Black Collar Crime Round-Up: September 12, 2010
Naomi Mandrell • Alejandro Flores • Carlton F. Hammonds
Chester W. King • Derwin Pasley • Leonel Pelayo
Steven Rowe • Gregory Sims • Jeffery Waisner
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.
Captured: Miguel Cala, 37, in Virginia and charged with sexually assaulting a child under 12 years of age. Until May, 2010, was a longtime music teacher at St. Andrew’s Catholic School, Coral Springs, Florida. Police say Cala has confessed. Story: Miami Herald, September 8, 2010
Accused: Thomas M. Curran, 65, Catholic priest, Boston Archdiocese, of child sexual abuse. Curran had been cleared in 2007 of similar allegations dating back to the 1970s. These are new allegations. Story: Boston Globe, September 8, 2010
Captured: Dale Elledge, 72, former teacher, Word of Life Ministries and Academy, Dibble, Oklahoma, after more than a year on the run, and charged with six counts of sexual molestation against at least four female students. A civil lawsuit against the Christian school also names principal Naomi Mandrell, accused of “turning a blind eye” to the ongoing sexual abuse in her school. Mandrell, whose husband Bill is the pastor of Word of Life Ministries, was the subject of a 2004 investigation into claims that her half-brother, convicted of sexual battery, who was living with Mandrell and her foster children, had shown pornography to the children. Story: News9.com, September 9, 2010; KFOR.com, September 10, 2010
Sentenced: Alejandro Flores, 37, Catholic priest, Chicago, after pleading guilty to one count of criminal sexual assault, in exchange for the dismissal of 15 other counts, to four years in prison. The victim was a now-13-year-old boy — Flores’s godson. Story: Herald-News, September 8, 2010
Trial set: Carlton F. Hammonds, 56, pastor, Willows Baptist Church, Willows, California, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse of two teenage girls, is scheduled to go on trial in later September, after three years of delays in his investigation. Prosecutors believe there are “many more” victims from Hammonds’s church, and that Hammonds’s wife Nancy, “who reportedly runs a day care center from the family’s home, facilitated access to the reported victims and was ‘complicit’ in the reported abuse.” Carlton Hammonds has a “prior criminal record from the 1970s, which … includes a bank robbery conviction and multiple drug-related arrests.” Story: Orland Press Register, April 6, 2010; Willows Journal, September 9, 2010
Arrested: Chester W. King, 71, retired Episcopal priest, Converse, Texas, who reportedly admitted to “cruising” a park, then “began a conversation that turned sexual in nature” before he started masturbating in the open. Story: KVIA.com, September 8, 2010
Convicted: Derwin Pasley, 33, former Black Hills Junior Football League (Olympia, Washington) coach and youth pastor, Risen Faith Fellowship, to molesting three boys aged 13-14, two of them players on his team and one from his church, after pleading guilty to three counts of child molestation. Pasley is expected to serve 12-1/2 years in prison. Story: Conservative Babylon, November 2, 2009; The Olympian, September 4, 2010
Arrested: Leonel Pelayo, 44, pastor, Iglesia Apostolica Monte de Horeb, Los Angeles, California, and charged with multiple counts of sexual assaulting with a 14-year-old girl who belonged to a youth group at Pelayo’s unnamed South Los Angeles church. Story: KTLA.com, September 10, 2010; Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2010
Charged: Steven Rowe, 50, former pastor, First Community Church, and former headmaster (for just three weeks), Faith Christian Academy, of Douglas, Georgia, with multiple counts of child molestation against at least four girls between the ages of 12 and 15. Story: WALB.com, September 7, 2010; Jacksonville.com, September 8, 2010
Guilty: Gregory Sims, 38, pastor, Crossroads Church, Dade City, Florida, of embezzling “more than $800,000 from a union investment fund he managed and funneling at least some of the money to his church.” In addition to agreeing to reimburse the fund, Sims is to be sentenced September 27, 2010. Story: St. Peterseburg Times, September 10, 2010
Lawsuit: against Cornerstone Community Church, Rocklin, California, by the family of a 14-year-old girl, alleging the church harbored and covered up the crimes of pedophile youth pastor Jeffery Waisner, 33, allowing the ongoing abuse to occur. Story: Auburn Journal, September 2, 2010
Seven marabouts — African Islamic religious leaders who teach the Quran — were arrested in Senegal for forcing their students to beg for money in the streets. The marabouts are scheduled for sentencing next week; it is expected they will receive six months in prison and two years’ probation. Story: Voice of America, September 3, 2010
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