Sunday February 20, 2011
We just knew we’d have a reason someday to feature Benny Hinn (not that we haven’t mentioned him before — only this time it has nothing to do with raising the dead, but rather something else that might have been raised), but we never dreamed we’d get a two-fer like this.
We’ll write everything up all nice and proper-like (and with much more detail) shortly, but we didn’t want to sit on this story:
“Book publisher says televangelist Benny Hinn violated morality clause,” Orlando Sentinel, February 17, 2011
“Benny Hinn Sued for ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ with Paula White,” TheLedger.com, February 18, 2011
Friday February 18, 2011
See all entries for Marcus Lamb
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stickier for Macus and Joni Lamb, Word of God Fellowship has been sued again by another Daystar employee, this time accusing Joni Lamb’s old man, Bill Trammell, of, uh, naughty behavior.
Read the complaint.
The real question: What did Mormon church officials know, and when did they know it?
But first: Let’s back up this truck, and get to what we do know.
The short version: Five siblings become famous playing piano, selling records & selling out concerts, while Mom, Dad, and kiddies alike wax sincere about their deep and abiding faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family is portrayed as epitome of wholesome Mormonosity — until the three daughters accuse Daddy of sexually molesting them for many years. Daddy takes Mommy on “ski trip”; on way home, drives Porsche over 300-foot cliff. Both survive. Daddy confesses: While progeny plunked pianos, Daddy diddled daughters. (more…)
Wednesday February 16, 2011
Claims to fame: Lawyer; former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel & JAG (Judge Advocate General Corps) lawyer, 800th MP Brigade, who was taken to task for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison-torture scandal; Bronze Medal recipient; deputy director, Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), New York; ex-ROTC; Eagle Scout; former Cub Scoutmaster; Catholic; father of three; alleged lesbian impersonator (more…)
Tuesday February 15, 2011
This story embodies everything ConBab is about — it contains every element we keep in our mental checklist when asking ourselves: “Is this story right for ConBab?”
The only thing missing is a gay-sex angle (although that certainly isn’t a requirement). On the other hand, the lengths to which this Conservative Babylonian and the Catholic church go to scream from the rooftops that his victim was a woman (and an adult) is just as appalling as what Thomas Euteneuer actually did. As PZ Myers wisely observes: “It’s like they’re saying, ‘At least it wasn’t gay sex, and it didn’t involve a child.’”
Which makes us wonder: How many “adult female” victims coming forward would it take to equal, in the eyes of the Catholic church, the rape of a child? (Never mind the rape of another man; radical righties would say the victim deserved it.)
‘Cause guess what? The exorcism victim isn’t, apparently, the only victim. (more…)
See our special series, Boy Scouts of Babylon
See all Boy Scouts entries
When we last looked in on Florida teacher and former Boy Scout leader Stephen Wise, he was facing ten counts of possession of child porn.
Since digging into his computer, Osceola County cops found more porn… a lot more: some 3,000 images, 1,557 of which of were of children under the age of 12 (some, they say, as young as four; we’re guessing many were “known victims”).
Wise, who had bonded out on the original charges, is back in the hoosegow, facing — you guessed it — another 1,557 counts.
If this guy is convicted, we’re betting he gets life.
Guilty: Barbara D. Whitt, 68, of embezzling some $1.5 million from First Baptist Church, Morristown, Tennessee, where she was the church’s financial secretary for 47 years. Whitt, who doctored more than 1,600 checks written on the church’s bank account in order to make them out to herself, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering. Her son, Michael Dean Whitt, 42, who, Knoxnews.com reports, “deposited money embezzled from the church into prepaid cards and took other steps to avoid currency transaction reports,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Story: WATE, May 26, 2010; Associated Baptist Press, May 27, 2010; Knoxnews.com, February 15, 2011
Monday February 14, 2011
Claims to fame: Republican state senator, Arkansas; typical anti-immigrant gun nut who wears an ill-fitting cowboy hat; speed demon whose daddy should have grounded him and taken away the car keys
Moral apex: In January, led police on a 20-mile high-speed chase through two counties — and we do mean “high-speed,” topping out at 110mph — in his Nissan 350Z. (more…)
See main entry for Tan Nguyen
See all entries for Tan Nguyen
Yes, do indeed see the main entry for Tan Nguyen first — it will make the following staid press release from the U.S. Department of Justice ever so much more interesting: (more…)
“Youthful indiscretion,” perhaps? Not that the Repubs let Bill Clinton get away with smoking marijuana — ‘though Clinton was never arrested for it, and undercover cops never found any reason to visit young Bill’s dorm room “eight or nine times.”
Granted, Daniels has never hidden the arrest — but, as Ben Smith notes, “he has typically characterized it as a minor pot arrest, and typically doesn’t [mention] the initial acid charge.”
