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.
A former teacher and pastor in Maryland was ordered to be held without bond Monday after he was accused of sexually abusing students, according to court officials.
William Auburn Jones, 58, was arrested on Friday, July 25, after police said he touched multiple students inappropriately while he was working at Elvaton Christian Academy in Anne Arundel County. Jones worked at the school between 2020 and March 2025 before he was removed from his position.
According to police, Jones also serves as the pastor of Jessup Baptist Church and is affiliated with Mission Fields International, a global missionary organization.
“To find out he’s a minister, that is shocking,” neighbor Charles Thomas said. “You hear of this happening in other places but not across the street.”
Police responded to the school on May 1 for a reported sex offense. Once they arrived, a parent told them that their child was involved.
Through an investigation, Child Protective Services identified five alleged victims who were between the ages of 10 and 15. The investigation also revealed that the alleged abuse occurred between August 2023 and May 2024, according to court documents.
The court documents detailed how a 12-year-old told police that Jones abused him during the third through sixth grades. A 10-year-old student also told police that Jones touched him inappropriately in school, according to court documents.
Three other students also reported that they were abused and inappropriately touched by Jones, court documents show.
“While we were there, we became aware of a second, similar case with similar circumstances reported to us by another parent,” said Justin Mulcahy, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police.
Jones is facing several charges of sexual abuse of a minor, assault, and sex offenses.
Elvaton Christian Academy said it is cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation into Jones.
Child Protective Services began investigating the alleged abuse and conducting forensic interviews. Investigators ultimately identified five alleged victims between the ages of 10 and 15.
On May 15, a 10-year-old, identified in charging documents as Victim A, told police that Jones, known to students as “Mr. Bill,” touched him inappropriately in the computer lab when the student was in fourth grade. The alleged abuse started in Aug. 2023 and ended in May 2024.
A 12-year-old student, referred to as Victim B, told police that Jones abused him from third through sixth grade.
Three other students also reported alleged abuse to police, detailing accounts of inappropriate touching by Jones.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Dominic Foor, the former pastor of Pathway Apostolic Church, current pastor of New Direction Church, both in Columbus, Ohio and the operator Foor U Construction, stands accused of sexually abusing two teenagers.
A 23-count indictment was filed against a central Ohio pastor who is accused of sexually abusing a teenager.
The indictment filed in the Pickaway County Court of Common Pleas states that 39-year-old Dominic Foor faces the following charges:
11 counts of sexual battery
Six counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor
Six counts of importuning
According to the indictment, the first incident reportedly happened at a home on Lockbourne Eastern Road in Ashville on Nov. 3, 2022, when the victim was 15 years old. The indictment also states that the incidents lasted through Nov. 26, 2024.
Captain Johnathan Strawser with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office said the original complaint was brought forward on Nov. 28, 2024, and it has been under investigation since.
Strawser added at the time of the incidents, Foor was a pastor at Pathway Apostolic Church in Columbus.
10TV reached out to the church, which stated that Foor had left his position in March. The church said he is currently serving as the pastor of New Direction Church on Parsons Avenue.
A judge set a $250,000 bond for Foor when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
James Murphey, a youth pastor of Oak View Baptist Church in High Point, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three teen boys he once worked with at Oak View Baptist Church.
A former youth pastor in High Point is now a convicted sex offender.
On Thursday, James Robert Murphey pleaded guilty to abusing three teen boys he once worked with at Oak View Baptist Church.
He made the admission in front of a judge, his father, and a courtroom filled with people seeking accountability and healing, including a former coworker.
“The registry on the sex offenders list, that’s going to impact his life quite a bit. It is going to keep him away from being able to be around children and in churches like he’s used to being for many years,“ OVBC Safety Director Chris Martin said.
With attorney Don Vaughan representing him, Murphey pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual battery, which was down from the 30 counts he initially faced.
Prosecutors said Murphey abused three teenage boys while serving as youth director at OVBC.
The incidents happened between late 2023 and early 2024.
Assistant District Attorney Sarah Harvey said Murphey gave the teens prolonged wedgies, offered them money, and pressured them to comply by threatening to withhold prayer. In one reported incident, Murphey placed his foot on a teen’s private area.
Twelve people were in court who personally knew Murphey. Ten of them came to support the victims.
