Freedom From Abuse Network

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Baptist minister HENRY BAZIL WATERS, 49, was convicted of fondling 3 young boys and untold others at the Grace Baptist Temple Church in Statesboro, Ga., and in his home and car. Waters' testimony that he " saved" youth through " sex instruction " matched testimony of the victims. Waters admitted fondling boys in Latin America, saying " I have no idea " how many children he had abused. Waters was given permission to attend church while free on bond. (Atlanta Journal, 2/18/89)

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REV. THOMAS V. COSSAIRT, 72, retired former pastor of First Baptist Church, Carter Lake, received a suspended 1 year jail sentence and 2 years' probation after pleading guilty to indecent contact with a child. A charge involving a 2nd child was dropped. He lives in Commerce, Okla. (Omaha World Herald)

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REV. WILLIAM MURRAY HENDRICKS JR., 50, pastor of Clay Hill Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of lewd & lascivious assault on a minor. The victim: a girl, 7, molested at the church, parish house in 1988 where he pastored for 15 years. As a plea bargain he agreed not to perform pastoral duties until his probation ended. (Florida Times-Union, 9/19/89)

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Baptist minister Henry Waters, convicted of sexually abusing young boys whose souls he claimed would be 'saved' through his 'sex instruction'. (1989, England)

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Six girls who were sexually abused by REV. FRANCIS G. HAIGHT, head of ex-Baptist Christian Academy, Monroe, WI, were awarded a total of $57,440 in court settlements. Haight is serving a 20 year term for molesting children; He is eligible for parole in 4 years. (8/14/89)

Rev. Francis Guy Haight, principal of the Baptist Christian Academy in Monroe, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to a reduced number of charges of sexually assaulting four young girls at his church school. He had had sexual contact with up to 11 girls at his school on an almost daily basis. Haight admitted the abuse was "happening pretty near everyday" and that he could not "even begin to estimate how many times this occurred." Most of the abuse took place in his office. A five year old girl said she was molested in her preschool program at the church. An 11 year old was abused when Mrs. Haight sent her to the office, telling police that it "kind of hurt." She didn't tell, she said, because she was scared. A 12 year old said the contact began when she attended summer bible school, where the minister molested her once or twice per day. One former student said she left the school after the eighth grade to avoid the constant abuse. Two victims said the minister would molest them by touching them under their dresses. As principal, he required that all girls wear dresses as part of the school dress code. Haight had been asked to leave a previous job under mysterious circumstances. Apparently the school had not made inquiries. Haight's attorney William Lansing said Haight plea-bargained in order to spare the children from testifying in court. "He's a very religious man," Lansing said. Haight's views on religion and compassion toward children obviously did not preclude constant sexual exploitation of them. (Sources: Wisconsin State Journal, 11/12/87; 1/9/88)

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Cobb, GA. A Baptist preacher who established a Cobb County ministry after leaving two other churches amid allegations of sexual misconduct was arrested in Marietta Monday on charges of child abuse, police said. Cobb police arrested the Rev. Tony McGowan, pastor of the New Grace Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Monday on two counts of cruelty to children and one count of child molestation in connection with alleged fondling incidents involving a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old he met through his ministry. The allegations came to light after the youngest girl, now 14, told her mother that the minister, 43, fondled her in a church van. (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 08-02-1988)
Preacher Charged With Child Abuse
Baptist Minister is Guilty of Molestation, Sexual Assault

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Oreste Victoriano Lopez, 60, was ARRESTED by Miami police for sexually assaulting male and female teenagers he met through his business, community and church activities. Victims said they were wooed by Lopez's kindness and financial generosity and his use of bible verses to justify his actions. He met youth at his church, West Flagler Park Baptist Church. Police found pornography, comic books, bibles, toys and children's clothes at his home, as well as 1000 files detailing children's lives. On his wall was a letter thanking him for his work with youth. (Miami Herald July 17, 1988)

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Rev. James Anthony Colyn, 39, former pastor of the Glendale (Az.) Bible Baptist Church, received a sentence of seven and a half years in prison. Colyn was described by police as a "sexual predator" who molested a teenage girl who asked him for counseling because she was being abused by her stepfather. Colyn PLEADED GUILTY to a charge of attempted molestation as a plea bargain. He moved to Phoenix 12 years ago after resigning as youth pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Albuquerque, N.M. after admitting sexual involvement with a teenage member of that congregation. The Glendale church said they were not aware of that when Colyn was hired. (Phoenix Gazette 7/1/88)