We have a feeling folks are going to care a lot more about all the dicey details if the current governor of Indiana is serious about running for the highest office in the land: (more…)
Sunday February 13, 2011
Forty-seven-year-old Thomas Charles Wilson, admissions director of Washington Christian Academy in Olney, Maryland (where “there are things worth living for, some worth dying for,” and “things worth believing in, things that merit respect: things like reverence for God and for their fellows, reverence for this world, for themselves, for life, and for all that is true and good and beautiful”), was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old student. Initially, police refused to reveal the sex of the student, but it turned out to be a girl (which, we admit, kinda surprised us).
Meanwhile, Wilson appeared to be refusing to face the charges against him — he disappeared for about a week before finally turning himself in. Police are not saying if they think there might be other victims, but anyone with information is advised to call Detective Leggett at (240) 773-5426.
P.S. You know, we almost thought we’d covered this guy before, ‘though the name wasn’t familiar. The we realized: It was the pornstache that looked so familiar.
There are few stories that so greatly test our commitment to the prohibition of the death penalty as this one does:
According to her attorney, [Amber Lynn Bracci] hit the baby because she thought the young boy was “possessed.” …
Bracci, 19, and her boyfriend John Weaver, 20, both face homicide by child abuse charges in the death of 16-month-old Rowan Bracci. Bracci’s bond was denied. … A $50,000 bond was set for Weaver. …
The coroner says the boy died of head trauma early last month. …
“I went in there and picked my son up out of bed at 10:30 in the morning and he was limp,” Bracci said while on WCSC-TV in Charleston. …
“I may not have been a perfect mother. …”
The whole, revolting story (for strong stomachs only): “Attorney: Mom Who Killed Baby Said He Was Possessed,” digtriad.com, February 6, 2011
Also: WCSC’s story from January has video.
Charges dropped: Randy Carl Russell, 52, pastor, Weches United Pentecostal Church, Grapeland, Texas, who was arrested last month and charged with a “terroristic threat” after allegedly threatening to kill “someone” among the family of his 17-year-old daughter’s boyfriend, with whom his daughter was staying. Story: Conservative Babylon, January 30, 2011; KFDM, February 7, 2011
Saturday February 12, 2011
Talk about your international incidents.
John Wrenshall, the weasely little sleazeball at left, was a Boy Scout leader — and now he’s a guest of the United States for the next 25 years.
The short version: Wrenshall, a former Calgary Scout leader and boys’ church choir leader, is a Canadian who ran a brothel for pedophiles in Thailand, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on his way back to Canada, was extradited to the U.S., and, after pleading guilty to multiple charges including engaging in sex tourism and producing child pornography, was sentenced to prison in New Jersey. (more…)
The whole ugly story comes from Joe.My.God.:
Infamous anti-gay activist Stephen Green, who is well known as a British version of Peter LaBarbera,* has been divorced by his wife. Because he’d been beating her with a piece of wood. …
Green’s wife also claims that their son had to be hospitalized after a beating from him. …
Last month the BBC raised the ire of LGBT activists when they interviewed Green as an “opposing voice” in a story about the birth of Elton John’s son. Green has publicly endorsed Uganda’s plan to execute homosexuals and his group, Christian Voice, has advocated for the overturn of Britain’s laws against marital rape, saying that the Bible demands that all women must submit sexually to their husbands. …
(more…)
See main entry for Ted Haggard
See all entries for Ted Haggard
Dear Ted: Lots of people are sexually abused as children, and don’t grow up to be lying, cheating, hypocritical closet cases. (Although we will admit there seems to be an unusually high frequency among religious leaders.) P.S. We would have had more respect for you if you’d blamed your “downfall” on the Christ-Was-I-Drunk Syndrome. (more…)
Convicted: Colin Haag, Jr., 34, unordained preacher who served as pastor or in other positions of authority at several Baptist churches (which apparently did not check his credentials) in five different states, including Columbia Union Church and Lighthouse Church in Addison, Maine, of two counts of kidnapping, and his girlfriend, Amanda Cyphert, 35, who posed as Haag’s wife, of criminal restraint by a parent. Haag and Cyphert illegally removed Cyphert’s two young daughters from their home in South Carolina, and moved from state to state for more than two years to hide them from the children’s biological father. One Colin Haag, Sr., a.k.a. Carl Davis, Sr., had been found wandering the streets of Jonesport, Maine; Haag, Sr., told police Haag, Jr., and Cyphert had also held him captive in the basement of each of the couple’s hideouts; Haag, Sr., then led police to a motel in Maine where the couple were currently holding the children. At last report, Haag, Sr., had been taken to a homeless shelter, while the children are now with their father in Florida. Haag and Cyphert, who are also suspected of theft from at least one church, are scheduled for sentencing February 16, 2011. Story: ExChristian.net, April 22, 2010; Bangor Daily News, February 10, 2011; WABI (with video), February 11, 2011
