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Black Collar Crime: Former Youth Pastor Charlie Hamrick Charged With Forty Counts of Child Sex Abuse

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

charlie hamrick

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, Charlie Hamrick, a former youth pastor at Pine Forest United Methodist Church and high school football coach in Pensacola,Florida,  was arrested and charged with forty counts of child sexual abuse.

The Boston Herald reports:

A Florida high school assistant football coach and youth pastor, who has been charged with more than 40 counts of child sex abuse, may have abused more victims, authorities say.

“We have identified an additional eight victims,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan tells PEOPLE.

The new victim tally came about after the sheriff’s office held a press conference last week to announce the arrest of 54-year-old Charlie Mabern Hamrick, who is accused of molesting young boys as far back as 1997.

“Anytime he had contact or was in a position that could almost be looked at as a target rich environment for someone of that proclivity, we wanted to make sure our community knew,” says Morgan.

The abuse allegedly occurred while Hamrick worked as a karate instructor, an assistant football coach at Tate High School in Pensacola, and as a Sunday school teacher and youth pastor at two local churches.

“Those are perfect venues if you are of that mindset,” says Morgan. “It is a steady stream of victims. They don’t wear certain clothes and they don’t look a certain way. Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes.”

Morgan says he is doubtful more charges will be filed because the statute of limitations has expired on the eight cases.

“We are interviewing those victims and taking their reports and sworn testimony and providing that to the state attorney even though they won’t be filed on to the best of my knowledge,” Morgan says.

One of the alleged victims is a member of the armed services. “He made a call and he is currently on active duty and he passed along to us his contact and what it amounted to,” Morgan says.

Morgan says investigators are also looking into allegations that Hamrick gave unlicensed physical exams to Tate High School football players.

….

Police began investigating Hamrick last fall after three victims came forward claiming he allegedly exposed himself and inappropriately touched them while they were riding four-wheelers on his property and fishing in his pond, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

Another victim told police that Hamrick abused him several times when he was between the ages of 8 and 11. The abuse allegedly occurred at Hamrick’s home when his family was there, but they were unaware of the abuse, the paper reports.

Hamrick was charged in March with 40 counts of child abuse including sexual assault on a victim younger than 12, providing obscene material to minors, lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim younger than 12, and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim age 12 to 16.

….

Prosecutors later dropped many of the charges against Hamrick, choosing to focus on the crimes that could result in life in prison for the defendant.

North Escambia reports:

Charlie Hamrick, 54,  was originally charged with over 40 criminal counts, but now faces 10 charges — six counts of sexual battery on a child under 12, one court of  giving obscene material to a minor and three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. He remains in the Escambia County Jail without bond.

Thirty of the charges dropped by state were sexual battery on a child under 12 in a case that reaches back to 1997 when the alleged victim was as young as 8 years old. Six of the life felony charges in that case remain active.

“When spread over an extended period of time  sometimes it is hard to prove the exact specifics of each individual incident down to the what happened and exactly when,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said, explaining why the charges spanning 1997 to 2000 were dropped.  “It is not unusual to limit the number of cases to cover all events.”

When law enforcement makes an arrest they do so on probably cause,” he said, “where we must prove each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.”

He said it can become more difficult as time passes for victims to remember specific events down to the time and place of each. Marcille stressed that eliminating such large number of charges in no way indicates that prosecutors do not believe they have a strong case against Hamrick.

“This does not mean that we believe there is a problem with any of the cases,” the assistant state attorney said.

If Hamrick is convicted on any one of the sexual battery on a child under 12 charges, he will face a required sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

….

Update

A November 28, 2017 Pensacola News Journal report states:

The alleged victim of former Tate High School assistant football coach Charlie Hamrick told a jury Tuesday that Hamrick began sexually abusing him as a child and that the abuse escalated over a period of years.

The victim, now 28, said Hamrick was a close family friend who abused him for years after the pair met at church. He said their two families grew so close he referred to Hamrick as his “uncle.”

Hamrick, 55, was arrested in March and charged with more than 40 counts of child sex offenses ranging from molestation to sexual assault over the course of 20 years from multiple victims. The state has since reduced some of those charges.

Some victims claimed Hamrick assaulted them through his work as a taekwondo instructor and others said he gave them unlicensed physicals while working at Tate High.

The trial that began Monday addresses one set of allegations pertaining to a then 8-year-old boy who said Hamrick touched him inappropriately during sleepovers and family trips from 1997 to about 2000.

