Menu Close

Tag: Sodomy

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Zachary King Indicted on Seven Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
pastor zachary king

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.

Zachary King, pastor of Lexington City Church in Lexington, Kentucky, stands accused of one count of rape first degree, one count of sodomy first degree, one count of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities, one count of unlawful transaction with a minor first degree with a victim under 18, one count of rape third degree, one count of sodomy third degree, and one count of sexual abuse first degree.

Lexington City has since closed its doors. This isn’t the first time the church has faced a sex scandal. In 2014, the lead pastor stepped down after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a female pastor on the staff.

Fox56 reports:

The former pastor of a Lexington megachurch was indicted on Tuesday on seven felony counts.

On Thursday, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced the indictments against former LexCity Church Executive Pastor Zachary King.

According to Coleman’s announcement, an investigation from the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Special Prosecutions Unit resulted in the indictment of 47-year-old King on seven felony counts by a Fayette County Grand Jury.

….

King was first arrested after authorities said he admitted to having sexual contact with an underage girl.

King allegedly admitted to having a sexual relationship with a minor, who was then 15, from January 2023 to April 2024, arrest records show. He reportedly called and messaged her using Snapchat and WhatsApp to arrange meetups and receive explicit pictures of her.

….

In July, Lexington City Church announced it would close.

“Due to the continued effects of the financial situation our church inherited several years ago and the impact of the ongoing investigation of a former staff member, we have lost the ability to remain financially viable and fulfill our God-given mission,” the church said in a statement.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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.

1961: Informational Video Says Mentally Ill Homosexual Men Are Out to Kill and Sexually Assault Boys

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
christians attack lgbt people

What follows is a video produced in 1961 by Sid Davis Productions. Baby Boomers will likely remember being fed a steady stream of black-and-white informational videos at school. Many Baby Boomers are homophobic, as were their parents and grandchildren. Imagine watching the following video. As an impressionable child, what opinion would you have of gay men? Boys, mentally ill homosexuals are out to either rape you or murder you in out-of-the-way places. These deviant men spent their days and nights trolling for young, impressionable boys, hoping to either sexually violate them or kill them. That’s the sick message of this video.

Video Link

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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 Youth Pastor Jeffrey York Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Child

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
jeffrey york

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.

Jeffrey York, a youth pastor at New Beginnings Community Church in Nipomo, California, stands accused of two counts of oral copulation by duress, two counts of lewd acts with a child under 14 with force, and other various charges.

The Tribune reports:

San Luis Obispo sheriff’s detectives arrested a former youth pastor suspected of ongoing child molestation in Nipomo between 2005 and 2008, a news release from the Sheriff’s Office said.

According to the release, Jeffrey Gene York, a 53-year-old Portland, Oregon, resident and former youth pastor at New Beginnings Community Church in Nipomo, allegedly “had contact with a male victim and had sexually assaulted him for years,” an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office found.

The investigation began in September 2022 when detectives received a report of the alleged molestation, the release said, after which a “comprehensive investigation” led to an arrest warrant. “At that time, York was believed to be living in Portland, Oregon,” the release said. “Detectives were in the process of apprehending York in Oregon when on (March 27), during routine patrol, South Station deputies located a vehicle registered to Jeffrey York out of Portland, Oregon, parked in the 600 block of El Camino Real in Arroyo Grande.”

Sheriff’s deputies contacted the detectives and advised that York was in Arroyo Grande, after which he was arrested and booked into County Jail on suspicion of two counts of oral copulation by duress and two counts of lewd acts with a child under 14, the release said, along with several other charges. York’s bail was set at $400,000.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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 Terry Compton Sentenced to Four Life Sentences for Sex Crimes Against Children

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments
pastor terry compton

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 February 20222. Terry Compton, pastor of Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church in Damascus, Virginia (no internet presence), was charged with 12 counts of taking indecent liberties with children; 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery; three counts of forcible sodomy, and three counts of object sexual penetration.

Ministry Watch reported:

Terry Compton, 62, the current pastor of Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church in Damascus, Virginia, was arrested and charged by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Compton is charged with 12 counts of taking indecent liberties with children; 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery; three counts of forcible sodomy and three counts of object sexual penetration.

The abuse allegedly started in 1995 and continued for 26 years.

Officials said that although the initial charges are based on assaults on three minors, multiple victims have come forward.

