Youth pastor Angelo Golatt arrested

Youth pastor Angelo Deboray “Doogie” Golatt was arrested on sex-crimes charges related to children from Donahue Family Church.

Golatt, who no longer works at Donahue, faces one count of aggravated rape, one count of sexual battery and two counts of molestation of a juvenile, authorities said.

Doogie was a youth pastor in charge of the junior high school children. Authorities think there are more victims. Doogie got his job because they trusted him.

"Harvest Celebration Church merged with Donahue Family Church in 2003. "Doogie" was a part of Harvest Celebration Church when they merged with Donahue Family Church. "Doogie" was highly recommended by the pastor of Harvest Celebration Church for the position of Jr. High Minister. After being interviewed by the other staff pastors of Donahue Family Church was placed in the position of Jr. High Youth Minister until he left Donahue Family Church sometime in 2005. He was under the direct supervision of the current Youth Minister at the time, who also recommended "Doogie" highly for this position. When I first heard of these accusations my heart was broken and my prayers go out to everyone involved in this situation."

He got his job via an interview and recommendations. A key piece of information, if a background check was run on the young youth pastor, was not mentioned in the statement. That’s most likely because one did not happen. They also failed to mention his qualifications. I always assume there must be qualifications to be a youth pastor. A degree in sociology or counseling, or some equivalent, right? Why would adults let an unqualified young man lead a group of impressionable children? It is a recipe for child abuse, yet the storied is repeated over and over again.

Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Baptists,Child Molestation,Rape

HDR of clouds and a palm tree

I shot this while waiting for my wife and son to return from eating in a local McDonalds. I take my camera with me when I go out; even if it is just to run errands. This is spot on the Los Angeles County and Orange County border near where I live. It has sat undeveloped for 30 years while some of the most expensive property in the area grew up around it. There is a small homeless population living under the bridge behind the tree on Coyote Creek (out of sight to the left). Cerritos Sheriffs and the La Palma police take turn rousting them out.

This shot was a three shot bracket at a baseline of f.11 with one stop over and one stop under. I used Photomatrix Pro to make the HDR.

Technorati Tags: Photography,HDR

Youth pastor Andrew Thomas convicted

Youth pastor Andrew Thomas entered a plea agreement where he will serve 15 years in prison for criminal sexual assault. The former youth pastor is a classic sexual predator.

The case, which began in March 2010, initiated the investigation that led to a federal grand jury indictment against Thomas on five counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Those charges alleged he utilized a scheme in which he identified himself on Internet social networking sites and in text messages or e-mails as a female and used the personas to entice local minor-age boys, sending them pornographic female images and in return soliciting pornographic images of the young boys.

Thomas is a former youth pastor at the First Church of Christ in Rossville. He was also a track coach at a local elementary school.

The comments on this article are typical:

I agree that Mr Thomas should go to jail and forever be prevented from ever committing another heinous crime such as this, however, I don't see the point in going after the church. What could they have done to prevent employing a pedifile as a youth minister? A background check?…

There are things the church could have done. A background check is the minimum one would expect. If one were not done the church is clearly negligent. There are also psychological profiles that can help predict behavior and inclination. There are third party services that can act as clearing houses for anonymous abuse concerns.There are policies that can guide acceptable conduct. There are safe counseling practices that can assure children are not abused while in his care. There are IT practices that can also be use to catch predictive behavior. The list is quite extensive. My point is – the church must do these things even if the youth pastor is a long time community member with the trust of the staff. They might not prevent him abusing children in his private life, but you will reduce the risk of abuse at Church.

Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse

Caging a sexual predator with an electronic leash?

Pastor Royce Shorter is already a convicted sexual predator. He raped a 13-year-old girl back in 1985. And with the whole Christian redemption and forgiveness thing, was freed to prey on children again as a pastor and music teacher. Now he stands accused of grooming and raping young girls, but this time he’s looking at life in prison. If the crimes are so heinous and he is a credible threat to society, why is he allowed out on bail with just an electronic monitor? Could it be because he’s a pastor? Of course, having a congregation that believes in you does not hurt.

The Rev. Royce Shorter, 54, was arrested and charged in February with two counts of third-degree rape and one count of third-degree child molestation, court records show. Members of Shorter's church "pooled their money" to post his $350,000 bail, according to defense attorney Amy Muth. Jail records show he was released less than 24 hours after he was booked.

