Black Collar Crime Round-Up: July 16, 2012
David Downs • Chris Furey • Lindsey Kleber / Steven Kleber
Charged: Thomas George “Tom” Biatek, pastor, United Methodist Church of Albert Lea, Minnesota, with fourth-degree drunk driving after allegedly plowing his car through the front yard of his own church and then hitting a traffic sign. Story: Albert Lea Tribune, July 10, 2012
Charged: Peyton Early Bostwick, 51, assistant pastor and adult Sunday school teacher (possibly at Worldwide Christian Church of Rockmart and/or New Beginnings Apostolic Church), Rockmart, Georgia, and “perfessional” landscape designer who hosts a weekly radio show on WGAA 1340 AM; with felony child molestation, aggravated child molestation, first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and enticing a child for indecent purposes, according to Polk County authorities.
Examiner.com reports that Bostwick was arrested July 11th “after a three month long investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse and child molestation. The incident was reported to police in April of this year. The victim is a female relative that was less than 10 years old when the abuse occurred.” This is apparently not Bostwick’s first arrest; an October 19, 2009, report by the Cedartown Standard reads: “Peyton Early Bostwick, 49, of 60 Collus Road, No. 10, Cedartown, was arrested Oct. 3 on charges of too fast for conditions, tag light requirement, driving on a suspended license, DUI, open container and reckless driving. He remains in the Polk County Jail.” A March, 2009, entry at Mugshots.com suggests Bostwick may have a previous arrest record. Story: Cedartown Standard, October 19, 2009; Examiner.com, July 12, 2012. See also: Facebook (“yo playas, haters, and posers. JESUS, the lion, became the Lamb to slam hell. What a sneak attack. Satan was not ready for that one and will never recover.”)
Not guilty plea: Lee Bradberry, 22, former counselor, Kanakuk Kamps (“providing America’s premiere Christian summer camp experience”), Branson, Missouri, to felony charges of statutory sodomy, child molestation, sexual misconduct and attempted sodomy. Bradberry is accused of molesting three boys between the ages of nine and twelve while playing a “game” he devised to teach “Bible studies” in a hot tub. Bradberry’s next court date is scheduled for September 13, 2012. Notes KSPR: “Bradberry is the second man associated with the Christian camp in as many years to be charged with molesting children. Former counselor Pete Newman is serving two life sentences for molesting children at Kanakuk Kamps.” Story: Conservative Babylon, April 4, 2012; KSPR, July 13, 2012
Resigned: John V. Cracchiolo, 55, as executive director and paid lobbyist, Nevada Catholic Conference, after the National Catholic Reporter made “inquiries about his pleading guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice, a federal felony, and serving three years’ probation.” The NCR says it “asked the Reno and Las Vegas dioceses, Nevada’s only two dioceses, about Cracchiolo’s role at the conference after learning he had accepted a federal plea deal in 2009 stemming from charges that he was part of a plan to defraud investors during his time as the chief financial officer at a publicly traded medical device company in California. According to court documents, Cracchiolo remains on probation under the terms of the deal until Saturday and is not allowed to work ‘in any management position’ at any publicly held corporation.” The medical device company was Endocare; in 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges of securities fraud against Cracchiolo, Endocare’s CFO and COO, and Paul W. Mikus, CEO/chairman, “for orchestrating a financial fraud perpetrated on the investing public in 2001 and 2002″; i.e., “significantly
Charged: Rutherford David Downs, 54, founder & former senior pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Chuluota (an unincorporated area near Orlando), Florida; founder, Bunyan Bible College and Seminary; alumnus, Dallas Theological Seminary; member, Conservative Baptist Association; member, Spurgeon Fellowship of Florida (“an extension of the vision of Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon”); with 15 counts related to the suspected rape of a child under the age of 12. Cfnews13.com reports that Downs, who founded the church in 1992, “was asked to resign in May for ‘disqualifying sins.” Downs, married 30 years and the father of five children (two of whom are named “Purity” and “Promise”), is currently being held without bond (presumably because, notes ClickOrlando.com, he “has been listed as a violent offender.”