“The case is in, really, its infancy – he just got arrested last week,” Washington County Commonwealth Attorney Joshua Cumbow told WJHL-TV “This is a big case.”

Compton is being held at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail without bond.

Compton later pleaded guilty to sodomy of a helpless victim (one count), sodomy of a child less than 13 years old (one count), object sexual penetration of a child less than 13 years old (two counts), and aggravated sexual battery of a child less than 13 years old (12 counts). No plea was offered to Compton.

Compton was sentenced to four life sentences — 240 years. He will spend the rest of his natural life in prison.

WJHL reports:

A former pastor from Southwest Virginia was sentenced to four life sentences after he pleaded guilty to multiple child sex crimes.

A release from the office of Washington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Cumbow states that Terry Frank Compton was sentenced in Washington County Circuit Court. Compton was sentenced to 240 years in addition to the four life sentences. The release states that no time was suspended.

….

Cumbow’s office reported that Compton was not offered a plea agreement.

Compton was arrested in February 2022 after a months-long investigation by the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office (WCSO). In a release issued by the WCSO at the time, Compton was identified as the pastor at a baptist church in Damascus.

He was initially charged with 30 felony counts, all against juveniles. The WCSO reported at the time that multiple victims had come forward, and detectives had determined that Compton had been abusing children for about 26 years.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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 Danny Pitts Faces Trial for Sodomy

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment
pastor danny pitts

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

In 2022, Danny Pitts, pastor of the now-closed GracePoint Church in Decatur, Alabama, was accused of sexual intercourse by “forcible compulsion” with an individual over 12 but under 16. Pitts pleaded not guilty and has a March 2023 trial date.

1819 reports:

A former Alabama pastor pled not guilty to sexually abusing an underage person.

The former pastor of GracePoint Church in Decatur, 59-year-old Danny Duane Pitts, was arrested in November 2021 and charged with two counts of sodomy.

According to the indictment, Pitts is accused of sexual intercourse by “forcible compulsion” with an individual over 12 but under 16.

Pitts was released on bond in September of 2021, with stipulations requiring him to surrender his passport, wear an ankle monitor and not leave the state.

According to a court form signed by Pitts in November 2021, he listed his employer as GracePoint Church.

GracePoint Church deleted its Facebook page and website after the arrest and is listed as permanently closed on the internet.

WAAY-31 adds:

The trial for a Morgan County pastor arrested and charged on two counts of sodomy has been delayed once again to March 6.

Danny Duane Pitts of Hartselle was arrested in November 2021 on charges of first-degree and second-degree sodomy. 

Pitts pleaded not guilty to both charges and later posted a $500,000 bond. As part of the bond, he was ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, hand over his passport and not travel out of state.

The trial was originally set to begin in November 2022, but a judge delayed the case until Monday. 

The judge presiding over the case cited a heavy caseload for why the decision was made to continue the case again. 

Pitts also faces sodomy charges in Tennessee.

In March 2022, The Chatanooga Times Free Press reported:

A former Alabama pastor now free on $50,000 bond is facing several counts of statutory rape and sexual battery in Grundy County, Tennessee, while he awaits trial in Alabama on other child sex allegations.

Charges in Tennessee against Danny Duane Pitts, 59, of Hartselle, Alabama, stem from an investigation launched Jan. 5 with Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents working jointly with Hartselle police probing allegations related to incidents that happened between August and November 2019, according to TBI spokesperson Susan Niland.

Pitts is charged with aggravated statutory rape, two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and statutory rape by an authority figure, Niland said in a news release issued Monday. Pitts surrendered Monday at the Grundy County Jail and was freed the same day, according to Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum.

Shrum said Tuesday in a telephone interview he knew little of the case since it arose from a TBI investigation with links to Alabama.

Mike Taylor, 12th Judicial District attorney general, said Alabama’s State Bureau of Investigation contacted the TBI on the case since that state’s investigation crossed the state line.

In the Tennessee case, Pitts and a 17-year-old boy traveled from Alabama to Grundy County where the alleged abuse took place in 2019, Taylor said Tuesday. Taylor said the teen is believed to have been a member of the church where Pitts worked as pastor in Morgan County, Alabama.

Pitts faces a November trial in Alabama on two counts of sodomy involving another minor in Morgan County, according to court records in Decatur, Alabama.