Two of the victims were in court. The third was not there, but a statement from his father was read aloud by Martin.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Daniel Lamppin, a volunteer youth pastor at Connection Church in Kissimmee, Florida, stands accused of sexually abusing two minor girls under his care.
A foster parent in St. Cloud is being accused of sexually abusing two girls who had been in his care.
On Wednesday, 40-year-old Daniel Lamppin made his first court appearance where a judge gave him no bond and ordered he not discuss the case with his wife or children who are “potential witnesses.”
Lamppin is facing 24 counts of sexual battery by a custodian, according to the Osceola County sheriff.
The sheriff said Lamppin worked as a manager at Chick-fil-A on South Orange Blossom Trail and as a volunteer youth pastor at Connection Church on Generation Point in Kissimmee.
A pastor with the church says Lamppin was a member, but did not serve as a volunteer youth pastor.
“It’s sad and it’s sickening,” Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said, describing what Lamppin is accused of.
Lopez said they started investigating Lamppin in November 2024.
“The victim now is a 15-year-old who disclosed being sexually battered from age 6 to 8 years old by her foster parent, Daniel Lamppin,” Lopez said.
The sheriff said the victim accused Lamppin of sexually abusing her on three separate times and physically abusing her once.
While investigating this case, the sheriff said another alleged victim was found. A woman who is now an adult, but was a foster child under Lamppin’s care.
“The family disclosed he began abusing her within days of moving into the home. The sexual abuse started at the age of 16 and continued for years,” Lopez said.
The sheriff said Lamppin is facing two dozen counts of sexual battery by a custodian. He was walked out of the sheriff’s office in handcuffs Tuesday to be taken to jail.
When asked if he had done what he’s accused of, all Lamppin said was, “No.”
Despite his claim of innocence, the sheriff said that because of his foster parenting and his work, they’re concerned there could be more victims out there.
“Based on his contact with these children at the time and through his work, foster care, and as a youth pastor, there’s a concern that there could be additional victims. There is an open investigation, and we definitely want other people to come forward,” Lopez said.
The church relased the following statement:
The Connection Church acknowledges that an investigation involving allegations related to Daniel Lamppin is currently underway. We want to assure our congregation and the broader community that The Connection Church is fully cooperating with all authorities involved in this process and have already spoken to the lead investigator on this case. For clarity, Daniel Lamppin is not a volunteer youth pastor at the Connection Church.
Our priority remains the well-being of everyone connected to our church community. We are committed to fostering a safe, accountable, and Christ-honoring environment for worship, service, and fellowship.
We ask for your prayers during this time—for those directly impacted, for our church leadership, and for the truth to prevail.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Commenting on Evangelical Pastor Robert Morris’s arrest on five counts of “lewd or indecent acts to a child,” a Christian counselor said:
It’s not the type of sin nor the amount of sin that’s the issue, but the *fact* of sin. God’s children commit 100 instances of sin daily whether they realize it or not. The problem is that in the minds of a lot of people, some sins are more respectable than others, and some are more deplorable than others, based not on how it offends a Holy God but how it negatively impacts other people … My daily sin is as offensive to God as Morris’s.
This counselor believes that, in God’s eyes, all sins are the same; that every sin is offensive to God. In other words, if you walk down the produce aisle of the local grocery store, stop at the grapes, and eat a handful without paying for them, you are stealing. In God’s eyes, and the eyes of many Evangelical Christians, you are just as sinful, just as guilty, as a pastor who sexually molested children.
The practice of viewing all sins the same way is called sin-leveling — a belief held in many Evangelical churches that is used to minimize serious “sins” such as sexually molesting children, sodomizing church boys, raping church teens, and sleeping with a parishoner. Christian Post reporter Jennifer Michelle Greenberg, aghast after reading the counselor’s comment, wrote:
Now, I have no idea how this counselor spends his time (and I’m not sure I want to know), but the idea that all sins are equally deplorable to God is a tenet of spiritual abuse.
On the one hand, the smallest, most mundane sin separates us from God. He is utterly and unimaginably holy. He is perfectly just and good. Jesus died for the sin of the child who stole candy from the grocery store, but that does not mean God considers the child to be as evil as a child predator.
