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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Michael Cole Convicted of Sexually Abusing a Teenage Boy

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Michael Cole, worship pastor at The Worship Center Ministries in Dixon, Illinois, was convicted on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Kathleen Schultz, a reporter for SaukValley.com wrote:

A Dixon man charged with 25 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teenage boy was sentenced to 6 months in jail and 8 years’ probation – 4 years on each of the two charges to which he pleaded.

The other 23 were dismissed per his plea agreement.

Michael J. Cole, 38, must serve the full 6 months; he is not being given day-for-day credit, but he was given credit for 9 days served. He also must pay $2,428.25 in fines and fees.

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The boy was 16 when the abuse began; Cole was 29 and the assistant pastor at his Dixon church.

Although Cole is being allowed to remain a worship leader at the Worship Center, 403 N. Ottawa Ave., while on probation, he may be in the presence of those younger than 18 only when other adults are present.

He cannot be a minister, counselor, or mentor, or hold any kind of leadership position over any children younger than 18.

His father, Bishop Michael F. Cole, is the Worship Center pastor.

Although his son has been preaching in his church recently – and in fact delivered a short, videotaped speech Sunday letting members of the congregation know about his upcoming jail term and thanking them for their support – his role in the church upon his release “has yet to be determined,” his father said Tuesday. He has no position at the church at present, other than being a worship leader, the bishop said.

Also under the terms of his probation:

Cole must register as a sex offender; cannot in general have any contact with a child younger than 18 unless supervised by an adult 21 or older; must complete any and all recommended sex offender evaluation and treatment; can have no contact with his victim or any of the victim’s immediate family; and cannot leave the state without the court’s permission.

He also cannot have any sexually explicit material; date or have a romantic relationship with anyone who has physical custody of a minor child; cannot live within 100 yards of a school, daycare, YMCA, YWCA, park, playground or any other place children congregate; and cannot place a personal classified ad, go to a bar, or have a firearm or any other dangerous weapon.

Cole, who was sentenced Wednesday, was arrested Sept. 14, 2015, after an investigation that began that August, when the boy reported being sexually abused in 2008 and 2009, when he was 16 and 17, and Cole was 29 and 30.

Black Collar Crime: Catholic Priest Adam Prochaski Accused of Sexually Molesting Girls

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adam prochaski

Adam Prochaski, former pastor of Holy Cross Church in Maspeth,Queens, New York, stands accused of molesting fifteen girls between 1973 and 1994.

Christopher Barca, a writer for the Queens Chronicle, reports:

More than a dozen women have come forward in recent weeks to accuse a former Maspeth priest of molesting them as children decades ago.

Prominent attorney Mitchell Garabedian told the Chronicle in a Tuesday interview that 15 women claim that former Holy Cross Church pastor the Rev. Adam Prochaski sexually abused them at some point between 1973 and 1994.

“Father Prochaski was sexually abusing innocent children for more than two decades,” Garabedian said. “My clients are very courageous for coming forward.”

According to the Daily News, which broke the story, Prochaski was first assigned to Holy Cross in 1969. Garabedian said the abuse began four years later and occurred not just at the church, but at the parish’s now-defunct school and other locations.

“Sex abuse happened at school, in Holy Cross Church, in the rectory next door and in some of the children’s homes, as well as the father’s,” the attorney said. “In many cases, his abuse was open, notorious and in plain view.”

The ages of his alleged victims, many of them Polish immigrants, ranged from just 5 years old to 16, he added.

The allegations finally graduated from whispered rumors in 1990, when former Holy Cross teacher Linda Porcaro said seven of the priest’s alleged victims told her what had happened to them.

“So I immediately went to the principal at the time, but I was told that everyone knew about Father P. She laughed,” Porcaro said in a Tuesday interview. “I was supposed to forget about it because everyone knew.”

Porcaro left the school shortly afterwards, but kept in touch with the victims — who are now between 37 and 54 — over the years. In August, she said she saw an anonymous post on Facebook that advised anyone with with information about the priest’s past to call Garabedian.

The lawyer represented many of those sexually abused by priests in Boston a decade ago.

That scandal was famously unearthed by a team of Boston Globe investigative reporters and portrayed in the 2015 Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight,” with popular actor Stanley Tucci playing Garabedian.

