Black Collar Crime Round-Up: November 25, 2010
Carl C. Lloyd III • Robert McFadden III • Rodney McGill
David Morrison • Monica Rex • Daniel Robida
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: Irvin ‘Pete’ Baldwin, 82, former pastor & Sunday school teacher, Mechanicsville, Virginia, to 90 years in prison, following the recommendation of the jury that convicted him in August of three counts of soliciting sex from a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl on the Internet. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 27, 2010; Times-Dispatch, November 22, 2010
Sentenced: John Powell “J.P.” Hale, 74, former pastor, Newbern Church of Jesus, Pulaksi County, Virginia, to 26 years in prison, suspended save for six years and four months, “on a litany of charges stemming from sexual contact with minors,” including seven counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor and six counts of nonforcible sodomy. “[M]ost of the charges against Hale stemmed from ongoing sexual activity with one boy that lasted from fall of 2003 to Thanksgiving of 2009. One charge of taking indecent liberties with a minor stemmed from unlawful contact with a second boy in May 2004.” Story: Roanoke.com, November 20, 2010
Charged: Carl C. Lloyd III, former youth pastor, Son Rise Baptist Church, Hartselle, Alabama, with second-degree sodomy, related to “an inappropriate sexual relationship” with a 15-year-old girl who belonged to the church’s youth group. Story: WAFF, November 24, 2010
Sentenced: Robert L. McFadden III, 41, former pastor, Evangelical Covenant Church, Lafayette, Indiana, to four years in prison after pleading guilty to felony child seduction; i.e., having sex with a 16-year-old girl. “Authorities say he had been a caretaker of the girl since she was 4 years old.” Story: Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2010
Guilty: Rodney McGill, 43, former Baptist pastor, New Hope Outreach Center, Jensen Beach, Florida; radio host, WJFP 91.1 FM, Fort Pierce, Florida; founder & senior partner, Young Millionaires, Inc.; of scamming a couple out of $40,000 while incarcerated for an earlier conviction “of fraudulently obtaining some $1 million in mortgages and real estate loans,” for which he is currently serving 20 years. “McGill asked” Lloyd and Anne Marie Shepherd, who had “participated twice previously in real estate investments with him, for $40,000 to allegedly refinance a church, in exchange for a $10,000 return.” McGill and his mortgage-broker wife, Shalonda McGill, 38, were arrested in 2008 and charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, two counts of grand theft, and obtaining a mortgage by false representation; the McGills had been “enjoying expensive leased vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce, and other luxuries while sticking their so-called clients with more than $1 million in mortgage debt.” That same year, both McGills were accused of abusing their 16-year-old daughter (one of McGill’s 14 children). In April, 2008, Rodney McGill was arrested for beating the girl with an extension cord; despite evidence of “multiple linear bruises and blood blisters to her arm and hands,” charges were dropped when the girl recanted her story, reportedly out of fear of her father. In June, 2008, Rodney McGill faced a new charge of aggravated child abuse, while his wife was charged with child neglect, for witnessing the abuse and doing nothing about it. “According to police records, the beatings that the 16-year-old girl told St. Lucie Police she received ‘all her life’ from Rodney McGill continued even after his April arrest. On one occasion, according to the report, he made the girl stand in a bathtub fully clothed and ran cold water over her, ‘telling her that this was how he felt when he was arrested for battering her previously.’ According to the report, the daughter said she was in so much fear of her dad that ’she thinks she is going to die every time he hits her.’” Sentencing for McGill’s most recent crime is scheduled for December 10, 2010. Story: TCPalm.com, April 21, 2008; Palm Beach Post, June 19, 2008; FlippingFrenzy.com, September 17, 2008; TCPalm.com, November 22, 2010
Guilty: David Morrison, 41, co-pastor (with his wife, Patricia Morrison), Word Life Centre, Birmingham, U.K., of immigration fraud (”providing false representation in immigration cases”) while sponsoring student visas for Jamaican and Nigerian nationals, “having previously pleaded guilty on October 28 to perverting the course of justice.” Morrison is scheduled for sentencing January 10, 2011. Before it was scrubbed, the mangled (and rambling) English on the website of the six-year-old Word Life Centre stated: “Throughout the ministry of Jesus, the disciples was able operate to a high standard whilst carrying out the work of the Lord… God raises up man and woman of God today to fulfil certain mandate and the mandate that Pastor David and Patricia has got cannot be accomplished on their own, but it is their belief that anointed people will come on board, the right people to get the work of God done. In July 2009, Pastor David Morrison began to publicly share what God had placed on his heart concerning opening 100 churches around the world by 2015. He told the congregation of WLC that we need committed man and woman of God to come on board and say Pastor David, I am ready, available and want to be a part of what God as entrusted in you. … We will continue pressing forward toward our goal of having 100 new Word Life Centre Churches by the year 2015. Full training development and ordination will be given after the launch as been carried out. … The Word Life Centre is a church with a difference and we are going some where.” Story: Jamaica Observer, November 18, 2010
Charged: Monica Rex, 30, volunteer youth leader, The People’s Church, Fraklin, Tennessee, with sexual battery by an authority figure, aggravated statutory rape, exploitation of a minor by electronic means, solicitation to commit aggravated statutory rape and solicitation to commit sexual battery by an authority figure, involving “an inappropriate relationship with a juvenile that began in August 2009. Police said the boy that Rex, a divorced mother, was involved with for more than a year was a teenager not yet in high school.” The church’s pastor, Rick White, “said they had no idea this kind of inappropriate behavior was happening.” Story: WSMV, November 22, 2010
Charged: Daniel Robida, 33, youth pastor, Harvest Community Church, Summerfield, Florida, with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, after the mother of a 17-year-old girl from Robida’s church reported “an inappropriate relationship the two were having.” Text messages between Robida — who is married, and the father of three — “reportedly said they loved each other. The arrest report notes he asked if she could ‘handle his baggage,’ referring to his children.” Story: WESH, November 22, 2010; Ocala.com, November 23, 2010
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