Authorities think Shorter is a serial rapists.

Since Shorter's arrest in February, six women have contacted Seattle police detectives and described similar sexual abuse at the hands of Shorter, now the minister of music at the Greater New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Seattle's Rainier Valley. Shorter was previously the choir director at Emerald City Seventh-day Adventist Church in Seattle's Central Area.

It is wise to let him roam free?

Clergy Sexual Abuse, Rape, Hypocrisy

Related articles

• Pastor Royce Shorter arrested (mojoey.blogspot.com)
• Bail allowed for minister charged in rape, molestation of teen (seattlepi.com)
• Pastor, music-store owner in Renton charged with rape, child molestation (seattlepi.com)

Pastor Roberts accused of theft

Former pastor and presiding AME elder Jonathan Roberts and his alleged partner in crime, Roberta Simmons, were charged with crimes related to the alleged stealing of funds from their church. Saint Stephens AME Church is Hardeeville, S.C., is missing about $50k from its bank account. 

"There was an account that a couple of years ago contained about $56,000 and now contained only about $2,000," Nagy said.

Nagy said investigators are unsure how much money Simmons and Roberts may have stolen or what they did with it.

"Those are the kinds of questions we're trying to get answered to get justice in this case, and satisfy the congregation," Nagy said. "This is still an ongoing investigation. These are the first two charges that we've made but it would not surprise me if there were more charges or if we found out there were other people involved."

Read more: Church elder, secretary accused of fleecing Hardeeville flock

Why do people steal such small sums of money from a church where the crime will eventually be discovered? My personal theory is they bet on church elders not wanting a public scandal.

Technorati Tags: Clergy Misconduct,AME,Theft

Pastor Soulja gets 5 to life

Pastor Aaron Witcher a.k.a. “Pastor Soulja”, was sentenced to a prison term of 5 years to life for his rape of a 15-year-old girl from his church.

Aaron Witcher — known locally as the rapping "Pastor Soulja" — had pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court to two counts of first-degree felony rape.

Judge Ernie Jones said prison was appropriate because Witcher, 38, had sexual intercourse with the girl more than 20 times as well as other instances of sexual activity.

Correction – Aaron Witcher is now known as the raping “Pastor Soulja”. It’s sure to get him lots of love while performing as Lady Gaga in prison.

Previous posts:

• Pastor Aaron Witcher convicted

• Pastor Aaron Witcher arrested

Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Rape

Related articles

• Former Roy pastor sentenced to prison for rape

HDR - Lowrider truck

Sometimes the photos I shoot are just photos of things I like – a visual shopping list if you will. I’ve always liked vintage trucks. I want it. My favorite is a 69 ford (it’s what I learned to drive on).

This is a tone mapped HDR black & white. I had not intended on shooting an HDR shot, but I had my camera set up in bracket mode. The combination of 3 photos is much better than any single shot.

Technorati Tags: Photography,HDR

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• Back to Black-and-White (pixiq.com)

Corruption and Christian blindness

I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between genuine Christian believers, and those who are in it for the money. It seems incongruent that people see religion as a way to gain a financial (or sexual) advantage over others, but we know this to be common based on the large number of fallen pastors who have appeared on this blog. Those who game the system stand out from their peers. I honestly don’t know why Christians can’t see it for themselves. It’s a bit like finding Waldo at a emo convention. Waldo stands out. So does this class of degenerate pastors.

Pastor David Lee Edward Mitchell stands accused of giving legal advice without a license. While the charge seems relatively harmless, it is in fact theft by misrepresentation. Mitchell allegedly took payment for services and then did nothing.

Police say another woman came forward after seeing Mitchell on the news and told investigators that she had been defrauded of $1100. The 59-year-old woman said she met with Mitchell who claimed to have three lawyers working with him and that her son would be out of jail. The woman told police that Mitchell had done nothing to help them after being paid.

More victims are coming forward now that this case has hit the press. He is in jail pending release on a $150k bond.

