Originally posted by Adam_PoE
Zachary Joseph Radcliff, 29, was arraigned on two charges of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, two charges child sexually abusive activity, and six charges of using the Internet to communicate with another to commit a crime. He is facing up to 25 years in prison.Radcliff is a church leader at Oakwood Church, confirmed Victoria Burton-Harris, Washtenaw County's chief assistant prosecuting attorney.
The 29-year-old performed his song "I'll Stand" at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019, according to a release from Liberty University, Radcliff's alma mater. He attended the Virginia school from 2013 to 2017, according to the university.
What could be more on-brand than pedophiles performing at CPAC?
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
The brother-in-law of Pastor Jeremy Pfeil of Accelerate Church in west Texas has been arrested and charged with sex crimes against minors. Last December, Pfeil made headlines for warning congregants that if they spoke about criminal sex charges against someone else—Pfeil's pastor friend—they would be "sniped and taken out."On Monday, the Amarillo Police Department arrested and charged Kegan Abram, 28, with multiple child sex crimes. Abram is Pfeil's brother-in-law and also a coach and academic monitor at the church-run Accelerate Christian School in Amarillo, Texas.
ACE staff visited the school to train their teachers on policies related to allegations of abuse. These policies instruct teachers to tell parents not to "take sides with a complaining child." ACE teaching communicates to child victims that the school will not take their reports of abuse seriously.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A Darlington County youth pastor had sexual contact with a minor, according to the sheriff's office. Andrew Payne was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the third degree.At the time of this incident, Payne was the minor's youth pastor, the sheriff's office confirmed. Payne turned himself into the Darlington County Sheriff's Office on Thursday. He is currently booked into the W. Glenn County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A pastor has been found guilty of sodomy after days of testimony. According to court officials, Danny Duane Pitts was found guilty of second-degree sodomy Thursday after a trial in Morgan County.Testimony in the trial began on Tuesday with former Hartselle Police Investigator Amy Crouch. Crouch testified the then-teenage accuser disclosed details about several illegal sexual encounters between him and his pastor, Danny Pitts.
The victim in the case also tearfully testified that Pitts took advantage of him early on in counseling sessions. The victim said he initially kept it to himself but later confided in his family, who offered support if he wanted to press charges.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A North Carolina man facing charges in the January 6 riot is now accused of possessing child sexual abuse material and of sexual exploitation of a minor after authorities said they found evidence on his phone during his Capitol riot arrest.David Paul Daniel, 37, faces charges of child pornography possession and sexual exploitation of a minor, online court documents said.
During the investigation leading to his arrest and search of his home, investigators were made aware that a local police agency had an open investigation regarding the allegation of sexual assault of a minor by the defendant, the document said.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A 41-year-old Claremont, California man was convicted yesterday of abusive sexual contact aboard an aircraft enroute to Seattle from Burbank, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Justin Baker was arrested March 14, 2024 when the Alaska Airlines plane arrived at SEA.Baker was taken into custody again yesterday immediately after the jury returned its guilty verdict. The jury deliberated about 90 minutes following a three-day trial. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour scheduled sentencing for January 21, 2025.
According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, Baker was in the middle seat, with the victim seated to his right next to the wall of the plane. Baker learned the victim was preparing to go to college and was just 18 years old.
According to testimony at trial, Baker showed the teen sexually explicit text messages he had on his phone and then draped his jacket over his lap as well as her lower body. The victim attempted to move away from Baker and closer to the wall.
He reached under the jacket and groped her leg and genitals over her clothing. Then he reached into her top and groped her breast. Despite the victim saying "no" and moving away when he first tried to touch her, he continued to grope her.
Ultimately, the victim got out of her seat to contact the flight crew. As she tried to pass by Baker, he groped her buttocks.
In closing argument Assistant United States Attorney Kristine Foerster said the defendant "saw the word 'no' as a speedbump, not a stop sign."
At the trial prosecutors presented the testimony of different victim, who in 2004, as a girl of 15, was molested by Baker in a similar fashion. At the time Baker was a youth pastor who did not stop despite the victim telling him no when he tried to molest her under a blanket.
