Knife-Wielding Burglary Suspect Shot Outside Van Nuys Church www.privateofficer.com

VAN NUYS CA May 15 2013— A security guard shot and wounded a man he said was acting suspiciously outside a Van Nuys church Sunday morning.

The shooting occurred about 8 a.m., an hour before services were to begin, outside The Church On The Way located near Sherman Way and Hazeltine.
The guards followed the man off church property. They said they shot when he threatened them with a four-inch knife.
They also accused the 20-something suspect of trying to ransack church cabinets and burglarize the property.
CBS2′s Art Barron spoke to witnesses.
Michelle Cano said, “I just heard a gunshot. I didn’t know it was a gunshot, but then I looked outside my window and I saw a guy fall.”
She added, “They took him away and … they closed down the whole side of my apartment [building]“
LAPD Rob Bub said four security guards confronted the man, and “he had a four-inch knife and he started to come at them.”
Officials described the suspect as a transient.
The suspect was shot once in the chest. He ran and collapsed about a half block away. He was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center.
LAPD’s Bub says the suspect is out of surgery and is reportedly in critical condition.
Barron reported the man had no ID on his person and officials are still trying to determine his identity.

Source: CBSLA

75-year-old man shot to death during Birmingham church robbery www.privateofficer.com

Birmingham AL May 7 2013 A 75-year-old man was shot to death this morning while landscaping in southwest Birmingham.
Police said it appeared to be a robbery.
Witnesses reported hearing three shots and finding Birl Jackson slumped over the wheel of his Chevy pickup truck in the parking lot of Zion Star Missionary Baptist Church.
Jackson had been cutting grass in the area surrounding the church and the King Manor Apartments. It was unclear where he was shot, but apparently made his way to the truck afterward.
His grandson was working with him, and heard three shots. He turned around to see Jackson behind the wheel of truck.
Jackson’s sister, Effie Hodge, said: “I don’t know what happened. They said he came around the corner gasping for breath.”
Jackson left in an ambulance, but was pronounced dead on arrival at UAB.
Homicide detectives were on the scene.
Source- AL.com

Albuquerque church choir members stabbed while singing hymns www.privateofficer.com

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. April 30 2013 (AP) — Just as the St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church choir began its final hymn, a man vaulted over pews and lashed out at the singers, sending several churchgoers to the hospital with stab wounds, authorities said.
Worshippers screamed as the shocking and chaotic scene unfolded Sunday with the attacker continuing the onslaught until he was tackled and held by church members for officers, who raced to the scene, police said.

Four parishioners were injured, including church choir director Adam Alvarez and flutist Gerald Madrid, police spokesman Robert Gibbs said. All four were treated at hospitals and listed in stable condition.

Three other church members also were evaluated by Albuquerque Fire Department on scene and didn’t go to the hospital, investigators said.

Police identified the suspect as Lawrence Capener, 24. He was charged late Sunday on three counts with aggravated battery and ordered held on $75,000 bail.
Court records do not list an attorney for Capener.
It was not immediately known what sparked the bizarre attack at the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass on the city’s west side.

St. Jude Thaddeus’ pastor, the Rev. John Daniel, said Capener’s mother was “very active” in the parish and serves as a Eucharistic minister there.
“He was here occasionally but not very often,” Daniel said.
Daniel said that Capener had just graduated from a community college and appeared to be doing well after getting a job.
An off-duty firefighter and others at the church held Capener down until police arrived.
Madrid told KOB-TV that he tried to stop Capener by wrapping his arms around him but was stabbed in the neck and back.
“I bear-hugged him. We were chest on chest. I was wrapping about to take him down to ground, but I didn’t have his arms. I had just my arms around his chest, so his arms were free. So that’s when he started stabbing me,” he said.
Madrid said he thought the suspect was punching him. It wasn’t until other parishioners rushed the man that Madrid realized he had been stabbed five times.

The choir’s pianist, Brenda Baca King, told KRQE-TV that the attacker was looking at the lead soloist. “I just remember seeing him hurdle over the pews, hurdle over people and run (toward) us and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is not good,’” Baca King said.
Daniel said he didn’t see the attack because he had turned his back away from the congregation in order to return the sacrament in the tabernacle.
Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan released a statement Sunday afternoon saying he was saddened by the attack.
“This is the first time in my 30 years serving as archbishop in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and as bishop of Lubbock, that anything like this has occurred,” Sheehan said. “I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again,” Sheehan said.
Daniel said Mass schedule has resumed at the church. A 6 p.m. Monday Mass is scheduled at the 3,000 member church, he said.

Robeson County NC church youth worker charged with raping child www.privateofficer.com

ROBESON COUNTY, N.C. April 6 2013 – A man who worked as a youth worker at a church is charged with raping one of the children who attended the church, according to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.

Robeson County detectives arrested 28-year-old Jahaziel Levi Rodriguez Vazquez Thursday.

Officials said Vazquez also used the alias Armando Pacheco. At the time of the rape, Rodriguez was 27 years old and worked at the church.

The victim was 12 years old. Detectives are not releasing the name of the church because they believe there may be other victims.

