Conservative Babylon

Perez Blackmon • “Apostle” Nathaniel Calhoun
Robert Dando • Jermel Manns • Jerry Nickelsen
Felix Owino • William Lee Porter
Jeffrey Alan Wasley, a.k.a. “Magic Jeff”
Joshua Wisdom

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.

Probation hearing scheduled: Perez Blackmon, 42, newly elected pastor of Rosinvick Missionary Baptist Church, Blakely, Georgia, to determine if Blackmon’s new role as church leader violates the terms of his probation after his conviction of of statutory rape in 2005. Notes one vocal opponent, a court order specifying the conditions of Blackmon’s probation mandates that Blackmon “shall have no contact whether directly in person or indirectly through any means of communication or employment, volunteer activity or otherwise with any child under the age of 18,” and that pastoring a church violates this condition. Story: Albany Herald, September 1, 2010; sex offender registry page

Arrested: “Apostle” Nathaniel Calhoun, preacher, House of Prayer, Hillsboro, Texas, and charged with multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault against a child, involving incidents dating back some 20 years. In 1995, a group of women told Fox station KDFW that they had been “victimized by their spiritual father in the compound where they lived and worshiped.” Because the women were reluctant to speak with police, the investigation was halted. Now, fully grown, Calhoun’s alleged victims are willing to talk. Story & video: KDFW Fox 4, August 31, 2010

Charged: Robert Dando, 46, Baptist minister, Worcester Park Baptist Church, London, England, and official at both the Baptist World Alliance and the Boys’ Brigade (a Christian youth organization, of which his wife is a vice president), with four counts of aggravated sexual battery against two boys in the United States during a series of visits to family friends over the course of five years, beginning when the boys were seven and eight years old. A British national, Dando was arrested during his most recent visit to Fairfax, Virginia. Story: Daily Mail, August 20, 2010; Philippines News, August 21, 2010

Arrested: Jermel Manns, a.k.a. Jermel Beckford, 36, youth minister and nephew of pastor Errol Beckford, Tabernacle Church, Cocoa, Florida, and charged with soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy via text message. Beckford told WOFL Manns was “squeaky clean” — despite his conviction for criminal sexual abuse against a 17-year-old in 2000. Story: WOFL Fox 35, June 25, 2010; Illinois Sex Offender Registry

Guilty: Jerry Nickelsen, 45, volunteer deaf minister, Bible study teacher, and missionary (who traveled with the church to Paraguay in 2009), First Baptist Church of Central Florida, Orlando, who pleaded guilty August 30, 2010, to one count of distributing child pornography, after admitting to the FBI in June that he had had “sexual contact with at least seven boys” between five and 13 years old over the past 20 years. Nickelsen came to the attention of authorities in May of this year, when agents browsed the computer directories he shared freely via a peer-to-peer file sharing network. At his August 30th hearing, Nickelsen claimed he didn’t know child pornography was illegal. Until his arrest, he lived across the street from an elementary school. Story: WFTV, June 4, 2010; Orlando Sentinel, June 4, 2010, June 10, 2010, August 30, 2010

Charged: Felix Owino, 44, Catholic priest and philosophy instructor, Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia, and former chaplain, Magdalen College, Warner, New Hampshire, with one count of aggravated sexual battery against an 11-year-old girl, the daughter of “long-time family friends” of Owino’s. Owino is a native of Nairobi, Kenya, where he belonged to an order called the “Apostles of Jesus.” Story: WAMU, July 13, 2010; UnionLeader.com, August 30, 2010

Charged: William Lee Porter, 53, youth pastor, Elmwood Church of Christ, West Lafayette, Indiana, with “five felony charges of child seduction after allegedly inappropriately touching a minor in his care,” as well as “criminal deviance.” Story: WLFI.com

Sentenced: Jeffrey Alan Wasley, a.k.a. “Magic Jeff,” 39, former youth minister, Calvary Jesus Church, Kennesaw, Georgia, and magician (”[a]t one time … at the American Adventures amusement park in Marietta”), to 20 years and probation for life on child pornography charges. “Magic Jeff” would offer to “assist” little boys who entered public restrooms by themselves (most often at Target and Walmart stores), and then videotape them. A police search of Wasley’s home turned up some 17,000 images of child porn on his computers. When confronted with arrest, Wasley “barricaded himself in his garage and tried to kill himself by slitting his wrist and neck and stabbing himself in the chest.” Also found: “a note of apology that Wasley wrote his wife and children and a novel he was writing about a man who was abused as a child and later became a molester as an adult.” Story: Atlanta Constitution-Journal, July 14, 2010

Arrested: Joshua Wisdom, 37, pastor, First Baptist Church of Springdale and The Church at Pinnacle Hills, Rogers, Arkansas, along with eight other men in a police prostitution sting at a Rogers motel. Story & video: 4029TV.com

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. Black Collar Crime Round-Up: August 30, 2010
2. Black Collar Sex Crime Round-Up: September 5, 2009
3. Black Collar Sex Crime Round-Up: September 16, 2009
4. Black Collar Crime Round-Up: August 27, 2010
5. Black Collar Sex Crime Round-Up: September 10, 2009

Comments are closed.