Prosecutor Erin Ambrose told the jury during opening statements Tuesday morning that this case is built on secrets. She said the victim didn’t tell anyone the extent of what allegedly happened to him for 20 years because he thought what Hamrick did was not unusual.

The victim described instances in which Hamrick allegedly touched his genitals under a blanket while his wife and children were in the same room during sleepovers. He said other times Hamrick would move his own sleeping children from a pull-out couch in the playroom at his house to perform sex acts with the child.

The abuse ended when the victim was 11, he said, and his mom found him sitting on Hamrick’s lap on a boat at Pensacola Beach during a family trip and realized Hamrick was touching her son under his shorts.

“(She called my name) in a shriek that I still remember today,” the victim said.

The victim said he could tell she was angry and worried but he didn’t comprehend that the cause of that anger was the result of any action of his or Hamrick’s.

From then, the families stopped seeing each other outside of church. The parents told the victim what Hamrick had allegedly done was wrong, but they decided not to go to the police and instead prayed about it, thinking what happened at the beach was a one-time offense, Ambrose said. The victim testified that after his parents knew about the beach incident, he was scared and embarrassed so didn’t elaborate about what had allegedly happened to him in the years prior.

The victim said he didn’t interact with Hamrick again until about 2013 when he began volunteering with Tate High School. The victim said he took the position because he heard Hamrick was working on the coaching staff. He said he felt uncomfortable knowing Hamrick was around children as the freshman coach, and he thought his presence would remind Hamrick of the abuse and act as a deterrent.

….

Hamrick was found guilty and sentenced to six life sentences.

Black Collar Crime: The Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal Continues

Bruce Gerencser 6 Comments

pastor mike holloway

Please read previous posts on this scandal: Black Collar Crime: Woman Claims Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Knew She Had Been Sexually Abused and Did Nothing and Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Denies He Knew Anything About Woman’s Sex Abuse Claim and Black Collar Crime: Another Victim Comes Forward in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal

Today, The Kokomo Perspective released another episode in their ongoing coverage of the Temple Baptist Church sex scandal. Devin Zimmerman writes:

Donald Croddy first admitted to molesting his daughter, Dawn Price, in 1989 during a Department of Public Welfare child abuse investigation.

And, documents obtained by the Kokomo Perspective contradict claims by Temple Baptist Church leadership concerning whether Croddy admitted again to molesting his daughter in 1991.

In 1989 the Indiana Department of Public Welfare (the agency that would eventually become Child Protective Services) conducted an investigation at Temple Christian School. During that investigation, a 17-year-old Price admitted to a caseworker that she had been molested at a very young age by her father. In a subsequent interview with Croddy, he admitted to a caseworker that he had “fondled” his young daughter.

This information was obtained from a DPW 311 form, which Price had to procure because such documents are confidential. Price said she was shocked to learn that her father admitted to a caseworker he had molested her, and while she said certain aspects of the report weren’t accurate, she also expressed dismay at the fact that no further action ever came from the investigation.

“When I got it, it was sealed. I … opened it while I was driving and immediately saw, ‘Mr. Croddy admitted,’ and I had to pull over because I was shaking so hard and crying so hard,” said Price, who is now 45. “I couldn’t believe he admitted to it, and they did absolutely nothing. They didn’t even come back to talk to me again. They just let me go home with him. That just blows my mind. There was no follow up, no nothing … It was referred to the prosecutor and still nothing.”

According to the DPW 311 form, caseworkers conducted their investigation of alleged child abuse on Nov. 15, 1989, after receiving a referral in September of that year where it was alleged Price had been molested by her adopted father when she was approximately 3 to 4 years old. Price noted that this isn’t correct. She wasn’t certain who made the referral, and that information remains confidential.

As a result of the referral, a caseworker interviewed Price at Temple Christian School. In that interview, “Dawn admitted to the caseworker that indeed she had been molested at a very young age by her father. She stated at this point in time she feels that she could use some counselling to deal with some of the emotional issues that are currently present. She stated that she is no longer afraid of her dad and the abuse did not continue.”

By Price’s own admission, the portion about not being afraid of her father was a lie. According to her, Croddy was actually at the school when the interview took place.

“I was always afraid of my dad. I mean, I don’t know. I hate to admit it, but up until I started going to counseling a year-and-a-half ago, almost two years ago, I was still terrified of my dad,” said Price. “It was more of a petrified, don’t want to do anything. It was just instilled in me. He is going to lash out at you if you do anything wrong.