Rodriguez is charged with statutory rape. His bond was set at $50,000. Anyone with information is asked to call the Robeson County Sheriff’s Juvenile Division at (910) 671-3140.
Source: WTVD

Shooting outside northeast Ohio church leaves 1 man dead www.privateofficer.com

ASHTABULA, Ohio  April 1 2013(AP) — Police in northeast Ohio are investigating a shooting outside a church that a parishioner says left one man dead after an Easter service.

Ashtabula police would not immediately confirm the fatality; an officer answering the telephone would say only that authorities were investigating.

A member of the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ said the man was shot soon after Easter services ended, around 1:15 p.m. Sunday. Joan Crockett said the man knew the shooter, and that a suspect was taken into custody. She said the wounded man died.

The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland reported that the church’s pastor said congregants were leaving when they heard a gunshot.

“People pushed me into a back office and said, ‘Somebody’s here with a gun,’” said the Rev. David Howard Jr. “The guy was outside hollering and acting crazy.”

There were no immediate reports of any other injuries. Howard said the church has about 175 members. He said people at the church didn’t know what led up to the shooting. “It’s such a tragic loss,” Crockett said.

Armed robbers target Montgomery church www.privateofficer.com

MONTGOMERY, AL Jan 29 2013
The Montgomery Police Department is looking for two robbery suspects accused of stealing cash at gunpoint from a church early Monday morning.
The armed robbery occurred at Maggie Street Baptist Church.
Authorities say a handful of employees were at the house of worship when the two men, one of them armed and masked, stole the money collected during Sunday’s offering. Both men fled the scene on foot.
One of the church employees was struck by one of the suspects, but police say there were no injuries. Police won’t say how much money was taken.
“Any kind of a robbery, in general, is a terrible thing, but especially when it happens at a church like this,” said MPD spokeswoman Sgt. Regina Duckett. “This church is here for the community, and here for outreach purposes,” she added. “It is obviously something we’re not very proud to have happen here.”
Police do not have any suspects in custody at this time and they weren’t able to provide a detailed description of the robbers. If you have any information about this robbery, call CrimeStoppers at 215-STOP.

Source:WSFA

Man arrested after stripping naked at CT. church www.privateofficer.com

Killingly, Conn. Jan 5 2013
A Brooklyn resident was arrested after an incident at a Killingly church where state police say the man stripped and presented himself nude to congregants and a group of school students.
Officers were called to St. James Catholic Church around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. A caller reported the suspect disrobed and entered the Water Street church, police said in a press release.
Gary Pohronezny, 41, of 70 Proulx St., Brooklyn, was arrested after failing to comply with several directives given to him by troopers. He was charged with disorderly conduct, risk of injury to minors, and interfering with police. He is scheduled to appear in Danielson Superior Court on Jan. 10.
Pohronezny was taken to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam for evaluation, police said.
Source:Norwich bulletin

SC men charged with stealing church’s steel beams www.privateofficer.com

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C.Dec 31 2012 (AP) — Two South Carolina are out on bond after being arrested on charges of stealing steel beams worth more than $10,000 from a church near West Columbia where similar thefts had occurred four times in the past.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department says deputies arrested a 49-year-old man from Lexington and a 28-year-old man from West Columbia on one count each of grand larceny. Deputies say Raymond Wayne Welch and Michael James Hall were arrested Friday and released Saturday from jail after each posted a $20,000 bond.

Sheriff James Metts says the two were arrested after deputies saw them place steel beams on a trailer they had parked outside the House of Praise. Steel beams had been stolen from the church four times in the past and sold for recycling.

Christian youth ministry worker charged with rape www.privateofficer.com

ROXBORO, N.C. Dec 29 2012– The Person County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Christian youth ministry volunteer with statutory rape.
Thirty-eight-year-old David Solomon made a court appearance Thursday, but could not make his $100,000 bond.

Investigators said his alleged victim is under the age of 14.

Officials said Solomon was a volunteer with Youth for Christ, a popular youth ministry in Roxboro, for two years.

The director told ABC11 Thursday Solomon and his alleged victim met through their families before the teen started attending programs at Youth for Christ.

Despite background checks and training, the alleged victim’s mother found suspicious text messages on a cell phone.
The sheriff’s office is also looking into whether other children may be involved.

Source:WTVD

NC police charge men with church burglaries www.privateofficer.com

DURHAM NC Dec 9 2012 — The Durham County Sheriff’s Department said two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing copper from churches and other public buildings.

Arthur Lenward Jenkins and Antonio Eggleton of Person County have been charged in connection with several break-ins where air conditioning units and parts were stolen.
Authorities said the thefts occurred throughout the month of November at the following churches and buildings in Rougemont and Bahama:

• Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witness (114 Bowen Rd, Rougemont)
• Red Mountain Baptist Church (1322 Red Mountain Rd, Rougemont)
• Praise and Deliverance Church (10855 Quail Roost Rd, Bahama)
• New Red Mountain Missionary Baptist Church (1401 Red Mountain Rd, Rougemont)
• Bahama Ruritan Club (8202 Stagville Rd, Bahama)
• Knap of Reeds Masonic Lodge (158 Bahama Rd, Bahama)

The suspects were arrested after a weeks long investigation, which included a parallel investigation with The Person County Sheriff’s Department. Source:WTVD

Sex offender arrested for going to church www.privateofficer.com

CHARLOTTE, NC Dec 8 2012 (AP) – Authorities in Lincoln County say a registered sex offender has been arrested for attending church.
The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/RF2C5f ) that 38-year-old James Dwight Bandy of Newton was arrested this week on charges of being a sex offender at or near child premises.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said detectives were contacted earlier this month by Catawba County sheriff’s deputies who said Bandy had been instructed not to be within 300 feet of children’s classes.
Instead, investigators said Bandy attended worship services and also went to Sunday school class on successive Sundays at a Lincolnton church.
Deputies say that put Bandy within 300 feet of the church’s daycare and children’s Sunday school classes. He was arrested Wednesday and released on $5,000 bond. It’s not known if Bandy has an attorney.

