Category — crime

Media outlets in Wilmington, NC reported that a 54 year old Church of God in Christ “superintendent” has confessed to multiple sexual crimes against a 14 year old boy. The crimes occurred in 1998 while the boy stayed in the pastor’s home.

According to several news outlets [see here, here and here] Superintendent Thomas A. Wiggins,Jr., pastor of the Faith Temple COGIC and Bolton COGIC was arrested and charged November 29th with five counts of first-degree sexual offense and five counts of indecent liberties with a minor.

The crimes are of a serious nature. North Carolina law defines the charges thusly:

§ 14‑27.7A. Statutory rape or sexual offense of person who is 13, 14, or 15 years old.

(a) A defendant is guilty of a Class B1 felony if the defendant engages in vaginal intercourse or a sexual act with another person who is 13, 14, or 15 years old and the defendant is at least six years older than the person, except when the defendant is lawfully married to the person.

§ 14‑202.1. Taking indecent liberties with children.

(a) A person is guilty of taking indecent liberties with children if, being 16 years of age or more and at least five years older than the child in question, he either:

(1) Willfully takes or attempts to take any immoral, improper, or indecent liberties with any child of either sex under the age of 16 years for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire; or

(2) Willfully commits or attempts to commit any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body or any part or member of the body of any child of either sex under the age of 16 years.

(b) Taking indecent liberties with children is punishable as a Class F felony.

The unmarried Wiggins is an “adminstrative assistant” to Bishop CE Anderson in the denomination’s North Carolina 2nd Jurisdiction [source].

Despite numerous high profile sex crimes and cases of sexual immorality among members of its clergy, denominational leaders continue to deny that clergy sexual abuse is a significant problem. In November 2009, the denomination’s chief lawyer Enoch Perry told a church gathering

“Media coverage of any sexual oriented event and the church will have a negative slant. The pessimistic coverage will have a direct impact on the overall public perception of the church involved, its corporate body and its membership. Additionally, this negativity will directly affect new membership and outside donations.”

Report COGIC Abuse has been documenting the shocking examples of disregard for biblical admonitions and the church’s own seemingly selective application of its own constitution.

Despite a letterallegedy leaked by the church’s COO detailing legal failures and ethical violations by Perry, he was promoted to bishop in the 2011 convention in St Louis.

The case with Thomas raises the number of cases in 2011 to four and 47 total documented cases.
Cross posted at COGIC Abuse Watch blog

FERNDALE, MI – A minister and police chaplain from the gay christian denomination Metropolitan Community Church has been removed from his duties after a drug and sex party at his home resulted in the death of another man.

WDIV in Detroit carried  the story [source]

A 43-year-old man died after a sex party Sept. 20 at the Ferndale Police chaplain’s house. Police Chaplain Rev. Mark Bidwell [facebook], who is also the minister at Ferndale’s Metropolitan Community Church, called 911 Wednesday morning to report a man at his home had stopped breathing.

“I’ve got someone who has apparently stopped breathing,” Bidwell said. He said he met the man, Steven Fitch, of Lincoln Park, on a website the night before. Bidwell told police he invited Fitch over to his house for sex and that he didn’t know anything about him.911 dispatcher: “How old is he?” Bidwell: “Honestly, I don’t even know. We just met today.” Police said Fitch brought crystal methamphetamine to Bidwell’s home and injected himself.

Fitch later died at a hospital. Bidwell told police that Fitch injected him with the drug as well. The men had sex and invited a third man over to join the party, police said.  The 911 dispatcher asked Bidwell if Fitch was using any narcotics.  “Um. I don’t know,” Bidwell told the dispatcher.  Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter said Bidwell is a respected member of the gay community and is involved in the entire Ferndale community. “This is not the Rev. Bidwell that I or most of us know,” Coulter said. “I am shocked and sad and worried for him.  “Police said Bidwell has been relieved of his chaplain duties at the Ferndale Police Department.Police also said there was no evidence to charge Bidwell. Bidwell did not respond to Local 4′s request for comments.

This was apparently something the “respected member” of the community engaged in on a regular basis. Birdwell told police he met the man on a gay sex website and invited him over for sex.

Just several weeks prior to the deadly drug and sex party at his home, Bidwell falsely accused Reverend David C. Vorce, President and CEO of the International Fellowship of Chaplains, Inc of  “advocating the murder of homosexuals”. [source] Bidwell dropped out of a chaplaincy improvement program citing fear of Vorce.

