Black Collar Crime Round-Up: April 25, 2012
David Oyedepo • John Wesley Price • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago (John Curran)
Convicted: Joe Harrison, Jr., 42, bishop, Liberty Central Ministries International, Sarasota, Florida, on three counts of sexual battery on a child and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child. Sentencing is scheduled for April 30, 2012. In July, 2011, Harrison was also arrested for engaging in “multiple sex acts” with a 14-year-old boy, without telling the victim he was infected with HIV, but that charge was eventually dropped. A MySpace page describes Liberty Central Ministries as “an Independent Non-Denominational Spirit Filled Progressive Christian Fellowship with a Five Fold Apostolic Anointing. L.C.M.I., Inc. is also home to The Kindom Pantry Food Bank, Kingdom Alliance of Churches and Pastors, and Liberty Central Bible Institute and College of Ministry. Emerging in South West Florida as a Faith-Based community outreach organization, L.C.M.I., Inc. is lead and administrated by Joe Harrison, Jr.-Senior Pastor/Presiding Elder (Bishop Designate for L.C.M.I., Inc.). Presiding Elder Harrison is a dynamic and powerfully anointed prophetic preacher apt to ‘teach and reach’. A graduate of Booker High School in 1988, Pastor Harrison went on to receive his undergraduate degree from Florida Metropolitan University in 1992, continues study in Theology and Divinity, is affiliated and accredited with U.F.C.C.M. Worldwide, Inc., and the F.G.C.F.I., Inc. The L.C.M.I., Inc. mission is to Serve Mankind, Restore Hearts to Christ, & Edify the Kingdom of God. …” Story: WWSB, July 12, 2011; Herald-Tribune, April 25, 2012; WWSB, April 25, 2012
Suspended: John “Jack” Logan Matkin, 56, senior pastor, Longview First United Methodist Church, Longview, Texas, from ministerial duties since his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving April 19, 2012. Matkin — who, incidentally, appears to be divorced — is currently free on a $500 bond. Story: Longview News-Journal, April 25, 2012; KYTX, April 25, 2012
Sentenced: Jerrod Don McCabe, 35, former youth director, Raleigh Chinese Christian Church, Cary, North Carolina, charged in March with 20 counts of child pornography featuring images of girls between four and seven years old; to probation of between six and 17 months after pleading guilty to third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. AP reports that McCabe “must enter the state’s sexual offender control program or a similar one in Alabama,” and “has been ordered not to have any contact with a child under the age of 16.” Story: Conservative Babylon, March 7, 2012; AP, April 24, 2012
Sued: David Oyedepo, 57, founder & Presiding Bishop, Living Faith Christian Church International, a.k.a. Living Faith Church World Wide, a.k.a. Winners Chapel International; senior pastor, Faith Tabernacle, Ogun State, Nigeria; and one of Forbes’ “Five Richest Pastors In Nigeria” (2011); for $1.3 million “by a woman he allegedly assaulted in public last year,” reports Africa Review, after “a sensational video appeared on YouTube showing Bishop Oyedepo punching and smacking and pouring invectives on a teenage girl during a church service for committing what was deemed a heresy.” The video shows Oyedepo “physically rebuking a bewildered teenager who had just confessed to witchcraft,” and the young woman saying, “I am not a witch, but a witch for Jesus.” Story: Africa Review, April 23, 2012
New charges: John Wesley Price, 63, pastor, Temple Baptist Church, Abingdon, Virginia, originally charged with four counts of “animate object sexual penetration” allegedly committed against a 17-year-old girl who attended a Christian school associated with the church; “now charged with stalking, fear of death and assault,” reports WCYB. Price is still awaiting a hearing scheduled for May 24, 2012. Story: Conservative Babylon, March 2, 2012; Conservative Babylon, March 15, 2012; WCYB, April 24, 2012
Sued: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago by a former altar boy who claims he was sexually molested by Fr. John Curran while serving at St. Christina Church, Mount Greenwood (Chicago), Illinois, in the 1980s. The lawsuit, reports the Chicago Tribune, claims that Curran “lured young boys to his room in the church rectory and molested them, and that church leaders were aware of the abuse and did nothing to remove Curran from his post or keep him away from children,” adding: “An Archdiocese of Chicago registry lists Curran among priests against whom there are ‘substantiated claims’ of abuse. The registry also shows Curran died in March 2000.” A 2010 Southtown Star article noted that Curren, one of four priests accused of abuse at St. Christina, “was removed from service at the parish in 1994.” Story: Southtown Star, October 12, 2010; Chicago Tribune, April 24, 2012
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[...] without telling the victim he was infected with HIV, but that charge was eventually dropped. Story: Conservative Babylon, April 25, 2012; Sarasota Patch April 30, [...]