Teacher kills ex-wife during church service www.privateofficer.com

COUDERSPORT, Pa.Dec 4 2012 — An elementary school music teacher walked into a church in the middle of Sunday services and shot and killed his ex-wife as she sat in a pew, police said.

Gregory Eldred, 52, of Coudersport, has been charged with first-degree murder, accused of twice shooting Darlene Sitler, 53, at the First United Presbyterian Church, where she served as organist and choir director. It wasn’t immediately clear if she was serving in those capacities when she was shot.

Witnesses told police they saw Eldred pacing outside the 180-year-old church before the service and that other members of the congregation grabbed Eldred after the shooting around 11:20 a.m., and held him until police arrived. Nobody else was injured.

The defense attorney listed in online court records did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.

Eldred has taught music at the borough’s elementary school since 1986.

Trooper Michael Knight told the Bradford Era newspaper on Sunday that Eldred allegedly walked down the church’s middle aisle and fired two shots at Sitler.

Trooper Knight told the newspaper there were no children in the church when the shooting happened, but that police bused all those who witnessed the shooting to a building which houses PotterCounty offices so they could be interviewed by police. Mental health counseling was also being made available to those witnesses, Knight said.

Potter County Commissioner Susan Kefover told the newspaper the shooting was “devastatingly tragic for the community.”

“It’s hard to even comprehend it. You just feel this tremendous grief and you’re trying to process what happened,” Kefover said.

In addition to her church duties, Sitler taught music at the Northern Potter Children’s School, an elementary school that neighbors the district where her ex-husband taught, for 30 years.

“She’s just the consummate professional,” Northern Potter Superintendent Scott Graham told The Associated Press on Monday. “The kids loved her. She just did so many things here for the school and the community.”

The NorthernPotterSchool District is based in the tiny borough of Ulysses, about 160 northeast of Pittsburgh, very near the New York border. It’s about 20 miles northeast of Coudersport, where her ex-husband taught school and she attended church, Graham said.

Sitler taught music to all students in the Pre-K through 6th-grade school, and also headed the chorus and band for 5th and 6th graders. She’s taught at the district since 1982, spending just one year after college teaching elsewhere before coming to Northern Potter, so the staff and students throughout the district knew her well, Graham said.

Crisis counselors from surrounding districts and a member of the local pastors’ ministerium were at the district Monday.

“There’s a lot of good things about growing up and living in a small community, and I believe we have a lot of help for the children and the staff members who may need it,” Graham said.

Graham said the couple had been divorced for several years and offered no rationale for the shooting.

Officials with the CoudersportAreaSchool District, where Eldred taught, did not immediately return a call and email for comment. Eldred also played clarinet for the Southern Tier Symphony Orchestra in Allegany, N.Y.

Maricopa County pastor accused of selling drugs www.privateofficer.com

Maricopa County AZ Dec 3 2012 A Fountain Hills pastor arrested Wednesday is accused of selling drugs to people to “bring them closer to God,” according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies received information that Mark Derksen, 63, was selling drugs out of his apartment to 30 people Tuesday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

A search warrant was issued for Derksen’s apartment where deputies found large amounts of heroin, methamphetamine and prescription drugs, Arpaio said.

Officials believe the Faith Mountain Christian Church, where Derksen is a pastor, is currently for sale. Arpaio said it is unknown whether or not Derksen ever sold drugs at the church.

A 36-year-old woman was also arrested at the apartment for outstanding warrants for drug-related activity and suspicion of possession, Arpaio said.

The drugs were seized at the scene along with a shotgun and a small caliber pistol, Arpaio said.

Deputies also seized Derksen’s phone and computer. Arpaio said he hopes a search of the phone and computer will reveal Derksen’s clients and possibly his supplier.

“I want to know all the people who went to his house to buy drugs,” Arpaio said.

Derksen admitted to giving drugs to people to “bring them closer to God,” Arpaio said.

Arpaio said what’s unusual about this case is that Derksen is giving drugs to people for free while selling drugs to others. Officials believe Derksen did this to get people hooked on the drugs so he could get more clients.

Derksen is a user himself and is currently in the hospital for an unknown illness, Arpaio said.

MCSO has had information about Derksen for two years but has not had enough evidence to arrest him until now, Arpaio said.

Source:AZCentral

Man shot to death at Henderson NC church www.privateofficer.com

 

HENDERSON, N.C. Nov 24 2012 – Police are investigating the shooting death of a man at a Henderson church.

The Henderson Police Department said officers were called to the United Prayer of Faith Holiness Church, at 127 Miriam Street, at 9:52 p.m. Thursday night.

Investigators said Barry Wilkerson, 28, of1304 Nicholas Street, Henderson was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

The investigation was ongoing.

