Black Collar Crime Round-Up: August 26, 2010
Clevon Ghent • Jason Leitz • Salvatore Magro
Timothy E. Parker • Keith and Cynthia Valentine
Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.
Possible mediation: Allison Brant, 31, former Catholic school principal, St. Mary of the Woods Elementary, Whitesville, Kentucky, facing several charges of rape and sodomy stemming from a two-month-long sexual affair with 15-year-old boy, and for providing alcohol to minors. The state attorney is apparently open to mediation and settlement in lieu of a trial. Story: Conservative Babylon, October 12, 2009; December 8, 2009
Arrested: Johnny William “Bill” Cabe, 50, pastor, Riverside Independent Baptist Church, Rock Hill, South Carolina, and convicted felon “found guilty of 26 charges related to bilking religious investors out of millions of dollars,” on charges of sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy — the third time he has been charged with sex crimes against a child. Furthermore, Cabe has been charged with “unlawfully practicing medicine,” which “stems from allegations Cabe performed an examination of the child, diagnosed a physical ailment and prescribed a treatment.” Story: WSOC, August 24, 2010; The Herald, August 25, 2010
Guilty: Clevon Ghent, 35, volunteer minister at Born Again Church of God and Christ, Auburndale, Florida, and manager of Trinity Cleaning Service, of three counts “sexual activity with a child” — a 12-year-old girl he babysat — and acquitted of one additional count, after a two-day trial and just two hours of jury deliberation. Sentencing is set for September 16, 2010. As of this writing, the trial of Gernard Jones, Ghent’s 19-year-old nephew, charged with lewd battery of the same girl, was slated to begin the same day Ghent’s verdict was reached. Story: Conservative Babylon, September 5, 2009; September 11, 2009; TheLedger.com, August 25, 2010
Arrested: Jason Leitz, fourth-grade teacher, Crown of Life Lutheran Church & School (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod), West Saint Paul, Minnesota, in an online prostitution sting. The school’s mission statement: “To ensure that students receive the Word of God through which God brings them to eternal salvation, and to guide each child toward becoming a representative of Christ whose life will be a witness to many. The Word of God in our school also brings blessings upon the secular subjects that are taught.” Story & video: KSTP, August 24, 2010; KCRG, August 5, 2010
Guilty: Salvatore “Sam” Magro, 51, former religion teacher, Our Lady of Victory, Delhi Township, Ohio, of three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor girl who was the student of Magro’s wife (at a different school), and who lived with the Magros; sentenced to four years on each count, to be served concurrently. The girl read a victim’s statement, in which she said “Magro used to drug his wife so that he could then have sexual relations with the teen. She said he told her they were going to get married and even privately exchanged vows at a wedding they once attended.” Magro’s wife also read a statement (video), pleading for leniency, and blaming her husband’s behavior on “medical problems.” Story: WLWT, August 19, 2010
Arrested: Timothy E. Parker, 40, pastor, since 2001, of the 125-year-old St. Peter Lutheran Church, Westgate, Iowa, charged with two counts of lascivious acts with a minor and one count of third-degree sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl. Reports of a search at Parker’s home suggest authorities also found child porn on his computer. Story: WCF Courier, August 5, 2010; KCRG, August 5, 2010
Arrested: Keith W. Valentine, 44, seven-year Greene County, New York, legislator and currently Republican majority leader, and his wife, Cynthia J. Valentine, 45, charged with serving alcohol to minors at a 4th of July party at their Catskill home. Ironically, in 2007, Mr. Valentine, voted in favor of “a Greene County local law that prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors on private property” — the same law he and his wife are now accused of violating. Story: Daily Freeman, August 21, 2010; KCRG, August 22, 2010
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