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Tag: Sexual Assault

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Bus Driver Tara Glan Accused of Sexually Assaulting Disabled Girl

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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.

Tara Glan, a bus driver and youth leader for Ray of Hope Church in Taylor, Pennsylvania, stands accused of sexually assaulting a disabled girl.

The Times-Tribune reports:

Lackawanna County detectives charged a Scranton man Thursday with engaging in sexual activity with a mentally disabled woman while transporting her in a church van.

In April, the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office launched an investigation based on cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited children alleging Tara Glan had sex with a mentally disabled woman for about two years beginning when she was 16.

Glan was a van driver for the Ray of Hope Church in Taylor at the time of the alleged illegal sexual activity. He also ran church youth groups there, according to a criminal complaint.

The detectives say the woman was not capable of giving consent. The alleged abuse took place between July 2021 and July 2023, according to the criminal complaint.

Glan, 22, of 844 Madison Ave., is facing felony charges of rape of a disabled person, forcing a disabled person to perform oral sex and aggravated assault. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 21 before District Judge Paul Ware.

Investigators obtained a copy of the woman’s Independent Education Program plan, also known as an “IEP,” which indicated she had an intellectual disability rendering her incapable of consenting to sexual activity.

At 19, the woman still receives daily assistance and is under the supervision of others, officers said.

When interviewed, the woman said that, when she was 16, Glan was giving her a ride home in the church van when he pulled the vehicle over and told her to get in the backseat, and she complied.

When asked if she wanted to have sex, the victim told Glan “no,” according to the complaint.

The woman said Glan forced her to have sex even after she told him to stop. She also recalled Glan forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

The woman told police Glan had also assaulted her on New Year’s Eve at church, making her pull her pants down and forcing himself on her. When the woman told Glan he was hurting her, he stopped.

She said she had been alone with Glan at that event only because he had asked for her help in cleaning up the Sunday School classroom.

The woman estimated Glan had assaulted her about eight times.

She said she had stopped wanting to go to youth group but her mother forced her to go.

She told investigators Glan would give her a ride home from church in the van, dropping off all of the other riders before her and then sexually assaulting her.

On May 8, investigators interviewed Glan at Lackawanna County Prison. He admitted to having sex with the disabled woman at the church and in the church van.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Yyersson David Solarte Basto Accused of Sexually Assaulting Underage Girls

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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.

Yyersson David Solarte Basto, pastor of Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana Pentecostal Church in Sanford, Florida, stands accused of sexually assaulting two underage church girls.

MSN reports:

Yyersson David Solarte Basto, 33, a former pastor at Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana Pentecostal Church in Sanford, Florida, is being held without bond following his extradition from Virginia. 

He was arrested on May 7 while on a family trip to Prince William County, Virginia, and returned to Seminole County, where he is now booked at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility. 

Basto is facing charges of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation involving two underage girls, both of whom were members of his congregation.

….

The charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred at the Ipul Pentecostal Church, where Basto was a trusted community leader. Investigators believe Basto used his authority and position in the church to develop inappropriate relationships with the victims and commit the alleged abuse. Following the accusations, he was immediately removed from his pastoral role.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Church Volunteer Reagan Gray Sentenced to Probation for Sexually Assaulting a Minor

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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.

Reagan Gray, a volunteer and worship team member at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkanas, and a public school teacher, recenty pleaded no contest to second-degree sexual assault. Gray was asoundingly sentenced to probation for her crimes. Worse, the judge refused to let the victim and his family provide impact statements to the court.

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports:

Reagan Danielle Gray, a former middle school teacher and Immanuel Baptist Church praise team member, pleaded no contest Monday to second-degree sexual assault involving one of the congregation’s minors.

Originally charged with first-degree sexual assault, she accepted a plea agreement reducing the count and dismissing a separate count of fourth-degree sexual assault.