“I called him and told him everything I knew, who the girls were and what they told me,” Porcaro said. “I’ve been trying to make this right for 30 years. As this all came out, women have started to contact me, even some from 10 years before I taught there.”

Thinking back to the days spent with Prochaski at the school and church, Porcaro said she noticed him multiple times standing at the bottom of staircases, staring up girls’ skirts as they ascended the stairs.

“He was 6-feet, 4-inches tall and not thin. He was intimidating to a little child,” she said. “He would also constantly take pictures. He had a hobby of photographing candidly anyone he could.”

The Diocese of Brooklyn told the Daily News that Prochaski left the priesthood in 1994, soon after the allegations were reported to the religious organization.

The NYPD and the District Attorney’s Office have launched investigations into the claims, and Garabedian said he is working on getting his clients enrolled in the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program — a fund for victims of sexual abuse committed by clergymembers.

“While no amount of money can heal the scars of abuse, we hope the program can help with the healing process and provide some element of closure,” diocesan spokeswoman Carolyn Erstad told the Daily News. “Our intention is to show solidarity with victims.”

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Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Samuel Sutter Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse

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Samuel Sutter, youth pastor at Openwater Church in Odessa, Florida was sentenced last week to ten years in prison for sexually abusing a church teenager.

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

Everything had been worked out.

The former pastor had already admitted to sexually abusing one of his teenage congregants. He had agreed to serve 10 years in prison. He said nothing as he waited Thursday for a judge to pronounce the sentence.

But the girl’s mother couldn’t stay silent.

“He used God as a weapon,” she told the judge. “Fear as a weapon. Her own beliefs as a weapon.”

When the sexual encounters started, Samuel Sutter was a 25-year-old married pastor at Openwater Church in Odessa.

The girl was 15.

Sutter’s responsibilities included ministering to the church members in middle school, high school and college, and that was how the two met.

They had chatted on the phone and on Twitter. Over time, they started getting together outside church, at coffee shops and malls. The sex began in the fall of 2015.

“He shoved her face into bare, sweaty mattresses, so the evidence wouldn’t be on the sheets when his wife came home,” the mother said in court. “He obsessively reviewed every social media account she had, every text on her phone, every email, every photo …”

The mother spoke of Sutter overpowering the girl, putting his hands on her neck. She spoke of him forcing her to take morning-after pills to prevent her from becoming pregnant. She spoke of him threatening to leave her, if she didn’t do what he wanted, to pursue one of her friends.

In the spring of 2016, the mother noticed her daughter was acting anxious, more stressed than usual. She managed to get into her daughter’s phone, where she found text messages which indicated the two were sexually involved.

Hillsborough sheriff’s detectives investigated and later arrested Sutter. They said most of the sex acts happened at Sutter’s home, but some occurred in the women’s bathroom at the church on Race Track Road in northwest Hillsborough County.

“He chipped away her self worth, her self-esteem, her sense of balance, her trust, her faith in her family, her God and her self,” the mother said. “He continued to take, until all that was left was a shell of a girl who was so fearful and anxious and full of self-loathing that she felt the only way out may be to take her own life.”

Since the abuse ended, the mother said her daughter can’t eat certain foods or listen to the Christian music she once enjoyed. She has nightmares and panic attacks. She fears becoming close to anyone.

“Her precious gift of first love should have nothing to do with an adult, married youth minister …” she said. “This man hurt a child. He’s a dangerous predator, and unforgivable.”

Sutter could have faced up to 35 years in prison.

He pleaded guilty to three charges: lewd and lascivious battery, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, and use of a computer or device to solicit illegal acts.

In addition to prison, Sutter was sentenced to 25 years of probation. He will have to register as a sex offender for life.

Black Collar Crime: A Brief Example of Why You Should Never Trust Evangelical Churches to Protect Your Children

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theron mcdaniel

Sexual abuse is widespread in Evangelical churches. For every case reported and prosecuted, numerous others go unreported. Recently, Theron McDaniel, a bus mechanic, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually abusing a teen girl. He was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison. Astoundingly, the children’s pastor and a church volunteer from Open Door Church in Burleson, Texas — the church home of McDaniel and his family — asked the judge to give McDaniel probation. Why? They believed he was not at risk to abuse anyone again. Really? I mean REALLY? How can these spokesmen for God KNOW McDaniel is not at risk to re-offend? Jesus? McDaniel got saved or told God he was really, really, really sorry? Or perhaps he cried crocodile tears, asked God and the girl to forgive him, and promised that he would never, ever, cross-his-heart-hope-to-die do it again.