Very typical given the low standards of personal conduct for MCC clerics. According a statement from the denomination’s website, Bidwell has since resigned as pastor of the church. Notice that the only thing they were concerned with was the “illegal drug use”. Said the Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson, Moderator of the Metropolitan Community Church:

“We are deeply saddened whenever drug addiction impacts an individual or a community.  No community across this country is immune from the scourge of illegal drugs, but when it hits close to home, we are reminded of the commitment we have to teach people about the harms of drug abuse and to be a place of spiritual healing for those who are recovering.”

We’ve reported before on this gross caricature of a Christian denomination and its ministers who have portrayed Christ as a promiscuous homosexual having sex with his disciples, a prominent MCC minister who openly claimed to masturbate to images of Jesus, purchased a $55,000 ventriloquist Jesus, members arent required to believe Jesus is savior, encouraged people to deface the bible out of hate toward scriptures that condemn homosexuality and more religious madness than you can imagine.

New Orleans – The Times-Picayune reported last night that Bishop Charles E. Brown, I, bishop of the Church of God in Christ Greater New Orleans Jurisdiction was booked on charges of sexual battery in June. Brown was released after posting a $25,000 bail. But the story quickly raised more troubling issues about Brown, his past, COGIC’s so-called zero tolerance sexual abuse policy and his association with the church’s presiding bishop.

According the paper, Brown seemed to have made a very foolish decision to contact the woman he is alleged to have molested. [source]

The spiritual head of a local Pentecostal denomination has been arrested and booked with sexual battery on a teenage girl more than 23 years ago. New Orleans court records show that Bishop Charles E. Brown, 58, was released on $25,000 bond.

Brown, who since Hurricane Katrina has divided his time between New Orleans and Houston, is the jurisdictional bishop for Greater New Orleans in the Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal denomination with headquarters in Memphis. He is also pastor of a local congregation, Full Gospel Church of God in Christ.

Brown was arrested June 28, according to police records.

Several attempts to contact Brown at his home in Houston were unsuccessful. Court records did not list a lawyer. And denominational officials in Los Angeles and Lafayette who would know about the arrest either were unavailable or did not respond to an inquiry.

A police affidavit supporting the arrest warrant said an unidentified 39-year-old woman called the department’s child abuse unit in March to report that Brown molested her between the ages of 14 and 16.

The woman said at the time Brown was her aunt’s boyfriend, and the acts occurred at his home.

She told police Brown recently reached out and asked to “friend” her on Facebook. She told him she knew him to be an abuser and decided then to go to the police, the affidavit said.

Brown originally was arrested and booked with aggravated rape. But Magistrate Commissioner Harry Cantrell said the specific facts alleged by the woman supported only the lesser accusation of sexual battery.”

Brown, pastor of Williams Temple COGIC in Houston and two other churches, was a prominent figure in pre-Katrina New Orleans.  His bio connects him with several powerful civic and religious leaders around the country including serving as a board member with Dr. Fredrick Price of LA, Bishop IV Hilliard in Houston, as the “spiritual advisor” to former Katrina-era NO mayor Ray Nagin and ironically as a board member of Bishop Blake’s “Save Africa’s Children” charity. Within his denomination, Brown was the former Chief Operating Officer of the church until he resigned after a fallout with Blake over a Houston church he now pastors.

What’s troubling is that the police report alleges the crime occured about 23 years ago. That would put the timeline of the crime about 1990-91. During that time, according to Brown’s bio, he was

• Director; Youth Church,  [COGIC] UNAC/AIM 1980-1997.
• Executive Board Member; General Assembly of the Church of God in Christ, 1984 to present.
• Board Member; Fellowship of Inner City Word of Faith Ministries (FICWFM), Dr. F. K. C. Price, Founder. (1990-Present).

The woman alleges that Brown committed the crime while he was her aunt’s boyfriend. Just a few weeks ago, we told you about the case of adulterer and deadbeat father Joseph Hogan.  The biblical requirements for the office of a bishop mean nothing to COGIC leadership. If  blatant adultery and sexual immorality doesn’t disqualify a man from the office, what will? Sources told Report COGIC Abuse that despite the hard evidence on Hogan, COGIC will consecrate him to bishop.

Brown was arrested in June, but still holds his office of pastor and bishop in the Church of God in Christ (see this unconfirmed comment). Report COGIC Abuse has learned that the denomination passed a resolution giving bishops the power to immediately remove a local church pastor upon allegations of sexual misconduct or criminal sexual activity until an investigation is concluded. But there was no clause for the bishops to remove those in their own ranks.

