Accusations of sexual misconduct against a preacher led to his arrest and extradition to Russell County this week. Christopher Bennett, 30, of Apt. Z6, 200 Franklin Road NE, Atlanta , was arrested Wednesday in the Atlanta area and charged with second-degree sodomy, said Russell County Sheriff's Lt. Heath Taylor. The charge stems from a Russell County High student's disclosure a few days after graduation that Bennett had inappropriately touched the then 14- or 15-year-old boy in 2004, the lieutenant said. "In that disclosure, he stated that (Bennett) was befriending him, mentoring him, and that on a particular occasion in Christopher's apartment in Phenix City , that he sexually molested him," Taylor said. Bennett is the president and CEO of Chris Bennett Ministries and presiding bishop of the Generation Impact Movement , according to kingdompeople.org . The Web site claims that Bennett travels across the country and world to preach about the word of God. Bennett...

Lycoming County, PA -- Federal investigators are cracking-down on a bankrupt CEO who is also a pastor. He's charged with defrauding investors of more than a half million dollars. Investigators said the fraud case started about six years ago when Pastor Jerry Frear, Jr . set up an investment company and told people he would double their money. Not long after they bought in, Frear went bankrupt leaving those investors high and dry. The federal grand jury indictment details the fraud and conspiracy case against Frear, who is known not only as a pastor, but to some, a financial genius. He is now charged with defrauding them out of more than $500,000. Court papers detail a mail and wire fraud case that includes conspiracy charges spanning the United States, Canada, even China. The grand jury alleges that Frear took more than $607,000 from investors, promising he could double their investment. Court papers reveal that when Frear's business went down the tubes he never told his acc...

The victim charging a Chubbuck youth pastor with sexual assault testified in court on Wednesday. Joshua Robinson is charged with two counts of lewd conduct with a minor and one count of sexually abusing a minor. The victim said the alleged conduct started when she was just 15. She took the stand for almost two and a half hours, testifying what happened between her and Robinson. She explained that the Gate City Christian church , where she used to attend and Robinson currently works and was a youth pastor. In the spring of 2005 is when the alleged victim says things started to change. The prosecution continued questioning the alleged victim. Then a taped phone call between Robinson and the alleged victim was played. The taped call was set up by the Chubbuck Police Department after the alleged victim and her mother went to police. After the call was played, the prosecution called one more witness before resting its case. The defense then called their first witness, Joshua Robinson. ...

A Baptist minister from Cleveland Heights admitted Thursday that he molested two children, including one of his wife's relatives and an unrelated member of his church's flock who was 12 years old and deaf. The Rev. Wayne Biles, former pastor of Mount Ararat Missionary Baptist Church at 3793 East 131st St., pleaded guilty Tuesday to rape, gross sexual imposition and kidnapping. His plea deal calls for 17 years of incarceration when Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Hollie Gallagher sentences him July 31. Biles could not be reached to comment. He began a pattern of molesting his wife's relative about 13 years ago, "as soon as [he and his bride] returned home from their honeymoon," said Assistant County Prosecutor Pinkey Carr. The victim, also 12 at the time, told her mother, who advised her to keep quiet about it and pray, Carr said. That victim, now 25 and married, complied until last year, when she told Cleveland Heights police. Unbeknownst to her, authorities...

He may follow God's law, but a pastor may have broken state law after police arrested him on a charge of misdemeanor assault. On the Website of Tabernacle Christian Church , Suffolk pastor Carlton Upton Senior welcomes newcomers, writing "as family, we will embrace, nurture, and love you in such a spiritual way that God will be pleased." Now some are asking where the love was last Tuesday when the minister apparently forgot the embraces, and allegedly took a stranglehold on a church secretary. Suffolk Police Lieutenant Debbie George says, "According to the victim, there was an argument between the two and at some point the pastor physically assaulted her by choking her." In the criminal complaint, the secretary, Beatrix Mitchell writes, "he grabbed me by my neck and threw me on top of my desk." Court documents say Mitchell hit her head on the phone. George says, "According to the report, individuals had to attempt to pull him off of the victim...

The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members. The figures released to the Associated Press offer a glimpse into what has long been an extremely difficult phenomenon to pin down – the frequency of sex abuse in Protestant congregations. Religious groups and victims’ supporters have been keenly interested in the figure ever since the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis hit five years ago. The church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics since 1950. Protestant numbers have been harder to come by and are sketchier because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic church. Many congregations are independent, which makes reporting even more difficult. Some of the only numbers come from three insurance companies – Church Mutual Insurance C...

GREAT BARRINGTON — The Rev. Esther Dozier , pastor of Clinton AME Zion Church, was found dead of stab wounds in her Railroad Avenue house yesterday, and her husband, Henry E. Dozier Sr., was charged with her murder. Police said the 65-year-old minister was found in her bed shortly before 6:30 a.m. by her son, Alphonse Dozier of Giddings Street, upon receiving a phone call from his 63-year-old father asking him to come to their house. Police Chief William R. Walsh Jr. said that when the son arrived, the father was leaving the building. "He passed his son in the hall," the chief said. Police responded to Alphonse Dozier's call, and upon on their arrival found no apparent sign of a struggle, Walsh said. However, a closer inspection of the house was being done last night by state police investigators. An autopsy will be performed in Holyoke today or tomorrow. "It's a very hard situation for the family, but they've been extremely cooperative with us," said W...

