Scroll down for John Langworthy stuff.

I'm keeping the John Langworthy story on the front page for now, but a couple of local stories are in the news now. More information will be available after JL's scheduled court date on October 5th or as soon as it develops.

Please, if you were a victim of JL or any other abuser or have information about this case or abuse of anyone, regardless of how insignificant the information may seem, contact the proper authorities and let them sort it out. In Clinton, that would be detective Josh Frazier at 601-924-5252.

If the abuse or suspicion of abuse occurred in Jackson, MS:

Jackson Police Sex Crimes:

601-960-1210

In addition to either of the two police departments listed above, to provide any information regarding the JL case or abuse in Hinds County, MS, contact Assistant D.A. Jamie McBride at 601-968-6568.

If the abuse or suspicion of abuse occurred at Prestonwood or in the Dallas area:

This is a great list of victim's services information.

Dallas Police non-emergency number:

214-744-4444

Child exploitation unit:

214-671-4211

Dallas Children's Advocacy Center

214-818-2600

DCAC victim assistant coordinator:

214-818-2613

DCAC will act as the go-between if you do not want to contact the police directly. Don't worry about any statute of limitations. What may seem to be an insignificant detail may be the missing puzzle piece the investigators need. Go to them and tell them what you know and let them determine if it's important! They will keep your identity confidential.


Scroll down for all the John Langworthy articles and comments or click on these links:

John Langworthy Arrested (Current JL thread. Comments are active.)

Comments are closed on these older articles, but the articles and previous comments are still available.

Church Leaders Lawyer Up In Sex Crime Investigation

Wolves in the Music Ministry - Part 2

Wolves in the Music Ministry

John Langworthy Arrested

John Langworthy was arrested Wednesday, September 7th.


Newspaper articles:

Clarion Ledger >> Former Clinton music minister faces sex crime charges in 2 cities

Clarion Ledger >> Ex-minister facing sex charge

Associated Baptist Press >> Former music minister charged with sex crimes

Clarion Ledger >> Ex-minister faces Oct. 5 trial on sex counts

**NEW** Clarion Ledger >> Church should be a safe place for kids


Television:

WAPT-TV >> Former Clinton Minister Faces Sex Crime Charges

WJTV-TV >> Former Minister Arrested For Sex Crimes



WJTV-TV >> Ex-Minister's Arrest Sparks Reaction


WLBT-TV >> Former music minister faces 8 sex-related charges



FOX 40 >> UPDATE: John Langworthy Arrested

FOX 40 >> What's Next for John Langworthy

FOX 40 >> John Langworthy Arrest

WAPT-TV >> Former Minister Facing Sex Charges

WLBT-TV >> Clinton teacher out on bond for alleged sex crimes


Blogosphere:

Stop Baptist Predators >> Mississippi rep seeks secrecy for church

Stop Baptist Predators >> Admitted minister-molester: "I was not asked to resign"


Previous articles:

Wolves in the Music Ministry

Wolves in the Music Ministry - Part 2

Church Leaders Lawyer Up In Sex Crime Investigation

Church Leaders Lawyer Up In Sex Crime Investigation

Well, this is just sad. Unfortunately, it was also predictable. I was really hoping Morrison Heights Baptist Church was going to be the exception and not the rule.


Read along and let this sink in:

According to his alleged victim, John Langworthy's sex crimes took place 22 years ago when the former minister of music at Morrison Heights Baptist Church was babysitting.

McBride: "And obviously it's a very serious allegation."

Prosecutors say the accusations against the 49-year-old husband and father include multiple acts of child molestation.

McBride: "I guess it really would fall under both sexual battery and gratification of lust, both lustful touching and penetration.

Assistant district attorney, Jamie McBride, wants to know what church leaders know about Langworthy's possible past sex crimes, but elders at Morrison Heights are now speaking through their attorney.

McBride: "The attorney for them has asked us to come up with some law to talk about whether or not that's privileged conversations or not."

Ross Adams, WJTV News, Channel 12


Could this be what all the "lawyering up" is about?

Who may report a suspected case of child abuse?

In accordance with Section 43-21-353 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, "Any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, family protection worker, family protection specialist, child caregiver, minister, law enforcement officer, public or private school employee or any other person having reasonable cause to suspect that a child is a neglected child or an abused child, shall cause an oral report to be made immediately by telephone or otherwise and followed as soon thereafter as possible by a report in writing to the Department of Human Services, ..."

What will happen if you know of abuse and don't report it?

Upon being found guilty, the individual shall be punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed one (1) year, or both. Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated Section 43-21-353(7).


Related articles:

Clarion Ledger >> August 28th >> Abuse case talks called privileged

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services >> Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect: Summary of State Laws

Wolves in the Music Ministry

Wolves in the Music Ministry - Part 2

Letter to the editor in the Clarion Ledger from David Clohessy, national director of SNAP.

WAPT-TV >> Grand Jury To Consider Case Against Former Clinton Minister

Associated Baptist Press >> Prosecutors want information from church about former minister suspected of child abuse

We saw the same stonewalling from Bellevue during the Paul Williams investigation.

Deny, Deny, Deny!

Wolves in the Music Ministry

Update: After over 240 comments in this thread, discussion will be continued here.





Two posts back the comment stream began to veer off topic and onto a much more serious subject than the original post. It began with this comment:



Anonymous said...



I have been trying now for about 9 months to warn about a predator pedophile music minister. This man was my youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas in the mid 80s. He became a close family friend, even living with my family for a while. I was on the church staff as a youth intern as a college student in 1989when this minister was fired abruptly due to credible accusations of sexual abuse by several boys in the church. He was confronted by church staff, including the head pastor at the time, who is still the head pastor today, Dr. Jack Graham. This offender admitted to the abuse. The church did not report his crimes to the police, which was mandated by law starting in 1971, just fired him and told him to leave. Church members were not informed.



