In 2017, Willie Wilkerson, pastor of Mission Church in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, was arrested yesterday on charges of drug trafficking and intent to distribute.
A Boston pastor is facing charges after police say they recovered crack cocaine, prescription pills, and $20,000 worth of stolen items at his residence and at the church he owns.
Willie Wilkerson, a pastor of Mission Church at 266 Quincy St. in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, was arrested Tuesday on charges of trafficking and intent to distribute Class B and Class C drugs.
A search warrant was issued for Wilkerson, his home, the church and a Victoria’s Kitchen food trailer he owns, police said. They found drugs hidden inside coffee makers and printers.
A family member said the church and food trailer were previously owned by Wilkerson’s mother and denied the allegations.
“That’s crazy. That’s a lie,” Ivette Mitchell, Wilkerson’s niece said. “God is going to clear Willie from everything and everybody.”
Investigators found crack cocaine, fentanyl, oxycodone, Klonopin, Suboxone, as well as cutting agents and packaging materials, according to the district attorney’s office.
Investigators also found more than $10,000 and a number of stolen items estimated to be worth about $20,000.
A judge at Roxbury Municipal Court ordered Wilkerson to be held without bail for 90 days as a result of violating his probation, and then held on $50,000 bail afterwards. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.
In 2020, Wilkerson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.
The Suffolk County District Attorney reported:
A Dorchester man pleaded guilty yesterday to drug trafficking and other offenses he committed over a period of years, District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.
WILLIE WILKERSON, 62, pleaded guilty to two dockets during an appearance yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court. In a 2017 case, he pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking in cocaine (over 18 grams, under 36 grams) and trafficking in oxycodone (over 18 grams, under 36 grams). In a case that was indicted earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking in cocaine (over 18 grams, under 36 grams) and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Judge Mary Ames sentenced Pastor Wilkerson to four to five years in state prison, followed by three years of probation.
During the course of a 2017 investigation, Boston Police officers received information that Pastor Wilkerson was selling drugs out of his home and the Quincy Street church where he served as a pastor. Officers coordinated a series of undercover purchases of narcotics from Pastor Wilkerson in the weeks and months leading up to May 2, 2017. On that date, officers executed warrants at Pastor Wilkerson’s home, the church, and a food truck on the church’s property. Those search warrants resulted in the recovery of approximately 30 grams of cocaine, 45 oxycodone pills, 9 grams of fentanyl, 73 grams of Buprenorphine, and approximately 32 Clonozapam tablets and paraphernalia used to package drugs for sale.
At his arraignment on this case, a judge in the Dorchester Division of Boston Municipal Court set bail at $50,000. The case was subsequently indicted. When arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on the indictment in July 2017, the Court set bail at $10,000 although the Commonwealth had requested $50,000. Pastor Wilkerson posted the cash bail within one month.
While the defendant in the ensuing years was arraigned on several new offenses, the courts routinely revoked his bail for periods of sixty days and set additional cash bail. The most recent bail revocation occurred in November 2020.
As Pastor Wilkerson continued to traffic in narcotics, authorities received community complaints about criminal activity in the area of his church. On December 31, 2019, as the result of a multi-jurisdictional investigation, members of the Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, and Boston FBI North Shore Gang Task Force executed search warrants at Pastor Wilkerson’s home, church, and on his person. As a result, officers recovered 23 grams of crack cocaine, 45 methadone pills, 259 gabapentin tablets, 62 sildenafil pills, 14 rounds of .32 caliber ammunition, and paraphernalia used to package drugs for sale.
“These cases arose because community members used their voices and raised concerns about crime in the area of Pastor Wilkerson’s church. That this coward used his church to mask and hide his criminal behavior is awful. His actions inflicted harm on the community and the church congregation he was supposed to be serving. Now he has four to five years to think long and hard about his sins,” District Attorney Rollins said. “I’m grateful to the Boston Police Department for their attention to the community’s concerns, and to my staff for resolving this case in a manner that held Pastor Wilkerson accountable for the harm his actions inflicted.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
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