Conviction upheld: Randy Strong, 56, former youth pastor, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Fenton, Michigan; director, Genesee Catholic Consortium Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing; director, Newman Center, meeting place for young Catholics; member, Knights of Columbus Council #8500; member, Ancient Order of the Hibernians; former employee, FEMA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Convicted in August, 2009, of one count of repeatedly sexually molesting a 10-year-old boy, in whose family home he was living, Strong was sentenced to one year in jail and five years’ probation. He was denied a new trial February 10, 2011. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 17, 2009; Conservative Babylon, October 21, 2009; WHMI, February 11, 2011; People of the State of Michigan v. Randy William Strong, February 10, 2011
Sentenced: Loren Ankarlo, 53, former pastor, City on the Hill Church, Boulder, Colorado, to four years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of some $1 million. In December, co-conspirator Kevin Lauritsen, 50, was also sentenced to four years. Story: Conservative Babylon, December 17, 2010; Conservative Babylon, January 14, 2011
Thursday February 10, 2011
Or, as we like to call her: Ol’ 17 45’s @ 22 Hit-’N'-Run:
Guilty: Vitalija Vasciunaite, 22, student & basketball player, California Baptist University (which describes itself as “a top Baptist Bible college”) affiliated with the California Southern Baptist Convention, Riverside, California, of “maiming another person while driving intoxicated and felony hit and run. A native of Lithuania, she faces possible deportation and up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced May 31.” Continues APB: “Vasciunaite, a 5-9 junior guard at California Baptist, told police she consumed seven beers before borrowing a car to drive to Harrisonburg, where she drank 10 beers at a party before making the hour-long return trip to the Charlottesville area. She first told police she didn’t remember hitting anything, but later said she recalled striking something but didn’t think it was serious enough to stop.” Turns out she had mowed down a Virginia highway worker. Her BAC five hours later was .15, “nearly twice the legal limit.” Story: Press-Enterprises, February 9, 2011; Associated Baptist Press, February 10, 2011
Sentenced to life again: Jason Robert Bourque, 20, described by his mother as a “good Christian young man,” and Daniel George McAllister, 22, Southern Baptist youth group members, after pleading guilty to a rash of Texas church fires. Bourque and McAllister will serve their sentences concurrently with the life sentences they received in January for five other church fires. Story: Conservative Babylon, December 28, 2010; Conservative Babylon, January 10, 2011; Conservative Babylon, January 17, 2011; KYTX (with video), February 8, 2011; Associated Baptist Press, February 9, 2011
Sentenced: Joseph Emil Klug, 30, former youth pastor, First Assembly of God, Collinsville, Illinois, to 32 years in prison, plus fines, restitution and sex-offender registration, after pleading guilty in September to producing and possessing child pornography. Upon his arrest in November, 2009, FBI agents found some 59,000 photos and 12,000 videos (some “contain[ing] sexual assaults involving infants and prepubescent children, including bondage and bestiality”) on his computer — or about 100GB, which is “roughly the equivalent of a pickup-truck load of paper.” Story: KTVI, February 9, 2011; BND.com, February 10, 2011
Charged again: Royce C. Shorter, 53, founder & executive director, Royce C. Shorter Ministries; pastor, Ecclesia Community Church; founder, Northwest Connection Community Choir; owner, N-Time Music Productions, Renton, Washington; volunteer program supervisor, Washington State Department of Corrections; with with two counts of third-degree rape and one count of third-degree child molestation related to five incidents of rape of a 15-year-old girl who was taking lessons at Shorter’s music studio. According to the Seattle PI: “Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor noted that Shorter was convicted of statutory rape in 1985 after he was caught having sex with a 12-year-old girl he met through a choir group. Spoor also told the court Shorter was charged and acquitted of having molested a 15-year-old girl in 1993.” Shorter’s next court appearance is scheduled for February 17, 2011. Both the Web site of Royce Clinton Shorter Ministries (RCSM) and Shorter’s Facebook page have already been scrubbed, although Shorter’s profile at Black Preaching Network remains online as of this writing. Story: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 8, 2011; MyNorthwest.com, February 9, 2011
Sentenced: Daron Mark Crown, 25, youth pastor, First Baptist Church, Salmon Arm, British Columbia, to “a nine-month conditional sentence [which means Crown will not be incarcerated for the nine-month term; instead he will serve his sentence in the community under a number of conditions ... [including] having no contact with the victim and remaining under house arrest except for employment or approved absences] and one year of probation after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl he met through church work”; Crown “must also provide a DNA sample and be registered with the sex offender database for a period of 10 years,” according to the Salmon Arm Observer. “Crown’s wife,” notes Castanet.net, “was reportedly pregnant when the relationship with the minor began in February 2010.” Story: Salmon Arm Observer, February 8, 2011; Castanet.net, February 9, 2011
We want to let you in on some administrivia:
Judging from the way folks come to ConBab and move around the site, we’ve come to the conclusion that not every religious miscreant (accused, convicted, or otherwise) is getting enough attention in our standard Black Collar Crime Round-Ups. (more…)
