Baptist pastor charged with second-degree rape and sodomy

[Bluebear]

The pastor of a small Washington County (Alabama) Baptist Church was arrested and charged with second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy in connection with a nearly 10-year-old incident involving a 15-year-old girl, authorities said.

The Rev. Leonard Frazier, 55, of Stonewall Baptist Church near Chatom, was booked into Mobile County Metro Jail on Tuesday on the basis of a grand jury indictment. He was released on bail totaling $15,000, according to jail records.

A phone call made to Frazier's home in Mount Vernon on Tuesday evening resulted in no comment. No one answered the telephone at the church Wednesday...

"I find him to be a righteous man, and his life has always been lined up with the Word," said Roscoe Gatson, chairman of the deacons' board at Stonewall.

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1196331814263180.xml&coll=3

[Divine Discontent]

1. "and his life has always been lined up with the Word"

yes, Roscoe, and the Word says that all men have fallen short of the glory of God. To think of a pastor doing this to a girl is so damn sad...
so he'll be added to the list at some point over at armchairsubversive.com


hi, bb!

[madeline_con]

2. Another sich fuck trying to look respectable.

Roscoe Gatson, chairman of the deacons' board at Stonewall, doesn't know Frazier very well, does he?

He didn't tell the deacon he had a thing for kids, I guess.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. How awful!

:-(

[NMMNG]

4. "I find him to be a righteous man, and his life has always been lined up with the Word,"

Apparently not always.

[Bluebear]

13. You said it!

[AlCzervik]

5. so according to Roscoe Gatson the mark of a righteous man is sodomizing young girls?

ok, writing that down.

[SoCalDem]

6. 2nd degree?? Like masons or karate classes?

Sheez.. like the "degree" makes it less wrong :grr:

[TheWraith]

11. "Second degree" rape has a specific definition

In Alabama, it means that the victim was between 12 and 16, and the perpetrator was older than 16, or that the victim was incapable of consenting by reason of mental incapacity. Same for sodomy (which in Alabama is defined as any non-vaginal penetration).

To be first degree, force must be used, or the victim must be under 12.

Second degree still carries up to 20 years per count, though.

[nachoproblem]

15. So...

Instead of assraping a young girl, he just got a beej from a teen hooker?

Mind you, that's pretty gross. But it does seem a bit less tragic.

[TheWraith]

17. No guarantee she was a hooker, just that she wasn't forced. NT

[razors edge]

7. We shall Cum Rejoising....

[IntravenousDemilo]

8. Just thought I'd point out to any lurking 'phobes: the pastor/rapist/paedophile is heterosexual.

Word.

[Cerridwen]

9. Time to change that old joke.

What do you call 10,000 religionists at the bottom of the ocean? ...



Please, note; I'm talking about the Jesus-as-logo crowd, not the real Christians. And, yes, I know the difference.

[qwertyMike]

10. What's 1st Degree

Just wondering

[TheWraith]

12. Use of force, or a victim under 12. NT

[porphyrian]

14. I'm shocked! They almost never get caught! -n/t

[Ezlivin]

16. In churches most people have very nice facades

Just because you go to church with someone doesn't mean you know that person. All you know is what they want you to know, regardless of the god you worship.

When I was on staff at a fundamentalist Baptist church the pastor had a "prayer group" of local businessmen that he met with weekly. They had "serious" prayer for an hour and "opened up before the Lord." Pastor Roberts really, really thought he knew these men and that they were "holy" and "called of God."

After this prayer group had been going for over a year, one of them suddenly left his wife of 20+ years and went away with his secretary (named, ironically, Bambi). Of course he didn't say one word to anyone at church, the prayer group or to the pastor. One day he was there and the next his wife was crying on the phone to the pastor's wife.

This came as a complete surprise and total shock to Pastor Roberts.

So much for opening up before the Lord....