Baptist Pastor Gets Three Years on Grooming Charges
A pastor from McLeansboro has been sentenced to prison for grooming charges. On October 19th, 28-year-old Garrett S. Biggerstaff was sentenced to a maximum three years in prison with the Illinois Department of Corrections for one count of grooming. Biggerstaff was also fined $10,000 and must make restitution to the victims in his case.
The communications director for the Illinois Baptist State Association says that Biggerstaff was a pastor for Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield.
Fr. Armand D. Garcia appeared in a Philadelphia courtroom October 23rd to plead guilty to corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor. He will be sentenced in January 2024. The abuse took place while Garcia was a parochial vicar at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Philadelphia from 2014–2017.
The priest had initially been charged with rape; photographing, filming, and depicting on a computer sexual acts; sexual assault; and corruption of a minor.
According to the criminal docket, the first three charges were dropped, while Garcia entered a non-negotiated guilty plea for corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor. The victim was was a 13-year-old student at the parish school when she met the priest.
A Catholic priest called Westlake Police Department to report "a disturbing incident" involving Luis Jesus Barajas, 76, who was visiting the area and performing spiritual ceremonies in Spanish for Hispanic residents in the area. Barajas was driven to a home in Westlake on Octohber 10t to bless a 15-year-old girl who is undergoing chemotherapy.
"Mr. Barajas used blankets and clothing to hide some of his actions from witnesses, but his touching made several uncomfortable. Witnesses said Barajas' movements were 'unconventional' compared to past blessings they had seen," a police report said. Barajas, from Colombia, had been accused in the past of sexual misconduct with children, police said.
A federal grand jury today charged the leader of the La Luz del Mundo megachurch with two felony counts he produced and possessed child sexual abuse material depicting a 16-year-old victim.
Naasón Joaquín García, 54, previously served as a minister for the church in Santa Ana and, from December 2014, led the church in Mexico. He was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in June 2019 on state child sexual exploitation charges.
In today's two-count federal indictment, García is charged with one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
García is expected to make his initial court appearance and be arraigned in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
According to the indictment, on May 6, 2019, García knowingly employed, used, persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a minor—identified in the indictment as "Minor Victim 1," who was 16 years old at the time—to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.
On June 3, 2019, García possessed an iPad that contained five videos depicting Minor Victim 1 engaging in sexual activity. Law enforcement seized the iPad when García was arrested at LAX.
García has been in state custody since then and in June 2022 he pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible oral copulation on a minor and one count of committing a lewd act on a child. He is serving a 17-year prison sentence for those crimes and is incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in Chino.
Youth Pastor at Ex-Gay Church Arrested for Child Molestation
Cobb Police have arrested 32-year-old Marcus Turner, and charged him with four counts of child molestation of a male church member.
Nelson is the Director of Children's Ministry at Worship with Wonders Church, which has claims to deliver people from homosexuality on multiple electronic billboards in Acworth.
Prominent Evangelical CCredibly Accused" of Sex Abuse
The founder of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City, a 24/7 evangelical and missions organization, is facing serious allegations of misconduct, members of its leadership team told staff at a special meeting on Friday. Mike Bickle has led the organization since its founding in 1999. The leadership team did not provide details of the allegations or say who made them, nor did it say whether the allegations had been reported to authorities.
"We have been made recently aware of allegations involving Mike," IHOPKC executive director Stuart Greaves told staff members, according to a video of the meeting. "And our leadership team is taking the situation very seriously. Our primary concerns are those who are affected with pain and trauma, our spiritual family, of Mike and Diane, as well as the Bickle family."
With its headquarters on Red Bridge Road in south Kansas City, IHOPKC draws people from around the world to its university and round-the-clock "prayer room." For years, it has come under criticism by ex-staffers and former followers who accuse it of being a cult.
Bickle drew condemnation in 2016 when he claimed that God sent Hitler to kill Jews for not accepting Jesus.
Raymond E. Holmberg, who was one of the nation's longest-serving state senators, has been indicted on federal child pornography charges.
The charges, filed October 26th and unsealed Monday, come two years after police and federal agents raided the 79-year-old's home in Grand Forks after an investigation showed Holmberg had traded scores of text messages with another man who was jailed on child pornography charges.
A federal grand jury charged Holmberg with two counts. The indictment against him claims Holmberg traveled to the Czech Republic for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor, and that he knowingly received child pornography.
The Republican state senator was one of North Dakota's three electors for Trump in the 2020 election.
Corey White, 33, a youth pastor at Redeemer Midland was arrested on October 23rd, and charged with Access with Intent to View Child Sexual Abuse Materials.
White has waived his rights to a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing. He will be held in jail without bond as he waits for trial. White told detectives he preferred incestuous pornography involving mothers and sons.
A Department of Corrections chaplain was arrested on multiple child sex charges, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.
Robert William Austin, 58, of Sanderson was sending explicit messages to an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl. Austin knew of the "juvenile's" age but continued to send messages.
He was arrested on seven counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor, two counts of computer pornography, and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Hey, I thought this might be the right place to ask...
does anyone have any statistics on how many dark, supposedly "creepy" devil worshipping rock stars have been convicted of ped*philia/molestation etc compared to the number of Conservative christian/catholic priest types? I mean, I think we know how uneven that scale would be and in which direction, but it would just be fascinating to see the numbers right next to each other.
Baptist School Teacher Gets 10 Years for Child Sex
A Tomah Baptist Academy teacher will spend 10 years in prison for repeated sexual assault convictions.
Friday, Monroe County Judge Richard Radcliffe sentenced 75-year-old Anne Nelson-Koch to 10 years prison, 15 years supervised release for convictions on 25 counts of sexual assault.
Nelson-Koch was convicted in July of repeatedly forcing a 14-year-old student to engage in sex acts during school hours in the course of the 2016–17 school year.
After a three-day trial, the jury deliberated for 5 hours before handing down the verdict in July.
Baptist Pastor Commits Suicide After Being Exposed as Cross-Dresser
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones confirms Smiths Station Mayor F.L. Bubba Copeland is dead following controversy from posted online photos. According to the sheriff's office, around 4:15 p.m., deputies received information regarding the mayor needing a possible welfare check. Deputies found Copeland in the Beulah community area, where a slow pursuit began. Officials say the mayor turned onto Lee Road and pulled over. When he exited his vehicle, he produced a handgun and used it to take his own life. Copeland was a pastor at First Baptist Church of Phenic City.
Copeland's death came two days after 1819 Newspublished photos of him wearing women's clothing and makeup.1819 News is a website that was once owned by the Alabama Policy Institute. On Wednesday, Copeland took to the pulpit at First Baptist Church to denounce the post about him, claiming he was a "victim of an internet attack." He then read from the 23rd Psalm as he delivered a short sermon. "God will always protect you, take care of you," Copeland said. "He will see you through anything, absolutely anything."
The Alabama Policy Institute is an anti-LGBTQ hate group that has filed lawsuits against same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights ordinances. It is notorious for its support of accused rapist, former Alabama Supreme Court justice and US Senate candidate Roy Moore.
True, but I mean, I guess my point is that the people they would likely accuse of such things are never the ones who do it. It seems like it's largely people hiding behind a facade of piety.
Oct 20th, 2023 05:56 PM
