June 24, 2011 – LEWISTOWN – On Friday 24 June 20011, Jason Phillips, the former youth pastor of Covenant Community Fellowship Church in Canton was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old parishioner, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Jason Phillips, will serve about three years and three months behind bars with credit for time served and so-called good time.
The Judge also ordered Phillips to pay $2,633 in restitution to the victim, for costs she incurred as the result of the case, and serve three years of probation. Jason Phillips must register as a convicted child sex offender. Kevin Sullivan the Defense Attorney said the case would be turned over to a public defender for appeal.
Posted By rodneypires on June 27, 2011
Category: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
Tags: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
June 23, 2011 – Las Vegas, NV. -
Otis Holland
Henderson police are looking for a Las Vegas pastor wanted in connection with the sexual assault of underage girls.
Otis Holland, 54, is wanted on 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under age 16, a count of child abuse and a count of conspiracy to commit a crime, police said.
Police issued the warrant last week, but said Holland may have fled to California.
In December, Holland was arrested on three counts of sexual assault of a victim under age 16. During the investigation, police said they discovered allegations that Holland may have had inappropriate conduct with other minors.
Holland was then arrested in January on a felony count of lewdness with a minor under age 14, police said.
The most recent arrest warrant comes from an investigation in which two other girls came forward earlier this month, police said.
Holland is a pastor at United Faith Church, which held services in the lobby of a tax service business on Hacienda Avenue in Las Vegas.
Posted By rodneypires on June 27, 2011
Category: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
Tags: Sex Crimes, Sexual Assault
June 24, 2011 – A 22-year-old former church youth group leader is behind bars charged with sexually assaulting several female members of a church group from 2005 through 2009.
Pennsylvania State Police investigators interviewed several alleged victims and other members of the Grace Fellowship Church, which at the time was located in Newtown Township.
Shorey was the church’s youth group leader at the time of the assaults, according to the affidavit of probable cause written by Trooper Gerard McShea. Five individuals filed a report with state police claiming they were sexually assaulted by Shorey between November 2005 and January 2009, the affidavit states.
Two of the assaults took place on a bus trip to a youth camp in Massachusetts in August 2007, court documents indicate. Another alleged assault took place on a church trip to New York in 2009, the affidavit states.
At the time of the assaults, the victims were juveniles, the complaint states.
Posted By rodneypires on June 27, 2011
Category: Sexual Assault
Tags: Sexual Assault
June 20, 2011 – Marietta Police recently charged a man with stealing air conditioning units worth more than $10,000 from Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta. Although the air conditioning units were recovered, they were damaged beyond repair, police said.
Posted By rodneypires on June 27, 2011
Category: Church Theft
Tags: Church Theft, Church Vandalism
June 18, 2011 – Pennsylvania State Police in Coudersport on Saturday announced the arrest of three teens and a 23-year-old Millerton man in an arson at Southern Baptist Church on Phoenix Run Road in Potter County on April 30.
The names of the teens, all girls, weren’t released. Two of the girls, each 17, face multiple charges including arson. The third girl, 16, faces several charges, but not arson.
Seth William Greenwalt of Millerton is charged with institutional vandalism, criminal trespass, corruption of minors, desecration of venerated objects and criminal conspiracy.
The church was broke into and fires were set at opposite ends. The fires extinguished themselves without causing significant damage to the church.
Posted By rodneypires on June 20, 2011
Category: Church Arson
Tags: Church Arson
June 16, 2011 – Charges were filed Thursday against a Ham Lake Lutheran church youth director accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the summer and fall of 2010. The victim said the assaults took place at the church, on church retreats and at a youth camp, among other places.
Damian Burkhalter, 47, of Blaine, Minn., is the youth director at Glen Cary Lutheran Church in Ham Lake. He was arrested Tuesday in connection with the allegations, which surfaced during a therapy session.
Posted By rodneypires on June 17, 2011
Category: Sexual Assault
Tags: Sexual Assault
June 13, 2011 – Joshua O’Bannion, 26, of Gilbert, Ariz., pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual battery and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor today in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court.
O’Bannion was a youth pastor at First United Pentecostal Church in Parma. Between January-December 2008, O’Bannion, then 24, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old female and a 15-year-old female who attended the church. The assault occurred in and outside of the church.
The victims disclosed the assaults to Parma police after O’Bannion was arrested in Chandler, Ariz. on Sept. 9, 2009 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female there. At the time of the arrest, he was working as a youth pastor at a church in Tempe, Arizona.
O’Bannion’s grandfather is currently the pastor of the Parma church.
O’Bannion is scheduled for sentencing July 25.
Posted By rodneypires on June 17, 2011
Category: Sexual Assault
Tags: Sexual Assault
May 14, 2011 – PITTSBURGH — A local pastor is out of the hospital after he was attacked and robbed at his Lawrenceville church on Friday.
Police said the crime happened at Trinity Baptist Church on Ligonier Street. Investigators said the pastor heard someone banging on the door and yelled to see who it was. When the pastor opened the door, police said a man, who was described as black, busted into the church wearing black shorts and a black hooded sweatshirt.
The robber demanded money and after a struggle he threatened to shoot Pastor James Garmon twice, police said. But when he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed. Detectives said the burglar hit the pastor with the barrel of the gun and punched him in the stomach.
“He had the gun to my head and told me to turn over on my stomach, put my hands behind my head and not to move. I don’t know what’s going to happen at this point,” Garmon said. Investigators said the burglar got away with more than $2,000.
Garmon has a swollen jaw along with some cuts and bruises, but he is going to be OK, officials said. So far, no arrests have been made.
Posted By rodneypires on June 7, 2011
Category: Assault, Uncategorized
Tags: Assaults