If the case had proceeded to trial, deputy prosecuting attorney Claire Maddox said the evidence would have shown that Gray had engaged in sexual contact with a minor while she was serving as a volunteer in the student ministry at Immanuel Baptist Church and that she had done so while holding “a position of trust or authority” over the minor.

After briefly questioning her, Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge LaTonya Honorable found her guilty, determining that Gray had “knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily” entered the no-contest plea.

She sentenced Gray to six years probation, assessed her $1,000 in fines plus court costs and ordered her to stay away from the victim.

Gray, 27, was also required to submit a DNA sample and to register as a sex offender. She’ll have to undergo random drug screens and drug treatment as deemed necessary by probations, the judge said.

Gray had been accused of sexually assaulting a high-school aged music ministry volunteer, beginning when he was 15 years old.

Prosecutors said the criminal conduct occurred from roughly Sept. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021.

“Ms. Gray, let me say this. Keep in mind that actions that you do impact other people. Take this time to reflect on whatever decisions you made that landed you here and look for a way to repent, if you will, and change whatever course got you here,” Honorable said.

In a written statement afterwards, Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones said the conviction “ensures the defendant will be supervised by Arkansas Community Corrections, undergo a sex offender assessment and register as a sex offender, providing accountability and protection for the community.”

Gray’s attorney, John Ogles, declined to comment.

Immanuel, which was founded in 1892, has long been one of the state’s largest congregations and is affiliated with the 12.7-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Monday, there were several longtime Immanuel members or leaders present at the courthouse, some showing support for Gray, others appearing to simply observe the proceedings.

Former Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Beth Coulson, whose husband was a longtime Immanuel trustee, sat one row in front of Gray. At one point, she went into the hall and conferred with Gray’s defense attorney for roughly five minutes.

Coulson declined to comment.

In a written statement Monday afternoon, the victim’s parents addressed the abuse’s toll. Honorable had denied them the opportunity to do so in open court.

“The criminal process has concluded and we’re grateful that our son has one less painful load to carry. We believed we would have the opportunity to give victim impact statements. While that didn’t happen, it’s important to note that Judge Honorable acknowledged the trauma inflicted on our son — something that stands in stark contrast to the silence of so many others,” they said.

“What’s difficult to reconcile is how many adults repeatedly failed him — people with power, responsibility, or influence who looked the other way. Institutions that protected themselves. Systems that made justice harder than it should have been,” they said.

In a Sept. 7, 2023, letter, Immanuel’s lead pastor at the time, Steven Smith, had informed his congregation about “physical contact” between Gray and a minor, but had downplayed the seriousness of the incident, saying he’d been told “by the police” that the “reported level of physical contact did not rise to the level of criminal assault or abuse.”

Days later, the church’s discipleship content director, Courtney Reissig, submitted her resignation, voicing concerns about the “lack of transparency, accountability, and handling” of an “abuse situation.”

In an interview in December 2023, Reissig said Smith had initially been reluctant to alert the congregation, had minimized the seriousness of the accusations and had withheld key details when he finally informed people.

The victim’s parents, who had been longtime Immanuel Baptist members, expressed disappointment Monday at the lack of support that had been extended once the abuse came to light.

“Some of those people were in the courtroom today. Given the opportunity to stand in court with the victim, those charged with teaching, leading and protecting our son once again chose to sit idly by,” they said.

“Their continued silence speaks volumes. Their actions — or lack of them — continue to make a hard road even harder.

….

“And the burden of that failure is a weight our son will carry for the rest of his life,” they said.

“Our son, at great personal cost, chose a difficult and uncomfortable path by bravely speaking up when others wouldn’t. We hope his courage has made it harder for the defendant to ever harm another child,” they said.

Even as the church was portraying Gray’s conduct as non-criminal, federal and local law enforcement officials were interviewing Immanuel staffers and others about the case.

….

Honorable questioned whether they were entitled to make any statements.

Prosecutors maintained that they had that right, citing Arkansas law.