The church’s website has been deleted in its entirety, and blocked from all archiving; however, a number of PDF files can still be accessed via Google’s “Quick View.” Information from these files paints a church that is vehemently anti-Catholic, and so conservative, it believes that T.D. Jakes is “eroticizing the Eucharist”; condemns the Church of England for using U2 music to appeal to the masses; and compares gambling to abortion (e.g., using the excuse “We mutually agree to lose the money” is the same as saying “Those who murder their baby in an abortion mutually agree with the abortionist”). According to Todd Rhoades, the church has (or had) “an interesting way of exposing false teachers to their congregation… they post them on their website. … Making the list (at least today) is Harold Camping, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Rick Warren, and Bill Hybels. The site is complete with youtube links and biblical refutes.” Downs’s page at SermonAudio.com has also been pulled; you may still be able to see a cache. Story: cfnews13.com, July 14, 2012; ClickOrlando.com, July 14, 2012
Lawsuit settled: Emmanuel Fellowship, Cottonwood, Arizona, with a victim of Christopher William Furey, 44, former “Kids’ Pastor,” convicted in 2011 on eight counts of sex crimes committed against a then-16-year-old girl from his church and sentenced to ten years in prison; for $300,000. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 27, 2010; Conservative Babylon, January 28, 2011; Camp Verde Bugle, July 14, 2012
Sentenced: Lindsey Shepard Kleber, 25, aspiring Christian minister, to three years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting her then-husband in 2010, on the campus of Baptist Bible College (“a conservative Bible college affiliated and owned by the Baptist Bible Fellowship International”), Springfield, Missouri (where they were both students), ten days after Lindsey Kleber was granted a divorce, and several months after Steven Kleber allegedly shook their infant daughter, fracturing the baby’s skull and leaving her with permanent brain damage. The reported reason Lindsey Kleber shot her ex-husband was that she believed the justice system would not punish him sufficiently on its own.
At the time of her plea (she was originally charged with “assault, kidnapping, and armed criminal action for allegedly ramming her ex’s truck in the Baptist Bible College parking lot … then forcing him into hers and later shooting him,” per KSPR), Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson issued a press release stating that Lindsey Kleber “entered guilty pleas to felonious restraint, assault second degree, and armed criminal action. These charges are from events that took place on October 7, 2010. The defendant went to the BBC campus to confront Steven Kleber, her ex-husband. During the initial confrontation, she pointed a gun at Steven, fired several shots, and forced him to leave with her in her car. A few minutes later, she parked in the Dooling school parking lot. The defendant then shot Steven Kleber in the back as he fled from her car. A Greene County Deputy who had responded to the initial dispatch from BBC witnessed the shooting of Steven Kleber. Post Miranda, the defendant admitted to forcing Steven Kleber into her car at gun point and to shooting him.
“During the time this case was pending, the defendant has been under the care of a physchologist [sic]. The physchologist’s [sic] forensic exam found the defendant’s crime was an emotionally charged crime of passion that occurred as a result of Post Tramautic Stress Disorder. The doctor reported that the defendant was in a depersonalized and altered psychological state due to the abuse inflicted on her baby which was alleged to have been committed by Steven Kleber.
“Patterson said, ‘the State amended the charges to take into consideration the mitigating factors presented in the physchologist’s [sic] report. However, vigilante justice can not be condoned. In addition to the injuries suffered by the vicitm, several students and others in the area were placed in risk of being shot because of the defendant’s actions.’ …
“The child abuse case against Steven Kleber is still pending and is scheduled to go to trial August 20, 2012.”
Although they are now divorced, the Klebers’ wedding website (with photo album) is still online: “Lindsey Shepard & Steven Kleber; Location: First Baptist Church of Raytown, Missouri … We met at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. For Steven, it was love at first sight! … We both will be wearing white! Our reception will include chili dogs and spam burgers. Ya’ll come! NAH!! It will have some brisket…we think!! lol … We are VERY excited that we get to share in this AMAZING day, with all of yall…we pray that even if you cannot come to the ceremony that you keep us in your prayers daily. Thanks to all of yall!”
Story: KSPR, October 8, 2010; KY3.com, October 8, 2010; News-Leader.com, October 18, 2010; KSPR, January 4, 2011; Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, January 10, 2012; KY3.com, January 10, 2012; KY3.com, July 13, 2012
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