“At that point in time, which also blows my mind, he was there. So, anything I said, I didn’t know if they would tell him. Like I said before, I was in self-preservation mode. Don’t do anything that could cause me to get beat like Danny (Price’s brother). Like I said before, I didn’t even remember telling them that it happened. Reading that also kind of surprised me, that I actually told them.”

According to the DPW 311 form, “Mr. Croddy admitted to the allegations and stated that he had fondled his daughter approximately 10 years ago, but nothing has occurred since. Caseworker referred Mr. Croddy to counselling, stating that Dawn was requesting having someone to talk to.”

This, said Price, was inaccurate. She claimed that the alleged molestation had been more recent than her father stated and elevated to more than being “fondled.” While the form also indicated she would be referred to counseling, Price also noted she never received any aid.

“I was 17 (at the time of the interview), so he had stopped five years prior,” said Price. “So he doubled the years, first of all, and secondly, I think he, I don’t know, he was trying to make it as little as possible so he would get in trouble as less as possible. It says, ‘He admitted to the allegations and stated that he fondled his daughter.’ He did a hell of a lot more than that.

….

On April 19, Holloway penned a letter that was shared via Facebook. In that letter, he wrote, “In February 2017, Dawn posted a video to Facebook making additional accusations against her father, claiming Don had admitted his behavior to me during the 1991 meeting. This accusation is completely false and an attack on both the truth and my character. Given the allegations made in Dawn’s video, I sat down with Don and our church deacons for an in-depth discussion. After this discussion, I asked that he resign as a member of our church.”

However, the Kokomo Perspective recently was given a document that was compiled by the church. This document includes notes about allegations made against the church by Price, actions taken by the church, and other similar information.

Within the document is an account of the conflict prior to Price’s wedding in 1991, which appears to be compiled by information from Tami Breed, who is noted to be Temple Baptist Church’s secretary.

“Approximately, Aug. 19, 1991, prior to her scheduled wedding at TBC, Dawn informed her fiancé (Andrew Thornton) that Don had molested her as a kid,” read the document. “Andrew was very upset and possibly threatened to kill Don (not clear if a threat was verbalized). It was during this ‘blowup’ that Don admitted that he had molested Dawn as a child 14 years earlier (age 5). Following this confrontation, Dr. Holloway instructed Tami Breed to get him CLA’s (Christian Law Association) phone number, which she did. He then contacted CLA for advice on how to handle this information and was told to have Don removed from all ministries that involve children. That was done immediately. Additionally, Dr. Holloway informed Tami Breed to keep an eye out for any inappropriate behavior.”

….

Additionally, it was shown within the document that a meeting between Croddy, Holloway, and church deacons was scheduled after Price released a video in February detailing her accusations against her father.

The document reads, “Sunday, February 26 – Dr. Holloway met for one hour with deacons and Don Croddy and asked many questions; Don Croddy stated that 80% of accusations on the video were false but did admit to:

1 – ‘touchy-feely’ incident when Dawn was five (1975 – lasted for 3 mos.)

2 – had same experiences with 3 neighborhood girls (1985 – he used to bring them to church; they were 11-12 years of age)

3 – no molestations since then.”

According to the document, the meeting resulted in Croddy’s removal from the church.

You can read the entire article here.

Temple Baptist Church Abuse Survivors Facebook Page

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Kevin Grimes Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor kevin grimes

Kevin Grimes, pastor of DaySpring Assembly of God in Spencer, Iowa and director of the Spencer Dream Center — an unregulated ministry,  was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for having “sex with people he was counseling.”

The Des Moines Register reports:

A former pastor in northwest Iowa has been given five years in prison for having sex with people he was counseling.

Former DaySpring Assembly of God pastor Kevin Grimes was sentenced Monday in Clay County District Court.

He’d pleaded guilty to two felony and one misdemeanor count of sexual exploitation by a counselor.

Prosecutors dropped three other counts in exchange for Grimes’ pleas. The 52-year-old also must register as a sex offender.

Grimes had worked as chief executive officer of the Spencer Dream Center, which provides social services to the community. Prosecutors allege Grimes engaged in sexual conduct with some clients while providing mental health services to them.

Grimes was the subject of a Register Reader’s Watchdog investigation in May 2016 after Alex Jacobsen, a close friend, attempted suicide while participating in Grimes’ unregulated faith-based treatment program. Not long afterward, authorities confirmed Grimes was under criminal investigation, accused of sexually exploiting others he had counseled, and Grimes resigned.