You would think this would be common sense. Even unbelievers and complete pagans instinctively know that sin exists on a spectrum of severity.
A poor person who steals a loaf of bread does not deserve the same punishment as a bank robber. A person who cusses in traffic is not as deeply sunk into Hell as a serial killer.
And yet, this Christian counselor wants us to believe that on a daily basis, you and I commit sins just as repugnant to God as the sexual abuse of children.
Unfortunately, this tactic of sin-leveling — this false doctrine that all sins are equally heinous — is prevalent in abusive churches and theological circles. In order to shame victims into forgiving their abusers and not reporting crimes, they point out that the victim is just as evil as their abuser, and therefore the victim should not point fingers or accuse. In order to manipulate witnesses into keeping quiet, they remind them that they’re just as depraved as a sexual predator and claim that real Christians “extend grace” and “don’t gossip.”
According to the Bible, we all sin in thought, word, and deed. This counselor would have us believe that all sins are the same; that rape and murder are the same as petty theft and going fifteen miles over the speed limit in the eyes of God.
Have you ever wondered why preachers who commit serious crimes often end up back in the ministry a year or so after they are released from prison? Sin-leveling and unconditional love and forgiveness are the primary reasons criminal preachers end up restored to the ministry. Bro. Joe, the pastor of First Church of the Rightous Baptists, spends five years in prison for sexually molesting a church boy. After release from prison, Joe gets a hankering to preach again. He goes on a restoration tour, convincing his fellow preachers and churches alike that he is a changed man (with no thought given to the boy he raped); that he promises to never, ever molest children again. Good to go, right? For many people, the answer is HELL NO! This preacher has no business pastoring churches or being around children again. Yet, for Evangelicals who think all sins are the same, this preacher should be unconditionally loved and forgiven; that if God has forgiven him, so should everyone else. It’s what Jesus would have us do, right? As a result, scores of American churches are pastored by or have staff members who have been convicted of sex crimes. Sometimes, churches don’t know about their pastor’s criminal past. In other instances, churches know about their pastor’s past crimes, but, thinking they are offering a penitent sinner love, grace, and forgiveness, churches give rapists, child molesters, and abusers a new start in life. Who are they to stand in the way of what God is doing in the life of their pastor? Or so their thinking goes, anyway.
If you ever attend an Evangelical church again, look at the so-called man of God who stands before you and ask yourself if you should trust him. What do you really know about him? What do you know about his past? Ask yourself the same questions about the church’s assistant pastor, youth pastor, Sunday school teachers, children’s church workers, nursery workers, and anyone else who has contact with you and your children.
Sadly, well-meaning church members think they “know” their pastors and staff members, when, in fact, they don’t. Pastors often present to congregants a well-manicured, scripted version of their lives. Past criminal behavior is “under the blood.” Jesus forgives past sins, and if he wipes the offender’s slate clean, how dare people still hold them accountable for their “sins.”
Love and forgiveness are laudable goals. However, blindly loving and forgiving people can and does lead to awful consequences. Common sense suggests that some sins are worse than others and often cause greater harm. Common sense tells us that we should protect children and vulnerable adults at all costs. Yet, because of a warped understanding of human nature, many Evangelicals are willing to give preachers who commit sex crimes a second chance. This is why I advise parents to never let their children out of their sight when attending church. Just because someone is a preacher or church staff member doesn’t mean they can be trusted with children.
Suppose Betty Jo, a Godly woman and member of Holier Than the Methodists Baptist Church for thirty years, is appointed treasurer of the church. Unbeknownst to the church, Betty Jo has a severe debt problem due to her husband gambling away their money. Over time, Betty Jo steals money from the church, paying her bills with the proceeds of her criminal behavior. Eventually, the church finds out about Betty Jo’s theft. The church has two choices: prosecute Betty Jo or forgive her for stealing from them. The church congregation decides to forgive Betty Jo. Three years later, the church needs a new treasurer, and Deacon Bob suggests hiring Betty Jo again. What? It’s one thing to forgive Betty Jo, but should she be given access to the church’s money again? Common sense says, absolutely not. Unfortunately, unconditional love and forgiveness often get in the way of common sense. Betty Jo should never be permitted to touch the church’s funds. She forfeited that right when she stole the church’s money. So it is with criminal preachers, especially those who commit sex crimes or have illicit sexual relationships with vulnerable church members.
