May 24, 2011 – WARREN, Mich. — A former pastor of a suburban Detroit church who was principal of its school has been sentenced to about seven years in prison after pleading no contest to charges he sexually assaulted a teenage boy and accosted another.
Christopher Settlemoir was sentenced Tuesday in a Warren court, making no comment before the judge. He was pastor at Warren’s Antioch Baptist Church and principal of Antioch Baptist Academy.
Posted By rodneypires on May 25, 2011
Category: Sexual Assault
Tags: Sexual Assault
May 24, 2011 – New York – A former York County pastor hanged himself in a West Virginia jail cell Saturday after his arrest on a sexual assault charge last week, court officials said.
The Rev. Matthew D. Jarrell, 41, previously of Old Paths Baptist Church in North Codorus Township, had been senior pastor of Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas, for seven years, said the Rev. Rik Parcell, associate pastor of the Texas congregation.
Jarrell was found hanging in his cell at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, W.Va., between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Saturday, John Lopez, acting chief of operations of the Regional Jail Authority, told the Charleston Gazette.
Posted By rodneypires on May 25, 2011
Category: Sexual Assault
Tags: Sexual Assault
May 17, 2011 – SAN FERNANDO, Calif.—A Los Angeles parolee has been sentenced to life in prison for shooting his son’s mother and two men at a church carnival in 2008.
Prosecutor Ruby Arias says 36-year-old Fernando Diaz won’t be eligible for a parole hearing until he’s 98 years old.
Diaz was in a bitter custody battle with his ex-girlfriend when he showed up at the St. John Baptist de la Salle Church fundraiser in suburban Granada Hills and shot her as she was setting up a carnival booth.
The woman and two men who were also wounded recovered.
Diaz was convicted on two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm and one count of being a felon with a firearm. He was acquitted of a third attempted murder count.
Posted By rodneypires on May 17, 2011
Category: Church Murder, Church Shootings
Tags: Church Shootings
Jesse Unruh
Lucas Schultz
May 16, 2011 – Barron County - One of the men accused of burning down a historic Barron County church entered a guilty plea in court Monday.
Jesse Unruh has plead guilty to charges of arson and burglary. Police say Unruh and Lucas Schultz burglarized the New Scandinavia Lutheran Church in Hillsdale before setting fire to the building.
The incident happened this past December. Over $1 million in damage was done to the 135-year-old building.
Unruh’s sentencing has been set for August. Schultz will be sentenced next month.
Posted By rodneypires on May 17, 2011
Category: Church Arson
Tags: Church Arson
May 10, 2011 – CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire man faces a charge of felonious sexual assault on a 12-year-old girl, in a case in which a pastor and two church elders were convicted of not reporting the allegation to police.
Joel Clement, 53, of North Conway was indicted in April and arraigned last week, Conway Police said. He is free on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. His next court date has not been set.
The pastor and two elders of the Valley Christian Church in Center Conway learned of the assault allegations from the girl’s parents in September 2009, but they failed to notify police. WMWV-FM reports that the parents told police six months later.
Ernest Willis, 52, of Gilford is charged with aggravated sex assault and felonious sex assault of his children’s then 15-year-old babysitter in 1997. Both Willis and the teen were congregants of Trinity Baptist Church in Concord at the time.
Information from: WMWV-FM,
Posted By rodneypires on May 10, 2011
Category: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
Tags: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
Saturday 7 May, 2011 – A volunteer at a Texas church home to the largest congregation in the United States has been charged with sexually abusing an autistic child.
Alvaro Daniel Guzman, 25, was charged with indecency with a child over a February 2010 incident at a Lakewood Church activities program for special needs children, according to local media reports in Houston. The arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday but Guzman is still free.
Lakewood is a Protestant “megachurch” run by pastor Joel Osteen, whose weekend services draw more than 40,000 people. Osteen’s television ministry is broadcast in dozens of countries.
Guzman allegedly fondled an 8-year-old autistic boy while he helped him climb into a play structure. Another adult volunteer allegedly witnessed the event and reported it to church officials and authorities.
The arrest warrant was issued this week. As of Saturday, Guzman was not in custody, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Lakewood Church, in a statement posted on its web site, said Guzman was “immediately removed” from volunteer services and that state authorities were “notified immediately.”
Posted By rodneypires on May 9, 2011
Category: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault, Uncategorized
Tags: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
May 2, 2011 – DANVILLE, Calif. — A volunteer and two former employees accused of embezzling nearly $600,000 from a Danville church were arrested and charged Monday, authorities said.
After an internal investigation that began in May 2010 at St. Isidore’s Catholic Church, Kathleen Dake and Virgilio Lukban were arrested on suspicion of embezzlement Monday.
Prosecutors told the Contra Costa Times that Dake, 58, and Lukban, 46, were charged with 5 counts of embezzlement. A third person, Evelyn Peinado, 64, has been charged with 3 counts. The three are accused of embezzling a combined $580,000 from the church.
Danville police Chief Steve Simpkin told the newspaper that the three embezzled about $360,000 through the use of credit cards, while Dake allegedly took another $220,000 by using church checks for personal expenses.
In a statement, Diocese of Oakland spokesman Mike Brown said church officials began an internal investigation in May 2010 when the pastor of the church noticed “irregularities” in the parish financial office.
When the Diocesan Finance office was notified in August 2010, it reported the irregularities to the Danville Police Department, which began a criminal investigation, the statement said.
Dake was the full-time office manager at the church, while Lukban was a full-time facilities manager, according to Brown.
Peinado was not an employee, but worked as a volunteer and is a member of the church.
Dake was being held on $433,000 bond and Lukban on $134,000 bond. Both were expected to be arraigned Tuesday, said Danville police Det. Sgt. Allan Shields.
Peinado was arraigned Monday, released on her own recognizance and ordered to return to court later this month, according to Shields.
It was not known if any of the three had retained attorneys.
Posted By rodneypires on May 3, 2011
Category: Church Embezzlement
Tags: Church Embezzlement
