Tag Archives: molestation

The Midland Daily News reports: A former leader at Midland Baptist Church and Coleman’s Grace Baptist Church, Scott Haught, 54, was sentenced to serve up to 25 years in prison for sexually abusing two of his daughters. A jury found Haught, 54, of Saginaw, guilty of nine felony criminal sexual conduct charges after a two-and-a-half-day trial in March. He was …

Greenville, South Carolina’s NBC affiliate reports: A pastor at a Greenville County, South Carolina, church is facing numerous child sex charges, and his wife has also been arrested, according to deputies. Myron Chorbajian is a pastor at 1st Southern Methodist Church on Fork Shoals Road, according to the church’s Facebook page. Myron and his wife, Kathleen, were arrested on fugitive …

The Independent reports: A Florida youth pastor faces over 20 charges of sexual abuse of foster children in his care, including a six-year-old girl who he allegedly abused “for years.” Daniel R. Lamppin also used his role as an employee at a local branch of Chick-fil-A to gain access to youngsters, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. Lamppin, 40, …

The Associated Press reports: The Archdiocese of New Orleans agreed to pay nearly $180 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement announced Wednesday, the latest in a string of settlements by the Catholic Church. The archdiocese, its parishes and several insurers will pay $179.2 million into a trust to benefit survivors, according to a statement by the …

The Christian Post reports: Disgraced Gateway Church founder Robert Morris, who resigned from the Southlake, Texas, megachurch last June after he was accused of child sex abuse, demanded a million dollars upfront plus hundreds of thousands more annually in retirement compensation shortly after his exit, but the church refused. The revelation was made in documents filed by the church in …

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: A Sanford pastor had been arrested following allegations of inappropriate conduct, and sexually touching and assaulting two underage females. Yersson David Solarte Basto, 34, is charged with sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation. On April 10. police received a report of an inappropriate relationship between Solarte and two juvenile victims. According to a news release, …

The New York Times reports: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo agreed to a provisional settlement of $150 million with more than 800 victims of sexual abuse, a lawyer for dozens of the accusers said, bringing one of New York’s most embattled and scandal-plagued dioceses closer to resolving years of legal wrangling. Bishop Michael W. Fisher of Buffalo said in …

Amarillo’s ABC affiliate reports: A former Amarillo and Canyon teacher, accused of child sex crimes, was arrested for a sixth time. Patrick Kenneth Farmer, 57, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of indecency with a child sexual contact. According to the criminal complaint, Farmer touched the genitals of a girl under the age of 17. Farmer was arrested September 11, …

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports: Prosecutors charged an Outlook youth pastor with raping a teenage girl he knew. In addition to five charges each of second-degree rape and third-degree child molestation, Benjamin Felix Guerra, 32, was also charged with three counts of third-degree child rape and a single count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, according to a six-page …

The Baptist Press reports: Shane Wiggins, pastor of Baldwin Baptist Mission Church, Baldwin, Louisiana, was arrested April 9 on charges of rape and molestation. Wiggins has been with the Baldwin congregation, a mission of Little Pass Baptist Church in Charenton, La., since March 2015. According to the police department of Morgan City, La., Wiggins was arrested in Paris, Texas, and faces …

Los Angeles’s NBC affiliate reports: A Catholic priest serving at a church in Downey was arrested after being accused of raping a minor, LA County records showed Tuesday. Fr. Jaime Arriaga, 41, was removed from ministry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Downey after the allegation surfaced, the LA Archdiocese confirmed Tuesday. “The archdiocese has a long-standing commitment to …

Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate reports: A metro pastor was arrested this week after he allegedly convinced his congregation to move in with him, and then molested a young girl. Elmer Baca-Flores is the owner of a 501c3 nonprofit church labeled ‘Ministerio Levantando Adoradores Para Cristo Inc.’ Two men told officials that their wives had been brainwashed by Flores and that …

The New York Times reports: Theodore E. McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington and the highest American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church to be accused of sexually abusing minors and seminarians — a charge that stripped him of his ministry, his place in the College of Cardinals and his priesthood, reducing him to the status of a layman — …

The North Dakota Monitor reports: A former North Dakota lawmaker was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Ray Holmberg, 81, was a Grand Forks state senator for 45 years, and received a sentence that is longer than federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Daniel …

Denver’s Fox affiliate reports: A pastor employed by Word Alive Church was arrested Tuesday after reported incidents of sexual assault on juveniles while he was a youth pastor there. Joshua Lucero, 28, was charged with one count of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust by the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The Thornton Police …

The Roys Report reports: A North Carolina pastor was found dead a week after he was charged with multiple child sex crimes, the Union County Sheriff’s Office today confirmed with The Roys Report (TRR). Waymon Jordan Sr., the senior pastor at Greater Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina, was arrested on March 6, according to an earlier statement …

Fort Wayne’s ABC affiliate reports: A recently retired Orland pastor has been arrested on several child molestation charges, court documents say. Rodger Strong, 69, is accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl on five different occasions between Jan. 1, 2024, and May 7, 2024, according to court records. The victim’s mother alerted police to the abuse on March 5, 2025. As …

The Associated Press reports: A former pastor of a Texas megachurch is expected to turn himself into Oklahoma authorities Monday on child sexual abuse charges. Robert Preston Morris, 63, is expected to surrender to officials in Osage County, where he was charged last week with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, his attorney, Mack Martin, told …

The Christian Post reports: Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma Wednesday stemming from allegations made by Cindy Clemishire last June that he sexually abused her over multiple years in the 1980s beginning when she was 12. …

The Denver Gazette reports: Stephen Hutto, 45, was booked into the El Paso County jail and facing a felony charge for sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. He is currently the pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Boone, east of Pueblo, and previously worked as a youth pastor at Fountain Independent Baptist Church in …