He packed up that week and moved back to his home state of MS where he is on staff now as music minister of all ages at a church in Clinton, outside of Jackson, Morrison Heights Baptist Church. He also teaches choir at the local public high school. I have spoken with the school superintendent, head pastor, as well as local law enforcement. Both the school and church have confronted this man, and he admits to the abuse that occurred in Dallas, as well as to abusing a boy in MS that he babysat prior to his job in Dallas.



I know that local law enforcement is very concerned and has advised that this minister be fired, yet he remains on staff. The MS pastor and elders told me that they are concerned with protecting this minister’s reputation, as “everyone in the [town] knows [him.] and that “he has the largest church youth choir in the state.” I have even been contacted by this man’s attorney who is a church elder and has heard accounts of the abuse from victims and admission by his client. This attorney is also a MS state rep. The attorney asked if I would speak with him to “discuss a resolution.” I said no. The MS pastor has told me that they “feel my pain.” I expressed to them that I am not a victim, but I am doing this as a victims’ advocate to protect children.



I have also contacted Prestonwood Baptist to plead that they do the right thing and report these crimes against children that occurred on their watch. Silence has been the response. Recently Christa Brown who founded Stop Baptist Predators posted my story on her blog.



1:13 PM, May 27, 2011



I've reposted the subsequent comments in this thread, and the discussion can continue here.

Paul Williams Update

Does that photo send chills up your spine? Make you sick to your stomach? Well, it should!

The afternoon of April 7th someone contacted me to ask if a Paul Williams who wrote a paper for Union University back in 2002 was "the" Paul Williams. Judging from the photo and bio of the man, it was not.

However, that got me to wondering what the former Bellevue Paul Williams is up to. A quick Google search led straight to the Warren Community Church March 2011 newsletter. The story begins on page 2 and is continued on subsequent pages. I planned then to do an update, but within a few hours of forwarding this information to Christa Brown and others, Christa posted a very good article saying everything I could have said and more (and said it much better than I could have, too).

We knew he'd been hanging out at WCC several years ago, right after he left Bellevue. (He and his wife live in Somerville.) It was rumored back then that the pastor of WCC, Ken Culver, had even offered him a staff position. Several people were outraged at this news and at least one called the pastor, who eventually denied the rumor (after asking what business it was of the caller's), but he did reportedly say he wouldn't see any problem with Paul being on staff since it was all in the past (how does he know it's "all in the past"?) and how it's possible for people to be forgiven and restored. Yes. Yes, they certainly can, although that's generally preceded by repentance, confession, and asking for forgiveness, but there are consequences to our actions (ask Karla Faye Tucker), and one of the consequences of being a confessed child molester is that you are never, under any circumstances, allowed to be alone around children or, in the case of a minister or other church leader, ever be allowed to be in a position of leadership again. This is just common sense. Besides, I've never seen any evidence of repentance from Paul Williams. He never addressed the people of Bellevue and seems to have gone merrily on with his life as if nothing ever happened.


A few months later someone who lives in Somerville had taken her child to some kind of homeschooling activity they have at WCC, and she said Paul was "hanging out" there in the middle of the day during the week. Then he was spotted, alone, at a children's basketball game, just standing there watching.

Last I heard the victim still would not allow Paul to see his grandchildren, so those must be his daughter's children in the above photo.

So Paul is on the Board of Trustees of WCC now. That would be like... an "elder" or something, right? Remember what Steve Gaines said about elders?

What is an elder? It's a pastor. It's not some "super deacon." It's not some elevated lay person. An elder is a pastor is a bishop is a pastor is an elder is a bishop -- all the same stuff. There's only two offices in the New Testament -- pastor, which is also an elder and a bishop and deacons.

I realize the job of most trustees is merely to rubber-stamp whatever the pastor wants, but I'd be willing to bet there are no women on that BOT because, you know, women are excluded from "leadership" roles within the church (that don't involve only other women or young children). However, the bar must be set pretty low for men at WCC.

Paul Williams not only didn't go to jail, he was never charged with anything. (The statute of limitations in Tennessee, which has since been extended, had passed, and the victim was reportedly not willing to pursue any legal action.) Yet Paul Williams is a self-admitted pedophile! He should be listed on the sex offender registry, but he's not along with at least 95% of his fellow pedophiles.

And all this isn't even addressing what adult female victims of this man's lecherous comments (much more recent than any 17-21 years ago) have said his behavior has done to them, proving once again pedophilia and sexual abuse are rarely about "sex" but about exerting power over someone weaker. Make's 'em feel like real manly men, I guess. One of his female victims described his eyes, when he went into "pervert" mode, as "soulless."

In my opinion Paul Williams and that Hernando pastor, Eddie Prince, who was caught downloading child porn at the library should be sharing a prison cell. What would Eddie Prince's family's reaction be had it been one of their children exploited for child porn? And who knows if this guy has done more than "just look"? Besides, child porn is not a "victimless" crime. Someone's children were victimized to produce this perverted filth, and by seeking it out and watching it, you're just as guilty as the lowlife who produced it. If there wasn't a market they wouldn't do it.

Since Christa's article was published, several writers have published articles about this story, but it's no surprise we don't seem to find any mention of it in "conservative" SBC blogs or publications.

The Big Daddy Weave >> Southern Baptist church Selects Confessed Sex Offender as Trustee

Baptist Life >> SBC church names confessed sex offender as Trustee

Civil Commotion >> Pedophilia: Not a career impediment in the SBC

And shouldn't we all be ashamed that "the world" can see the problem, but so many in the church cannot?

Atheist Revolution >> Idiot of the Week: Warren Community Church, Somerville, TN

"Idiot of the Week," indeed.