Fundie Walk of Shame 2

[Howl]

Very weird.  Not often women are the perps, but the youth group leader thing tracks...

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Another sex pervert in NorthWest Arkansas! No one FJ knows, but it turns he was a youth pastor. Isn't that surprising?

Quote

A former youth pastor in Bentonville has taken a plea deal, pleading guilty to 13 counts of sexual assault on Friday, Feb. 24.

In August 2022, Hord was first arrested by Bentonville Police Department after a child abuse case was reported by First Baptist Church. On Aug. 23, he was charged with sexual indecency with a child and arrested two days later, according to officials.

Quote

On Oct. 3, 2022, Hord pleaded not guilty to his original charges of eight counts of sexual assault, three counts of distributing, possession or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child and sexual indecency with a child.

However, on Feb. 24, 2023, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree sexual assault, a plea deal that adds up to 60 years in prison.

“It's horrible. Look, even Jesus in the New Testament tells us there are wolves in sheep's clothing, right,” Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith said.

Again so surprised a youth pastor did this! It's like in the bible. 

This man is 32 now and will be 92 when he gets out prison. Here's a link to an article.

Northwest Arkansas is where the TTH is located and most of the Duggars live. 

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

When will people realize being a youth pastor means they need extra scrutiny and extra supervision? All youth pastors need background checks and should never be alone with a kid ever. They should never be allowed to text, call, or private message them on social media. They should never be allowed to drive them anywhere. Even giving them a ride home. All of these rules should be standard for all youth pastors. 

[hoipolloi]

9 hours ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

Again so surprised a youth pastor did this! It's like in the bible. 

Predators go where they can find prey. 

Given the lax (or complete lack of) oversight in so many conservative Christian churches, itʻs not surprising that these monsters get away with so much for so long.

[hoipolloi]

Well, this is quite the revelation. Just goes to show that it is almost always projection with these asshats.

ETA: He even used his official government account!

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by hoipolloi

[NachosFlandersStyle]

That is the funniest PR response I've ever seen. He's just interacting with constituents! 

[hoipolloi]

Hoo boy, LtGov McNally's explanations are pretty bizarre -- in a 5-minute interview with him from a local TV station he can't really answer the questions.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by hoipolloi

[Bluebirdbluebell]

On 3/10/2023 at 1:47 PM, hoipolloi said:

Hoo boy, LtGov McNally's explanations are pretty bizarre -- in a 5-minute interview with him from a local TV station he can't really answer the questions

I read somewhere that he tried to write it off as he's just a "great-grandfather". He's 79 and Catholic. 

[hollyandivy]

Joshie got caught with a forbidden cell phone in jail and gets to stay there 2 months longer!

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/9560310/josh-duggars-prison-sentence-extended/

 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

9 hours ago, hollyandivy said:

Joshie got caught with a forbidden cell phone in jail and gets to stay there 2 months longer!

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/9560310/josh-duggars-prison-sentence-extended/

 

Yes, it's being discussed in his thread in the Duggar forums.

[hoipolloi]

A leading light of the SBC, Paul Presser -- who was even enshrined in one of the infamous SWBTS stained glass windows -- turns out to be a major sexual predator. His former law partner, Jared Woodfill, was a GOP chair in Harris County, virulently anti-LGBTQ+, and covered for Presser for many years. While Presser was working at Woodfill's law firm, Woodfill literally paid him with young men:

Quote

In 2016, former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill received an urgent warning about Paul Pressler, his longtime law partner and a Southern Baptist leader....Rather than pay him a salary, Woodfill testified, the firm provided Pressler a string of employees to serve as personal assistants, most of them young men who typically worked out of his River Oaks mansion. Two have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.

It gets worse. Nonetheless, the article is an excellent piece of journalism. 

[Howl]

I originally posted about this in Oct. 22, 2022 in the now archived scandals and crimes thread.   This adoption has now been over turned but sadly the child is still with the Masts,  who will appeal.  The Masts, who orchestrated the kidnapping theft of this child, are of course uber Christians. 

AlJazeera is covering this story, but you can google and find other articles: 

US Marine’s adoption of Afghan war orphan voided  The rare ruling is the latest twist in an ongoing legal battle between Afghan and US couples for three-year-old girl.

Sadly, the relatives who actually are her guardians, have not been able to see her since she was kidnapped by the Masts. 

 

[Smee]

On 2/26/2023 at 12:05 AM, JermajestyDuggar said:

When will people realize being a youth pastor means they need extra scrutiny and extra supervision? All youth pastors need background checks and should never be alone with a kid ever. They should never be allowed to text, call, or private message them on social media. They should never be allowed to drive them anywhere. Even giving them a ride home. All of these rules should be standard for all youth pastors. 

When I was a teenager I had a crush on one of our youth leaders. He worked in the city, a few train stations away from my school, and we used to travel in together a lot. Sometimes I’d get off at his stop and we’d have breakfast together before I went to school. We had each other’s phone numbers and emails and sent a lot of texts, as well as conversations on MSN Messenger (this was the early 00s) that were not exactly chaste. We sometimes met up one on one or he’d drive me home from church, and we often had private conversations in dark corners of the otherwise-empty church hall. A lot of long hugs. I took him to my year 12 formal (Australian equivalent of prom) and cried because he had a fiancée by then and i knew he wasn’t going to leave her for me (although he did once say if things didn’t work out with her he would turn around and propose to me).

For YEARS I thought of him as “the one who got away” and not “the bullet I dodged as a teen after a guy 6 years older groomed me from a position of power”. Years. I was married with kids before I really saw it for what it was and cut off all further contact with him. We still have mutual friends.