Let this story be yet another example of why parents should NEVER entrust the care of their children to Evangelical pastors, church leaders, teachers, or nursery attendants. The risk is too high — with Evangelical theology turning smart people into trusting, forgiving, blind sheep who always see the “good” in people. Unfortunately, as the Black Collar Crime Series reveals, parents put their children at risk if they believe that Pastor so-and-so and the loving people at First Evangelical Church of Anywhere would never harm their children. They can, they might, and sadly, they, at times, will.

Here’s the Weatherford Democrat news story about McDaniel, his crimes, and those who think the convicted sexual abuser is an a-okay dude:

A 48-year-old Weatherford man was sentenced to consecutive 13-year prison sentences for two cases of sexual assault of a child in a trial that concluded in Parker County district court Thursday.

Earlier this month, Theron Scott McDaniel pled guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl and elected to have 43rd District Court Judge Craig Towson assess his punishment.

During the trial, victim impact testimony showed that, as a result of the abuse, the victim suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, anxiety, depression and low self esteem, according to Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain, who prosecuted the case. According to testimony, the abuse occurred better than a dozen times over the course of about a year-and-a-half.

“The abuse in this case has had a profound impact on our victim,” Swain said. “With all that Mr. McDaniel put her through, she and I were both grateful that Judge Towson assessed stacked sentences that will keep him in prison for a long time.”

McDaniel testified that he had sex with the victim 13 times and apologized to her from the witness stand. He told Towson that while he may deserve a prison sentence for what he did, he was asking for probation so that he might continue to work and support his wife and three daughters.

Several defense witnesses from Cowtown Bus Charters in Fort Worth testified that McDaniel worked for them as a bus mechanic, was an excellent employee who would be difficult to replace, and requested that the judge give him a probated sentence. The Children’s Pastor and a church volunteer from Open Door Church in Burleson testified that they did not feel that McDaniel was a risk to sexually re-offend and that they also requested that he receive probation.

“The earliest that Mr. McDaniel could be released on parole would be in 13 years,” Swain said.

Theron McDaniel was employed by Cowtown Bus Charters. They too, worried about who would replace McDaniel, asked the judge to grant him probation. Evidently, motor repairs come before protecting children from people who deign to harm them.

Here’s McDaniel’s Cowtown bio:

I have been with Cowtown since 2009 as a mechanic. I have 30 years [sic] experience as an auto/diesel mechanic, mostly in the transportation and heavy, off-road equipment fields. I am currently the Head Mechanic at Cowtown. I have 4 daughters. I am active in Life Group Ministries and like bass fishing. My favorite vacation spots are Monument Lake, Rockwall, & Colorado.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor David Farren Sentenced to Fifteen Years for Sexually Abusing Two Teens

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david farren

If you are not familiar with David Farren, please read, The David Farren Case: Why I Post Reports of Clergy Sexual Misconduct on Facebook.

David Farren, former youth pastor at Anchor Church, Trinity Church, Heritage Baptist Church, and Faith Baptist Church — all located in Texarkana, Texas — was charged in 2016 with sexually assaulting two teen girls. At the time, the Texarkana Gazette reported:

A youth pastor at Anchor Church in Texarkana was arrested Wednesday on three counts of sexual assault involving a teen girl. David Farren, 41, allegedly assaulted the girl when she was 16 and 17, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said. The girl was allegedly a member of the youth group Farren headed. Miller County jail records show Farren was booked at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. He is expected to appear before a Miller County judge Thursday for an initial appearance, at which time bail will be set. First degree sexual assault is a class A felony in Arkansas. Each of the three counts Farren is charged with is punishable by six to thirty years in prison.