Under AR Code § 16-90-1112 (a) (1) “(b)efore imposing sentence, the court shall permit the victim to present a victim-impact statement concerning the effects of the crime on the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime, the manner in which the crime was perpetrated.”

The statement can be in writing or under oath at the sentencing proceedings. The law also requires the sentencing court to “consider the victim-impact statement along with other factors.”

“I understand the language that’s in the statute,” Honorable told prosecutors after they directed her to it. “But anytime I am determining what evidence comes in, I have to give deference to what’s relevant, and I still don’t understand what the relevance of their testimony is in a negotiated plea.”

Honorable said she would not proceed as planned unless they agreed to do so “without victim impact statements,” and cut off the deputy prosecuting attorney when she attempted to point the judge, again, to the relevant statute.

“Ms. Maddox, I’m not going to repeat my interpretation of the statute, and I’m not going to repeat the options,” Honorable said.

In December, the victim filed a lawsuit against the Little Rock congregation, accusing it of negligence, negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent retention. The suit also names the congregation’s insurance company and other unnamed defendants.

It also lists Smith as a defendant, saying he had “reasonable cause to suspect” child maltreatment had occurred but waited to report it to authorities despite being a mandatory reporter.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Waymon Jordan, Sr. Accused of Sexually Assaulting Minor Girl, Commits Suicide

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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.

Waymon Jordan, Sr., pastor of Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, stands accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl.

WBTV-3 reports:

 A pastor in Union County was arrested this week after he was accused of committing child sex crimes, the sheriff’s office said.

The pastor, 79-year-old Waymon Jordan Sr., was arrested on March 5. He is listed online as the founder and senior pastor at Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw.

The sheriff’s office said that in February, its special victims unit began investigating a report of a child sexual assault. Over the course of several weeks, detectives conducted numerous interviews and eventually named Jordan a suspect.

Upon his arrest, Jordan was charged with four counts of statutory sex offense with a child. An arrest warrant said that he engaged in a “sexual act” with a minor who was 15 years old or younger. The child’s exact age was not given.

The warrant indicated that the alleged crime happened in 2022.

Jordan was initially denied bond but then had it set at $200,000. He was released from jail on March 6. Court documents said that upon his release, he is not allowed to have any contact with the victim. He is scheduled to be back in court on March 25.

Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church was contacted for a statement regarding Jordan’s arrest, but no response has been given.

A week after his arrest, Jordan allegedly committed suicide.

Bishop Accountability reports:

 North Carolina pastor was found dead a week after he was charged with multiple child sex crimes, the Union County Sheriff’s Office today confirmed with The Roys Report (TRR). Waymon Jordan Sr., the senior pastor at Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, was arrested on March 6, according to an earlier statement from the police on Facebook.

Jordan, 79, was charged with four counts of statutory sex offense with a child, the statement said. Following his arrest, he was released on a bond of $200,000, police said.

The pastor was found dead last week — about a week after being released, Lieutenant James Maye told TRR. Jordan was discovered behind his church with a weapon nearby. 

While a cause and manner of death could not be revealed, Maye said police suspect no foul play in Jordan’s death. Police said that no other suspects are being sought in connection with his death.

“Everything on scene indicated this was an isolated event,” Maye said. “We can’t officially say this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound at this time because the medical examiner has still not made their findings public, so we are waiting on that. But we can say, like I said, that we do not believe that foul play was suspected.”

Maye noted that there is still an “active sexual assault investigation and an active death investigation into Mr. Jordan at this time.”

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Paul Coleman Accused of Sexually Assaulting Church Children

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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, Paul Coleman, pastor of Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries in Wichita Falls, Texas was indicted on one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Channel 3 reported:

A pastor of a Wichita Falls church has been indicted on one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Paul Andrew Coleman remains jailed on $300,000 total bonds.

The indictments alleged the sexual assault occurred on November 19, 2022, and the indecency on October 1, 2022.

Investigators said the 11-year-old victim’s family attended his church, Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street.