“It is a case that occurred several years ago and it involved a member of his church, a young man that he had befriended,” Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

“We allege an inappropriate relationship took place that was criminal in nature,” Anderson said. He said he couldn’t share any further details on the Alabama case as it continues to develop.

“I’m sure the Grundy County DA and I will be exchanging notes,” Anderson said.

The investigation in Morgan County was a joint probe involving the Hartselle Police Department, Anderson’s office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of the North Alabama Violent Crimes Task Force, according to a Nov. 5 news release from the police department. Pitts was later released on a $500,000 bond.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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 Gregory Reese Charged With Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

busted

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.

Gregory Reese, pastor of Mountain View Assembly of God Church (in Missouri?), was arrested last week and charged with three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of fourth-degree child molestation. Reese is accused of sexually molesting a minor girl.  Last year, one of the church’s youth workers, James Lindsey, pleaded guilty to statutory sodomy of a child less than 12 years old.

The West Plain Daily Quill reported at time:

A Mtn. View man charged with one count of statutory rape of a person less than 14 years old and three counts of statutory sodomy of a person less than 12 years old was sentenced to 18 years in prison after entering a plea agreement Thursday in Howell County.

James Adam Lindsey, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree statutory sodomy with a person less than 12 years old and was sentenced by 37th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Don Henry.

Lindsey was charged Jan. 5, 2017, with statutory rape and two counts of statutory sodomy. On Jan. 23, an additional charge was filed against him after discovery of an alleged second victim.

According to probable cause statements, Lindsey allegedly had sexual intercourse with a child less than 12 years old between Nov. 5, 2016, and Dec. 28, 2016, while he and his girlfriend were babysitting several children in Lindsey’s apartment. During the same time period, he is accused of having deviant sexual intercourse with the girl.

The other alleged incident, deviant sexual intercourse, took place with a boy less than 12 years old during July 2016. He reportedly told both victims the assaults were a secret between them.

Lindsey was reportedly named as a suspect in several Division of Family Services (DFS) reports of child molestation with five victims ranging in age from one to nine, most of them under the age of five. According to the reports, Lindsey is reportedly a serial pedophile who had been sexually assaulting children for six years prior to the charges. Three different reports from DFS in Dent County allege he had sexually abused four other children from 2011 to 2014.

(The church has no web presence.)

The West Plains Daily Quill later added:

A family member of one of the victims, who read about Reese’s charges in Friday’s edition, contacted the Quill to ask why it wasn’t made public that Reese was a pastor at the Assembly of God Church in Mtn. View. During the phone call, the woman also reported that Reese wasn’t the first church member to have been charged with sexual assault against a child.

The family member said she was concerned because church members had not been informed of charges against either Lindsey or Reese and she wondered if there might be other victims.

The information that Reese was a pastor at the church was released by the Associated Press after the Quill had gone to print.

The family member said Lindsey had reportedly served as a youth pastor in the church. However, after Reese was made aware of an allegation from a young girl that Lindsey had touched her inappropriately, Reese removed Lindsey from contact with children as a youth pastor.

According to the woman, Lindsey was later reinstated by Reese after his replacement didn’t work out. He and Reese were close friends, she added, and she tried to avoid any personal interaction with Reese after the case was resolved.

In an effort to avoid Reese, she said she spoke with officials with the Ava Assembly of God Church while seeking rent assistance but was directed back to Reese. She said she told church officials why she didn’t want to speak to Reese, telling them he had “covered stuff up,” and offered them information from police reports and court records about Lindsey’s case. However, she said they still directed her to Reese.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Evangelical Pastor Michael Orten Defends Allowing Rapist to Work at His Church

Bruce Gerencser 7 Comments

blood of jesus

Thomas Hopper was convicted in the 1990s of raping and sodomizing a thirteen-year-old girl while holding a razor knife to her throat. He spent ten years in prison for his crimes.  Hopper was also convicted of criminal confinement, battery, and trespassing in the early 2000s. He was also arrested for stalking a high school student. Today, Hopper, a convicted sex offender, is a volunteer worker at Truth Apostolic Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. According to news reports, Hopper leads the church’s care ministry, and is responsible for its nursing home and bus ministry.

When asked about Hopper working at Truth Apostolic, Michael Orten, the church’s pastor, replied:

… this is a situation, if that girl chooses…it takes two to tango, okay?  So if that girl chooses to sleep with him, she’s just as guilty as he is.