As the Times-Picayune story noted, church officials aren’t responding even though there is evidence that all members of the church’s “general board” —including Charles E. Blake— were made aware of Brown’s situation prior to the story going public.

This story was cross-posted at COGIC Abuse Watch.

News reports from Chattanooga, TN said that Ronnie Powe, Jr., the assistant pastor of United Tabernacle COGIC was leading a double lifestyle which ended in his arrest. On Sundays, Powe preached to the faithful [video]at the church, but through the week be prowled homosexual sex hookup sites looking for sexual partners. But when he found one in a 15 year old boy, his career came crashing down around him.

<script type=’text/javascript’ src=’http://www.wrcbtv.com/global/video/videoplayer.js?rnd=695503;hostDomain=www.wrcbtv.com;playerWidth=430;playerHeight=355;isShowIcon=true;clipId=5579372;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlay’></script>Pastor Ronnie Powe, Sr., says he never knew that his only son, his namesake, who’d helped him minister to Chattanooga’s United Tabernacle Church of God In Christ, had been leading a ‘double life.’
“My son lived the life of a straight young man with the family and with the congregation, and with those he knew in the church community,” Pastor Powe says. “Outside, he lived as a gay young man.”
Tuesday night, Chattanooga Police caught Ronnie Powe, Jr., in a car with a 15-year-old boy, behind the old East Lake Elementary school.
“The suspect first said that he was just speaking to a member of his church about some problems,” CPD spokeswoman Rebecca Royval says. “The officer observed some unusual things and investigated a little further.”
Police reports don’t indicate, nor will Ronnie Powe, Jr., say whether he knew the boy was underage; only that they had met through a gay web site. Had the teenager been of age, the charges Powe faces would have been lewd acts or indecent exposure.
“More than a ten year age difference brings a more serious charge,” Royval says.
The charges ring hollow in his parents neighborhood of Indian Hills/Hillsborough Heights.
Their closest neighbors won’t go on camera. But they describe Pastor Powe Sr., as warm, gentle, and no nonsense; his son as unfailingly polite, never inappropriate. Pastor Powe, Sr. sees his son as conflicted between his own truth, and A Pentecostal faith that condemns homosexuality. A homosexual lifestyle is not what God ordained for us, and we’re not gonna back off of that,” he says.
“But we believe all this has happened to help him come to terms with who and what he is.”
Ronnie Powe, Jr. has resigned as United Tabernacle’s youth pastor. He admitted his homosexuality, and that he had been charged with statutory rape, to a church prayer meeting Wednesday night, his father says.
Powe, Sr. is adamant in stating that his congregation’s teenagers and children never could have been in any danger.
“Because of the way we do things, our structure,it would have been hard for him to do anything without being discovered,” he says.
Powe, Jr., has declined to go on camera. But he tells Eyewitness News he’ll ask forgiveness from the 15-year-old, the boy’s family, his own family, and his church. First he must face the state of Tennessee. A conviction for aggravated statutory rape could put him in prison for five years.
“I want my son to know that he’s supported, and that no matter what style of life he was involved in, we love him,” Powe Sr. says.
“With counseling, with time, I believe that he will be one of the greatest preachers that ever lived.”

The father is to be commended for his stance regarding his son’s sins. Hopefully, he is being honest when he says he did not know what his son was doing. But what does that say about church leadership these days? Is discernment dead? Is the Spirit of the Lord not revealing anything anymore?  United Tabernacle held a reputation of being a strict, traditional COGIC but we see that is ineffective if the leader is not paying attention to the people, let alone his own son.

This type of case highlights why the denomination should step up its effort to educate its men on these issues. How to discern them, how to prevent them and how to report them to church leadership. Sadly, Ronnie Powe is most likely representative of hundreds (if not thousands) of young men in the church matriculating towards leadership with unresolved sexual issues. And they are being ignored. What if Elder Ronnie Powe were Bishop Ronnie Powe? Think of the  widespread negative impact. The COGIC should invest in wholistic programs to help these young men before they self destruct while carrying big, church-sanctioned titles. Ignoring it will only result in more Ronnie Powes.

Reports have surfaced that Bishop Eddie Long no longer wants to “fight” the lawsuits against him in court. Rather, he is taking a mediation route which some say is all but an admission of guilt.

If you aren’t aware of the controversy which broke in June, you can review our commentary here,  here and here. If you want more, exercise your right to google.

