Black Collar Crime Round-Up: November 11, 2010
Danny O’Guin • Randy Scott • Dominic Stone
Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto, a.k.a. Sheikh Puji • “Zaenuri”
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.
Resigned: Steven Belinski, pastor, Grace Lutheran Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, “amid allegations he engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship” with a woman during the 1980s, while he was at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Allentown. “Belinski told synod leaders he has no recollection of the incident, but felt it best for everyone involved to resign.” Story: WFMZ, October 28, 2010
Charged: Brian Gray, 32, youth pastor, Monroe Church of Christ, Monroe, Georgia, with rape and child molestation; specifically, of having “had a 10-month-long relationship with a 15-year-old girl. … Police said it is possible there are other victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators Andy Corbin or Guy Brown at 706-769-5665.” Story: WSBTV, November 11, 2010; WHNT, November 11, 2010
Sentenced: Delgardo Lee Linthicum, 54, former pastor, Rustburg, Virginia, to a year and a half in prison and restitution of $130,572 after pleading guilty to one count of bank fraud. Story: News & Advance, November 8, 2010
Guilty: Danny O’Guin, 63, former pastor, Parker Road Baptist Church, Florissant, Missouri; former pastor, Tower Grove Baptist Church, St. Louis; former trustee, Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board; former chair, Missouri Baptist Convention credentials committee; to one count of mail fraud. “Between June 2006 and March 2009, O’Guin would borrow thousands of dollars from church members who — according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office — felt compelled to enter the transactions with their religious leader. With each new loan O’Guin would allegedly tell his parishioners to ‘keep quiet’ about the transaction, which they did, until O’Guin didn’t pay them back.” Story: Riverfront Times, May 20, 2010; Associated Baptist Press, May 21, 2010; STLtoday.com, November 5, 2010
Sentenced: Randy Scott, former pastor, Bethel Temple Assembly of God, Bryan, Texas, to five years’ probation after pleading guilty to tampering with evidence. “[A]ccused of forcing a man to have sex with him… Scott was originally charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit an assault.” The district attorney “says the case would have been difficult to prosecute because Scott erased all of the evidence on his computer. … As part of the plea agreement, Scott will enter a rehab program and will not have to register as a sex offender.” Story: KBTX, November 8, 2010
Convicted: Dominic Stone, 47, Church of England vicar, Marchington, Staffordshire, U.K., “of 16 counts of making indecent images of children” after some 600 images of child pornography were found on his computer. Stone, a husband and father of two, resigned from his vacarage; he is scheduled to be sentenced in December. Story: BBC, November 7, 2010; UKPA, November 7, 2010
Sentenced: “Zaenuri”, teacher at a “Bojonegoro religious school,” to “five years in jail after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting his 16-year-old maid inside a toilet stall of the religious school where he worked… Zaenuri, a teacher of Ngasem elementary school, was also fined Rp 60 million ($6,700) for the crime. … The court ruling was delivered on Wednesday, and comes just two weeks after Indonesian prosecutors demanded a wealthy Muslim cleric who took a 12-year-old girl as his unofficial wife be convicted of sexually abusing a child and given six years in prison. Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto [a.k.a. Sheikh Puji], 45, from Semarang, sparked nationwide controversy over marrying a poor village girl named Lutfiana Ulfa in August 2008.” Story: Jakarta Globe, November 5, 2010
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