Black Collar Crime Round-Up: August 16, 2012
Walter McGill, Lucan Chartier • David and Bridget Montgomery • Angel Perez (Oregon)
Arrested again: Evans Justice Bacon, 62, pastor, New Life Apostolic Tabernacle Church, St. Petersburg, Florida, who was convicted in 2010 of sexual battery and promoting sexual performance of a child — a girl in his congregation who was between 15 and 17 when the assaults began — and sentenced to just 364 days in jail; presumably on an unspecified parole volation. Seminole County Sheriff’s records show that Bacon, a registered sex offender, was arrested on four out-of-county warrants July 13, 2012, while the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office records a booking date of July 17th. Story: Conservative Babylon, November 3, 2010; Deep Thoughts, August 14, 2012
Accused: Wallace Benn, Church of England (Anglican) Bishop of Lewes, Diocese of Chichester, U.K.; of attempting “to prevent a priest’s Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check — which detailed allegations of child sex abuse — being dealt with properly,” reports the BBC. Benn has been under formal investigation since 2011. Story: BBC News, November 10, 2011; BBC News, August 14, 2012
Accused: Oliver Daniel “Dan” Durfey, 54, former administrator, First Baptist Church of Poinciana, Florida, and Republican candidate, Osceola County Clerk of Courts; of stealing more than $56,000 from two church checking accounts and one savings account in just over two years. The Orlando Sentinel reports: “Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Durfey has been convicted of financial crimes in Florida dating back to the 1970s and was sentenced to three years in prison in 1981 for trafficking in stolen property and violating probation in a previous larceny case.” Story: Orlando Sentinel, August 13, 2012
Arrested: Andrea Lewis, 52, pastor, Act on Faith Ministries, Shreveport, Louisiana, and charged with one count each of sexually molesting three different girls, all between 13 and 14 years old. KSLA quotes one alleged victim, now a grown woman: “I was deceived, you know. He used God and he used music, and those were the two most important things in my life at the time.” Lewis is in custody on a $300,000 bond. Story: KSLA, August 14, 2012; KETK, August 14, 2012
Released: Walter McGill, pastor, Creation 7th Day Adventist Church (a.k.a. Creation 7th Day Adventist Ministries; a.k.a. Creation 7th Day Adventists; a.k.a. Spring City Remnant Church of Creation Seventh-Day Adventists; a.k.a. Association of Creation 7th Day Adventists; et al.), Guys, Tennessee; after serving 25 days on a federal contempt charge after defying a court order to stop using the phrase “7th Day Adventist” in the name of his church, on signs and on websites on multiple domains (because the name is “divinely inspired,” and to be used on orders straight from God). McGill was sued in 2006 for trademark infriingement by the General Conference Corporation of Seventh-Day Adventists. Sentenced: Lucan Chartier, 26, described by the court as an associate of McGill, to ten days for contempt of court for continuing to replace signs with the offending name on the church after they were removed or painted over by SDA representatives. Both men were arrested (and jailed) in California; McGill in July, reports the Press-Enterprise, “outside Loma Linda University Church of Seventh-day Adventists after someone called police to complain that McGill appeared to be preparing for a protest on church grounds, said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. … McGill said he had been traveling around the country since April visiting Seventh-day Adventist churches to distribute fliers about his case.” While in jail, McGill reportedly went on a “spiritual fast,” and was held in the jail infirmary. Story: Injunction, U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee, May 28, 2009; Order, U.S. District Court, April 5, 2012; Press-Enterprise, July 15, 2012; Jackson Sun, July 17, 2012; Docket Report, U.S. District Court, August 6, 2012; Press-Enterprise, August 10, 2012
Convicted: David A. Montgomery and Bridget M. Montgomery, husband-and-wife founders/pastors of Restoration Temple Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Humble, Texas (a suburb of Houston), of tax evasion. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reports: “David and Bridget Montgomery were charged and convicted of conspiring to impair and impede the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in its computation and collection of income taxes between January 2003 and April 2006. The jury also convicted them of two counts of making false statements in relation to their 2004 and 2005 income tax returns by under-reporting their gross income from their construction business, Montgomery’s Contracting. … An IRS agent also testified that the loss of tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury was approximately $600,000 due to these payments not being claimed on their income tax returns.
“Mr. Montgomery’s defense was that a friend in the construction industry, since deceased, advised him that if he ploughed funds earned from their construction business into their church, they did not have to report it to the IRS and pay tax on it. Mrs. Montgomery contended that she made mistakes because she was in over her head when she prepared the returns.
“In addition to the testimony and evidence of payments for services to the Montgomerys, the government presented evidence that they repeatedly manipulated financial information according to their financial interest. For instance, they claimed more income than they reported to the IRS in applications for a $900,000 loan and in several applications for credit to purchase luxury automobiles.
“Both were permitted to remain on bond pending their sentencing hearing, to be set at a later date. At that time, they face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy conviction and a maximum of three years and a $100,000 fine on each of the false statements convictions.” Story: U.S. Attorney’s Office, August 9, 2012
Arrested: Angel Perez, Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest; pastor, Saint Luke Catholic Church and Saint Agnes Mission, Hubbard, Oregon; on suspicion of of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy. The boy called police himself to report the incident, which allegedly occurred while he was spending the night at the priest’s home. KPTV reports: “Perez is facing charges of sexual abuse, using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor, as well as DUI. The probable cause documents indicate the priest drove to the alleged victim’s family and apologized. The PC affidavit said a family member claimed the priest said, ‘I am very sorry; I made a mistake.’” Story: KPTV, August 13, 2012
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