According to the arrest warrants, the girl made an outcry at the hospital and Patsy’s House Children’s Advocacy Center. She said Coleman began by kissing her at the church and in his home on Perrigo Street.

The victim said on November 19 she had gone to the bathroom at the church and came out to find Coleman with his pants down around his ankles and then he sexually assaulted her. She said he threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened.

One of the girl’s siblings was also interviewed at Patsy’s House and said he saw his sister against a wall and heard her telling Coleman to get off her.

He said Coleman told him to get out and not tell anyone, or he would do something to him.

In 2024, additional sex crime charges were levied against Coleman.

Channel 3 reported:

Just over a year since he was released on a lower bond, a former Wichita Falls pastor is back in jail with new child sex crime charges and bonds.

Paul Andrew Coleman has bonds totaling $300,000 on new indictments alleging continuous sexual abuse of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The anonymous victim in the continuous abuse charge is different from the female victim listed in Coleman’s first indictments in March of last year.

With two new charges and being reindicted, Coleman now has four counts filed.

Coleman was first arrested in December 2022 with bonds of $300,000. They were lowered to $120,000 in March 2023, and he posted bonds the next month and was released with the stipulation he wear a GPS monitor at all times.

The first two offenses are alleged to have occurred November 19, 2022, and October 1, 2022. The additional offenses are alleged to have occurred June 1, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2022.

The first offense allegedly involved an 11-year-old girl who attended his church, Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street, with her family.

She said Coleman began kissing her at the church and in his home on Perigo Street and sexually assaulted her when she came out of the bathroom at the church.

She said he threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened.

The girl’s brother told interviewers he witnessed the assault and was also threatened.

A trial date for Coleman has now been set.

MSN reports:

More than two years after a former Wichita Falls pastor was first accused of sex crimes against young girls in his congregation, a date has been set for his impending trial.

Paul Andrew Coleman, 68, of Wichita Falls, stands accused of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

On March 4, 2025, an order was signed by 78th District Court Judge Meredith Kennedy, who specially set Coleman’s trial to begin on May 19, 2025. 

Coleman was first arrested in December 2022 and charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault and one count of indecency. After spending nearly five months behind bars, he was released after posting significantly reduced bonds in April 2023.

Just over a year later, Coleman was again arrested after a Wichita County grand jury indicted him on two new charges, a second count of aggravated sexual assault and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

Coleman, the founder and former pastor of Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street, has been held in the Wichita County Jail on bonds totaling $425,000 since May 17, 2024.

The charges against Coleman stem from between June 1, 2022, and November 30, 2022, when he was alleged to have sexually assaulted two girls who had attended his church and were both preteens at the time.

….

According to statements made by the victim’s family members and a forensic interviewer, the assaults of the two girls occurred at his residence and the church.

Other court documents alleged that Coleman had been sexually abusing the alleged child victims since September 2020.

The prosecution also accused Coleman of grooming one of the victims and her family by buying them things, dropping food and gifts off at their house, and buying a victim a phone. They also say Coleman would come to the victim’s home when adults were not home.

They also accuse Coleman of grooming the other alleged victim and her family by helping to “discipline” the victim and her siblings by getting isolated contact with them, giving them attention, playing games with them and kissing the victim.

According to the state’s notice, Coleman allegedly threatened to kill one of the victims if she told anyone how he was touching her. He’s also accused of threatening to “do something” to the victim’s brother if he told anyone what he saw.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Charles Brinson Accused of Sexually Assaulting Teenagers

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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.

Charles Brinson, pastor (bishop) of Brinson Memorial Church in Trenton, New Jersey, stands accused of two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault of a helpless or incapacitated victim and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

NJ.com reports:

A Trenton pastor charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old used a substance in an unmarked bottle to incapacitate the teen on two occasions, authorities said.

Charles B. Brinson, 64, was arrested on Feb. 19 at his home in the 300 block of Brinton Avenue following an investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Trenton Police Department.

