Tag Archives: religion

VA Youth Pastor Gets Seven Years On Child Sex Charges

Virginia Beach’s NBC affiliate reports: A former Norfolk church youth group leader was sentenced to seven years in prison for the sexual abuse of a minor. Charles Willoughby III, 39 was convicted to seven years in prison for traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Willoughby routinely groomed minor teen girls who were part …

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Florida Pastor Sentenced To Life For Child Molestation

The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports: A Sarasota pastor was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after he was arrested in July 2019 when the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office received a report that he’d sexually abused a 6-year-old child, according to a news release in the case. Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Ed Brodsky announced Bicente Velasquez Morales, 47, was convicted …

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Tennessee Pastor Arrested For Uploading Child Porn

Nashville’s CBS affiliate reports: A now former pastor of a Williamson County church has been arrested for using the church’s internet to upload child sex abuse material. 50-year-old Daryl Hayes was indicted on six charges of sexual exploitation of a minor by a Williamson County grand jury. The investigation began after a tip from the National Center for Missing and …

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OR Catholic Church Minister Arrested In Child Sex Sting

Oregon Live reports: Six men were arrested this week in a child-predator sting, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. At least two of the men worked in settings with children, the sheriff’s office said. In an undercover mission, detectives posed as underage boys and girls on dating apps and social media, according to the sheriff’s office. People messaged the …

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Christian Brand Founder Gets 35 Years For Child Sex

The watchdog site Church Leaders reports: Jesse Joshua Aceves, who founded the Christian clothing brand The Way and had been active in the Christian hip-hop music scene, was convicted last month of “numerous” charges of child molestation. The 36-year-old, who was arrested in California back in 2020, has been sentenced to 35 years in a state prison. According to police …

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OK Youth Pastor Charged With Felony Child Sex Crimes

Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate reports: Wewoka Middle School principal and youth pastor, Cody Barlow was formally charged with two felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child under the age of 16 on Thursday. Barlow has been the WMS Principal since the 2019-2020 school year. A federal lawsuit filed on November 30 reveals graphic allegations of Barlow’s “grooming …

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Florida Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Jacksonville’s NBC affiliate reports: A Putnam County youth pastor was arrested and faces charges of possessing child porn, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Ed Wilds III, 45, is a youth pastor at Palatka Baptist Temple Church and a Middleton-Burney Elementary School teacher. Wilds’ father is the main pastor of the church and declined to comment on his son’s …

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Church Music Teacher Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Colorado Springs’ NBC affiliate reports: A Colorado Springs man has been arrested on sexual assault charges according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and detectives are looking for more victims. According to deputies with the SVU unit of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office 58-year-old Robert Henry Gordon was arrested on Wednesday, on charges of sexual assault on a …

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Megachurch Pastor Charged With Felony Assault Of Woman In CA Road Rage Incident After Fender Bender

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: The former pastor of a Rolling Meadows church has been charged with felony battery and assault in California. James Macdonald, who was fired from Harvest Bible Chapel in 2019, was arrested March 22 in Coronado, California, after he allegedly attacked a 59-year-old woman. He was trying to parallel park his truck about 10:15 a.m. in the …

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Nevada Pastor And Wife Indicted On Child Sex Charges

Las Vegas’s CBS affiliate reports: A North Las Vegas pastor and his wife have been indicted by the Clark County Grand Jury accused of sexual assault and child abuse on or between 2012, and 2014, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday. Bobby Cornealius Smith, a pastor at New Beginnings Church in Las Vegas, was accused of sexually …

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Georgia Pastor Gets 25 Years On Child Sex Charges

Savannah’s ABC affiliate reports: A former Savannah pastor will serve 25 years in prison and life on probation for child molestation and statutory rape. Alfonza McClendon Sr. was convicted of molesting two children between 2013 and 2017. The molestation happened while McClendon was pastor of the First Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. He will have to register as a sex offender …

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Archbishop: Very Sorry About All Those Child Rapists

Via press release from the Archbishop of Baltimore: Today’s report from the Maryland Attorney General is first and foremost a sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to innocent children and young people by some ministers of the Church. The detailed accounts of abuse are shocking and soul searing. It is difficult for most to imagine that such …

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Maryland AG Names 158 Catholic Clergy Child Abusers

Baltimore’s CBS affiliate reports: The Maryland Attorney General (AG) released a redacted report on child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore Wednesday afternoon, detailing abuse within the church based on documents dating back to the 1940s. “The incontrovertible history uncovered by this investigation is one of pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other Archdiocese personnel. It is also …

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Anti-Child Porn Crusader And Florida Sunday School Teacher Arrested While Downloading Child Porn [Video]

The Miami New Times reports: On the evening of March 15, FBI agents smashed open the door to the home of Michael Dolce, a West Palm Beach lawyer who had advocated for and represented sexual abuse survivors for the past 20 years. Armed with three warrants, the agents did not have to search long to find what they were looking …

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Pope Leaves Rome Hospital: “I’m Still Alive, You Know”

Reuters reports: Pope Francis left hospital and returned to the Vatican on Saturday after being treated for bronchitis, making light of his illness by saying: “I’m still alive you know”. The pope, 86, was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Wednesday after complaining of breathing difficulties, but responded rapidly to an infusion of antibiotics, his medical team has said. Looking …

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Bible College Ex-Student Leader Arrested For Child Sex

The Roys Report reports: A former student union president at a prominent Christian Bible school in Alberta, Canada, has been arrested and charged with sexual assault of multiple minors, after a two-year investigation. Derek Taplin, 43, allegedly abused four underage victims while he was student union president at Prairie Bible Institute, now Prairie College, in Three Hills, Alberta, from 2002 …

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California Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Santa Barbara’s ABC affiliate reports: Former youth pastor Jeffery York, 53, at New Beginnings Community Church in Nipomo was arrested Wednesday for child molestation and sexual abuse over a three-year period, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. SLO Sheriff’s arrested the 53-year-old from Portland following an investigation into York for child molestation of a male victim in …

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Pope Francis Hospitalized For Respiratory Infection

NBC News reports: Pope Francis was admitted to a Rome hospital after complaining breathing difficulties in recent days, the Vatican said Wednesday after canceling his meetings for the next two days. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said medical checks had been carried out on the pontiff at the Gemelli hospital, where Francis underwent surgery in 2021. “In recent days Pope Francis …

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SURVEY: 80% Support Broad LGBTQ Protections

The Freedom From Religion Foundation reports: A new national survey has reassuring findings that Americans of almost all religions and no religion are growing ever more supportive of LGBTQ rights. For instance, eight in 10 Americans (80 percent) in the Public Religion Research Institute survey support laws against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing against gay, lesbian, bisexual and …

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Indiana Pastor Charged With Child Sex Trafficking

Indianapolis’s Fox affiliate reports: An Indianapolis pastor who ran a non-profit to feed homeless people is now accused of rape and offering a 17-year-old $1000 to have sex with him. Tyree Coleman, 43, is charged with the promotion of child sex trafficking, rape, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation. According to court documents, a 17-year-old came …

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