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Rev. J.D. Henderson, 51, of Russellville, Ark., was convicted of molesting twin 6 year old girls, and sentenced to 4 years in prison. Henderson is an ordained Free will Baptist minister. (Little Rock Arkansas Gazette 6/10/88)

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A Duval county minister, Rev. Roy Lynn Gaskins of Edgewood Heights Baptist Church, was accused of forcing a 13 year old boy at gunpoint to have sex. (Florida Times-Union 5/13/88)

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An American missionary and her daughter were stabbed to death near American Bible College in Yapeka, Liberia by Baptist seminary graduate Benjamin Moley Morris. He confessed, saying he killed the pair after the mother had caught him trying to molest the child. (Source: Sacramento Bee, 11/30/87)

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Rev. Jack Law, a Baptist minister in Nashville, was accused of molesting and raping three small sisters during church outings and visits, once raping a five year old girl under a church pew. He was also accused of molesting and raping the sisters at their family's home and during an outing arranged to help him distribute religious tracts. The girls had tried to tell their parents, but were not believed. "Being a preacher," the father said, "we thought he was a good man." Law killed himself in July 1987 when facing trial for abusing the three sisters. (Sources: Nashville Banner, 7/26/86; Tennesseean, 7/10/87)

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Deacon James Nordgren, a Sunday School teacher at Sherwood Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, was indicted for aggravated sexual assault of three boys under age 14. He was charged with assaulting the boys at his home after showing them a book with a cover resembling a bible but which contained pictures of nude people. (Source: [Irving, Texas] Daily News; 5/21/87)

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Baptist minister James Luttrell, Bible Baptist Church, Bend, Oregon, was convicted of raping a six month old baby boy. The evidence was incontrovertible, yet another minister outspokenly defended him and paid for his legal help. (Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregon, 5/8/87)

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The Rev. Clyde L. Johnson, pastor of the largest Baptist church in Petersburg, Virginia and a popular city council member for 14 years, was convicted of the rape and sexual battery of four girls, aged nine to 16, in his congregation. Despite the conviction, and Johnson's cruel and slanderous statements about the young girls made in an effort to protect himself, he received continuous religious support, including prayers, rallies, money and special services. "The bottom line is that all of us . . . has [sic] some skeletons in his closets. That's not our job to judge. It's the Lord's job," said clergy supporter Rev. Kenneth Arrington of the Union Fellowship. One church member, Melvin Harwell, who was angered by this widespread support of a child rapist, commented: "Some people worship preachers." (Source: Washington Post, 4/24/87)

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Church youth minister Timothy J. Ganzel was spared a flve-year prison sentence (receiving one year in jail and probation instead), because the judge said he took into account a courtroom full of relatives, friends and church members. Ganzel molested a teenage boy in Wisconsin Grace Baptist Church, Racine, Wisconsin. (Source: Capital Times, 4/21/87)

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Wilson A. Mears, Jr., convicted of sexually assaulting his 14 year old stepdaughter, later became a Baptist pastor, and was granted a full pardon by the Florida cabinet. He sought the pardon for his 1977 crime in order to be allowed to serve as a chaplain for the state prison system. He had served 15 months in prison. "If I stood before my God and answer for my crimes, I can certainly stand before my governor and my Cabinet seeking their grace and mercy . . . I've tried to help men with the same crimes I had." He received an appointment as pastor of Pine Grove Baptist Church in Quincey. What does this favoritism say to rape and incest victims, and to imprisoned sex offenders? (Source: Florida Today, 3/8/87)