[KWLand]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:05 AM, JermajestyDuggar said:

When will people realize being a youth pastor means they need extra scrutiny and extra supervision? All youth pastors need background checks and should never be alone with a kid ever. They should never be allowed to text, call, or private message them on social media. They should never be allowed to drive them anywhere. Even giving them a ride home. All of these rules should be standard for all youth pastors. 

As an old youth pastor, I didn’t need to be told to not abuse the youth.  Just like I don’t need to be told to not abuse my children.  It was never an option.  Most of my youth were family friends prior to me being a youth leader and some babysat for us.  We had boundaries established and I don’t remember ever being alone with them, but my family would have been the extra people.   

I also don’t trust background checks.  It finds the stupid ones who were caught, not the smart ones who weren’t caught or who know their records are sealed.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, KWLand said:

As an old youth pastor, I didn’t need to be told to not abuse the youth.  Just like I don’t need to be told to not abuse my children.  It was never an option.  Most of my youth were family friends prior to me being a youth leader and some babysat for us.  We had boundaries established and I don’t remember ever being alone with them, but my family would have been the extra people.   

I also don’t trust background checks.  It finds the stupid ones who were caught, not the smart ones who weren’t caught or who know their records are sealed.  

To me, background checks are just basic and the very least you can do when finding a youth pastor. There would be many more things needed besides a background check. A background check should just be a given.

[Pecansforeveryone]

If boundaries and not abusing children were a given, this forum wouldn't exist. Obviously we can't take them as givens. 

[KWLand]

32 minutes ago, Pecansforeveryone said:

If boundaries and not abusing children were a given, this forum wouldn't exist. Obviously we can't take them as givens. 

Right.  I was trying to say there aren’t enough boundaries to keep the abusers from abusing and the groomers from grooming.  Especially in the fundie culture where they are taught to obey the elders and the church is the safe place and outside the doors is scary

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

To me, background checks are just basic and the very least you can do when finding a youth pastor. There would be many more things needed besides a background check. A background check should just be a given.

Yes, in any job I think background checks should be a given.  Especially working with kids.  I think too many view it as a safety net that it isn’t.  A Sunday school teacher asked me once if I checked the sex offender registry when buying a house.  Told him nope, I take the same safety precautions around everyone and I’m more scared of those not on the list. The police officer in the class wished more parents had the same view.  I’m glad they are naive and don’t know how many cracks sex offenders can fall through and it not end up on their record.  

[KWLand]

On the topic of boundaries.  I was watching SVU and they showed a guy delivering meals on wheels (food to the house bound) and my first thought was how they need two unrelated adults delivering for the housebound safety.

our church’s denomination has everyone who works with under age 18 go through training.  I’m not sure who created it, but it’s online and while it’s changed over the years it is the dumbest training I’ve seen.  I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but you read a section, watch a video and then answer questions.  I am certain they had 3 different people do the different parts because the reading, video and questions didn’t always match up and sometimes contradicted each other.   It was easier to do training specifically for our church.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

From the Associated Press (link)

Arizona court upholds clergy privilege in child abuse case

Quote

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under a state law that exempts religious officials from having to report child sex abuse if they learn of the crime during a confessional setting.

This is bad. The article goes on to tell about the case and the repercussions of this decision. 

From the end of the article:

Quote

An Associated Press investigation of the clergy privilege shows it exists in 33 states and that the Mormon church, often joined by the Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other faiths, have successfully lobbied against attempts to reform or eliminate it.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Bluebirdbluebell

[noseybutt]

Anyone else following the story about Pastor Mackenzie in Kenya who apparently preached fasting to (literal) death? This one is a doozy.

Known death toll is 73 but others still missing. Photos are disturbing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/death-toll-kenyan-starvation-cult-rises-58-police-2023-04-24/

 

 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

James Edward Duran, 31-year-old youth pastor, pled guilty to sexual abuse of a minor. I had trouble finding a good article, but here's a link to an article.

The victim was allegedly 14 when it started. She tried telling church leaders. His father is the lead pastor and allegedly his mother is also a pastor. Allegedly his parents told her "it was her fault" and she focus "on her relationship with Jesus".   

[Howl]

I hate coming across tweets like this because it means children were abused and are suffering horribly.  Two counts of child molestation-touching a child for lustful purposes have been added to his charges.

 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

I really really really do not want to ever know the definition of unnatural intercourse.  The words themselves are enough to make me ill.

[Howl]

A person who worked with youth at a church? Say it ain't so! Former Magnolia youth pastor confesses to molesting multiple church members, records say  Michael Anthony Romero showed up at the police department and admitted he fondled teen boys at First Baptist Church in Magnolia from 2002-2014, police say.

"Investigators said that since leaving the church in Magnolia around 2012, Romero continued to work with youth in Texas and Oklahoma.

Magnolia police say they're concerned there may be other alleged victims who attended the church during the ten years Romero was there. If so, they are asked to contact MPD."

Magnolia is about 30 miles NW of Houston. 

So here's the horrible thing.  Texas doesn't want to pay for counselors in schools.  But, after determining that the Ten Commandments should be posted in Texas school rooms, there's a good possibility that Texas will approve school chaplains.  So, calling all youth pastors!  Here's a much larger population to molest. 

[Howl]

It never ends.  Every time one of these stories pops up, I feel sad and enraged, because so many people have been damaged/destroyed by these predators. 

That guy's mucho macho cargo pants should have been a tipoff that something wasn't right.