12 Religious Sexual Predators In New York State Turn Up On Secret List

A list of convicted and alleged sexual predators that Southern Baptists kept a secret for years includes 12 religious sex offenders, who have worked for various churches in New York State. The instructions on the list, which was published in the Washington Post.

The database, which an SBC attorney said includes people who have been criminally convicted of abuse and those who have confessed to abuse, is expected to show what top leaders knew behind the scenes while telling Southern Baptists they could not create a list of accused abusers because the denomination is not hierarchical and churches operate independently from one another.

1. Pastor William Johnson Jr. of Calvary Baptist Church in Ithaca, NY, was found guilty of statutory rape of a 13-yr-old in 1995.

The Rev. William Johnson Jr., was released from his duties after he was found guilty of statutory rape of a 13-year-old member of the congregation.

2. In 2003, an unnamed New York pastor was arrested for third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching, and endangering the welfare of a 16-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

3. In 2003, David Gardiner, the pastor of Liverpool Baptist Church in Liverpool, NY, was arrested for abusing a girl under the age of 11. Gardiner was arrested, and accused of molesting a couple of children.

4. In 2005, David J. Troup, the former pastor of Borden Baptist Church in Woodhull, NY, was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by 8 years of post-release supervision. He also had to register as a sex offender for abusing a 12-yr-old boy and two 10-year-old boys.

Troup was caught last August after someone called the State Child Abuse Hotline. He was then arrested in October for sexually abusing three boys under the age of 13 in 2005 and 2006 at the Borden Baptist church in Woodhull where he was a pastor.

5. A 27-year-old former choir member Patrick Newsome Jr. was convicted of sexually molesting a 10-yr-old girl in 2006. He worked for First Centennial Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

A jury had found Newsome guilty of three counts of first-degree sex abuse for the June 2006 incidents at First Centennial Baptist Church but not guilty of raping a 9-year-old girl while allegedly alone with her in his mother's Glenwood Avenue home.

6. In 2009, Jeremy Fulton a youth minister at Mariner’s Temple Baptist Church in NYC pleaded guilty to rape. He was sentenced to 22-years in prison. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement that Fulton,

used his position of authority and respect as a member of the clergy to win the trust of parents and gain access to children for the purpose of sexually abusing these girls," who were 10 to 16 when molested.

7. Pastor Phillip Joubert of the Community Baptist Church in Bayside, NY, was sentenced to five years in prison for sexual abuse in 2009.

Rev. Phillip Joubert, who was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for sexually abusing his then-13-year-old daughter two years ago.

8. In 2009, the former pastor of Oswegatchie First Baptist Church, in Oswegatchie, NY, Merton E. Parks, was sentenced to probation for downloading child pornography.

Parks was accused of downloading child pornography onto a computer at his office in the church in July of 2008. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes unit tracked Parks as he used his credit card to buy child pornography.

9. The son of the pastor of Hedstrom Memorial Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY, Caleb Sexton, was arrested for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

https://www.wivb.com/news/crime/son-of-pastor-local-basketball-coach-pleads-guilty-to-a-sexual-act-with-a-13-year-old/ local 28-year-old who used his connection with a church to develop a relationship with a 13-year-old has pleaded guilty to committing a sexual act with her. Police in Cheektowaga arrested Caleb Sexton on Sept. 26, 2014, and charged him with molesting the teen. Nearly a year later, he pleaded guilty to a charge of third degree criminal sexual act in Erie County Court.

10. In 2015, Pastor Thomas W. Wilson of Smithville Baptist Church in Watertown, NY, pleaded guilty to sexual contact with a 9-year-old girl in 2008. Was expected to be sentenced to 10 years’ probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.

The former pastor of Smithville Baptist Church pleaded guilty Tuesday in Jefferson County Court to an allegation that he had sexual contact with a 9-year-old girl in 2008. Thomas W. Wilson, 63, of 20560 Weaver Road, pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse. He had been charged in January with having sexual contact with the youth July 6, 2008, in Sackets Harbor.

11. Siepo Sampson, a music director who worked for Thessalonia Baptist Church in Morrisania, NY, was convicted of third-degree rape of a victim less than 17-years-old in 2015. In 2016, He was sentenced to 10 years probation and had to register as a sex offender.

According to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, Siepo had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl in September 2015. His victim was not a stranger, and was a student of Siepo's, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services. He was arrested by the New York City Police Department Sex Offender Unit and convicted of third-degree rape of a victim less than 17 years old the following year.

12. In 2019, Benjamin N. Widrick, 24, of Syracuse, NY, interned at Long Hollow Baptist Church’s
Gallatin campus in Tennessee. While at the church camp he engaged in sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl.

The Defendant, Benjamin N. Widrick, pleaded guilty in the Sumner County Criminal Court to three counts of statutory rape, a Class E felony. See T.C.A. § 39-13-506(b)(2) (2018). The plea agreement called for an effective five-year, Range I, probation sentence, with the issue of judicial diversion reserved for the trial court’s determination. After a hearing, the court denied diversion, and the Defendant appeals its ruling. We affirm the trial court’s denial of judicial diversion.

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