Police said there were no church-related activities going on at the building at the time.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (252) 492-1925.

Source:WTVD

Naked man falls through church roof www.privateofficer.com

HICKORY, NC Nov 21 2012 (AP) – Authorities in Hickory have arrested a man after they say he fell through the ceiling of a church and was found naked inside.

  The Hickory Daily Record reports the staff of Resurrection International Church asked police to remove a suspicious man from the building Saturday afternoon after he’d asked to spend the night there.

Police think 46-year-old James Albert Kimrey Jr. of Durham tried to re-enter the church through the roof.

They say he apparently took off his clothes because he couldn’t get through a gap between a ventilation duct and the framework. He fell through the ceiling and into a conference room. A church member found him Sunday morning in a restroom stall.

Kimrey is being held at the Catawba County Detention Center under a $1,200 secured bond.

Source-WECT

Mobile Alabama pastor sent to prison for having sex with teen www.privateofficer.com

MOBILE, Alabama Nov 17 2012-– A local pastor who helped found a private school in Prichard will go to jail for a year for a sexual relationship he had with a 14-year-old relative, a judge ruled today.

Mobile County Circuit Judge Michael Youngpeter said he agreed with defense attorney Jeff Deen that this was not a case of a clergyman abusing his position to prey on children. Testimony at last month’s trial indicated that defendant Cederick McMillan, 27, had a sexual relationship with a female family member that was unconnected to his church work.

“I see a very big distinction,” said Youngpepter, who sentenced McMillan to 10 years in prison but suspended all but the first year. He also ordered the defendant to serve five years’ probation.

Deen indicated that he would appeal the conviction, but he praised Youngpeter’s sentence.

“In the general scheme of things, it was a just and fair sentencing based on the facts of the case,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said she was a little surprised by the sentence. During the hearing, she urged the maximum 20-year punishment.

“The heinous crime here is almost more painful because of his prominence in the community,” she said. “What that does to an intact family is horrendous.”

Patterson said that the victim, who now is in college, has not come home since the trial.

McMillan, of Eight Mile, is pastor of New Birth Community Church in Mobile. He helped foundPrichard Preparatory Academy and was its headmaster from 2005 until 2009.

The victim testified at trial that McMillan touched her and had oral sex with her when she was 14 years old in 2007. The defense maintained that the sex was consensual and occurred after the girl’s 17th birthday. Deen said his client had broken up with the girl’s mother and later had a fling with the daughter.

McMillan was articulate and deferential in addressing the judge, even as he continued to maintain his innocence.

“The entire case has definitely affected me personally,” he said. “It’s affected my marriage. It’s caused me to be a single father to my two children. It’s affected my health. It’s affected my church.”

McMillan told Youngpeter that he had given up law school to devote himself to the ministry. “But I still believe that was the best choice for me,” he said.

About a dozen people testified on McMillan’s behalf, including several men who had gotten into trouble with the law and told the judge that McMillan has helped set them on a better path.

Some of the most poignant testimony came from Valerie Harmon, the defendant’s mother, who told Youngpeter that her son had persevered despite a difficult childhood. She said that McMillan’s father abused him and that she offered no help as a 24-year-old crack cocaine addict.

“It was always me slipping and sliding into his life,” he said. “Anything he received from me, I stole back.”

Patterson argued that the negative consequences arising from his arrest are of his own making.

“No one but Mr. McMillan chose to create all these ripples of damage,” she said.

source-al.com

Pennsylvania priest accused of embezzling nearly $385,000 www.privateofficer.com

Adams County PA Nov 5 2012 A priest accused of embezzling nearly $385,000 from his former church in rural Pennsylvania was arrested Thursday, Adams Co. District Attorney Shawn Wagner said.

The Pennsylvania State Police arrested the Rev. Caesar A. Belchez, of New Freedom, Pa., on three counts of felony theft after a prolonged investigation that began in 2011, after Belchez left Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Bonneauville, Pa., after about five years presiding over the rural parish.

Belchez left the parish of about 400 families in 2011 in a routine transfer of priests, said Joseph Aponick, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.

“That’s when the new priest noticed things weren’t the way they should be,” Aponick told ABCnews.com. “He discovered what appeared to be malfeasance.”

The parish’s new priest, the Rev. Augusty Valomchalil, reported the financial irregularities to the diocese, which, in turn, contacted state police, Aponick said.

Police, the district attorney, and the diocese then launched an investigation, the diocese said. It discovered, among other irregularities, an unauthorized transfer of money between church accounts and accounts in Belchez’s name, including an eTrade account, according to court documents. The documents charge that Belchez embezzled $311,983.95 and made an additional $72,766.81 in unauthorized credit card charges.

According to court documents, Belchez confessed to the crimes at the time of his interview by the Pa. state police.

Belchez has been released on $50,000 unsecured bail and was forced to forfeit his passport as he awaits a preliminary hearing later this month.

Belchez declined to request a public defender according to the court docket and it’s unclear if he has hired an attorney. He has not entered a plea yet.

Aponick called the alleged crime an isolated incident.

“The bishop is very concerned,” he said, “and wants to make it known that money entrusted to the church is used with absolute responsibility.”