Some “sins” disqualify men and women from the ministry. This used to be a commonly held belief, but no longer. It seems no sin is beyond the forgiveness of gullible churches. Remember this the next time you take or drop off your innocent children at the local Baptist church.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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 2022, Robert Fenton, a former youth pastor at Abide in the Vine Church in Owego, New York, was accused of sexually abusing a church teenager in the 1990s.
A former youth pastor from Bradford County has been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl over 20 years ago during a church-approved “betrothal,” according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General.
Robert Fenton, 52, is being charged with sexually abusing and assaulting a 14-year-old girl from 1996 to 1998 in Bradford County, when he was 26 years old. According to the announcement from the AG’s office, Fenton allegedly claimed that “God wanted the victim to be his spouse” because of a vision he had. The AG further explained that Fenton allegedly got approval from leaders at Abide in the Vine Church to “betroth” the girl to him “with an understanding that no sexual activity would occur.”
The alleged victim, now over 40 years old, first told police about the abuse in 2019, according to the criminal complaint released with the announcement. After the “betrothal,” the victim said Fenton allegedly convinced her parents to take her out of public school so he could visit her at home. Fenton allegedly touched the girl’s genitals and made her touch him.
In 1998, the victim said she and Fenton got engaged, at which point he allegedly made her perform oral sex on him, the affidavit said.
After the wedding was called off because Fenton reportedly got pancreatitis, the relationship ended around August-September 1998. Fenton then allegedly told the girl that she ruined his ministry before moving to Australia. The AG’s Office said that Fenton is a paster at a church in Queensland, Australia.
Once the AG’s office took over the investigation in July 2021, officers interviewed friends of the victim, congregation members, and her parents. Her parents reportedly explained that they were aware of and agreed to Fenton’s betrothal. They also said that the church elders at one point set up a 6-month “no contact” period, during which Fenton and the girl could only write letters. However, the parents claimed that Fenton would “push the boundaries”.
The pastor of the church was reportedly unsupportive of the relationship when Fenton first explained his vision. However, the pastor’s son told the AG’s office that the girl’s family and Fenton pressured the pastor and likened the relationship to Mary and Joseph, with Mary being much younger. The pastor’s son said that his father didn’t know the relationship was sexual.
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Fenton has been charged with Indecent Assault of a Person under 16, Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse with a Person Under 16, Aggravated Indecent Assault, Corruption of Minors, and Statutory Sexual Assault. The AG said his office will work with the U.S. State Department and Department of Justice to try to extradite Fenton from Australia.
“The defendant used his power and authority in his religious community to lie, manipulate and regularly abuse a young girl in his community. I promised we would hold anyone who was abusing children accountable – and Robert Fenton is no exception,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “Survivors experience a lifetime of anguish and trauma trying to overcome the impact of abuse. I want survivors to know – we believe you, and we will not let predators get away with the sexual assault of children.”
Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced the charges against former youth pastor Robert Fenton for regularly assaulting a 14-year-old member of his religious community from 1996 to 1998.
Fenton, 52, is believed to be associated with a church in the Queensland area of Australia as a pastor. A letter has been dispatched to the church notifying them of the charges. The Office of Attorney General will seek his extradition in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Justice. He was charged with statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and related charges. His alleged victim, now in her 40s, reported to the Pennsylvania State Police that the defendant began sexually abusing her when she was approximately 14 years old and Fenton was 26.
“The defendant used his power and authority in his religious community to lie, manipulate and regularly abuse a young girl in his community. I promised we would hold anyone who was abusing children accountable – and Robert Fenton is no exception,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “Survivors experience a lifetime of anguish and trauma trying to overcome the impact of abuse. I want survivors to know – we believe you, and we will not let predators get away with the sexual assault of children.”
In July 2021, the Office of Attorney General in partnership with state police began investigating the case following a referral by the Bradford County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators learned that Fenton was a youth pastor in Bradford County and declared that God wanted the victim to be his spouse. He sought and received the approval of church leaders to “betroth” the victim to him with an understanding that no sexual activity would occur. However, between 1996 and 1998 the victim sustained frequent sexual abuse by Fenton.