With media cameras fixed, Long vowed that he would fight the charges against him.  In a terse speech given to an audience of cheering church members, Long had cast himself as David and the four young black men who filed the lawsuits as Goliath locked in a modern day epic battle. The bishop said he had five stones and he hadn’t thrown any of them at the time of his speech. But not anymore. The five stones have been dropped and unlike David, Long is set to negotiate with Goliath. Perhaps that a smarter way to slay one’s manufactured giants.

In court depositions, Long (or his lawyers) used tight technical language to deny the allegations of sexual abuse, manipulation and a host of other charges.

Entertainment writer Morris  “Mo” Kelley’s explanation about the reality of  Long’s out of court settlements and mediation is the best so far. Kelley points out that the bold statements of fighting and such have vanished and are the signs of a guilty man.

Bishop Eddie Long agreeing to mediation of sexual coercion charges is an end-run around the universally accepted moral and ethical responsibilities of any ecumenical leader. Mediation of sexual allegation grievances is tantamount to an admission of “some” guilt, “some” form of ministerial misconduct. Innocent folk don’t make deals if the claims against them are baseless and untrue. Mediation for the accused is a forfeiture of the right to ever claim innocence, and readers should be absolutely clear on this point.

Did you hear that?

That was the sound of Long publicly admitting to some degree of guilt when he agreed to mediation. The public wanted Long to thoroughly address the allegations. Well, there you have it. He said it all, you just had to have been paying attention to hear it.

Long has said that he is “not a perfect man,” outlandishly compared his plight to that of David when confronting Goliath. We all remember Long admonishing his congregation and news media, “I’ve got five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet.”

If mediation is his first “rock,” then a complete admission of guilt must be the next. There’s just nowhere else to go. Instead of opting for the opportunity to clear his name for the sake of his congregation and legacy; Long has chosen to quietly, secretly, address the allegations of sexual coercion; presumably with a sealed “mutual agreement.”

Even if the lawsuit is settled out of court and Eddie Long continues his religious charade and sexual proclivities (whatever they might be at any given time), you cant afford to have a short memory. Even before this sordid series of events broke, we were sounding the alarm that Long was flirting with the gay christian movement. His embrace of such apostasy now leads us to say that he may have viewed himself as one of them.

And to put things in perspective Bishop Long is a symptom, not a cause.  Its just like a fever and a cough are symptoms of the flu. The church has drifted so far away from God and his word, the symptoms are many, but the only cure is a radical return to holiness.

We are living in an age of great deception and many people will suffer because they have taken their eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and instead invested themselves in men who do not follow Christ. Like pied pipers these men are playing music which appeals to the itching ear but the end of the dance is death.

Bishop Eddie Long’s troubling history with homosexuality should give any believer serious about their relationship with Christ cause to keep their distance and not have any association, support or defense of this man or his enterprises until we have seen true fruit of repentance. That is for your protection and that’s the bible way.

ST LOUIS – COGIC bishops allegedly are set to put one of their own on trial during the denomination’s 2010 St Louis convention. As you can see from the title its about money again. It appears nothing will get you brought up on charges  in the nation’s largest pentecostal denomination quicker than stealing money. Not sexual abuse, not sexual misconduct, not even crime.  But retribution against theft is swift.

Theft is a serious crime and should be dealt with, but are the denomination’s leaders aware that the 10 commandments also mention sexual sins?

A clergy member (who asked that his name be with held) told GCM Watch that Bishop Thomas Hosely, head of the denomination’s Delaware “jurisdiction” could possibly be removed and the case turned over to criminal courts pending outcome of the ecclesiastical trial. Hosely is scheduled to be tried November 10th in COGIC’s new meeting city. Hosely who was consecrated into the bishopric in April 2009, stands accused of stealing an estimated 4 million dollars allegedly left in place by his predecessor the late Bishop LT Blackshear.

In March, COGIC fired longtime senior executive assistant Supt Dickerson LS Wells over $20, 000 in missing funds.

The denomination also failed to act on general board member JD Husband’s widespread sexual sins/crimes. That is, until he embezzled over $5 million dollars of church money.

But still no action on the mounting cases of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct and sexual harassment perpetrated by COGIC clergy members.  In other news, Bishop Charles Blake, however, did take time to tell a St Louis reporter about COGIC’s great music and the millinery couture of its women.

Related: The 103rd Annual Convocation: Great God, Good Lord, Say What??