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When I publicized Farren’s crimes and arrest on Facebook, his supporters came out of the woodwork, defending him from all accusations of misconduct. Today, Farren was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for his crimes. TXK Today reports:

A Texarkana pastor was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday morning for sexually abusing two teen girls who were members of youth ministry groups he led at several local churches.

David Wayne Farren, 42, appeared with Texarkana attorney Jason Horton for a plea and sentencing hearing before Miller County Circuit Judge Carlton Jones. Farren pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual abuse and a misdemeanor count of violating mandatory reporting requirements. Farren pleaded no-contest to one count of second-degree sexual assault as well.

As part of a plea bargain, Jones sentenced Farren to 15 years for each of the nine felony counts of sexual abuse, to run concurrently, and to four days in the county jail with credit for four days served on the misdemeanor. At the end of the hearing, Farren was led from the courtroom to the jail.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said Farren confessed to eight of the nine felonies during an interview with Texarkana, Ark., Police Dept. investigators last year. According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim listed in eight of the felony counts first met with TAPD detectives in July 2016 when she was 20. That victim told investigators she was motivated to come forward because she worried Farren was grooming another girl. At the time of his arrest, Farren was serving as lead pastor of Anchor Church in Texarkana.

The victim told investigators she first met Farren while in middle school at Trinity Christian School and while Farren was youth minister at Trinity Church and later youth minister at Heritage Baptist Church in Texarkana. The girl said she confided in Farren in 2013 that she had been sexually abused by someone else in her past. Members of the clergy, teachers and medical personnel are required by law to report allegations of child physical or sexual abuse to a national child abuse hotline, but Farren did not.

The girl said she was babysitting Farren’s children the first time he touched her sexually as she was lying on a couch under a blanket, and that he had intercourse with her on her 17th birthday in 2013. She said she and Farren had sex in his home in Texarkana, Ark., more than 20 times and that he would have sex with her in his garage if his wife was at home. She said Farren claimed he did not divorce his wife because it would be a sin. The victim reported that the abuse stopped in August 2013. The victim mentioned that when Farren began taking an intense interest in her, another girl with whom he had been “close” had left for college.

The other girl was interviewed by TAPD detectives in August 2016 after Farren’s first arrest. She told detectives Farren began touching her sexually after her father died when she was about 15 and Farren was her youth minister at Faith Baptist Church in Texarkana. The second victim to be interviewed by police is named in one of the second-degree sexual assault counts. She said she cut off contact with Farren after he made a phone call to her while she was in her college dorm room. The girl said Farren’s sexual conversation with her led her to “realize how he had control over her.”

Farren will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be required to pay a fee for the registration as well as a fee for having his DNA included in state and national databases. He must serve 70 percent of his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.

 

 

Black Collar Crime: Rushville Baptist Temple Being Investigated Over Child Sexual Abuse Allegations

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Rushville Baptist Temple, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church in Rushville, Indiana (pastored by Garry Evans, according to the church’s sign), is under investigation in light of child sexual abuse allegations being levied against either the pastor or someone else in the church. No one has been named at this time.

WISHTV-8 reports:

Neighbors are responding after learning about allegations of child sexual abuse at a church in Rushville.

Police executed a search warrant last week at Rushville Baptist Temple Church at 1335 North Spencer Street as part of their investigation.

Police said they are looking into allegations of child molestation and began looking into the church several weeks ago after a woman told them her young daughter was a victim.

During the course of their investigation, police said another woman came forward and said the same thing happened to her as a young girl nearly 30 years ago.

The allegations are disturbing to hear for longtime residents who live in a Rushville neighborhood near North Spencer Street and West 16th Street.

“It’s sad. It’s very sad,” said one neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified on camera. “As a grandparent, it worries me.”

The neighbor described Rushville as a small town where everybody knows everybody.

“It’s mind-blowing to think that you should be able to send your children to church, and they should be safe,” she said.

Police executed a search warrant last Friday at the church. Police have not said what detectives were able to find but made it clear this is still an ongoing investigation.

As of Friday evening, no one had been arrested or charged in connection to the allegations.

“It’s scary, I mean it just gets more scary every day hearing these types of stories,” said Nichole Wooldridge, a neighbor.

Wooldridge lives down the street from the church and moved into the neighborhood about five years ago.