Between July 2021 and February 2022, investigators interviewed multiple former church officials and associates of Fenton and the victim. These interviews corroborated the victim’s allegations, stating that they recalled then 26-year-old Fenton was in a “relationship” with the victim and understood them to be “betrothed” with the blessing of their religious community. The victim came forward to law enforcement after leaving the religious community and seeking counseling for the trauma inflicted by Fenton’s abuse.
On January 16, 2025, Fenton pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault.
Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that a former youth pastor from Bradford County, Robert David Fenton, 55, pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault.
He will also undergo an evaluation by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board in Pennsylvania. Sentencing will be at a later date.
Fenton was youth pastor at Abide in the Vine church when the sexual abuse happened between 1996 and 1998, beginning when the victim was 14.
Fenton fled to Australia before charges were filed, and was ultimately apprehended entering the Philippines in April 2024.
“This trusted mentor figure used religion to get close to, and exploit, this child for his own sexual gratification,” Attorney General Henry said. “Investigators went to great lengths — literally — to bring this defendant to justice for deviate crimes he committed decades ago.”
According to the investigation, Fenton, who was 26 at the time, went to the victim’s parents and announced that he had a vision from God that Fenton and the child were to be married. Fenton, the victim’s parents, and other church officials came to an agreement on a betrothal between Fenton and the child. Fenton then sexually assaulted the child.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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 2023, Francis Young, formerly a pastor at The Sanctuary Pentecostal Church (A United Pentecostal congregation) in Marble Falls, Texas was accused of sexually abusing his two grandchildren, both under the age of fourteen. His trial got underway last week.
The trial of an elderly former preacher from a Marble Falls church started this week in 424th Judicial District Court.
Francis Young is on trial for alleged sex abuse of two children that reportedly began May 2023. The trial began Jan. 6 before a 12-member jury evenly divided between men and women.
Assistant District Attorney for the 33rd Judicial District, Carson Walker, is leading the prosecution. Local attorney Austin Shell is defending Young.
During his opening statement Jan. 6, Shell declared, in the absence of their parents, the 76-year-old Young was taking care of two of his grandchildren, one boy, one girl, both under 14.
Shell explained, Young realized both children apparently suffered from bladder difficulties, which made them prone to bed-wetting and urinary tract infections.
“He would clean them up,” Shell said. “He did things a grandfather should and would do.”
During subsequent months, several professional health care providers examined both children, the attorney added.
“Not one of them said anything about sexual assault,” Shell said. “There was not a boo-boo, a scratch of anything to indicate touching in any sexual way at all. Zero. This (trial) makes no sense to me. And, I am going to ask you (jury members) to send him (Young) home.”
However, during prior testimony removed from jury presence, the mother of both children recalled both children told her Young had “touched them in a bad way down there.”
“It happened a lot,” the mother said.
According to reports, Young was a preacher in Marble Falls at The Sanctuary Pentecostal Church until December 2022. The church confirmed he was a member but not in a leadership role at the time of his indictment in 2023.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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, Brian Werth, a youth worker at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland, was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for the sexual abuse of a church teenager.
A former youth minister at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Rockville was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for the sexual abuse of a teen parishioner, according to Montgomery County prosecutors.
Brian Patrick Werth, 34, had been arrested in 2016 in connection with the abuse of a then-16-year-old girl, to whom he had sent explicit text messages for two years and had sexual contact with her earlier that year. He was charged with a fourth-degree sex offense, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree assault.
Judge Karla Smith sentenced Werth to one year for the sex offense charge and two years for the assault charge, according to a State’s Attorney’s Office press release. The two terms will be served consecutively, followed by five years of probation with COMET, a sex offender monitoring program that will include periodic polygraph and psychosexual testing. Werth is also required to register as a sex offender for 15 years.
Smith went beyond state guidelines, which recommend zero to six months for the charges, in the sentencing. Ramón Korionoff, a spokesman for the State’s Attorney’s Office, said the sentence was appropriate.
“It is our hope that this above-the-guidelines sentence will send a strong message that people in position of authority and trust must not abuse that power over the young people they are supposed to be serving,” he said in a statement. “Hopefully, yesterday’s sentence will be the first step in healing for the victim and the church community in this matter.”