Who would trust this man? He is a convicted criminal. He served time for forgery and grand Larceny and was paroled in 2007. How many red flags do people need? A fresh out of prison pastor that victims willing gave large sums of money too in exchange for legal advice - it strains credulity. Nobody is that dumb – unless it comes to religion. One should at least as the question, “Is this man trustworthy?”

hat tip Conservative Babylon.

Technorati Tags: Christians,Clergy Misconduct

Good idea, bad implementation

It’s easy for the atheist community to dismiss the actions of people like Houston judge John Clinton. He was trying to think outside the box when he assigned book reports instead of jail time for petty crimes. Being a Christian, he chose an overtly Christian book, The Heart of the Problem, for his smalltime crooks to read. I’m sure he thought that he was helping. The ACLU warned him off. To his credit, he stopped the program immediately.

I liked his intent, but not his choice of reading material. Keeping people out of jail while still holding them accountable seems like a great idea to me. I like the idea of a bunch of stoners reading a good book or two, and the writing something to settle their debt to society would be a bonus. Judge Clinton – make a list of 10 good non-religious books. Let your convicted criminals choose their own poison. I’d even go so far as to say that you should collect and publish the results. It would be the judicial equivalent of the People of Walmart. And set a high standard for the book report. Make it at least 10 pages of text and have them use the APA style guild. Let’s see what they learn.

My suggestions:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
• Bury my heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. (Black Elk Speaks as an alternate)
• North of Boston by Robert Frost
• The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Technorati Tags: Christians,Religion,Texas

Mike Huckabee wants to force us to listen to a fundie message at gunpoint

Via Right Wing Watch

Hey – I can tell he’s half joking, but I can also see that it is his true desire. This clip alone should be enough to end his bid for the presidency.

Technorati Tags: Fundies,Politics,Huckabee

HDR Photo - I love urban ugly

I love shooting urban ugly. With the help of HDR, I can play with the results. This is a shot of a nasty little parking lot for a mediocre little restaurant called the Olympic Coffee Shop in Sylmar, California. Yelp led me there. I will never go back. The food was gross. The parking lot was so ugly it hurt my eyes.

Technorati Tags: Photography,HDR

Pastor Paul Johnson arrested

Just when I think these stories cannot get any worse, they do. Pastor Paul Burk Johnson of Calvary Baptist Church in Dunn, N.C., was arrested on sexual batter charges. The alleged victim is a 64-year-old woman living in a nursing home because she has diminished mental capacity. Johnson is 74.

Benson police reported that Johnson, a minister who visits patients at a Benson nursing home, had several encounters with a 64-year-old woman who has a diminished mental capacity.
According to a statement released by Liberty Commons Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a nurse at the facility noticed Johnson engaged in "inappropriate conduct" toward a resident in the facility.

Johnson is also a member of the board of ministers at Campbell University Divinity School.
I don’t know what to say here. This is just wrong. But I’ll ask the obvious question. If a lifelong pastor can stoop to a crime this repugnant, where is the moral advantage in Christianity?

Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Baptists

Photo – macro shot of dew on twig

This is my second shot from yesterday. I like it much more. The first shot is here.

Technorati Tags: Photography

Photo - drops of water on a twig

It rained today here in Los Angeles. We’ve had rain for a what seems like weeks now. I had planned to get up early and play disc golf, instead I was stuck inside. When a break in the weather came, I used it to shoot a few photos in my backyard.

Shot with a Nikon D300 and Nikkor 105mm macro at 1/250 and f/18.

Technorati Tags: Photography

Was James Dean molested by a pastor?

According to the late Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean was molested by his pastor when he was 11.

In the chat 14 years ago, Taylor revealed: "When Jimmy was 11 and his mother passed away, he began to be molested by his minister. I think that haunted him the rest of his life. In fact, I know it did. We talked about it a lot. During 'Giant' we'd stay up nights and talk and talk, and that was one of the things he confessed to me."

Apparently it haunted him the rest of his short life. It would haunt me too.

Technorati Tags: Clergy Sexual Abuse,Religion

Related articles

• "James Dean Molested as a Child? Elizabeth Taylor Dished The Dirt on Actor James Dean!" and related posts (showbizspy.com)
• James Dean, Church Molestation Victim? (queerty.com)
• Elizabeth Taylor Finally Tells James Dean's Long Held Secret (pinkbananaworld.com)