A former Kiefer minister is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing Wednesday in connection with child sexual abuse charges. Stephen D. Shorey, 40, was arrested in April on a complaint of child sexual abuse. The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m., and will be heard at the Creek County Courthouse before Special District Judge Richard Woolery. In a May 22 hearing, a not guilty plea was submitted on behalf of Shorey in front of Associate District Judge April Sellers White. He remains free on $5,000 bond. Shorey was also arrested early last year on charges of identity theft and forgery while he was serving as pastor of the Kiefer Assembly of God Church . Shorey allegedly spent more than $5,000 on a credit card that he obtained under the name of the church treasurer. His hearing in this separate charge is scheduled for July 23. LINK

MIAMI - A couple who leads one of Brazil's biggest evangelical churches pleaded guilty on Friday to smuggling tens of thousands of dollars into the U.S. in luggage, a backpack and a Bible. Estevam Hernandes Filho, 53, and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, 48, are also charged in Brazil with stealing millions of dollars from parishioners for luxuries such as mansions and horse farms. They will likely be deported home after their U.S. case is resolved. The couple — known as Apostle Estevam and Bishop Sonia to their thousands of Christian faithful — admitted evading U.S. currency requirements and conspiracy. "Yes, guilty," Hernandes and his wife each said in Portuguese to U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, according to a court translator. Hernandes then tightly hugged his wife, who fought back tears. Both declined comment, as did their lawyers. Their church said in a statement issued Friday that the couple did not expect to go to prison and awaited their sentencing "wit...

The pastor of Emmanuel Apostolic Church was convicted yesterday of several sexual-offense charges involving a teenage girl who was a member of his church. He was sentenced in Forsyth Superior Court to at least 20 years in prison. What began as counseling sessions between the Rev. Gregory Michael Butler Sr. , 46, and a 14-year-old girl devolved into a sexual relationship with the sex acts taking place in his Cadillac, hotel rooms, and even inside his church, a prosecutor said yesterday during the trial. The names of the girl, who is now 17 and her family members are not being published because the Winston-Salem Journal does not publish the names of victims in cases involving sex crimes. Butler faced 13 counts of statutory sex offense, two counts of statutory rape and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. The jury deliberated for most of the day before returning its verdict. Butler was found guilty of all the charges. Butler, wearing a tan suit, showed no emotion when ...

Independent Conservative , a blog operated by Darnell McGavock, reports that Benny Hinn and his organization have succeeded in getting YouTube to remove many videos critical of his teachings and practices. Direct links to many of the videos now result in the display of a notice: This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Pastor Benny Hinn and the World Healing Church d/b/a Benny Hinn Ministries Evangelist Benny Hinn is controversial for his frequently aberrant - and at times heretical - theology, his unorthodox practices, his lies, and his false prophecies — not to mention his love of money. Using the DMCA to stifle criticism Hinn and his business are claiming copyright infringement under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) — an ill-conceived and much criticized piece of legislation also misused by such cults as the Church of Scientology as well as cult-like businesses like Landmark Eduction, in their efforts to stifle criticism. [ Scientology exam...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A former pastor was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for receiving child pornography videos he bought over the Internet, the U.S. Department of Justice said. David Waser, 58, former pastor of Newark's Second Church of Christ , ordered 11 child pornography videos in 2006 by sending a $130 money order to an address listed on an Internet advertisement, authorities said. The ad had been posted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service as part of an investigation into trafficking of child pornography. A postal inspector who posed as a letter carrier delivered the videos to Waser's home in Newark, about 30 miles east of Columbus, and obtained a search warrant immediately afterward. The inspector found the package opened and one of the videos inserted into a VCR, the government said. Church members removed Waser from office after his arrest. Waser pleaded guilty in March to receiving child pornography. He faced federal charges because the videotapes were sent ac...

The first stop on Mike Jones' book tour will be a Barnes & Noble in New York City on June 13. Five days But that is the explanation given by one of the chains. "Although the (Colorado Springs) stores will be selling the book, they did not feel that there was enough community interest to support holding a book signing," said Carolyn Brown, director of corporate communications for Barnes & Noble. A Borders spokeswoman said bringing Jones to Colorado Springs "would have opened up a wound just healing. This would have not created a comfortable environment for the author, our customers who live in this community or our staff who also live in the community." Richard Skorman, owner of Poor Richard's Bookstore downtown, said he wants to read the book before making a decision on a signing. As of Friday, he said, he was waiting to get a copy from the publisher, Seven Stories Press. Haggard was fired as head pastor of New Life Church and resigned as president...

Jeremy Beahan experienced a powerful conversion while attending Cornerstone University. Actually, make that "de-conversion." As the 26-year-old Grand Rapids resident pored over classical arguments seeking to prove God's existence, he found they no longer added up. "There were just plain philosophical problems with the attributes of God," said Beahan, who had planned to go into ministry before he graduated in 2005. "It just seemed that the evidence was overwhelming on the side of atheism. "It was purely an academic conversion." Beahan's wife, Jennifer, soon followed suit. They took a long walk as Jeremy professed his new-found beliefs. He never pressured her to change her worldview, both insist. It just kind of happened as she delved further. Both were raised in religious homes, and led their respective youth groups. "We weren't the fringe kids that never fit in anywhere," said Jennifer, 25. However, they felt increasingly isolate...

When Gerald Klever, then a pastor at First Presbyterian Church , allegedly forced a teenage girl to perform oral sex on him in his church office, he didn't have to use physical force, one of his accusers testified yesterday. Klever simply told the girl he knew about her family's "deep, dark secret" - her father was a transvestite - and he would tell the world if she didn't comply with his demands for sexual favors, she said. He went on to rape that girl and at least one other by invoking the name of God while serving as a pastor at the church in Springfield, Delaware County , authorities allege. After a hearing before Magisterial District Judge Anthony Scanlon, Klever, 75, was held for trial yesterday on three counts of rape, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related charges for acts that occurred more than 25 years ago. He is to be arraigned later this month in Media, where he will plead not guilty to all charges, said his Philadelphia at...