“I mean that’s just got to be devastating to anybody, you know, whether you’re related to the victim, you’re the victim, whatever. It is that’s just devastating,” she said.

The Rushville Police Department and the Rush County Prosecutor’s Office are urging anyone with information about this case to come forward and give them a call at 765-932-3907.

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The Rushville Republican reports:

According to RPD Chief of Police Craig Tucker, the warrant was the result of an investigation following allegations of a child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor which occurred at the church. Tucker added that all parties named in this investigation are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

During the investigation, a second individual came forward and alleged she too had been victimized, nearly three decade ago in a similar manner.

According to a press release received by Rushville Republican, the RPD is diligently investigating the allegations and officers are actively seeking any information from the public related to the matter.

According to Chief Tucker, investigative efforts within the church and the congregation have stalled as they have elected not to actively participate in the investigation. Investigators and the Rush County Prosecutors Office are urging anyone with any knowledge of the allegations or similar incidents to please come forward. The RPD can be contacted at (765) 932-3907.

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Black Collar Crime: Pentecostal Pastor Mack Andrews, Jr. Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes

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pastor mack andrews jr

In 2015, Mack Andrews, Jr, one-time pastor of First United Pentecostal Church in Thomasville, Alabama pleaded guilty to charges of “raping, sexually abusing and sodomizing multiple young girls.”

Al.com reported at the time:

A former Clarke County pastor today pleaded guilty to charges of raping, sexually abusing and sodomizing multiple young girls.

Mack Charles Andrews Jr., 55, will serve 15 years in prison as part of the plea agreement.

Andrews was expected to stand trial starting today on charges involving multiple minors in the late 80s and into the 90s when he was pastor of the First United Pentacostal Church in Thomasville and principal of Faith Christian Academy.

Andrews was arrested on Oct. 3, 2013 on multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse, attempted rape, sodomy and sexual torture, according to court records. He is being held at the Clarke County Jail on $500,000 bond.

Warrants filed by Thomasville police at the time of the arrest outline charges involving multiple minors in the late 80s and into the 90s.

Investigator discusses Mack Andrews case David Connor shares his thoughts on the convicted former pastor.
In September, one of Andrews’ accusers shared with AL.com her story of alleged abuse. That victim said she was victimized from age 7 until she was 12.

The day after that article was published, the judge in the case issued a gag order preventing attorneys and witnesses in the case from talking with reporters or posting details of the case on social media.

That victim, who now lives out of state, did not return to Alabama to participate in the trial, District Attorney Spencer Walker said. Four other victims, however, agreed to the plea deal.

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One of Andrews’ victims told her story to AL.com. You can read her story here. According to another AL.com report, Andrews’ daughter witnessed some of his sex crimes.

Black Collar Crime: Baptist Pastor Michael Walker Charged With Failure to Report Abuse

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pastor michael walker

Michael Walker, pastor of Southside Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama stands accused of “failing to report sexual abuse of a child.”

AL.com reports:

A Huntsville pastor is accused of failing to report sexual abuse of a child who allegedly was fondled by a now-former sheriff’s deputy.

Michael Walker, pastor of Southside Baptist Church, was released from the Madison County Jail on $500 bail early this morning, records show.

Walker failed to report abuse that Roland Campos, a former deputy, is accused of committing against a 12-year-old girl, police said.

“Investigators have since learned through follow-up investigation that the victim reported the abuse to Walker and he refused to notify law enforcement or (the Department of Human Resources),” Huntsville police Lt. Stacy Bates wrote in a news release. “The law requires anyone acting in a capacity such as Walker to report this type of alleged criminal activity.”

Police said Walker was made aware of the abuse in March. Campos was arrested in August on two felony counts of sexual abuse. He is free on bail.

Campos resigned amid a sheriff’s office internal investigation of the allegations. Huntsville police have handled the criminal case.

“Michael Walker is not guilty and looks forward to presenting his side in court,” Walker’s attorney, Jonathan Pippin stated in an email to AL.com.

What follows is an AL.com news article detailing the crimes of Roland Campos. Walker is accused of not reporting the abuse after the victim made it known to him.

The victim in a sexual abuse case against now-former Madison County sheriff’s investigator Roland Campos was 12 years old when the 63-year-old lawman fondled her, court documents allege.