Brinson, who serves as bishop of the Brinson Memorial Church, is charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault of a helpless or incapacitated victim and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Trenton police were called about 6:35 p.m. on Feb. 16 to Capital Health Medical Center Hopewell for an initial report of the sexual assaults, authorities said. 

The 16-year-old told officers the first assault occurred in mid-January and the second on Feb. 12 at Brinson’s home on Brinton Avenue, according to an affidavit filed by police in support of the charges.

Both assaults occurred in the pastor’s bedroom, where Brinson kept “a bottle of a clear substance and a black top with no labels on it,” authorities said.

Brinson placed the substance to the 16-year-old’s nose, which caused the teen to lose consciousness, authorities said. 

In the second assault, the substance was already on Brinson’s fingers when he approached the victim and Brinson “swiped the substance across the victim’s nose, and (the teen) immediately lost consciousness,” the affidavit states.

Both assaults occurred in the pastor’s bedroom, where Brinson kept “a bottle of a clear substance and a black top with no labels on it,” authorities said.

Brinson placed the substance to the 16-year-old’s nose, which caused the teen to lose consciousness, authorities said. 

In the second assault, the substance was already on Brinson’s fingers when he approached the victim and Brinson “swiped the substance across the victim’s nose, and (the teen) immediately lost consciousness,” the affidavit states.

The teen regained consciousness during the second sexual assault, authorities said. 

Brinson was held at a local jail ahead of a court hearing. Attorney information for the bishop was not contained in online court records on Monday.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Volunteer Evangelical Teacher Robert Watson III Accused of Sexual Abuse

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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.

Robert Watson III, a volunteer at Cross Point Church North Campus in Crestview, Florida, stands accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl.

Yahoo reports:

The investigation into the man — 36-year-old Robert Watson III — began after an alleged incident at a local church.

According to the Crestview Police Department, the investigation began in early February after a 5-year-old child told their parents they had been inappropriately touched and struck by a volunteer teacher at Cross Point Church North Campus in Crestview.

Police say church staff cooperated fully with the investigation. After reviewing evidence, detectives determined they had probable cause to charge Watson.

Authorities believe there may be additional victims or individuals with further information. The Crestview Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is asking anyone with relevant information to come forward.

….

Watson had felony warrants for two charges: lewd acts on a victim 12 years old or younger and child abuse.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor William Galbreath Accused of Numerous Sex Crimes

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william galbreath

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.

William Galbreath, pastor of Harvest Holiness Church in Salem, South Carolina, stands accused of a dozen counts of criminal sexual conduct, multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and assault charges.

98.9 reports:

An Oconee County preacher is facing child sex crime charges. The Sheriff’s Office says 57-year-old William Franklin Galbreath of Salem was arrested today on a dozen counts of criminal sexual conduct, multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and assault charges.

The Sheriff’s Office was tipped off by investigators from Tennessee who working a case in which Galbreath reportedly sexually assaulted a minor.

Galbreath allegedly started sexually assaulting a victim in 2019 while she was a child and did so in her teenage years from 2022 until this year.

Later, a 2nd victim, also a teenager, was discovered later. Galbreath is the Pastor of Harvest Holiness Church in Salem.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Youth Pastor Stephen Hutto Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Minor Girl

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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.

Former Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) youth pastor Stephen Hutto stands accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl while he worked for Fountain Independent Baptist Church in Fountain, Colorado. An Internet search revealed Wayland Hutto, a relative of Stephen’s, pastors the church. At the time of his arrest, Hutto was working as a pastor at Highlands Baptist Church in Boone, Colorado.

KOAA-5 reports:

The Fountain Police Department says they have arrested a former youth pastor for an alleged sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. 