In August 2016, Lee Rood, a writer for the Des Moines Register, reported:

Clay County authorities this week charged a pastor who started a controversial discipleship program in Spencer with five counts of felony sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist.

Kevin M. Grimes, 51, an Assembly of God minister, was the subject of a Register Reader’s Watchdog investigation in May after Alex Jacobsen, a close friend, attempted suicide while participating in Grimes’ unregulated faith-based treatment program. Not long afterward, authorities confirmed Grimes was under criminal investigation, accused of sexually exploiting others he had counseled, and Grimes resigned.

Jacobsen’s family brought the allegations to authorities’ attention.

Grimes has since been dismissed from the Assemblies of God church as a pastor, according to Tom Jacobs, district superintendent of the Iowa Ministry Network for the church.

“We’re just very saddened by all of these events,” Jacobs said. “We’re concerned for everybody involved in the situation and praying for everybody who’s affected.”

Grimes came to Spencer from California to pastor at DaySpring Assembly of God Church and started a new drug treatment program earlier this year at the nonprofit Spencer Dream Center, which he and local donors created downtown to help people in need.

….

Jacobsen’s family approached the Reader’s Watchdog, wondering why faith-based treatment programs are not subject to any regulation in Iowa.

The discipleship program Grimes started in January required that Jacobsen, who was 26 and suffered from mental illness, go off powerful mood-altering drugs before being admitted. Ten days later, after showing obvious signs of withdrawal, his family said, he attempted suicide with a box cutter he found in a hallway.

Paramedics said Jacobsen, a University of Iowa graduate, would have bled to death if he had not been found by Hanges shortly after.

Jacobsen’s family also questioned the relationship Grimes forged with the troubled young man and text messages Grimes sent to him. After the attempted suicide, the family made contact with others who said Grimes was sexually exploiting young men, and put them in touch with Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation.

….

In September 2016, Russ Mitchell, a writer for The Daily Reporter, reported:

A fourth person has come forward and an additional felony charge was filed Thursday night involving a former Spencer pastor accused of trying to sexually exploit vulnerable individuals under his care.

Kevin Grimes now faces four Class D felony counts and two aggravated misdemeanor counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. Grimes was director of the Spencer Dream Center and pastor at DaySpring Assembly of God Church as allegations of inappropriate conduct began to surface.

Special Agent Trevor Modlin of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation initially said the 51-year-old “became a friend and counselor to three individuals with whom he developed sexual arousals stemming from his work as a counselor.” The agent also said Grimes followed a pattern of grooming the individuals “by initiating jokes and conversations, which were sexual in nature, providing photographs that were sexual in nature to two individuals and engaging in touching of one victim’s waistline, upper thigh and buttocks,” according to the initial criminal complaint.

“As a member of the clergy, senior pastor of the church and CEO of the Dream Center, he provided or purported to provide mental health services to emotionally dependent individuals which he knew or had reason to know were significantly impaired in the ability to withhold consent to sexual conduct,” Modlin said.

….

Update

A November 20, 2017 Dickinson County News report states:

Former Spencer pastor Kevin Grimes was granted an early release and left the Newton Correctional Facility on Monday morning, according to records officials at the Iowa Department of Corrections.

District Court Judge Don E. Courtney ordered the release Friday, after hearing from Clay County Attorney Kristi Busse and defense attorney Aaron Hamrock.

Grimes was originally sentenced to five years in prison on May 15. Previous time served and compliance incentives gave Grimes a tentative discharge date of Oct. 4, 2019, according to Iowa Department of Corrections records.

Courtney said he factored in Grimes’ family and financial circumstances as well as the pastor’s prior criminal record and social history when reconsidering the sentence.

“The court finds that the defendant’s term of incarceration shall be reconsidered and the defendant shall be immediately released from custody and placed on probation,” Courtney said, in an order sent to Newton on Friday. “All other provisions of the court’s May 15 judgement and sentence are to remain in full force and effect.”

….

One of the victims who testified at Grimes’ sentencing hearing expressed opposition to the former pastor’s release.

“Knowing him, he’s lying about being sorry,” he told Courtney in an a Nov. 3 victim impact note to the judge. “If he kept this going his whole life, you think he’s going to be sorry in four months? It would be irresponsible to allow him out at this time. He’s not sorry.”

Under Friday’s amended sentence, Grimes has five days to report to the probation office in Sheldon. He will have to register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry and Courtney ordered Grimes to attend and complete a sex offender treatment program.

“That program may be completed in the state of Iowa or the state of California,” Courtney ruled.