Campos, a longtime sheriff’s investigator, resigned Friday just before he was booked into the Madison County Jail on two felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

Police have said the victim, a young girl, is a family member of Campos. Huntsville police Lt. Stacy Bates earlier this week told AL.com that HPD was called to investigate after the sheriff’s office was notified about the child’s allegations. The report was made Friday around 3 p.m., but the alleged abuse occurred months earlier, police have said.

About three hours after police were called, Campos resigned. He was a 10-year employee of the sheriff’s office, where he investigated white-collar crimes, like fraud and identity theft.

Campos was booked into the jail by 8 p.m. and released on $10,000 the next day.

“Anytime you have an employee that is involved in any criminal activity, it’s shocking,” Madison County sheriff’s Lt. Brian Chaffin said at a news conference earlier this week. “Not only is it shocking, it’s painful. We had a meeting this morning. You can see it on everybody’s faces. It’s never a good thing when one of your own ends up in jail. But, of course, we have to do our job and we’re going to continue to do our job.”

Campos isn’t the first person in his family to be charged with sex crimes. His son, also named Roland, was sentenced to two terms of life in prison without parole in 2014 for sodomizing a 5-year-old girl while he was reportedly dating the victim’s mother.

Campos’ brother, Russell Leland Campos, was charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 in 2011. Those charges were dropped in 2014 when the alleged victim in the case was unable to testify due to the “ongoing effects of psychological trauma.”

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I wish more prosecutors would hold pastors and churches accountable for not following mandatory reporting laws. As story after story on this blog has shown, far too many “men of God” and churches hide abuse accusations, choosing to protect reputations over helping abuse victims hold their abusers accountable for their crimes.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Eric Jones Pleads Guilty to Indecent Liberties With a Child

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Eric Jones, pastor of Beaver Creek Baptist Church in Andrews, North Carolina pleaded guilty Monday to “sexually abusing a minor more than a decade ago.”

The Citizen-Times reports:

A former pastor will spend 30 days in jail after admitting this week to sexually abusing a minor more than a decade ago.

Eric Dave Jones, 49, pleaded guilty on Monday in Haywood County Superior Court to indecent liberties with a child, a felony that could carry up to nearly two years in prison. Instead, in addition to a month of time in county jail, Jones will serve 90 days of house arrest and three years of supervised probation.

He’ll be required to submit a DNA sample and register as a sex offender for 30 years, according to a court judgment.

By pleading guilty, he won’t be charged for any other allegations related to the case.

The judgment said Jones, a Bryson City resident, began sexually abusing the victim in 2002. The victim was 9 years old at the time.

“The root of me telling people is because I know it’s not my fault that he’s done what he’s done and that he is a predator,” said the victim, now 25 and living in Cherokee. The Citizen-Times does not identify victims of sexual assault.

“I just felt like as long as I didn’t tell, I was giving them the opportunity to continue those actions to someone else.”

Public records show Jones was a pastor in Western North Carolina. The victim said he most recently worked at Beaver Creek Baptist Church in Andrews before resigning after his arrest earlier this year.

A phone number listed for the church was disconnected Thursday.

The victim said Jones was a longtime family friend.

“I’m glad he pleaded guilty,” she said. “Because he is. I think I got as much justice as I could. I’ll never get back what he took or what he’s caused, or the time that’s been lost on the just the emotional effect.”

Black Collar Crime: Convicted Sexual Predator and Abuser Pastor David Earl King Dies in Prison

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david earl king

David Earl King, pastor of Valley of the Kings was convicted years ago of “sexual battery, conspiracy to commit a crime, tax fraud, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” Last Thursday, King died in the prison hospital at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

US News and Word Reports reported:

The former pastor of a south Mississippi religious enclave died in a prison hospital Thursday night, years after being convicted of several crimes, including sexually abusing a teenage boy.

The state Department of Corrections announced David Earl King’s death Friday and said an autopsy will be done. King , 83, was in the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and had served about one-fourth of his sentences that totaled 66 years.

King once operated Valley of the Kings, which he described as an “independent holiness church” in Walthall County. When he was arrested, about 30 people lived on the 58-acre compound, with family members in a large ranch-style house and others in trailers. Children attended school in the church basement. Some of the followers said they believed he had the power to heal people.

