Pastor Convicted of Money Laundering, Fraud, Prostitution

James Clark, former pastor of Mount Vernon United Methodist Church in Lubbock Texas was convicted of a variety of criminal charges.

The Lubbock pastor who forced a Kenyan exchange student into prostitution has also been found guilty of money laundering and fraud.

Methodist Minister Indicted for Theft of $300,000

Ray Robinson, former minister of the Lane Metropolitan Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland, Ohio was indicted today for theft of about $300,000 from the church.

Robinson, 56, secretly mortgaged the church's parsonage, used the building as collateral to obtain illegal loans and laundered the money through many bank accounts, Gutierrez said.

The minister also drained the church's Benevolent Fund earmarked for the poor, stole the identities of church members to obtain illegal credit cards, and pocketed a $5,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation for a computer training program, Gutierrez said.

Robinson just got out of federal prison in December after serving 10 months for a real estate scam in Mississippi.

Methodist Sunday School Teacher Arrested for Sexual Assault

Police reports released Monday say that Terry Greenwood, Sunday School Teacher at Chandler United Methodist Church in Chandler Arizona was arrested for sexual asault on a 5 year old girl.

Terry Greenwood, 62, of Chandler is accused of forcing a 5-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him last month, according to a police report released Monday.

Under questioning by detectives, Greenwood admitted he sexually assaulted the girl twice at Chandler United Methodist Church, 251 W. Chandler Blvd., police said.

Seminary Student Charged with Sexual Assault

Seth Glazier, a seminary student at United Theological Seminary and volunteer at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church near Tipp City, OH, has been charged with "felony gross sexual imposition".

Pastor stole over $44,000, sentenced to 6 months.

The former pastor of a Vermont church that has since closed was sentenced for the theft of more than $44,000 from the church.

Methodist Pastor sentenced, Victim "shunned" by church.

A former West Virginia Methodist Pastor was sentenced to three years in jail for charges including sexual abuse.

Some argue that all these cases of religious people of authority committing highly immoral and illegal acts are an anomaly and that most religious people aren't like that, but there's another twist in this particular story. The victim's parents are being "shunned" by other members of the church. Obviously, those members of the church taking part in the shunning think that the pastor's actions were perfectly OK and that the girl and her parents were acting immorally for speaking up about it.