….

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Douglas Richmond Charged With Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

pastor douglas richmond

On Friday, Douglas Richmond, a pastor at Fox River Christian Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin, was charged with “sexual assault of a student by school staff.”

The Kenosha News reports:

Douglas A. Richmond, 41, of Burlington, was charged with sexual assault of a student by school staff in Kenosha County and in Racine County with sexual assault of a child by a person who works or volunteers with children. He is in custody in Racine County, held on $2,500 bond.

After his court appearance Friday afternoon, detectives in Racine County learned of another victim who said she had a sexual relationship with Richmond while he was a teacher at Indian Trail High School and Academy. Additional charges of sexual assault by a teacher are possible in Racine County for the second person who came forward.

….

According to the Kenosha criminal complaint, Richmond was a physics teacher at Tremper during the 2009-10 school year. A former student reported to Kenosha Police that she was a senior at Tremper that year and that while she was a student she and Richmond agreed to “meet up.” She told investigators that beginning in October 2009 she and Richmond met outside of school and began what she characterized as a consensual sexual relationship. She was 17 years old at the time.

The Kenosha County criminal complaint states that the former student told investigators that she and Richmond had sex at her home at least 20 times. The Racine County criminal complaint states that they also had sex at his mother’s home in Burlington.

The complaint also states that Richmond shared sexual photographs and videos of himself with the student.

According to the Kenosha County criminal complaint, the two continued to meet after she graduated from high school. The complaint states that the last time she saw Richmond was in 2012 or 2013.

A press release from the Racine County Sheriff’s Department states that the second person who came forward said some of the sexual encounters with Richmond happened in 2011 in Kenosha and at least one in Racine County.

The complaint states that Richmond denied to an investigator that he ever had a sexual relationship with a student.

His most recent employment was as a pastor at Fox River Christian Church in its music and IT departments.

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Daniel Hoffman Charged With Sexual Misconduct

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

busted

Daniel Hoffman, former youth pastor at Alive Ministries in Jenison, Michigan, has been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Wood TV- reports:

An Ottawa County man is facing charges more than 10 years after police say he sexually abused a young boy.

24 Hour News 8 has learned that in the time since the alleged abuse, the suspect has held a number of jobs involving children.

Daniel Hoffman, now 31, is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Court records from March — when an arrest warrant was issued — show the alleged abuse happened over the course of several years from 2003 to 2008. A police sergeant who testified in court in March said the suspect and the victim were neighbors in Jenison.

Before that, in January, an Ottawa County sheriff’s detective wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant that Hoffman was being treated at a Zeeland hospital for a “psychotic break” in October 2016 when he told a nurse that he had inappropriately touched the victim when the boy was 6 years old. Hoffman would have been 17 or 18 at the time.

The detective interviewed the alleged victim, now an adult, who said that from the age of 5 or 6 until he was 10 to 12 years old, Hoffman repeatedly fondled him. The alleged victim said it happened at Hoffman’s house, in his camper and at Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya in Shelby, where Hoffman was a counselor and the boy was a camper.

The alleged victim’s family chose not to talk to 24 Hour News 8 on camera Tuesday, but said the alleged victim has suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide in the years since the alleged abuse. The family released a statement saying that the suspect “has been involved with so many young people that there are possibly more victims.”

….

Court records show Hoffman was a paraprofessional at Jenison Public Schools and also a youth minister, most recently at Alive Ministries in Jenison, 24 Hour News 8 learned. Court records show both of those positions have since been terminated. The lead pastor at Alive Ministries said Hoffman was asked to resign in August.

Black Collar Crime: Catholic Priest Larry Jensen Accused of Sexual Abuse

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor larry jensen

Larry Jensen, pastor of St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church in Waterville, Maine has been accused of sexual abuse. Amy Calder, a reporter for the Morning Sentinel, had this to say about the allegations levied against Jensen:

The Rev. Larry Jensen of St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church on Appleton Street has been removed from the church amid a “substantiated” allegation of sexual abuse of a minor 15 years ago in Connecticut.

“He has been permanently relieved of priestly ministry and he can not present himself as a priest anymore,” Michael Thomas, vicar general of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, New York, said of Jensen Monday morning in a telephone interview.

Thomas said the alleged abuse victim, a male, “was close to 18 but not 18” when the alleged abuse occurred at the time Jensen was a priest at St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church in Danbury, Connecticut.

“Father had some sexual contact with this minor, and we were kind of shocked when we got the call last week,” Thomas said. “I confronted Father with it and he didn’t admit it, but he didn’t deny it.”