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Werth, who lived in Montgomery Village at the time, had known the victim through the church, and learned that she “adored him,” according to prosecutors. They began texting, and police later discovered he had sent graphic and sexual texts to her since the summer of 2014.
On about May 20, 2016, Werth kissed the teen and had other inappropriate sexual contact with her during a youth event at the church, according to police.
St. Elizabeth’s had fired Werth in 2016 after the pastor received a complaint against him that summer, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Washington at the time. The pastor contacted the Archdiocese’s Child and Youth Protection Office, which then reported the case to county police.
After his release from prison, Werth was accused of one count of solicitation of a minor to engage in the production of obscene matter, three counts of possession with intent to distribute pornography, and ten counts of possession of child pornography.
A Prince George’s County man was arrested and charged Tuesday after a Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation developed evidence supporting charges of possession of child pornography and the attempted solicitation of a minor.
The suspect is identified as Brian Werth, 37, of Beltsville, MD. Werth, a registered sex offender, is charged with solicitation of a minor to engage in the production of obscene matter, three counts of possession with intent to distribute pornography and 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He was taken to the Maryland State Police College Park Barrack for processing before being transferred to the Prince George’s County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond.
On June 24, the Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force received a CyberTip report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children involving the distribution of child pornography online. The investigation led to the identification of the suspect and his residence in Prince George’s County.
Through the course of the investigation, troopers discovered that Werth had also been communicating with a minor in North Carolina. Troopers, with the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations, arrested Werth Tuesday as he went to visit his probation officer in Hyattsville, Maryland. Investigators also served a search warrant at the identified suspect’s residence.
Finally, Werth had his day in court and was convicted of on two counts of production of child pornography; coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; and committing a crime involving a minor by a registered sex offender. Werth was sentenced to 37 years in prison.
A 39-year-old registered sex offender was convicted by a jury Wednesday on multiple charges related to creating pornography involving minors.
After a three-day trial, Brian Patrick Werth, a 39-year-old from Beltsville, was found guilty by a jury on two counts of production of child pornography; coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; and committing a crime involving a minor by a registered sex offender.
Prosecutors said between January and June 2021, Werth pressured a 14-year-old and 15-year-old girl to create sexually explicit content and share it with Werth via apps. The teens testified that he used coercion methods such as showing them porn with other teens, flattering them and helping them buy lingerie and “school girl outfits.”
During that same time period, prosecutors said Werth was also talking to an 11-year-old girl and asking her for nude photos.
Werth faces a minimum of 25 years in federal prison, up to 50 years for the child pornography charges, and an additional 10-year mandatory consecutive sentence for the commission of a new offense involving a minor while being required to register as a sex offender, and between 10 years and life in prison for coercion and enticement of a minor. If and when he’s released from prison, he will be required to continue registering as a sex offender.
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Werth’s previous conviction stems from a 2016 case where he was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl he allegedly spent two years grooming.
“There was an extended period of grooming,” Assistant State’s Attorney Hannah Gleason said at the time of his arrest. “He’s a danger to this juvenile and to the community.”
Werth was a youth minister at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Rockville at the time and was accused of abusing her at a youth ministry “lock-in” overnight event.
“She felt helpless to resist or object to the defendant’s advances and solicitations based upon their historical relationship and her belief the defendant had been so helpful and kind to her in the past,” investigators wrote in court documents.
Beltsville resident Brian Patrick Werth, 40, has been sentenced to 37 years in prison after being convicted by a jury at a three-day trial for producing child sexual abuse material.
Werth was convicted of coercing and enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct and engaging with a minor as a registered sex offender.
According to court documents, between January 2021 and June 2021, Werth communicated with underage girls, ages 11 and 15, through Internet-based applications WhatsApp and Kik.
During these interactions, prosecutors said that Werth persuaded, coerced, and enticed the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct by producing sexually explicit videos of themselves.
Additionally, Werth engaged in child sexual abuse as a member of the Maryland Sex Offender Registry for a previous sex offense conviction.
In addition to his prison term, Werth was also ordered by a judge to serve 25 years of supervised release. He also must register as a sex offender where he resides, is employed, and where he is a student when he is released.
Werth also is barred from having contact with children under the age of 18 without prior permission. He also will submit to computer monitoring.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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 April 2024, Bret Bymaster, a former youth pastor at The River Church Community in San Jose, California, was accused of six felony counts of child sexual abuse.