Texas pastor killed in violent attack www.privateofficer.com

FOREST HILL, Texas Oct 31 2012 (AP) — A North Texas pastor was killed Monday by an attacker who rammed a car into a church wall, chased the pastor and beat him with an electric guitar, police said.

Police in Forest Hill, a suburb of Fort Worth, did not say why the unidentified suspect attacked the Rev. Danny Kirk Sr., the founding pastor of Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church.

The suspect, who police used a Taser to subdue, also died a short time after being taken into custody.

Forest Hill Police Chief Dan Dennis said the suspect drove his car into a church wall before noon Monday, apparently on purpose. The suspect got out of the car and began to attack the pastor in the parking lot before chasing him into the church, Dennis said. The church secretary hid and called 911, Dennis said.

Police arrived to find the suspect assaulting Kirk with an electric guitar that they believe was already inside the church, Dennis said. An officer used a Taser on the suspect, handcuffed him and put him in the back of a patrol car.

By then, Kirk had died, Dennis said. A maintenance worker who tried to help Kirk was injured and taken to an area hospital. His condition was unknown.

Dennis said the suspect was found unresponsive shortly after being detained and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Dennis said he didn’t know if the suspect knew Kirk, attended the church or why he might have attacked the pastor.

Hours after the incident, hundreds of people remained outside the church, where crime-scene tape was wrapped around a small statue of Jesus near the wrecked car. Some hugged each other and cried, while others recalled Kirk as a dedicated minister who also had a bubbly personality and knew the all names of the several-hundred church members.

“He really was concerned about our souls,” Montoya McNeil, a member for eight years, said as she wiped away tears. “You looked forward to being here. … I’m not asking God why, because I know where he (Kirk) is, but we won’t get those big bear hugs and those great sermons anymore.”

According to former Forest Hill mayor James Gosey, Kirk started the church years ago in a strip mall before building the red-brick church.

Kirk was also an unofficial volunteer chaplain who occasionally counseled members of a local high school football team, Fort Worth school district spokesman Clint Bond said.

“Our hearts are heavy right now,” said Reginald Wilson, an associate minister at the church.

Arkansas Church Employee Accused of Stealing More Than $100,000 In Tithes www.privateofficer.com

Saline County AR Oct 25 2012 An employee of one Saline County church is accused of betraying the congregation’s trust, taking their money — for herself.

Deputies say the woman is accused of stealing more than $100,000 over a five year period, essentially from the tithes of others.

Now, she could end up behind bars for what deputies say she was doing just steps away from the pulpit.

Even now, Pastor Jeff Langley feels blessed to be at the helm of the Congo Road Baptist Church in Benton.

“The congregation is very strong, very loving,” he said.

There, the door is always open to those in need.

With just 100 active members, the church helps feed close to 70 families every week from its food pantry.

But deputies say one church employee hadn’t been stocking the church’s wares, she’d been stealing from its coffers.

“The bank called and had some concerns,” Langley said.

Pastor Langley says a few months ago, he was alerted to checks bouncing and low balances in their account.

Friday, the church’s secretary and treasurer Rebecca Walker was arrested, charged with close to 150 counts of theft: one for each time, deputies say she would make bank transfers from the church’s accounts to her own.

“I am troubled for her and the family,” said Langley.

Langley says Walker had been a devout member and employee for years, someone who worked more hours than she was paid for.

“The congregation has responded beautifully,” Langley said.

But rather than condemn Walker as a wolf in their midst, Langley says, the flock can and will forgive.

“I am thankful for that, because some churches would fall apart, but our church has continued to be strong.”

Langley says they’ll even rally around Walker and her family, getting through this dark time with bright spirits, heir hearts as full of love, he says, as their shelves will still be with food.

“We want to move forward as a church, continue to do the things that we have been doing,” he said.

Langley says he’s thankful the food pantry account wasn’t ever touched.

We did go to Walker’s home Tuesday-she’s bonded out of jail, but she refused to talk to us.

She faces more charges for using the church’s credit cards too.

Former mega church employee charged in church shooting www.privateofficer.com

COLLEGE PARK, Ga.Oct 25 2012 AP — A man suspected in Wednesday’s fatal shooting at aGeorgia megachurch was once committed to a mental health facility in Maryland after facing various criminal charges including attempted murder, according to court records.

Police in Georgia said Floyd Palmer, 51, walked into a chapel at World Changers Church International just before a 10 a.m. service and opened fire, killing church volunteer Greg McDowell, 39, while he was leading a prayer.

“He walked in calmly, opened fire, and left as calmly,” Fulton County Police Cpl. Kay Lester said.

Palmer was a former facilities maintenance employee at the church who resigned in August for “personal reasons,” Lester said. He previously lived in Maryland.

The church’s well-known founder and leader, the Rev. Creflo Dollar, was not there at the time.

Palmer was taken into custody without incident a few hours later at an upscale mall in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, Lester said. Police spotted his car in the parking lot of Lenox Square. They didn’t recover a weapon.

He was being charged with homicide and possession of firearms in commission of a homicide, with additional charges pending.

Court records show a man named Floyd Lester Palmer, born on the same day in 1960, was charged in Baltimore in 2001 with attempted murder, assault and handgun charges. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2004 after pleading not criminally responsible to lesser charges. The records show he was released the next year subject to conditions that were to remain in effect for five years.

The court filings include motions by the defense for a dangerousness evaluation, which was later withdrawn.

Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department did not have arrest records in the case, which is not unusual in cases where someone has been committed. Palmer’s attorney in the case, Kenneth Ravenell, was out of the country on Wednesday, his staff said.

About 20 to 25 people were gathered in the chapel when the shooting happened. No other people were wounded and the gunman fled in a black Subaru station wagon with tinted windows that was later spotted by police at a mall in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.

Investigators were working to determine if Palmer and McDowell knew each other.

“We do not know if the victim was targeted,” Lester said. “We are looking into that as he was the only person that was shot.”

Ken Terry, a pastor at the church who is acting as a spokesman for McDowell’s family, said the church family was distraught and trying to comfort McDowell’s family.

“He would be considered a model dad,” Terry told reporters. “To have this happen is just devastating.”

Although the campus has security officers and surveillance cameras, Lester said the suspect was known to some at the service, so his presence wouldn’t have been unusual.

The violence upset members and neighbors of the church, which is one of the largest in the United States, claiming 30,000 members at the main campus and a ministry of satellite churches across the country.

Along with Bishop Eddie Long, Dollar is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta who have built successful ministries on the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches.

Dollar didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press, but he preached Wednesday evening at a Bible study in the campus’s larger World Dome sanctuary. He repeated the importance of having faith in God even when bad things happen and rejecting fear and doubt.

“We pray for this family,” he said, referring to McDowell. “We pray for both families and then we pray for every family that’s in here tonight.”

Earlier Wednesday, several church members walked over to the scene after hearing about the shooting.

“Why would anyone want to hurt the church?” asked Adolph Hanley, 66, of College Park, who has attended the church for two years. “That’s the devil’s work.”

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Hanley said. “People don’t want the real Word.”

Albert Henry, 55, of Riverdale, said his 5-year-old son was in day care near the chapel when the shooting took place. He said staffers called and told him to pick up the child.

“I can’t believe someone just did it in the House of the Lord,” said Henry, as his boy sat in the back seat.

Linda Pritchett, 43, a church member for 10 years, said the shooting didn’t make her feel less secure attending services. She said people cannot give in to fear. But she said she grieved for the victim and his family.

“When something happens to one of us, it hurts all of us,” she said.

SC County Council candidate skimmed at least $150k from church www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Sumter SC Sept 22 2012 A candidate for Sumter County Council has been arrested and charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent after an investigation into missing money from aSumter church linked him to over $150,000 in missing funds.

Todd R. Newman, 50, was arrested on Thursday. He is as a candidate for County Council District 5, running against Councilwoman Vivian Fleming-McGhaney.

According to Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark, an elder of the Plaza Church of Christ on Camden Highway reported to law enforcement that Newman, who had been entrusted with the church’s finances, had misappropriated funds over the span of several years by cashing unauthorized checks made payable to himself.

Roark said detectives have been able to corroborate through their investigation and various financial documents that Newman had been skimming from church funds. So far, evidence shows Newman took $155,000, but up to $400,000 may be missing, investigators said.

The investigation is still ongoing and Newman may face additional charges, the chief said.

Newman is currently being held at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center where he is awaiting a bond hearing.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Anyone with information in reference to this incident or other incidents involving Newman is asked to contact the Sumter Police Department at (803) 436-2717.

Source:WIS

Shooting at Louisville church leaves elderly man dead www.privateofficer.com

 

LOUISVILLE, KY Sept 8 2012 - We are learning more about the victim’s families and the church where Thursday’s deadly dispute took place. One family is planning a funeral while another is keeping a vigil at the hospital.

We now know who the victims are. David Merritt, 73, was killed. Neighbors said he was the Home Owner’s Association President. The other victim, Marvin Fisher, was in the hospital in critical condition Friday evening. Neighbors said he is the Homeowner’s Association Vice President.

The nightmare was still painfully real for Merritt’s nephew, Shaun.

“We lost a very good man last night,” he said.

Thursday night, police said suspect Mahmoud Yousef Hindi walked into a Homeowners Association meeting of about nine people inside the Springdale Community Church and when he shot the two men. By the time the suspect was subdued by a retired police officer, Shaun’s uncle, Merritt, was dead.

“Dave, he was a gentle man. A very caring man,” Shaun said. “He was willing to give back to the community in any way he could.”

An uncle he said enjoyed several things, “We went up to a Reds ball game about 6-8 weeks ago. He enjoyed baseball. Loved baseball,” said Shaun.

Neighbors said Fisher was taken to University Hospital.

“And is in very critical condition at this point. Life threatening injuries,” Louisville Metro Police Homicide detective, Lt. Barry Wilkerson said in a press conference Friday afternoon.

“Thoughts and prayers need to be with him also and his family because they’re struggling just as bad as we are,” Shaun said.

Faith is at the forefront at Springdale Community Church after such tragedy in a place of worship and a community deeply cared for.

“The hardest part is just for the victims and their families. That’s always the hardest part of any kind of tragedy. And in response to it is trying to minister to them and show love to them and care for them,” Jason Autry, Lead pastor at Springdale Community Church said. “Precautions. We’re working on that. There’s nothing in the immediate that we could do. It was a meeting that’s held here. It’s held here monthly.”

Weekend services will go on as usual. Through the pain.