….

Thomas said he does not know who the accuser is and he does not think any legal action has been taken so far on the accuser’s behalf.

“It’s been shocking for all of us. We feel very bad for the victim and we feel very bad for (Jensen), so we’re torn,” he said. “He’s had consistent assignments; we’ve never had any complaints.”

….

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who is not involved in the Jensen case but has prosecuted more than 2,000 cases involving sexual abuse in the Catholic church, said a person in the state of Connecticut has until the age of 48 to file a lawsuit in court.

Garabedian — whose character was featured in the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight,” based on the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church — said Monday that an investigation must have been done in the Jensen case in which the victim was found to be credible. Otherwise, Jensen would have been placed on leave and not permanently relieved from priestly duties.

“It’s kind of like being suspended without pay pending an investigation,” Garabedian said in a phone interview Monday. “Obviously, they’ve gone beyond that point.”

Until Sunday, Jensen had been the priest at St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church, at 3 Appleton St., for about 10 years. On Sunday, Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Brooklyn Eparchy read aloud a letter to parishioners at the Waterville church, explaining that the Rev. James Doran was replacing Jensen, who likely would have been transferred to another parish in the next year anyway because most priests serve only six to 9 years in one place, according to Thomas.

Mansour also told parishioners the Eparchy takes allegations of abuse seriously, and if anyone else had complaints about Jensen to contact officials, Thomas said. “We just want to make sure no one else is affected,” he said.

The same kind of letter was read in the parishes of Danbury, Connecticut, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, Thomas said.

Parishioners of St. Joseph in Waterville on Monday reported being saddened and heartbroken Jensen was removed from the church but said they understand the rules that require it when someone reports sexual abuse.

“I feel very, very bad for Father,” said Martha Coury Patterson, a St. Joseph parishioner. “I can’t even express how badly I feel for him because it is a thing of the past and forgotten and he’s been so wonderful to so many people and so hopeful and he brought so much love.”

Patterson said Jensen is in Massachusetts now and has a large, supportive family in Michigan, where she believes he will go next. “We’re just praying for peace for him,” she said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, notified the Brooklyn Eparchy on May 1 of the allegation of abuse by Jensen, Thomas said.

Brian Wallace, communications director for the Bridgeport Diocese, clarified on Monday that St. Anthony’s Maronite Catholic Church is not a part of the Bridgeport Diocese. Jensen is not, nor has he ever been, part of the Roman Catholic diocese or had an assignment there.

The reason Bridgeport Diocese reported the allegation of sexual abuse is that Bridgeport officials got a call last week from an attorney who indicated there had been an allegation of sexual abuse, according to Wallace. He said that the Bridgeport Diocese takes such reports very seriously and, as part of protocol, called the Eparchy and other entities to relay the report they had received from the attorney.

“As soon as we received that call, we immediately notified (Connecticut) Department of Children and Families,” Wallace said. “We immediately notified police. We’re mandatory reporters.”

He said the attorney called Bridgeport because the alleged abuse took place in Danbury and it would be logical for the attorney to call the Roman Catholic Diocese because it encompasses all of Fairfield County in that state.

….

Thomas said the Eparchy has been trying to be transparent about the matter involving 62-year-old Jensen, who is close to retirement age. He will be provided a pro-rated retirement stipend until full retirement age, which could be 65 or 70, and he will be kept on health insurance until he is 65, according to Thomas.

Thomas said that when he confronted Jensen with the report, he told him he had no choice but to remove him from priestly ministry.

“We have a review board that looks at these cases,” Thomas said. “Because Father wasn’t denying, there was no need to convene the review board. But we had a conference call with the review board, and he was removed from the ministry permanently. Father said that this was the only time that this ever happened, and I have no need to doubt it.

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Tommy Newberry Sentenced to Fifteen Years For Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

pastor tommy newberry

Last Tuesday, Tommy Newberry, pastor of Red Creek Church of God, Buckatunna,Mississippi pleaded guilty to first degree and second degree sodomy. According to news reports, Newberry sexually assaulted six boys in his church — ages eleven to fifteen.

News 11 reports:

The former pastor at a Wayne County church has pleaded guilty to four felony charges that he sexually abused several underage boys.