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Brazenly abusive behavior reportedly went unchecked for more than a year when Pastor Charles Brown of London Baptist Church, in Evergreen, Alabama, latched on to a teenaged boy and initiated a sexually abusive relationship by telling the boy he had a mental problem Brown could cure. The pastor's prescription: to get "closer," ply the boy with drugs, and move him into his own home and his own bedroom (the pastor's wife was relegated to their daughter's bedroom). Brown was convicted of a reduced misdemeanor charge in 1987 and was given a suspended sentence, although he was fired from his position as a public school teacher. (Source: Evergreen Courant, 9/25/86; 1987) Gary R. Martin, who had served as a minister and was a volunteer chaplain for the Indian River County Sheriffs office as well as the Vero Beach Police Department, was charged with molesting 13 boys. He had trusted positions in the community, including an appointment to the school district's sex education committee. His modus operandi was to tell victims he was researching children's growth for a doctoral thesis at Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana. He pleaded no contest to sexually mishandling three of the 13 boys. In October 1987 he was sentenced to seven years in a state prison with an additional 13 years probation, and ordered to receive treatment for his pedophilia. (Source: Florida Today, 3/1/87; 10/31/87)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The grandmother of a minister who abducted an 18 year old woman for 24 days and raped and molested her, could only comment, "If you had seen him when . . . he preached, his face was just shining like an angel." This diabolical crime involved kidnapping Maria C. Smith from a shopping mail in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on July 9, beating her with belts and raping her, and imprisoning her bound-and-gagged in the trunk of a car for what a judge later termed a 24-day reign of "terrorism." On August 2, the assailant Rev. Karl Strahan and his father purported to discover the missing teenager, and were touted as heroes. Two days later police realized Strahan was the abductor. He had threatened Smith's life if she had not backed up his story. On February 6, 1987 he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and armed robbery in Forrest County, where he received a 25-year concurrent sentence. The same day in bordering Covington County where he had taken his victim, Strahan pleaded guilty to rape and sexual battery. He received a sentence of life imprisonment on the rape charges and 30 years on sexual battery to run consecutively. Strahan was a licensed Mississippi Baptist minister. (Sources: Jackson Mississippi Daily, 8/6/86; 8/8/86; Hattiesburg American, 2/6/87) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Baptist Rev. Bobby Harold Epps of Starke, Florida pleaded guilty in May, 1986 to performing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a child under the age of 16. He was convicted of fondling a girl in a church office, and masturbating in her presence when giving her a ride home following a church activity. (Source: Gainesville Sun, 5/28/86) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Church deacon Harley Francis of Powers Drive Baptist Church in Orlando was convicted of molesting six girls, ages six to 13, whom he met through his Sunday School class. The elderly deacon bribed them with gifts and told the court he couldn't understand how people could misconstrue his "kindness toward children." (Source: Florida Today, 4/26/86) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rev. John Janney Sr. pleaded guilty to molesting three male foster children, following a wild attempt to elude authorities by fleeing to another state, during which time he tried to murder his wife and commit suicide. Ironically, as a pastor of the Calvary Bible Baptist Church, Bridgeton, New Jersey, he had been an outspoken opponent of humanist literature which he said would "corrupt the morals of youths." (Source: Bridgeton Evening News, 12/26/85) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ JAMES CLIFTON NALLEY, a volunteer at Bible Baptist Church in Fernandina Beach, Fla., was charged with fondling 2 church girls, ages 9 and 11. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Flint, MI. Eight women claim they were molested by Gerald E. Ney insuch places as the pastor's home, a bakery in Metamora and in the Liberty Baptist Church. Most of the victims told police of single incidents that dated back to 1978. Ney, 73, was charged with 1 count of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct, 4 counts of 2nd degree and 1 count each of 3rd and 4th degree criminal sexual conduct, as well as a criminal misdemeanor of allegedly being a sexually delinquent person. An investigation began after allegations from a girl, 16, were reported to police. Ney reportedly molested the parish member from 1993-94. The teen said she would sleep over at the pastor's home on Sundays and clean his house for money. She said he would sometimes molest her when his wife left on errands. (The Flint Journal) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rev. James E. Wynn, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Temple in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls who were members of his congregation. Wynn was diagnosed as a "compulsive, repetitive sex offender" by doctors who examined him. The girls ranged in age from nine to 13 at the time of the assaults, which occurred at church or in the minister's home. The pastor steadfastly maintained his innocence. His attorney Charles Frankel told the judge at the time of sentencing that his client "stands before your honor with a clear conscience head unbowed." The church fired him from his duties a month after his conviction. Superior Court Judge James Kennedy stated that "these offenses involved the most drastic breach of trust anyone can imagine." (Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 10/13/84) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Three