Religion

High Point, North Carolina’s Fox affiliate reports: A former pastor is accused of sex crimes after an incident at the Piedmont Triad Farmer’s Market in Colfax on Sandy Ridge Road. Ivan Hugh-McDonald Peden, 71, is charged with taking indecent liberties with children, indecent exposure to a person under 16, sexual battery, and secret peeping. The crimes allegedly happened on June …

Tampa’s NBC affiliate reports: A 76-year-old retired pastor is accused of exposing himself to a nine-year-old girl on July 21. According to a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, the victim and her family were at a community pool in Wesley Chapel. As the girl was swimming nearby the suspect, Allen Farabee, had exposed his genitals and placed it in …

Atlanta’s NBC affiliate reports: An 83-year-old Marietta man who is a former pastor has been arrested in the cold case murder of an 8-year-old girl in Pennsylvania. Gretchen Harrington was attending Bible summer camp in 1975 in Marple Township when she vanished while walking from her home to one of the camp’s two locations. Skeletal remains were found at a …

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: The former executive director of Full Count Ministries is facing child sex crime charges following an investigation by the Hendersonville Police, who said they began investigating 40-year-old Jacob R. Oldham on July 15. In a statement, Full Count Ministries’ Board of Directors said Oldham was terminated Saturday morning after an internal investigation by the board. Oldham …

Illinois talk radio station WMIX reports: A former youth pastor of a Patoka church pleaded guilty Thursday in Fayette County Court to five of ten felony charges stemming from his involvement in a child pornography ring in Vandalia. Ferrell Kissiar, a former assistant pastor at the Pentecostal Church in Patoka was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison …

The Birmingham News reports: A government relations employee with the Alabama Department of Education has been charged with sexual abuse of a child less than 12, according to court records. Cole Wagner, 32, of Montgomery, was arrested Wednesday on the charge. He was arrested by the Montgomery County sheriff’s department, according to the warrant. His bond was set at $60,000. …

Los Angeles’s CW affiliate reports: A minister and former teacher in Ventura County has been charged with multiple felony counts of child abuse, including accusations that he tried to meet up with a 15-year-old girl for sex. Barry Fike, 67, of Fillmore, was arrested on Monday following an investigation by the Ventura County Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. …

The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reports: A 33-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for inappropriately touching a child while he was a counselor at a Christian camp. Remington J. Nystrom pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child on April 12, which was the day he was scheduled to …

The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports: An East Texas pastor has been arrested on accusations of indecency with a child. Timothy Nall, 68, of Hollylake Ranch, was booked Monday into the Smith County Jail on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact. Charges were brought forth by Wood County, according to online jail records. Nall is the pastor …

From the Justice Department: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that FRANCIS HUGHES, a former pastor at a religious institution in Queens, New York, was sentenced to five years in prison by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern for his receipt of images of child pornography from a 15-year-old minor in …

The Associated Press reports: The number of people who died in connection with Kenya’s doomsday cult has crossed the 400 mark as detectives exhumed 12 more bodies on Monday believed to be followers of a pastor who ordered them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus. Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is linked to the cult based in a …

The Telegraph reports: Greek police have arrested an Orthodox priest on the island of Rhodes for allegedly molesting a male tourist by “anointing” his genitals with holy oil. The holidaymaker encountered the priest, 49, when he visited a monastery on the island with his girlfriend earlier this week. The priest invited him into a small reception room in the monastery …

Washington DC’s Fox affiliate reports: Police have arrested and charged a pastor in Montgomery County with rape. According to police, this all stems from an incident on September 29th, 2020, at the Iglesia Pentecostal El Fin Viene on the 7500 block of New Hampshire Ave. in Takoma Park. Serving pastor, 39-year-old Erick Odir Vidal-Fuentes was charged with second-degree rape and …

The Guardian reports: The former chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to molesting two minors whom he met through his work and was ordered to spend five years in prison. Patrick Wattigny’s plea and sentence on Wednesday came after both of his victims strongly advocated for a harsher punishment. One victim, who was present, …

The Wichita Falls Times Record News reports: A Wichita County Jury on Wednesday sentenced a former Wichita Falls postal worker and Sunday School teacher to life in prison for urging a 13-year-old girl to give him a “peep show” and take a shower with him. She said there were about 15 such encounters, including incidents in his vehicle where he …

The Fresno Bee reports: A former youth pastor in Kingsburg was sentenced Tuesday to serve one year in prison for having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old church member. Luke Michael Bese, 30, was convicted in May on one felony charge of arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd or lascivious behavior and a misdemeanor charge of annoying, molesting …

Columbus’s PBS affiliate reports: A Licking County man was given a 25-year prison sentence Tuesday in federal court after he was convicted on charges of child sexual exploitation and soliciting child pornography. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, 27-year-old Matthew Reif, of Newark, victimized at least 52 boys between October 2020 and July 2022. He …

First Coast News reports: A youth minister at Celebration Church in Jacksonville has been arrested and charged with six counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, newly-released documents show. Celebration Church says Williams was in this position as a volunteer. Rashad Williams, 34, was reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after it was discovered that he was in a …

The Daily Beast reports: A California church deacon allegedly sexually abused numerous boys on religious mission trips under the guise of inspecting their genitals for “concerning” moles—helping protect the children, he told them, from the ravages of skin cancer. The abuse dates back to at least 2009, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Sacramento federal court upon his July …

The Dubois County Free Press reports: The Jasper Police Department arrested a Jasper man on eight counts of child molestation involving a girl under the age of 14. According to police, they received information on the allegations of child molestation on June 30. After an extensive investigation, police were able to establish probable cause that Michael Crockett, 49, Jasper, had …