A prominent Silicon Valley leader and former pastor has been arrested and charged with six felony counts of child sex abuse, after being under investigation this year for allegations that surfaced about his time as a youth ministry leader at a popular South Bay church.
Brett Bymaster faces time behind bars for alleged lewd acts with a child who was as young as eight during his time at The River Church, according to charges by county prosecutors. He was arrested and booked at the Elmwood Correctional Facility on Thursday. His bond was set at $400,000, but at a Friday arraignment hearing, Judge Hector Ramon revoked his eligibility for bail at least until the next scheduled hearing on April 19, according to prosecutors. San José Spotlight first reported Bymaster’s alleged abuse in January.
Ramon ordered Bymaster not to contact the victim documented in the charges. He was also ordered not to contact another unnamed individual, according to the case’s prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Paynter.
Paynter said it’s too early to tell how much jail time Bymaster faces if found guilty of all charges. The trial date is a moving target.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” Paynter told San José Spotlight.
Bymaster’s attorneys Renee Hessling and Dana Fite did not respond to requests for comment.
The arrest comes after a second investigation by The River Church in three years regarding Bymaster’s action, when five parishioner families say a 2021 probe led by church leaders failed to uncover the extent of his abuse and excluded one of the most serious claims — sexual abuse.
At the time, Bymaster denied the allegations in a statement to San José Spotlight.
“In recent months, we have discovered that there were profound flaws in the original pastoral inquiry process and in the denominational report (which was never released publicly but only summarized by senior leaders),” church families wrote in an open letter in January. “We now believe that the inquiry process and the senior leadership withheld crucial information about the nature and scope of the abuse.”
Bymaster, a recognizable figure in advocacy and political circles, was still listed as a founder and executive director of the Healing Grove Health Center, a clinic that serves low-income families, on its website as of Friday afternoon.
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Bymaster served as a youth pastor and director at The River, nestled on Lincoln Avenue, for five years beginning in 2014. He quit after getting a critical job review in August 2019 based on complaints about his leadership from church families.
Yet two years later, youth from the congregation raised more significant concerns about Bymaster.
The church launched an internal inquiry in 2021 led by its own leader the Rev. Theresa Marks, according to an email sent in January from three top church leaders, including lead pastor Brad Wong.
Marks found that Bymaster was a “toxic leader who was spiritually abusive,” and encouraged church leaders to summarize her findings in a letter. The probe from Marks, which included interviews with 25 individuals, also questioned the church’s management of Bymaster.
“We take full responsibility for not doing the job of keeping our youth and youth volunteers safe in our youth ministry. We did not provide adequate oversight of the youth program or our former youth pastor,” church leaders wrote in an August 2021 letter.
But parents of the alleged victims say the letter swept damning details under the rug and questioned whether some of the incidents should’ve been categorized as sexual misconduct, harassment or abuse.
In November 2024, more charges against Bymaster were filed.
A well-known nonprofit director was hit with more charges alleging that he sexually abused a minor when he formerly worked as a youth pastor, following a separate case alleging sexual abuse against another minor was filed in April.
Brett Bymaster, 48, the executive director of Healing Grove Health Center, was charged Nov. 19 with one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years old and one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts on a child aged 14 or 15, according to court documents. The alleged abuse began in 2013 and continued through 2019.
He was arrested and charged in April with six counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor who was between the ages of 8 and 14 during the time of the alleged abuse — a similar range of years, from 2013 to 2019. Bymaster was released on $50,000 bail that same month pending trial.
He was placed on leave from Healing Grove Health Center following the first charges. Bymaster posted $100,000 bail on the new charges, according to the DA’s office. His arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 14.
Bymaster formerly worked as a youth pastor at The River Church in San Jose between 2014 and 2019. He resigned in 2019 due to his leadership style not aligning with the teachings of the church, according to court documents.
The new charges allege that Bymaster took advantage of a position of trust to commit the abuse and befriended the victim, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, in the pursuit of committing the sexual abuse. Documents added that the victim was “particularly vulnerable.”
