered it.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Bible Teacher Timothy Myers Busted in Sex Sting

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busted

Timothy Myers, a Bible teacher at SonRise Church in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested last month and charged with “unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal use of a communication facility.”

WPXI reports:

A Westmoreland County Bible study teacher is the latest person accused of trying to meet for sex with a person he thought was a teenage boy, police say.

Timothy Michael Myers, 32, of Latrobe, is the third person to be arrested in two days, accused of trying to meet with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old boy.

Myers is accused of exchanging sexual messages with the undercover agent, and then showing up to try and meet the person for sex.

Myers volunteered at a Greensburg church where he worked with children and taught a Bible study class within the past month.

He was arrested Wednesday evening after agents said he showed up at a Hempfield Township hotel thinking he was meet with a 14-year-old boy.

Agents were waiting for him when he arrived and, when questioned by investigators, Myers allegedly told them, “I hadn’t made up my mind if I was going to have sex with him, but I was prepared.”

The agent who posed as a boy online said the conversation began on a social networking app.

Myers is not facing charges for anything pertaining to the Bible study class or the church. The church’s pastor said Myers was not on the staff of the church and served only as a volunteer. The pastor said Myers was never left alone with children, and the church works to provide a safe environment for everyone.

The pastor added that Myers’ attendance and volunteerism is no different than anyone else’s at the church, and he is not credentialed or on staff in any capacity.

Police said Myers admitted to what happened and gave them a written statement.

Trib Live adds:

Unity man who had newly purchased condoms when he arrived at a Hempfield hotel, allegedly to have sex with a person he believed was a 14-year-old boy, was raising funds for a church mission trip, according to authorities.

Timothy Michael Myers, 32, who picked up condoms at a Wal-Mart store 10 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive at the meeting location on Wednesday, instead was met by a state Attorney General’s Office agent.

Myers is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal use of a communication facility. He posted $50,000 bond Friday.

Myers had been seeking donations on a GoFundMe page for a mission trip to Peru in July. An establishment there is connected to the Greater Johnstown Christian Fellowship, according to the page. Senior Pastor James Gay said Friday that Myers has no affiliation to the Johnstown church and will not travel on the mission trip.

On the GoFundMe page, Myers asked that donations for the trip be sent to SonRise Church in Unity Township. A message left at a number for the church was not returned Friday afternoon. Pastor Allen Runyon told Tribune-Review news partner WPXI that Myers volunteered with a Bible study group there and was always in the presence of another adult.

The donation page has raised $2,255, with a $2,200 goal.

Investigators said in a criminal complaint that Myers messaged a person he thought was a 14-year-old boy on a popular social networking smartphone application. Police did not name the app.

Myers allegedly solicited the boy for sex acts and arrived at the hotel with two condoms just before 6 p.m., when he was arrested. Police did not name the hotel. They found an opened box of condoms and a receipt for them in his car.

Myers admitted to the communication but told investigators that he hadn’t decided if he would go through with the sex encounter, according to the affidavit.

Bruce Gerencser