In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press, Walthall County prosecutor Danny Smith described King as manipulative and abusive.

“He had gathered around him mostly women of meager means who could not support themselves,” Smith said. “He kept them in dire and incestuous circumstances, exploited and intimidated them.”

King was convicted in August 2001 and sentenced to a total of 36 years for sexual battery, conspiracy to commit a crime and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. During King’s trial, the 13-year-old victim described how King forced him to engage in sex acts.

In March 2002, King was convicted of tax evasion for not paying taxes from 1995 to 2000 on the door-to-door sales of peanut brittle to support Valley of the Kings. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and a $120,000 fine. That was five years and $20,000 for each year the taxes weren’t paid.

Two of King’s former daughters-in-law testified that, “King beat them when they returned home with inadequate, or below quota, sales, that King worked them excessively and that King forced them to work when sick,” Judge Billy Bridges wrote in 2004 when the Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld King’s tax evasion conviction.

King’s children told the AP in 2002 that they had seen their father heal broken bones, drive cancer out of a woman on her death bed and save one of their brothers from a bullet wound to the head. One of his sons, Terry King, said he saw his father’s convictions as “religious persecution.”

In 2001, WWRN reported:

On a grassy meadow next to grazing horses, a large sign proclaims the Valley of the Kings to travelers passing along the only paved road in this southwest Mississippi town.

But two smaller, handmade signs just outside a wood fence and nearby red brick church let uninvited guests know they are not welcome at the religious enclave these days.

Church members posted the “PRIVATE” and “KEEP OUT” signs after the group’s self-appointed pastor was arrested in March, accused of molesting a 14-year-old boy.

“Charges like these tend to shock a quiet, small county like ours,” Sheriff Duane Dillon said.

Valley of the Kings Church patriarch David Earl King, 66, and Nathan Paul King, 32, believed to be King’s adopted son, were indicted in April on charges of sexual battery, conspiracy to commit sexual battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Last week, David King’s defense attorneys filed motions asking for a change of venue and requested he be tried separately from Nathan King.

A third man, Gary Lynn Bates, 21, of Denham Springs, La., has been arrested on related charges. All three have pleaded innocent.

David King called the charges “all lies” as he was led out of his bond hearing. Lawyers for King and Bates have refused to comment.

The 14-year-old’s parents claim the Kings sexually abused their son and threatened to castrate him if he spoke of it, Dillon said.

The indictment includes a second possible victim, identified as an 11-year-old boy who alleges Nathan King attempted to have sex with him. Since the arrest, Dillon says at least eight people from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi have come forward, alleging sexual abuse by David King and church followers. Some allegations date back decades.

David King described the Valley of the Kings Church as “an independent holiness church” during the hearing. But Prosecutor Dunn Lampton called it a cult-like group, with the elder King as its patriarch.

“He’s got an uncanny control over his congregation. He can tell them to do anything and they’ll do it,” said lawyer Conrad Mord, who has handled three previous cases involving the church.

David King was born in the Walthall County farming community and returned 23 years ago as a preacher with a large family and followers.

About 35 people now live on the church grounds, a 58-acre compound with a large house and a scattering of mobile homes flanked by elm and magnolia trees. The church basement doubles as a school for the children.

The closest town is Tylertown, with one traffic light and a population of about 1,900, about 15 miles from Louisiana’s state line.

Authorities say King’s followers make money selling peanut brittle door to door and, despite little interaction with the surrounding communities, neighbor’s say the group is well known.

“There’s always been something about that particular group” that has drawn people’s interest, said resident Sandra Peavey.

Some don’t think highly of David King.

“We were all proud he was arrested just because of the stuff we had heard,” said Charles L. Harvey, 64, referring to the sexual allegations.

Authorities said they seized more than $100,000 in cash, several weapons and pornographic magazines from David King’s home.

The Kings were denied bond and remain jailed.

In the early 1980s, Mord said he won a custody case involving a Louisiana boy, whose mother sent her son to school at the compound. David King refused to return the boy, Mord said.

Two other boys alleged they’d been sexually abused but both recanted, Mord said. A judge removed them from King’s custody.