sisters from Okanogan County -- Juanita Funkhouser, Sheri Lewis and Janelle Larson -- alleged they were molested between 1969 and 1980 by Orin Wilson, a one-time deacon of their church, Calvary Baptist Church in Twisp. Wilson admitted to the abuse in letters before his death, according to court records. But the sisters claimed the church and its governing body, the Calvary Baptist Conference, were aware of Wilson's alleged abuse of other young girls and failed to warn or protect them. Baptist Scandals: Missouri case shows Southern Baptist patterns in failing to protect kids   Former Southern Baptist minister Shawn Davies (KCTV-5) Victim says: "I went back to the church afterwards and I couldn'tget any response from anybody. I didn't know who to turn to." Dad says:  "They stood by and did nothing. They stoppedthe cancer in their own church, but they did nothing to see to itthat it didn't happen in ANY church." Detective says:  "We know he was given the O.K. froma church that had allegations against him." Investigative reporter says: "If the churches had not stayed silent years ago, 8 young men may never have had to suffer sexual abuse in Greenwood." (KCTV-5 9/21/2006) Described as "Missouri's biggest sex-abuse case to date," this tragic case illustrates many of the common patterns in how Southern Baptist churches are failing to protect kids against clergy predators. Minister Shawn Davies, of First Baptist Church of Greenwood, pled guilty to 21 counts of child molestation. "He was allowed to move unchecked from one Baptist church to another, sexually assaulting young boys at almost every stop along the way."(KCTV-5 9/21/2006) ·         Davies "had no problem continuing to get church jobs" even though other church leaders had serious concerns about him. ·         He moved from church to church in several different states and no one stopped him. ·         He had multiple victims, ranging in age from 13 to 16. ·         Davies had at least 7 victims at Greenwood, and his prior conviction included victims at three different churches before Greenwood. ·         Police say that senior pastor Mike Roy kept quiet and allowed Davies to continue working around children even after they had notified him of their investigation of Davies on child molestation charges... and two more kids wound up being abused. (KCTV-5, 7/7/2006) ·         Police say associate pastor Bobby Albers also knew of the allegations and did nothing. (KCTV-5, 7/7/2006) ·         Police say senior pastor Mike Roy made their investigation more difficult by his unwillingness to cooperate. ·         The church justified keeping things quiet by saying it was to protect the victims. (This oft-heard excuse is insulting to people's intelligence. It is fully possible to remove a minister from duties pending investigation, to protect other kids against the possibility of harm, while also protecting the identity of victims who report abuse.) ·         A church leader talks about the tragedy for Davies' family and the church, without mentioning the tragedy of the horrible harm that was done to so many kids. ·         Davies was hired at First Baptist Church of Greenwood despite the fact that his prior churches had serious concerns about him. ·         The Greenwood church did two background checks before hiring Davies. (Only 3 percent of child molesters are ever prosecuted. So background checks aren't nearly enough, and churches make a grave mistake in allowing background checks to lull them into a false sense of safety.) ·         The Missouri statewide convention has no policies and procedures for dealing with clergy sex abuse. ·         Missouri Baptist Convention throws out the tired self-serving statement that it provides churches with information on how to run background checks. (That's not nearly enough! Until Baptist leaders understand that, kids will remain at risk of serious harm.) ·         Perhaps most telling of all is this statement: "...several of the churches where Davies worked...were open about his sexual problems." It never should have reached the point of having "several" churches with such knowledge. The first time even a single church had any reason for concern about his work with children, the matter should have been investigated and the minister should have been removed from a position of trust. There were obviously many missed opportunities when this man should have been stopped sooner. Because he wasn't, we now know of at least 13 children in 3 different states whose lives have been forever altered. The detective says, "I'm sure there are still other victims...out there." This case reveals the flaws in the Baptist system and how it fails to protect kids. "The nation's second-largest faith group needs a centralized office that keeps track of reported clergy perpetrators, investigates reported incidents and provides objective information readily to churches," SNAP says. "If that sort of centralized resource had existed, it is much more likely that the horror of what happened to these kids could have been prevented." [Read SNAP's requests] "Congregational autonomy" is the often-recited excuse for why Baptists cannot establish this sort of review board. However, the Missouri Baptist Convention maintains a permanent "credentials" committee that investigates churches to see if they are aligned with more moderate Baptist groups rather than solely with the Southern Baptist Convention. Recently, that committee disaffiliated 19 churches for that reason. So, if denominational leaders can investigate autonomous churches for this reason, why can't they investigate reports about clergy child molesters in the churches? Where there's a will there's a way. Why don't Southern Baptist leaders have the will to find a way to rid their ranks of clergy predators and better protect kids? _______________________________________________________ See and hear more about this case on KCTV-5 in Missouri [9/21/2006; 8/23/2006; 7/7/2006], in the Georgetown News-Graphic - here and here - in the Associated Baptist Press - here and here - and in EthicsDaily.

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