alamo-arrest-mugshot0908

1/19/09 – Even More Evangelist Preachers Arrested on Sex Charges; Tony Alamo Trial Set for May; Ted Haggard Looking “Haggard”, Promoting HBO Documentary

Trip to the Outhouse
January 19, 2009


Even More Evangelist Preachers Arrested on Sex Charges; Tony Alamo Trial Set for May; Ted Haggard Looking “Haggard”, Promoting HBO Documentary

In September, I posted about the arrest of TV evangelist Tony Alamo for transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of sexual exploitations.

There were several others of these religious hypocrites and their criminal acts mentioned, among them, Joe Barron of the huge Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, who was arrested for soliciting sex with minors over the internet. Also exposed was Ted Haggard, the head preacher of New Life Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and friend of James Dobson, leader of the ultra-right, super anti-gay, Focus on the Family.

The amazing thing (but not surprising) is that this list of hypocrites goes on and on:

* Shelby County, Kentucky–James Howard Bell, pastor of the Refuge Temple Church of God in Christ, was arrested for abuse of a child under 16 and determined to be HIV+.
* Clyde, South Carolina–Scott Murray, a pastor at the New Covenant Church, is accused of breaking into a woman’s house and stealing a sex toy and personal lubricant. (OK, that’s just plain weird, or maybe sex shops are outlawed in South Carolina.) See the story and video here.
* Charlotte, North Carolina–Lawrence Webber, a preacher and member of the Reeder Memorial Baptist Church, was charged with felony sex crimes against children under 13.
* Jacksonville, Florida–Darrel Gilyard, pastor of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, was arrested for sending lewd messages to underage girls, after 20 years of accusations of indecent conduct. Gilyard was purported to be one of the up and coming leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.
* Arlington, Texas–Leroy Ruedes Cruz, pastor of Grace Fellowship, a pentecostal-type, strip mall church, was arrested for solicitation of a minor over the internet.
* Shellman, George–Harold Lasseter, Jr., pastor of the Shellman United Methodist Church, was arrested at his church on child pornography charges.
*

Roy Mace Honeycutt II

Asheville, North Carolina–Roy Mace Honeycutt II, preacher affiliated with the Bethel Baptist Church of Asheville, NC, and the Trinity Baptist Church of Mars Hill, NC, was arrested for sex crimes against children over a 30 year time span.

While researching for this post, I found many other hypocrite preachers who work their scams and commit their crimes while serving as ministers in churches, especially Southern Baptist churches, pentecostal churches, and other evangelical organizations. I also found an eye-opening site that exposes many of these predator preachers, many of whom have kept out of the news. Check it out at: stopbaptistpredators. org

Who knows you might find your church preacher listed there!


A “haggard” Haggard

As far as Ted Haggard goes, he supposedly is out of the preaching business and selling insurance, but his big coup to bring him back into the limelight is a HBO, “The Trials of Ted Haggard”. After being paid $130,000 from his former mega-church in Colorado Springs to keep his mouth shut about all his sex and drug antics, they have now legally let him off the hook to make and promote his documentary. (I wonder how many details the documentary will be included about the sessions Haggard and Mike Jones, the male hustler that he hired for sex.)


Tony Alamo in 2008

As far as a predator, it appears that Tony Alamo may be one of the worst of the lot in that it appears he had a ring of followers and supporters for his criminal acts. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Alamo as the leader of “a cult that thrives on criticism of homosexuals, Roman Catholics and the government”. He is scheduled to go on trial in Texarkana, Arkansas in May of this year. There is now an entire website devoted to working for the conviction of Alamo and the arrest of other members of his group at tonyalamonews.com

Why spend an entire post on these derelicts? Because they are the leaders of their churches, and week after week, they preach to hundreds and thousands of people and have a lot of influence upon them. Then they use their power and status to control their followers’ lives in almost every aspect. And like Haggard, they are among the many evangelicals and other religious hypocrites who help keep homophobia and and anti-gay legislation going. They need to be exposed for what they are: liars and hypocrites.

In: News Blogs & Forums

| Back to Top |
Want to help?



Click the button!
Why?

Post A Comment

Please note: All comments are moderated. There is no need to resubmit your comment. Please submit a well thought out post with proper punctuation and spelling, so that it can be reviewed and posted promptly (as space allows).

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.