Black Collar Crime Round-Up: January 8, 2011
Christopher Settlemoir • Joshua Williams • Unnamed Conservative Laestadian official
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.
Sacked: Marshall Brown, 57, former associate rector, Truro Church, Fairfax, Virginia, “for repeatedly using a church computer to surf for pornography.” One of the largest Episcopal parishes in the U.S., Truro broke away from the American mother church to follow the radically homophobic Uganda-based Anglican strain; Brown, notes WaPo, “helped lead 14 Virginia parishes to break away from the Episcopal Church after the 2003 election of the denomination’s first openly gay bishop.” WaPo also notes that “Truro arranged for Brown, now 57, to receive treatment for an Internet addiction after he reported having a problem.” Story: Washington Post, January 7, 2011
Sentenced: Stanley S. Chapman, 43, former treasurer, Blessed Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio, to two years in prison and six months’ home confinement, after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted tax evasion and two counts of failing to pay employment taxes. “The indictment charges Chapman with failing to account for and pay over to the IRS a total of approximately $81,090 of withheld FICA and income taxes owing by the Church,” and “that Chapman attempted to evade personal income taxes by filing false returns on which he failed to report a large portion of funds he embezzled from the Church, including both the checks to Key Bank and other checks. … In total, the indictment alleges that Chapman failed to report taxable income of approximately $283,136 and income taxes of approximately $51,301 for those four years.” Story: Indictment, U.S. Department of Justice, April 8, 2010; Plain Dealer, January 7, 2011
Change for venue requested: Christopher Gribble, 21, of Brookline, Massachusetts, former Cub Scout who was awaiting a call to a two-year Mormon mission in October, 2009, when he and three other men were arrested for the brutal machete murder of Kimberly Cates, 42, which left Cates’ 11-year-old daughter Jaimie in critical condition with a slashed throat and other serious wounds. Lawyers want a change in venue because of the publicity surrounding the trial of Gribble’s fellow defendant (and fellow Scout) Steven Spader, 19, who was convicted in November and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Gribble pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at a December 7th hearing; on the 4th, Gribble’s lawyers attempted to prevent the prosecution from using his confession. At the time of Gribble’s arrest, a “confidante” told the Boston Herald that “Gribble complained of ‘problems with his mother’ … and those conflicts prevented him from becoming a Mormon missionary. ‘I had been heavily encouraging him to go on a mission and he seemed to really want to, but his Stake president (church leader) said he should clear up the problems he’d had at home first.’” Story: Union Leader, October 6, 2009; Boston Herald, October 8, 2009; Boston.com, December 4, 2010; Daily Mail, December 7, 2010; Union Leader, January 7, 2011
Charged: Matthew Jordan, 50, former minister, Center Road Church of Christ, Saginaw Township, Michigan, “accused of taking pictures and videotaping a 12-year-old boy,” with multiple federal charges of child pornography. “The [federal complaint] also indicates Jordan was convicted of assault with intent to rape a child in Tennessee back in 1987.” Story: WJRT (with video), January 7, 2011
Expected to plea: Christopher Settlemoir, 27, Hyles-Anderson graduate & former pastor, Antioch Baptist Church and principal, Antioch Baptist Academy, Warren, Michigan, to charges of criminal sexual conduct (against a 15-year-old boy) and accosting a minor (two other boys) for immoral purposes. Story: Conservative Babylon, November 1, 2010; Daily Tribune, January 6, 2011
Indicted: Joshua Williams, 22, former youth minister with the First Assembly of God Church, Lewiston, Maine, on six charges of sexually assaulting a boy from his church. Williams’s next court date is slated for February 3, 2011. Story: Sun Journal, January 7, 2011; Sun Journal, January 8, 2011
Trial to begin: Unnamed Finnish church official, “a key figure in the Conservative Laestadian revival movement inside the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church,” charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child — reportedly a close female relative — and aggravated rape, scheduled January 12, 2011. Authorities suspect there are other victims, all family members. Story: Helsingin Sanomat, January 8, 2011
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