Orten later stated:

He was mad and angry, both of them were on drugs. Yeah, that’s still his past. It ain’t like we don’t know nothing about this. Like I said, the media and people are ignorant when they want to turn around and dramatize or hurt somebody.

Orten said that Hopper’s past has been washed clean by the blood of Jesus. The past is in the past, and since Hopper is now a new creation in Christ Jesus:

So what you’re saying is, is the church is no good for forgiveness? Jesus Christ can’t save you? So if you steal a piece of candy from a store because you were young and stupid. And make stupid mistakes. You’re still a thief even though now you’re 40-years-old?

When asked by a reporter, Well, I think stealing candy is a little bit different than rape, Orten replied:

No, it’s not. No, it’s not. No, it’s not. It’s still sin. And if you get caught, there are consequences and you will pay.

Dear Pastor Orten, Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

The church’s website currently returns a 404-page not found error message.

Black Collar Crime: District Attorney Says Evangelist Acton Bowen is a ‘Danger to Every Child in This Community’

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments

acton bowen

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.

(Please read Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Evangelist Acton Bowen Arrested on Child Sex Charges and Black Collar Crime: Why Did Young Boys Need to be Protected from Evangelist Acton Bowen? and Black Collar Crime: Evangelist Acton Bowen Accused of Additional Sex Crimes for further information about Acton Bowen.)

Law enforcement has broadened its investigation of Evangelical evangelist Acton Bowen, saying that it is likely that there are other victims in multiple jurisdictions. AL.com reports:

Evangelist Acton Bowen, currently facing sex abuse charges in connection with five teenage boys in two counties, is being investigated in three other jurisdictions.

That’s according to an Etowah County prosecutor, who said in court today that additional charges could come against Bowen as early as this week. Deputy District Attorney Carol Griffith, arguing why Bowen’s $500,000 bail should not be reduced or changed, said Bowen is being investigated by the FBI and in Orange Beach, as well as in Florida and Colorado.

“The true extent of these crimes is not yet known,” Griffith said. “Under the guise of leading children to the Lord, he was abusing them and leaving them more lost than ever before.”

District Attorney Jody Willoughby was even more forceful in arguing before Presiding District Judge David Kimberley.

“Acton Bowen is a danger to every child in this community,” he said. “The only place he remains not a danger is in the Etowah County Detention Center.”

….

 

 

Black Collar Crime: Evangelist Acton Bowen Accused of Additional Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments

acton bowen

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.

(Please read Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Evangelist Acton Bowen Arrested on Child Sex Charges and Black Collar Crime: Why Did Young Boys Need to be Protected from Evangelist Acton Bowen? for further information about Acton Bowen.)

Evangelical Evangelist and youth conference speaker Acton Bowen, an avid supporter of pussy-grabber-in-chief Donald Trump, finds himself, yet again, facing accusations of sex crimes. Bowen is now accused of sexually assaulting four additional minors. ABC reports that Bowen had a three-year sexual relationship with a teen girl. Last week, Bowen’s wife of two years filed for divorce, saying she “fears for her immediate safety from (her husband) and any third parties that may attempt to contact (her husband) as a result of the crimes for which he has been alleged to have committed.” The judge agreed, granting Bowen’s wife a temporary retraining order, giving her sole access to their home.

Bowen’s latest brush with the law finds him accused of sexual abuse, sodomy, and enticing a child. According to ABC-33, Etowah County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Natalie Barton said, when asked if she believed there were more victims, “Absolutely. We do believe that there are more victims out there. Some of them may choose to come forward on their own.”

Bowen and his supporters continue to say that all the allegations are false. What was once a smoldering camp fire is now a blazing wildfire.

Black Collar Crime: Presbyterian Youth Pastor Andrew Dickson Accused of Sex Crimes

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment

pastor andrew dickson

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.

Andrew Dickson, the youth pastor for Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri, was arrested yesterday and charged with two counts of statutory sodomy.  The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Dickson admitted fondling and having oral sex with a minor.

Dickson was immediately fired from the church and his name has been scrubbed from the church’s website.  According to an archived copy of Central Presbyterian’s website, Dickson’s official title was director, student ministry.  The church is an Evangelical congregation affiliated with Evangelical Presbyterian Churches.