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Bymaster’s attorneys, Renee Hessling and Dana Fite, said in a statement: “These are not new allegations; in fact, the District Attorney’s Office has known of this alleged victim since the beginning of their crusade against Mr. Bymaster. These new accusations were originally considered meritless, but in an attempt to bolster a weak case against Mr. Bymaster, (prosecutors) elected to file these additional charges which stem from an ever-evolving story.”
In response to the statement by Bymaster’s lawyers, Sean Webby, director of communications at the DA’s office, said: “We’ll try our case in court.”
Allegations against Bymaster arose in January when The River, the church where he formerly worked as a youth pastor, sent a letter to the church community detailing their independent investigation into his behavior when he worked there between 2014 and 2019. The church had first investigated Bymaster in 2021 due to complaints about his leadership and concerns about sexual misconduct, according to court documents.
The church’s investigation alleged that Bymaster was too graphic when teaching sex education classes to youth, that he showered naked with teen boys at a camp, that he made a comment about a minor girl’s chest and that, in one instance, he touched a female’s upper thigh inappropriately, according to court documents.
The church conducted its second investigation in 2023 after parents complained that the first investigation “downplayed some of the possible criminal elements” allegedly committed by Bymaster, according to court documents. Between 12 and 13 students made “complaints related to the sexual misconduct” to the church, according to court documents.
Brett Bymaster’s wife, Angela Bymaster, contacted the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday and strongly defended her spouse.
“My husband is completely innocent of all of these charges,” Angela Bymaster said. “He is guilty only of preaching the gospel of Jesus and building a successful Christian clinic which serves the poor, which has somehow made us a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.”
Angela Bymaster characterized the allegations as attempts by enemies to destroy his reputation and their clinic.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Abraham Jatnel Coronado, a youth leader with a La Luz Del Mundo affiliated church in Redlands, California, and oversaw an off-site church property known as Ebenezer Ranch, was found guilty of thirteen counts of sexually abusing minor church members and sentenced to life in prison. La Luz Del Mundo is a non-trinitarian, charismatic organization.
A youth leader at a notorious church in Redlands has been sentenced to 175 years to life in prison for sexually abusing three young members of the congregation.
Abraham Jatnel Coronado was found guilty last Friday of 13 felony counts of sexual abuse against the young church members.
Coronado was a youth leader at a La Luz Del Mundo church in Redlands and oversaw an off-site church property known as Ebenezer Ranch.
According to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, Coronado was often left in charge of children without parental supervision and the children would often spend the night in his trailer located on the ranch.
Coronado, the DA’s Office said, was “well respected and known to have a close relationship with the Church headquarters’ main leaders.”
For several years, Coronado used his position to prey on young boys in his care, prosecutors said. The victims ranged in age from 12 to 17.
The first victim to come forward was abused by the church leader when he was a teenager. He testified during the trial that Coronado repeatedly sexually abused him, and in a recorded conversation between the two, Coronado never denied the abuse and said he “wanted this [sex] to happen.”
The first victim reported the abuse in 2021 after seeing Coronado taking another young victim under his wing, concerned that he would continue to victimize other children at the ranch.
The second victim testified that Coronado groomed him from a young age to “become his boyfriend” and would often isolate the child from other children at the ranch. The victim testified to experiencing “many acts” of sexual abuse at the hands of Coronado that began when around 2010 when he was only 13. When he turned 14, Coronado became more forceful and raped the child, he testified.
A third victim testified that Coronado would “slap his buttocks, rub his chest, and rub his pelvis against him in a sexual manner” when he was between the ages of 12 and 13. The victim said he’d never experienced an adult behaving like that toward him.
Coronado eventually admitted to the sexual abuse of the children, acknowledging he was aware of their age at the time and his position of power over them. In an apology letter written to his victims, Coronado said he was sorry that his “stupidity” caused them such “suffering and humiliation.”
La Luz Del Mundo is a controversial megachurch headquartered in Mexico that has been mired in allegations of sex abuse perpetrated by church leaders. In 2019, Naasón Joaquín García, the religious organization’s main leader and a self-proclaimed apostle of Jesus, was arrested at LAX and eventually pleaded guilty to charges of sexual abuse of a child.
He is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence for those crimes at the California Institution for Men in Chino
Last year, García was indicted for allegedly possessing child pornography on his tablet, which was found during his arrest at LAX.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
