Religion

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The Times Of San Diego reports: A 27-year-old church choir leader was in custody Monday on suspicion of sexual assault of a minor that took place in 2021, police reported. Rafael Valentin Magana was arrested Thursday in National City by San Diego Police on a felony warrant charging him with oral copulation and other lewd and lascivious acts with a …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time. Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who …

Charlotte’s CBS affiliate reports: According to Burke County Sheriff’s Office Aaron Mirtsching was arrested on several counts of incident liberties with a minor. He was first arrested Aug. 22 after the sheriff’s office say they received a cyber tip. After an investigation, a warrant was issued for three counts of exploitation of a minor. He was given a $20,000 secured …

Youngstown’s CBS affiliate reports: A pastor from New Castle, Pa. who was convicted in June of charges that he solicited a minor for sex was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison. Judge Anthony D’Apolito handed down the sentence to Jarod Mills, 36, who was convicted by a jury following a trial in June of importuning, a fifth-degree felony. Mills …

Asheville’s ABC affiliate reports: A former kindergarten teacher and senior pastor at a North Carolina church was arrested and charged Tuesday with a child sex crime. The Burke County Sheriff’s Office said Aaron Doyle Mirtsching, 41, of Morganton, was charged with three counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor following a cyber-tip that was received from Internet Crimes Against …

The Associated Press reports: San Francisco’s Roman Catholic archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials. The Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal actions against the archdiocese and thus allow it to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said …

Agence France-Presse reports: Kenyan authorities have banned five churches including that of a suspected cult leader accused of inciting more than 400 of his followers to starve themselves to death, a government document said Friday. The registrar of societies said in a gazette notice that the licence of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries was cancelled. Mackenzie …

Hoodline reports: Todd Baldwin, a department staff member at Valley Christian Schools in San Jose, was arrested on August 17th, 2023, for possession and distribution of explicit digital media involving juveniles, according to the San Jose Police Department. The 43-year-old suspect allegedly paid students for the explicit images and videos. The Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force/Child Exploitation …

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee pastor Willie McLaurin, who leads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, resigned Thursday from his position as interim president and chief executive after it came to light that he presented false information about his educational qualifications on his resume. The Executive Committee’s hiring team was considering McLaurin as a candidate to permanently replace former chief …

The Wisconsin State Journal reports: The former pastor of a West Side church was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child for alleged incidents about four years ago in which a girl who was then about 10 said he touched her improperly during a day camp that was held at the church. Robert C. Stine, …