Religion Youth Pastor Watch
posted by on May 7 at 10:50 AM
Testimony began yesterday for a former youth minister charged with sexually assaulting three boys under his tutelage. [Rev. David Baird] faces more than 20 charges….Mr. Baird was youth minister at Covenant Church of Pittsburgh in Wilkinsburg in 1999 when an East Hills boy, the first to file a complaint, was recruited to participate in programs. The boy was 9 or 10 years old when the alleged assaults began, according to his testimony at a hearing in June…. The third alleged victim told investigators that he was on juvenile probation in 2002, and had been ordered to perform community service in Wilkinsburg with Mr. Baird as his supervisor.
Instead of working on the assigned project, the boy said in a sworn affidavit, Mr. Baird drove him to Friendship Park in Penn Hills. The boy said he was “shocked, afraid and offended” as Mr. Baird molested him. The youth said the assault ended only after he began to cry out in pain.
A former Surprise charter school teacher who was charged in a pair of child pornography investigations over the past two months had more charges brought against him this week.Surprise police detectives on Wednesday charged Victor Scott McPeak Jr. with four counts of aggravated assault after four former students alleged that he molested them…. McPeak Jr., the son of a retired minister, attended a private Christian college in Joplin, Mo., and served stints as a church leader in Gering, Neb., and Douglas, Wyo.
Keith Couch, an elder at the Nebraska church, said McPeak Jr. would sometimes help out as a youth minister at the Central Church of Christ.
A former Spring Valley youth pastor at Valley Christian Center was sentenced last week to 120 days in jail after pleading guilty Feb. 25 to two counts of criminal sexual conduct. Derrick DeBoef…. was charged Feb. 2, 2007, with 32 felonies, all of them criminal sexual conduct, for allegedly engaging in sexual penetration and sexual contact with the girl, who was 17 at the time.At that time, she was meeting with him to receive religious or spiritual counseling.
Priest calls for new strategies to keep young adults in churchEvery diocese needs a comprehensive pastoral plan specifically aimed at young adults to reverse the hemorrhage of Catholics in their 20s and early 30s leaving the Catholic Church, a national pioneer in young adult ministry said.
Hm… a strategy… how about stop raping kids maybe?
"We've got a problem in the Catholic church! How do we get these kids to shut up?"
srsly... back in my day--the 90's--we got raped by our pastors all the time. you didn't hear us crying, didja? and i like to think we all love jesus a lot more because of it. grow up, kids!
No longer raping children is a start. But what about the rest of us who were raised in the Catholic Church and are now agnostics? That is juts about everyone I know from childhood!
I can understand the guy screwing the 17-year-old girl. Heck, 17-year-old girls are hot. But those sicko queers abusing boys? They should have their dicks cut off.
@4,
Eat shit and die.
It might also help for the church to catch up with the 21st century. Why shouldn't young people abandon Catholicism? They want sex, they want birth control, they want the right to choose abortion, and they want acceptance for themselves or their gay friends.
well, the 27 year old knew better, and likely abused his position of authority (and as a spiritual guidance counselor). i do feel 17 year olds can make this sort of decision for themselves, so i'm a little torn. but perhaps the shorter jail sentence (14 years suspended) reflects that.
Soon the Catholic Church in the US will look a lot like the Elks or the Moose. There won't be anyone on the sunny side of 50 who claims membership.
10 POST "PEDOPHILE PRIEST UPDATE"
20 POST "HOMICIDAL HETERO PARENT UPDATE"
30 POST "WHINE ABOUT LAST SUPPER HYPOCRISY"
40 GOTO 10
Because Jesus = Rape!
Look Horny, Jesus is Coming!
God, what another stellar example of idiot logic by Dan Savage. I'm amazed his fan club hasn't figured this shit out yet. But it's becoming more fun for me to read their cheerleading. Stupidville, USA.
"i do feel 17 year olds can make this sort of decision for themselves"
Weird, that's exactly what I told my, uh, ex.
He drove the boy to "Friendship Park"? God, that guy's got balls (of irony)!
Once it gets out that I plant all these stories about rapey youth pastors myself, these posts are going to be even more infuriating.
Who said Jesus = Rape? Jesus is dead. The dead can't rape. Dance, yes; rape, no.
Thank you for playing Slog.
At first I thought YPW was shocking, then I got kind of bored with it, then I thought it was a little gratuitous, but now I'm absolutely fascinated that you can manage to find a half-dozen new stories of this stuff happening each week! It's almost like Youth Pastors know that you need stories for your posts, so they keep fondling child penises just to help you out. Hmm...that has the makings of a good conspiracy theory.
just to clarify, the age of consent varies from state to state. from what i understand, 17 is of age in some cases.
what is at more issue in this case is the "pastor" taking advantage of the minor seeking counseling. legally, such a person is held to a higher standard. to allow counselors, teachers, coaches, etc... to do their jobs requires these extra measures.
as i said, the guy knew better.
As of several years ago, in Virginia the age of consent was absurdly low, like 14. To work though you had to be 16. Anyone you saw in a uniform at the mall was fair game!
For all I know, this is still the case. In Texas, where I live, the age of consent is 17.
I also used to think these stories were somewhat gratuitous. The sheer number of them has started to persuade me though. It seems like it is just another of the "contact with young people" jobs that really draws the pedophiles.
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