Abusive sexual contact is punishable by up to two years in prison. The actual sentence will be determined by Judge Coughenour after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
An Alabama youth pastor is facing sex trafficking charges in Florida after he sex trafficked a girl in multiple states. Stephen Johnson, 40, whom prosecutors said worked as a youth pastor at an unnamed Birmingham church for more than a decade, met the victim on social media when she was 12 years old and selling adult content online.Johnson met the girl by posing as a woman who wanted to help the victim sell the content. When the victim was 17, Johnson flew to Birmingham and posted escort advertisements of the victim online and forced her into prostitution in several states and Washington, D.C., according to Florida prosecutors.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
The Maryville Apostolic Christian Academy middle school teacher convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl who attended the school will serve six years in prison. Joseph "Kade" Abbott will not be eligible for parole and must register as a sex offender.Abbott was charged in 2023 with three counts of sexual assault by an authority figure against the girl, who was 14 at the time. He pleaded guilty to all three counts. Charges involving the same girl were filed in both Blount and Sevier counties and were consolidated in Blount County, where Abbott was sentenced October 30th.
Abbott was arrested in January 2023. He previously taught at the school and was listed as a staff member as recently as August 2022. He was a celebrated worship leader, appearing on albums and working on projects with the church.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A youth leader at Beltway Park Church has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. According to court documents, a member of the church contacted Abilene Police with concerns regarding one of their youth leaders.Documents state Charles Goff met with a fellow church member and admitted to struggling with pornography. Goff specifically said he struggled with videos of teen girls 14–15 years old.
Detectives met with Goff and he admitted to soliciting nude pictures from teenage girls using various social media platforms.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
The youth minister and principal of a school associated with Christian Family Church in Owatonna has been sentenced a 21-month prison term, stayed for five years, and 364 days in jail.Luverne Daniel Zacharias, 46, of Medford was remanded to custody immediately after the sentencing Monday; he has no credit for time served. He was charged in February with one count each of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and two counts each of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, all felonies.
Zacharias pleaded guilty July 25th to the second-degree charge, victim 13–15, position of authority; in exchange for the plea, the remaining counts were dismissed. In addition to the jail time, Zacharias must register as a predatory offender and stay away from the victim.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
A Clare County pastor has been charged with criminal sexual conduct for his sexual contact with a child under 13 years old, according to the Clare County Sheriff's Office.The sheriff's office said it received a report of second-degree criminal sexual conduct on March 5th in the village of Farwell, located in Clare County. The victim, a minor who lives out of state, reported the incident to authorities where he is located, according to the sheriff's office.
Detectives conducted an investigation and obtained a warrant for the arrest of Harold Norman Cole, Jr. who is currently a pastor at the Trinity Baptist Church in Farwell, the sheriff's office said.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
The president of an evangelical get-out-the-vote nonprofit, which seeks to motivate Christian voters to promote "family values" and "biblical truth" in the public square, was charged Monday, November 4th with eight counts of possessing child pornography.Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, was charged during a video court hearing in the District Court of McLeod County, Minnesota. State officials allege that from February 2023 to July 2024, Yates possessed a hard drive with digital pornographic images of minors under 14 years of age.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began investigating the 55-year-old Yates at the end of July after a relative, identified in court documents as Witness #2, accidentally discovered a hard drive containing over 100 images of child porn in Yates' office.
Just a few weeks before the hard drive was discovered, he published an op-ed in The Washington Times urging Christians to oppose "sexually deviant" messages aimed at children through LGBTQ issues.
"This infernal programming is being downloaded into our children, and it becomes far easier when it finds no resistance in our public square—when it is allowed to fill the void left by the absence of our faith," Yates wrote.
My Faith Votes, whose honorary national chairman is Mike Huckabee, is part of a loose network of nonprofit organizations rallying support for Donald Trump through get-out-the-vote operations, and Yates asked evangelical Christians over the summer to sign a pledge to vote in every election.
It literally never ends.
Originally posted by Adam_PoE
Jackson Gatlin, dressed in a dark suit with his hands cuffed behind his back, was led by authorities from the courtroom Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to felony-level criminal sexual conduct in a case where numerous women have come forward with similar accusations of being sexually assaulted as girls when he was their youth leader at the Vineyard Church.As part of a deal, Gatlin pleaded guilty to one count and on four others entered an Alford plea.
The courtroom was at capacity for the hearing, with several victims sitting together in a row. Gatlin, 36, will be sentenced during separate hearings November 25th and 26th. He will likely serve 13 years in prison and have to register as a sex offender.
Gatlin is the son of former pastors Michael and Brenda Gatlin. The couple resigned earlier this year amid concerns that they failed to act. According to a timeline of the church's response to the allegations, church leaders fired Jackson Gatlin in February for refusing to meet with private investigators whom the church had hired.
In another alleged incident, prosecutors said that in late 2007, Gatlin invited a 16-year-old girl to his parents' house to watch football. He pinned the teen to a futon and forcibly penetrated her vagina with his fingers.
After her mother found the teen barefoot in the street crying, the woman called Brenda Gatlin, who said, "We know your daughter has issues," and hung up the phone.