Black Collar Crime Round-Up: September 25, 2010
Randy Baldridge • Robin Barrett • Luis A. Bonilla Margarito
Robert Burke • Matthew E. Linngren • Robert Riddle
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.
Sentenced to four years each:
Alex Brown, 61, vicar, Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Leonards-on-Sea, U.K., found “guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of breaches of immigration laws” after presiding over “360 sham marriages where penniless East Europeans, with rights to live and work in the UK, were paid up to £3,000 [$4,744] each to wed Africans, mainly from Nigeria”;
Michael Adelasoye, 50, Nigerian-born lawyer and pastor, Ark of Hope Christian Centre, East Sussex, who participated in the “marriages” scam;
Vladymyr Buchak, 33, a Ukrainian living illegally in the U.K., co-conspirator who recruited Eastern Europeans eager for a quick buck — or, rather, pound.
In another, unrelated story, the Guardian mentions in passing that Adelasoye once rented space in the monstrous Marine Court apartment complex, “in partnership with a Ukrainian man [Buchak] extradited from Sweden for drug offences and a local vicar [Brown] with a large church and a very small congregation.”
Story: Guardian, July 29, 2010; Independent, September 6, 2010; African News Live, September 6, 2010; ThirdSector, September 14, 2010
Alford plea: Randy Baldridge, 56, of Carl Junction, Missouri, former pastor, Sixth Street Baptist Church, Galena, Kansas, to felony forgery of a check in the name of an elderly Joplin woman in the amount of $100,000. He tried to use the check, along with the woman’s name, address and Social Security number to secure an investment note through “Assembly of God Financial Solutions,” a Springfield, Missouri, investment company for Christians. Victim Nancy Sarduck said Baldridge, “who laid her husband to rest,” had “preached to her about morals and even led a course on identity theft.” Baldridge — who “reportedly admitted ‘I sinned, I sinned’ while confessing” to Sarduck’s attorney — is the son of Jasper County, Missouri, Circuit Court Judge George Baldridge. Story: KOAM, March 26, 2008; Joplin Globe, September 22, 2010
Sentenced: Robin Barrett, 51, former Anglican priest, Ottawa, Ontario, to a mere 2-1/2 years in prison for the possession and distribution of “31,460 pictures and 3,451 videos” of graphic, explicit, “horrific” depictions of child pornography involving every act imaginable, including “bestiality, torture and degradation. Some of the children were as young as six months old.” Story: Telegram, September 11, 2010
Sued: Fr. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito, 41, Roman Catholic priest, former pastor of St. Joseph Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, and former chaplain, Reading Central Catholic High School, along with the high school, the Diocese of Allentown, Bishop John Barres, and former Bishop Edward Cullen, for breach of fiduciary duty, infliction of emotional distress, and gross negligence. Bonilla began an “inappropriate relationship” with a 17-year-old female student, ultimately, says the lawsuit filed by the girl’s parents, impregnating her. “The girl’s parents became suspicious and installed a camera in their basement, where Bonilla and the teenager were spending large amounts of time. The camera recorded the couple having sex in November 2009, after she graduated.” The diocese, of course, is trying to persuade a judge to dismiss the suit, on the grounds that the girl was over 18 when Bonilla got her pregnant. Bonilla’s teenage baby-mama now lives with the priest in Norristown. Story: Phiily.com, August 28, 2010; Reading Eagle, September 25, 2010
Guilty: Robert Burke, 50, pastor, Holy Deliverance Apostolic Temple, Newburgh, New York, and former youth officer for the New York Office of Children and Family Services, who pleaded guilty to to having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He is expected to be sentenced in November to one and a half years in prison. Burke is also accused of groping another girl from his church. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 30, 2010; Daily Freeman, September 25, 2010
On the lam: Matthew E. Linngren, 38, of Fridley, Minnesota, former church youth director, “whose criminal record includes pleading guilty to sexual contact with a 10-year-old boy.” Linngren broke loose from his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and disappeared just days before he was due to begin a 15-year prison sentence for “distributing hundreds of pornographic images of boys and men on the Internet.” Linngren’s attorney filed a brief “that outlined his client’s years of sexual repression while growing up in a conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran church in Columbia Heights that believed ‘homosexuality was wrong.’ ‘Matthew lived in conflict with his sexuality. His religion was intolerant. … Within his family, his parents and brothers did nothing to hide their dismay for gays and the gay culture. They cracked jokes and made derogatory remarks.’” Story: Star Tribune, September 8, 2010; September 9, 2010; September 17, 2010
No contest plea: Robert Riddle, 59, former pastor, Ridgewood Avenue Community Church, Marietta, Georgia, to the charge he stole more than $200,000 from his church. Last year, Riddle pleaded no contest to stealing “thousands” from a congregant, and was convicted of theft. Story: News-Journal, September 15, 2010
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