Religion

Florida Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Gainesville’s CW affiliate reports: The Marion County County Sheriff’s Office arrested a pastor after two underage girls described the sexual abuse they endured at his hands. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Derrell Redding, 54, of Ocala, on Wednesday after two girls gave detailed reports at the Kimberly Center of the many instances of abuse they faced. Redding is charged with two counts …

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CA Baptist Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Patch California reports: A Banning church faculty member was behind bars Wednesday on suspicion of inappropriate acts with a child, police announced. Nicholas Garrett Corl, 26, was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at Banning’s Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility. He was booked on suspicion of felony lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of …

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NY Youth Pastor Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charges

Buffalo’s CBS affiliate reports: An East Aurora man who worked as a youth pastor has admitted to a child porn charge following a 2019 incident at Darien Lake. In July of that year, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York’s office says Nathan Rogers, 39, set up iPhones in his camper to secretly record a minor changing …

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Christian Youth Center Worker Charged With Child Sex

Michigan’s WTVB radio station reports: Coldwater man has been charged with two counts of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct by Branch County Prosecuting Attorney Zach Stempien as the result of alleged sexual contact with a minor female on or about September 1, 2017. 30-year-old Daniel McFeters was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday in Branch County District Court. McFeters was …

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Christian School Teacher Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Fox News reports: An Alabama math teacher at a private Christian school is accused of having sex with two teenage boys who had both been her students, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Fox News Digital. Chrystal Frost, 35, a married mother of three, resigned last month from Crenshaw Christian Academy, known as Home of the Cougars for its …

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Baptist Pastor Guilty Of Felony Child Grooming Charge

Mount Vernon, Illinois station WMIX reports: A 28-year-old former pastor and athletic director pleaded guilty Monday in Jefferson County Court to one of two felony charges of child grooming. Garrett Biggerstaff, who was a pastor at the time for Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fairfield, was arrested in January in two separate cases accusing him of child grooming. The …

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FL Youth Pastor Gets 35 Years On Child Porn Charges

Tampa’s CBS affiliate reports: A Polk County man who spent much of his professional and church life working with children was arrested in November 2020 after investigators found more than 700 pictures and videos of child porn on his phone, the sheriff’s office reported. Shawn Fitzgerald, 49, — a former Lakeland High School teacher, soccer coach and youth minister — …

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South Carolina Deacon Charged With Sexting Minor

Columbia’s CBS affiliate reports: Authorities say a former Sumter County church deacon has been arrested after allegedly sharing an obscene photograph with a church youth group member. The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said 77-year-old Maxell Navar Bohn II of Sumter was charged with disseminating obscene material to a person under 18. The charge stems from an incident that the victim’s …

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Colorado Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Pueblo’s NBC affiliate reports: An arrest was made of Jonathan Shaheen, a former Colorado Springs church pastor and music teacher, on the charge of sexual exploitation of a child by the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit on Thursday. The CSPD ICAC unit was contacted on Wednesday by the Colorado Springs FBI office with information …

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New Orleans Priest Indicted On Child Rape Charges

The Guardian reports: A retired Catholic priest from New Orleans who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested or harassed numerous children is now facing criminal charges. State prosecutors in New Orleans obtained an indictment charging Lawrence Hecker, 91, on Thursday with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft. The crime allegedly occurred …

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GA Youth Pastor Pleads Guilty To Child Sex Charges

The Rome News-Tribune reports: The former youth minister of a Floyd County church faces up to 40 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to child molestation charges on Tuesday. When Austin Wray Perkins was arrested on March 9, 2022, as part of a sting targeting child pornography, a release from the Floyd County Police Department stated that he …

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WI Pastor Gets Life Sentence On Child Sex Charges

The Wausau Pilot & Review reports: A pastor at a former downtown Wausau church convicted of repeatedly assaulting a young girl beginning when she was 10 years old will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Delfino R. O’Day-Figueroa was convicted by a jury in July following a three-day trial. Jurors deliberated for about …

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New York Priest Arrested On Child Sex Charges

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports: A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese has been charged with forcibly touching a minor over several years, deputies said. Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, is accused of touching the minor between 2019 and 2021 in the town of Homer and in the city of Cortland. Brooks is an administrator at the Church of the …

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NOLA Archdiocese Will Sell Properties To Settle Suits

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: More than three years after filing for bankruptcy protection amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to sell off seven properties — including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore Uptown — as a way to …

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Wisconsin Pastor Gets 15 Years On Child Porn Charges

From the 1: On August 31, 2023, Cory J. Herthel (age: 40) of Green Bay, Wisconsin, pled guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a). Herthel will receive a federal prison sentence of at least 15 years when he is sentenced on December 4, 2023. He will also be required …

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Cardinal Escapes Sexual Abuse Trial Due To Dementia

NPR reports: Theodore McCarrick was once a cardinal – one of the highest-ranking positions in the Roman Catholic Church. He was also the archbishop of Washington, D.C. And he’s the only current or former U.S. cardinal to ever face sex abuse charges. But now a judge in Massachusetts has dismissed a criminal case against McCarrick stemming from the alleged molestation …

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Alabama Pastor Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Mobile’s NBC affiliate reports: Allan Kyle Jones, 48, was booked into he Baldwin County Corrections Center on Tuesday on 4 charges of possession of Child Pornography. Jones is listed as the Pastor of Lifeway Community Church in Loxley on the churches website, having come to the church in 2015. Jail records indicate that Jones posted $60,000 in bond, $15,000 on …

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Nigerian Police Arrest 67 For Attending “Gay Wedding”

The Associated Press reports: Police in Nigeria said Tuesday they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding in one of the largest mass detentions targeting homosexuality, which is outlawed in the West African country. The “gay suspects” were arrested in southern Delta state’s Ekpan town at about 2 a.m. on Monday at an event where two of them …

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Cops: Youth Pastor Tried To Sell “Virgin” Teen Online

Atlanta News First reports: A Central Georgia man is accused of trying to sell a teenage girl on the dark web. Kelly Garrett Ivey was indicted in Jasper County on August 14th. According to the arrest warrants, the alleged crimes happened in June, and Ivey was arrested. He was denied bond on July 11th, with the judge noting in the …

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Ugandan Faces Execution Under New Anti-Gay Law

Reuters reports: A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality”, an offence punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law, prosecutors and his lawyer said. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated”, which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly …

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