Tommy Joe Newberry was sentenced to 15 years in Washington County, Alabama. Newberry was the former pastor at Red Creek Church of God near the Alabama/Mississippi state line. Washington County assistant district attorney Bill McCorquodale tells Newscenter 11 that Newberry was sentenced to 15 years on two felony first degree sodomy charges and 10 years on two felony second degree sodomy charges. Those charges will run concurrently, so he’ll serve a total of 15 years.

Authorities said they believed the sexual abuse occurred over the course of several years, starting as early as 2003. Investigators accused Newberry of abusing at least six underage boys.

Link to original 2015 story

According to the Red Rock Church of God website:

Pastor Newberry and congregation would like to give you a personal invitation to join us in our services. Our Mission Statement: To be Pentecostal in Faith, Holiness in life, and Evangelistic in outreach. To provide spiritaul direction and renewal for our church family and to be recognized in the community as a place where they can find answers to their deepest needs through JESUS CHRIST! Feel free to contact us at xxxxxxxxx or call Pastor Newberry and staff at church.

Black Collar Crime: Another Victim Comes Forward in Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo Sex Abuse Scandal

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

pastor mike holloway

Please read previous posts on this scandal: Black Collar Crime: Woman Claims Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Knew She Had Been Sexually Abused and Did Nothing and Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mike Holloway Denies He Knew Anything About Woman’s Sex Abuse Claim.

Another victim has come forward in the ongoing Temple Baptist Church of Kokomo, Indiana sexual abuse scandal.

The Kokomo Perspective reports:

Another woman alleging she was molested by Donald Croddy stepped forward last week. She claims she was encouraged to stay at the Croddy household by Temple Baptist Church Pastor Mike Holloway post 1991.

Jamie, allowing the Perspective to publish her first name, spoke last week after she said she read the account of Dawn Price, who previously alleged she was molested by her father, Donald D. Croddy, at a young age. According to Jamie, now 36 years old and a Kokomo resident, reading Price’s story brought back memories of her own alleged run in with Croddy.

“I saw Don Croddy’s name,” said Jamie. “Everything just kind of hit me. From 1992 to 1994 I was staying at his house on the weekends because the Holloways and (the Croddys) and my mom thought, because I wanted to be a member of the church, they just thought that would be a good way because I would need to be attending church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday afternoon, and any other time they requested me to be there … The Croddys were generous enough to do it. My mom was OK with it because they were a nice church family.”

According to Jamie, while staying with the Croddys off and on for that two-year period, she was allowed to sleep in a small room on the main floor of the Croddy household. She described details about the room – such as its hardwood floor, off-white color, twin bed, and location within the house – in a manner that matched a separate description by Price. It’s these details that Price said struck her, as the pair had not met prior to last week, while Jamie was making a report at the Kokomo Police Department.

….

Jamie said that while she was staying with the Croddys, Price’s father made inappropriate advances on her. This, she said, included forced touching.

“He would forcibly hug me. He would like grab me, and hug me, and smoosh my chest into him,” said Jamie. “He would then lower his hand onto my thigh and butt and not let me go.”

Jamie also alleges Croddy would attempt to walk in on her as she changed at their house.

The situation, Jamie claimed, reached a head when she awoke one night with Price’s father allegedly in the twin bed she slept in at the Croddy household on Judson Road.

“He came in there in the middle of the night,” said Jamie. “I wore nightgowns, you know really long ones that had the buttons. I woke up with his hand in my shirt … and I screamed. He told his wife I just had a nightmare.”

It’s at that point, she said, she requested to meet with Holloway. At the time, she said she would have been between the ages of 12 and 14. According to Jamie, she said she told Holloway and his wife about what allegedly was  going on at the Croddy household.

“I felt uncomfortable. I talked to Mike Holloway and his wife because you were never allowed to talk with him alone [the Billy Graham rule],” said Jamie. “That was just the rule of church. You weren’t supposed to be with boys alone. Matter of fact, you had to sit a Bible length away in a pew from a boy.

“I told them about some of these things because there were also times (Croddy) would open the door when he knew I was getting undressed. I was pretty much told I wasn’t being a good enough Christian.”

Afterward, Jamie said she never told anyone about her experiences, including her then-single mother. After riding the church’s buses to services since 1985, beginning at the age of 5, Jamie said she stopped attending Temple Baptist Church.

….

When asked about Jamie’s experience, the leadership of Temple Baptist Church denied the allegation. Because of Jamie’s decision to withhold her last name, the Perspective could not provide a last name to the church because of the nature of her alleged ordeal.

“Without a last name, we cannot provide facts pertaining to a certain member of the church and what interactions this individual may or may not have had with Pastor Holloway,” said Jim Willoughby, an associate pastor at Temple Baptist Church.

