Black Collar Crime Round-Up: November 15, 2010
Anthony Jinwright and Harriet Porter-Jinwright
David Love • Lee Palmer • Clifton William Pelley
Ceri John Rees • Brian Keith Tomlinson • Aaron Witcher
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.
Charged: Walter Donald Bradshaw, 61, traveling evangelist, of Lexington, North Carolina, with multiple counts of sexual assault against an 11-year-old girl “several years ago” in Bedford, Pennsylvania, including “rape, rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, indecent exposure, corruption of minors, sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor.” The girl’s 51-year-old mother was also taken into custody at Bradford’s home in Lexington, “accused of taking her daughter to the motel room and leaving her there with Bradshaw”; she has been charged with “with sexual exploitation of children, unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of children, criminal solicitation to commit perjury and corruption of minors.” “Investigators said the 11-year-old girl reported to Bedford State Police last month that Bradshaw raped and assaulted her between 2007 and 2008. She said, she and her mother met Bradshaw about four years ago when he was in Bedford for a church revival. The child alleges the rape and sexual assault happened at” the Janey Lynn Motel “in Bedford Township.” The two are expected to be extradited to Pennsylvania. Story: WJAC, November 12, 2010; digtriad.com, November 12, 2010; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 13, 2010; Times Leader, November 14, 2010
Auctioned: Greater Salem City of God Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, founded in 1874 as Salem Baptist Church, for $5.1 million to Evangelical Christian Credit Union, “the Brea, Calif., lender that held a second mortgage on several pieces of Greater Salem property,” six months after its husband-and-wife co-pastors, Anthony Jinwright, 56, and Harriet Porter-Jinwright, were convicted on multiple counts of conspiracy, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors “said the Jinwrights lived it up on church money while the City of God church was having trouble paying its bills.” The Jinwrights are scheduled to be sentenced December 8, 2010; Mr. Jinwright faces up to 53 years in prison, and Mrs. Jinwright, up to 20 years. Story: Qcitymetro, April 21, 2009; Black Christian News, May 5, 2010; African American Pundit, May 9, 2009; Qcitymetro, June 28, 2010; Qcitymetro, November 12, 2010
Charged: David Love, 50, former pastor, New Hope Baptist Church, Independence, Missouri, with the first-degree murder of insurance agent Randy Stone, a member of Love’s church and husband of Love’s longtime mistress, Teresa Stone. “Love was arrested on Tuesday [November 9] in Spartansburg, South Carolina, where he moved” just days after Stone’s murder in March, 2010. Love — who gave the eulogy at his alleged victim’s funeral — is currently fighting extradition to Missouri. Story: Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2010; Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2010
Sued: Lee Palmer, 63, former pastor now serving a 19-year sentence for predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, along with Bountiful Blessings Church, Aurora, Illinois, for breach of duty by the family of a girl Palmer raped in a church van when she was between nine and 11 years old. The suit claims “Palmer’s actions would have and should have been foreseeable because Palmer engaged in extramarital affairs with several women and fathered at least three children with two of those women.” Story: Naperville Sun, November 12, 2010
Pre-trial set: Clifton William Pelley, 45, youth pastor, Braidwood Bible Chapel, Peterborough, Ontario, for December 9, 2010, on charges of “sexual assault and administering a noxious substance and overcoming resistance to commit a sexual assault” against a 19-year-old man. “Since the arrest, two further victims have come forward. A 39-year-old male from Peterborough reported that in 1985, when he was 15 years old, he was sexually assaulted by Pelley who was a youth group pastor at the Braidwood Bible Chapel. The second victim, a 31-year-old male from Peterborough, reported that between 1991 and 1993 when he was between the ages of 12 and 13 years old, he was also sexually assaulted by Pelley who he had initially met through Awanas, a youth church group. As a result of these investigations, Pelley was arrested on the 12th of October and charged with sexual assault and gross indecency on the 39 year old male victim and was charged with sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault on the 31 year old victim.” Story: Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Service, October 13, 2010; Peterborough Examiner, Noember 10, 2010
Sentenced: Ceri John Rees, 30, pastor, Lower Cwmtwrch Mission Church, Powys, Wales, to four years “for having sex in his church with a 15-year-old girl” with whom he had “engaged in a string of regular sexual activity” over a nine-month period in 2009. Rees “quoted from the Bible to seduce the teenager, telling her ‘it was perfectly normal to have a union of the flesh on a physical level.’” Authorities also “found 187 indecent images and videos of the 15-year-old and 164 of Rees when they seized computers, digital cameras and iPods.” Rees’s wife and mother of their three children has filed for divorce. Story: WalesOnline, November 13, 2010; This is South Wales, November 13, 2010
Sentenced: Brian Keith Tomlinson, 49, San Diego pastor “who used his position … to bilk a man out of nearly $12.9 million and failed to pay taxes for three years,” to 6-1/2 years in prison. Tomlinson “spent the money on cars, a house, and took more than $1.3 million of it in cash, prosecutors said.” “An Internet search found little about Tomlinson other than a possible connection to a small and likely defunct television ministry.” Story: 10News.com, November 8, 2010; Courthouse News Service, November 9, 2010
Charged: Aaron Witcher, a.k.a. “Pastor Soulja”, 26, youth pastor, Crosswalk Christian Training Center, Roy, Utah, and hip-hop rapper, with eight counts of raping a 16-year-old girl from his church. Police believe there may be more victims. Witcher was formerly pastor at New Pilgrim Baptist Church, Salt Lake County, and The Genesis Project Church, Ogden, from Witcher was reportedly asked to resign. Story: Standard-Examiner, November 12, 2010
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