“There’s another family that’s affected by this. That’s the shooter’s family. Don’t have any hard-will against them,” Shaun said. “It’ll take a while to get back to normal,” Shaun said.

Funeral arrangements for Merritt are pending.

Source:WAVE

Dayton security officer shoots church burglar www.privateofficer.com

 

DAYTON, Ohio Aug 19 2012   – Dayton Police were on the scene of a shooting Friday night a a local temple.

Officers responded to the Santa Clara Apostolic Temple at 60 Santa Clara Avenue around 10:20 pm.

Police say it appears that a security guard caught a burglar in the basement and shot him.

We’re told his condition is serious.

Homicide detectives were sent to the scene to investigate.

Source: WDTN

2 accused of firing shots into occupied vehicle at church gathering www.privateofficer.com

 

 

COLUMBIA, SC Aug 7 2012 - Columbia Police have arrested two men accused of firing shots at two people sitting in a vehicle Saturday.

David Martin and Timothy Thompson, Jr. are charged with attempted murder.

Police say a church was hosting an event in the 1500 block of Fontaine Rd. when Thompson and Martin fired shots into a vehicle parked at the location. It happened at about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Police say nobody was hurt.

The motive for the shooting is still being investigated.

Source:WIS

Church security officer finds burglar hiding in closet www.privateofficer.com

 

Fort Lauderdaqle Fla July 31 2012 Joshua T. King was at church on Sunday but not for the right reasons.

The 25-year-old man was arrested Sunday morning after he was found inside a closet at First Baptist Church at 301 E. Broward Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.

King is facing one charge of burglary in an occupied dwelling after a security guard unlocked a storage room and found him there. He was found with multiple driver licenses in his name: two from Florida and four from New York.

During Sunday School while children were in the playground area, teachers asked the security guard to unlock the storage closet and retrieve toys for them, the arrest report states.

“When he unlocked the door, he could smell and see urine in the basket on the kids’ tricycle,” the report states.

The security guard said he then noticed King was hiding behind props and toys “in an attempt to conceal himself.”

The students and teachers were evacuated.

According to the report, King was in the closet “hiding from people” when he felt the need to go to the restroom. Because he did not want to leave the room, he urinated in the tricycle basket.

He was also found with a pair of scissors he said he was going to use to cut his clothes.

During Monday’s bond court hearing, King was adamant about not paying the bond amount set at $5,000.

“I’m not paying the $5,000 fine, that’s outrageous,” King said. “It has nothing to do with me.”

Broward County Judge John “Jay” Hurley lowered his bond amount to $3,500.

In an exchange with Hurley, King maintained his innocence.

“I didn’t break in, the door was open,” King said.

“Clearly he doesn’t know the elements to burglary,” Hurley said in response.

King is being held at Broward County’s Main Jail.

source:tribune.com

Pa. church, pastor charged in fake kidnapping, intended as lesson in religious persecution www.privateofficer.com

 

PITTSBURGH PA July 29 2012 —AP- A southeastern Pennsylvania church and a youth pastor are facing criminal charges for a mock kidnapping of a youth group that was meant to be a lesson in religious persecution.

The Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Middletown and 28-year-old Andrew David Jordan of Elizabethtown were charged Friday with false imprisonment and simple assault, said Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico.

The church staged the event in March. Mock kidnappers covered the teenagers’ heads, put them in a van and interrogated them. Neither the young people nor their parents were told beforehand that it wasn’t real. The mother of a 14-year-old girl filed a complaint with police.

“This is a sad case for all those involved,” Marsico said, adding that while the church’s and Jordan’s intentions were not necessarily harmful, “they in essence terrorized several children.”

“We need to protect children, no matter where the harm occurs,” Marsico said, adding that a grand jury recommended the charges. He noted that some of the teenagers in the group were not members of the church, and that a semi-automatic rifle was displayed in the exercise.

A message left at the church was not immediately returned, and there was no phone listing for Jordan. Neither were defense attorneys listed on court papers.

Glad Tidings pastor John Lanza said in March that the church was “so saddened” that youth were traumatized during the event, but added that other youth from the church sent emails of support. The church is about 10 miles outside Harrisburg. Lanza said the goal of the exercise was to prepare the youth for what they might encounter as missionaries in foreign countries. He didn’t disclose the names of those involved but said the mock kidnappers included an off-duty police officer and a retired Army captain.

“It was a youth event, to illustrate what others have encountered on a regular basis,” he said, adding that the focus of the lesson was “the persecuted church” in other countries.

Lanza said the church had conducted similar events at least twice before, without complaints.

Orange County bible teacher arrested on molestation charges www.privateofficer.com

 

GARDEN GROVE CA July 22 2012 – Police in Orange County have arrested a bible teacher on charges of molestation.

Christopher Guardado was taken into custody after two girls, under the age of 14, contacted police and said he molested them repeatedly over the course of two years.

 

Detectives say the alleged acts happened at his Garden Grove home.

 

Guardado, 48, volunteered as a bible studies teacher at the Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast in Westminster for the past couple of years.

Guardado was charged on Monday with two felony counts of lewd acts with a minor. He is being held on $1 million bail.

His arraignment is set for Aug. 3.

Anyone with information to call detectives at (714) 741-5800.