“However, the church can state with absolute certainty that Pastor Holloway never encouraged any children to stay at the Croddy home after accusations made by Price in 1991. Additionally, if any church member – child or adult – were to come to the church and claim inappropriate behavior against them, the claim would receive immediate and thorough review by church leadership, including Pastor Holloway. Temple Baptist Church does not and has never tolerated sexual abuse.”

….

You can read the Devin Zimmerman’s latest in depth article here.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Jacob Malone Sentenced to 3-6 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

jacob malone

I have written previously about Jacob Malone: Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Jacob Malone Plans to Admit He Raped Church Teenager and Black Collar Crime: Judge Rejects Calvary Fellowship Pastor Jacob Malone’s Plea Agreement.

The hammer has finally dropped on Jacob Malone, one time pastor at Calvary Fellowship in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Malone was sentenced Friday to three to six years in prison for “institutional sex assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment.” The New York Daily News reports:

 A suburban Philadelphia pastor accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating a teenager has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to three to six years in prison after a judge rejected an earlier plea agreement as too lenient.

Thirty-five-year-old Jacob Malone, of Exton, was sentenced Friday after entering guilty pleas to institutional sex assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment. He also must register as a sex offender for 15 years.

Malone and prosecutors had reached an earlier plea deal that called for a two-year minimum jail term, but Judge Jacqueline Cody rejected that deal a month ago.

Malone was working at Calvary Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Downingtown, when authorities say he began sexually assaulting the girl in the fall of 2014, when she was in her late teens. She gave birth a year ago to their daughter. She maintained he took advantage of her “mentally, physically, spiritually.”

In court, Malone admitted he gave the girl alcohol but said the sexual encounters were consensual. He apologized, saying his “failures and weaknesses” had hurt her, her family and his family.

“She admired me and trusted me, and I betrayed that,” he said.

Cody called the case “one of the times when the court system fails” and said even with the stiffer sentence in the new plea agreement Malone would be “serving a sentence much lighter than the crime deserves.”

The original charges against Malone included rape. His defense attorney Evan Kelly said in a statement that Malone “has always been adamant” he did not rape the teenager but has admitted to other crimes. “And for that he is embarrassed, ashamed and truly remorseful,” Kelly said.

A number of people, myself included, believe that Malone’s sentence is way too lenient in light of the crimes he committed.

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Leader Benjamin Tweedt Charged With Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

benjamin tweedt

Benjamin Tweedt, a youth leader for Parkview Church in Iowa City, Iowa was arrested yesterday and charged with “one count of sexual abuse third degree, two counts of lascivious acts with a child, three counts of indecent contact with a child, and two counts of lascivious conduct with a minor.”

ABC-9 reports:

32-year-old Benjamin Craig Tweedt, of North Liberty is charged with one count of sexual abuse third degree, two counts of lascivious acts with a child, three counts of indecent contact with a child, and two counts of lascivious conduct with a minor.

According to police, it is alleged that Tweedt had multiple one-on-one sessions as a youth church leader with four victims over 10 years. Some of the sessions occurred on church retreats or in victims’ bedrooms. Parkview Church removed Tweedt from their student ministry as soon as they were aware of the situation.

“We’re grieving for the families of the victims that have been involved in this situation” said Doug Schillinger, the lead pastor at Parkview Church.

Schillinger said he wants the truth to be exposed, justice carried out and compassion extended to the victims and their families. Church leaders told the congregation what happened, who was responsible and what they were doing about it. The lead pastor said when he first heard of the abuse, he was shocked because it does not reflect their values or policies at all.

“Again, of the hundreds of volunteers in our school districts, teachers that do it right, that even in spite of good policies there’s one that could go off and it’s very troubling to me” said Schillinger.

Coralville and North Liberty Police have been working together on the case. So far, there’s no evidence to suggest that other people knew the abuse was happening. North Liberty Police Chief Diane Venenga said the victims were very brave to come forward.

Parkview Church released the following statement:

In early February we were made aware of incidents that occurred involving a volunteer in the junior high ministries prior to 2012 and immediately contacted state and local authorities. We also notified the church community about the situation. Parkview has cooperated with law enforcement and will continue to do so, and we ask that any questions be directed toward these authorities. Our desire is to see truth exposed, justice executed, and compassion expressed to those who have been impacted. We care deeply for students and families in our community. We ask that you respect the privacy of all who are involved at this time. Thank you.

Bruce Gerencser