Stephen Hutto, 45 was arrested on March 2, according to police. He was previously employed with the Fountain Independent Baptist Church from 2007- 2010. He is facing charges related to an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

The timeline of the alleged abuse is a little unclear. Based on an arrest affidavit obtained by News5, the incident was reported years prior, with Fountain PD Detective Tori Smith locating the original report made in 2023. That original report to law enforcement says that the reporting party found out about the incident three years prior to 2023 and that the actual incident occurred 15 years ago, meaning the alleged abuse took place around 2008.

Based on investigations, the arrest affidavit states that the original call to report the abuse in 2023 was, “never forwarded to the appropriate unit for investigation.” 

In an initial interview with Detective Smith, Hutto was asked why the victim “would report a sexual relationship between the two of them,” to which he replied, ” (the victim not named in the affidavit) was jealous of his family because he had been blessed.”

At the time of his arrest, Hutto was working as a pastor at Highlands Baptist Church in Boone, Colorado. The Fountain Police Department is seeking any additional witnesses or victims who may have information about this case.

….

Hutto was arrested March 2 and has since bonded out of the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center (CJC). He is facing a felony charge of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. He will be in court again on March 13, 2025. Hutto is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Tony Shaw Convicted of Sexual Assault, Faces More Charges

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pastor tony shaw

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 2020, Tony Shaw, pastor of Ruby Valley Baptist Church in Sheridan, Montana, was accused of sexually assaulting a teen church girl. Ruby Valley is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation.

The Montana Standard reported:

Authorities say a pastor at Ruby Valley Baptist Church in Sheridan had inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old girl in the basement of the church.

They arrested Tony Aaron Shaw, 55, on a felony complaint of sexual assault on Tuesday and he was taken to the Gallatin County jail, where he later posted $75,000 bond and was released.

Shaw, contacted by telephone, told The Montana Standard on Thursday that the allegation “had to do with how someone perceived something” and was false.

“It was nothing,” he said.

….

According to the complaint, someone performing work at the church witnessed Shaw having inappropriate contact with the girl in the basement of the church. Sheriff’s officials say they had received a prior sexual assault complaint involving Shaw.

On January 16, 2025, a jury found Shaw guilty of sexual assault.

Cowboy State Daily reports:

A small-town Montana church pastor was convicted last week of sexually assaulting a child and has been accused of another. He used the self-defense “karate lessons” he taught to get close enough to abuse his victims, court documents say.

In small Rocky Mountain towns like Sheridan, Montana, neighbors notice things. They share stories. They share concerns. 

That’s what happened at around 8:50 p.m. on a night in May 2020 when Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Leah Cox was on patrol in the town.

According to court documents, she was approached by someone with a disturbing story. It involved a local pastor at Ruby Valley Baptist Church, and it was upsetting enough that this person insisted on remaining anonymous.

The anonymous source said a close family friend had witnessed what appeared to be a sexual assault at the church. The incident, according to this witness, allegedly took place in the church basement April 28, 2020. 

The tip triggered an investigation and led to charges against Pastor Tony Aaron Shaw. Nearly four years later on Jan. 16 in Montana’s Fifth Judicial District Court in Virginia City, a jury found Shaw guilty of sexual assault against a female underage child.

Following his conviction, Shaw was ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors.

He now awaits a second trial because in the course of the investigation, another alleged sexual assault case involving a minor came to light. 

In both cases, Shaw allegedly used similar tactics so he could have physical contact with his victims. 

According to court documents, Shaw would offer his victims lessons in self-defense as he proceeded to assault them. 

After Cox received the tip from a concerned resident in Sheridan, she contacted the man who reportedly witnessed the assault in the Ruby Valley Baptist Church basement. 

On April 28, 2020, Edward Bradshaw was working on a siding project for the church. He needed to use the restroom in the basement, and on his way there he witnessed something disturbing. 

In court documents, Bradshaw recalled being startled and exclaiming, “Ah ha” at the sight of Pastor Shaw laying on top of a minor child on the basement floor. 

Shaw was wearing sweatpants, and when he stood up as Bradshaw passed him on the way to the bathroom, it became clear to Bradshaw that Shaw was sexually aroused. 