Source:ktla.com

Former New Orleans pastor sentenced to 10 years in prison in theft of $1 million dollars www.privateofficer.com

 

NEW ORLEANS LA July 13 2012 (AP) – A former New Orleans pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing nearly $1 million in disaster loan payments meant to rebuild a church after Hurricane Katrina.

Toris Young pleaded guilty in January to theft of government funds and mail fraud. The sentence handed down Thursday by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier was roughly twice that recommended in federal sentencing guidelines.

Young also must pay $963,900 in restitution to the Small Business Administration.

Prosecutors said money meant for the Bible Way Baptist Church was used for Young’s personal expenses, including jewelry, vehicles and clothes.

Young submitted fraudulent invoices and receipts to the SBA after the 2005 storm. The church property was vacant with overgrown weeds when the SBA checked to see how he spent the money.

NYC minister used her authority to seduce a good-looking male www.privateofficer.com

 

New York NY July 9 2012 She nicknamed a rule forbidding sexual contact with parishioners “Don’t do the pew.”

But the Rev. Ginger Strickland, 33, the newly ordained assistant minister at Manhattan’s historic Church of the Incarnation, allegedly used her religious authority to seduce a good-looking male in the flock.

“God brought you to me,” Strickland told Erik Campano, 34, during their secret affair — using a line from a textbook on clergy sexual abuse.

Now, Campano is complaining to the church, saying he was taken advantage of by the reverend and betrayed when she dumped him back in the pews.
Their trysts occurred in a Paris rectory and on Skype video chats.

“On her initiation, we are naked . . . over church computers,’’ Campano wrote in a shocking complaint to church leaders obtained by The Post.

They broke up about a month before her Dec. 11 ordination. It left him so devastated emotionally and spiritually that he considered suicide, Campano said.

“If you believe your relationship is blessed by God, a breakup means a failure to live out God’s will,” Campano told The Post.

Strickland, from a Texas oil baron’s family, and Campano, from Queens, met in late 2010 at the American Church in Paris, where she held a job leading a youth ministry. He was going to medical school, attended services, and — at Strickland’s urging, he said — became a church volunteer.

Over several months, Campano says, Strickland first engaged him in e-mail discussions dripping with pastoral concern and advice for coping with his studies and his mother’s cancer. He says he resisted her invitations to socialize.

Finally, alone in a gym after an outing with a jogging club, she leaned over to kiss him, the start of a four-month affair.

Campano kept romantic e-mails and handwritten notes in which he and Strickland describe their sexual activities in X-rated detail.

But Strickland continued to act as his pastor. “Prayers for vocational success and spiritual clarity became mixed together with sexual behavior,” Campano’s complaint says.

In one e-mail, Strickland mocked a seminary course on sexual harassment.

“Formally [it’s] called ‘Preventing Ministerial Misconduct.’ Informally — ‘Don’t Do the Pew.’ It was super awkward,” she wrote him.

She also jokingly cited a “theological justification” for their unholy hookups, loosely quoting Martin Luther: “God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Sin boldly! Be a sinner and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger.”

Strickland got the job at the Church of the Incarnation, at Madison Aenue and 35th Street and moved to New York last summer, but they kept up their sexual gratification via Skype. On Nov. 2, she e-mailed Campano that she wanted “space,” after telling him that any contact between them could complicate her ministry.

“I felt betrayed by my church, which was supposed to enforce rules against pastors having relationships with parishioners,” Campano told The Post.

A few weeks before Strickland’s ordination, Campano filed a detailed report, accusing her of sexual misconduct, conduct unbecoming a clergy member, and hiding her wrongdoing.

The church has not yet acted. The case was initially dismissed, but Campano won a reversal on appeal. A panel including the US Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori — the first woman elected to the top post — is weighing possible discipline.

Strickland did not return messages to her cellphone or e-mail address.

Experts agree that clergy-laity romances are disastrous.

“It’s never right — and virtually always harmful –when a spiritual figure abuses his or her power over a believer,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “There can never be truly consensual sex between a minister and a congregant because of the tremendous power imbalance. It’s even harder for men to realize they’ve been manipulated and exploited.”

Clohessy said female religious figures generate about 10 percent of complaints to the group, but abuse by women is “vastly under-reported.”

Source:www.nypost.com

Church youth director charged with sex crimes involving boy www.privateofficer.com

 

Shepherdsville KY July 8 2012  Police have arrested the youth director of Trinity Life Center and charged him with multiple counts of sodomy and sexual abuse of a boy who attended the church.

Bryan J. Dockery, 26, was working as youth director for Trinity Life Center in Shepherdsville when police allege that he engaged in a 10-month sexual relationship with a juvenile church member.

Dockery was released from the Bullitt County Detention Center on Thursday after posting a $25,000 property bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 16.

Sgt. Mike O’Donnell, spokesman for Shepherdsville Police, said the crimes allegedly took place from August 2011 to June 2012 at the church, 964 Ky. 44 West, and at Dockery’s house off Cedar Grove Road.

A woman who answered the phone at the church Friday said its head pastor, the Rev. James McFadden, would “not be commenting on the situation.”

Police continue to investigate and detectives are trying to determine if there may be more victims.

Anyone with information concerning this or any other crime, is asked to contact the Shepherdsville Police Department at (502) 957-1001, (502) 921-1000, or its anonymous tip line at (502) 215-1588.

Source:courier-journal