“The Defendant stood up and had a visible erection,” according to Bradshaw’s testimony to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. 

Asked if he was certain Shaw had an erection, Bradshaw stated, “There is no doubt about it. It sickened me to see what happened.” 

Cox asked Bradshaw how the young victim reacted to the situation. 

Cox later reported, “Bradshaw paused and said, ‘Helpless, helpless, I guess would be the word.’”

Bradshaw continued, stating Shaw and this person, “Are together all the time.”Bradshaw also recalled witnessing another incident when he saw the victim running down the middle of the southbound lane of U.S. Highway 287 with “a terrified look on her face” and “looking over her shoulder.”

The investigative report noted Bradshaw’s comment that victim “never smiles.” 

Bradshaw further explained that Shaw makes the girl “walk behind him like a dog,” and that she wears the same clothes every day. 

When asked if this could be an innocent misunderstanding, Bradshaw stated, “You don’t wrestle with (a child), men don’t do that shit. That ain’t right.’”

Bradshaw went on to describe Shaw as “a very manipulative person. Bradshaw explained how all of the defendant’s kids and the defendant’s wife are scared to death of him.

“Bradshaw stated that Shaw never lets the girls go anywhere by themselves except to Walter’s, a local grocery store located on Main Street in Sheridan, directly east of the Defendant’s residence, and then back home.”

Bradshaw added that, “I know what I saw. I know what I saw.”

Based on Bradshaw’s testimony, on May 12, 2020, Deputy Cox applied for and was granted an arrest warrant for Shaw. Soon thereafter, Deputy Cox notified Child Protective Services (CPS) about the case. 

The next day around 11:30 a.m., several officers from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Shaw at his home.

When officers explained the situation, Shaw reportedly told the officers that this all must be because Shaw had disciplined the victim. 

Shaw was transported to the Gallatin County Detention Center in Bozeman. 

Initial charges filed in Montana’s Fifth Judicial District Court, Madison County, included sexual abuse of children and endangering the welfare of children. 

Three days after Shaw’s arrest, investigators interviewed the victim seen in the church basement with Shaw. She initially denied any sexual abuse, but did recall being forced by Shaw to watch videos featuring naked women. This allegedly happened in the pastor’s study at the church. 

As court records later indicated, the victim revised her testimony with entries into her journal. 

Journal entries included in court documents show the girl stating, “I’m sorry I haven’t been telling the truth about (what happened)! Tony has been touching me! I just didn’t want to be moved AGAIN, but now the more I think about it, I feel sick. I feel like a stupid dork. I haven’t told you. I’m so sorry.”

From there, many more details came to light through the girl’s testimony. She said the alleged abuse started when she was 12. 

….

During the course of the investigation and trial, it came out that Shaw feigned teaching the victim self-defense as an excuse for him to have sexual contact with her. Shaw allegedly instructed her to hit him in the genitals. 

“It’s weird,” the victim said in a pre-trial interview. 

When the victim told Shaw to stop touching and kissing her, he reportedly told her, “I’m sorry, I can’t control it.”

Now, while he awaits sentencing, Shaw faces another charge. This one stems from alleged sexual assaults on a minor in 2015 and 2016, when Shaw said he wanted to teach a 13-year-old alleged victim karate, according to court documents.

While purportedly instructing her in self-defense, the alleged victim said Shaw, “Would touch her to demonstrate moves, but would grab her inappropriately when he did so.”

In one instance, when Shaw allegedly touched her vagina over her clothes while “showing her how to do a roundhouse kick,” this caused her to freeze, according to court documents. 

Later, the alleged victim told a school counselor about Shaw’s inappropriate touching, and now Shaw faces a new trial in May.  

As for where things stand with Shaw’s Jan. 16 sexual assault conviction, Madison County Attorney David Buchler said, “We are waiting for a presentence investigation report. Sentencing will be set once that has been completed.”

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.

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