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241: Gary Rolls

Child Molestation

Gary Rolls was a Republican county commissioner in Kent County, Michigan. In 2012, after he won his Republican primary in a state House race, a 28-year-old woman came forward claiming he had sexually abused her since she was nine years-old until she was twenty-three. But never fear, his arrest was dignified. He was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault, tampering with evidence, and using a computer to commit a crime.

The woman testified that she suffered from migraines, high blood pressure, anxiety, and nightmares as a result of the abuse. She said he threatened her and since she saw him associating with police and other powerful people, he could carry out his threats so she submitted to his demands.

“He made me do things that made me physically sick and he didn’t care. If I cried, he told me to stop because I was weak. If I said no, he told me I wasn’t allowed to tell him no because he was the adult and I was the child,” she said.

“There are no words to truly reflect the pain, the fears, and the lifelong scars that I have endured because of him.”
Michigan Radio: Former Kent County commissioner to serve a year in jail for sex crimes against minor

226: Leonard Church

Child Molestation, Child Sexual Abuse Material

Leonard Church served two terms as Kennesaw, Georgia’s mayor, and continued to serve after that as a city council member. He was accused of sexually molesting a 9-year-old boy after showing the boy child pornography. They found between 800 and 1000 child sexual exploitation images on his computer devices. He originally pled not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty in a deal where the prosecutors changed the charge from aggravated child molestation to simple child molestation. He will spent 18 years in prison. He earlier rejected a plea deal that would have only been 15 years.

205: James Graves

Child Molestation

James Graves was the chairman of the Cullman County Commission in 2008, but lost his re-election bid and lost the subsequent primary. He was also a member of the Republican Party Executive Committee. In May 2017, he was arrested for sexually abusing a minor, a 17-year-old whom he had molested more than once but came forward after the most recent incident. He was 74. He pleaded guilty and got a 10-year suspended sentence and five years probation.

195: Bob Coy

Child Molestation, Child Rape

Bob Coy was the pastor of a the largest megachurch in Florida. In Fort Lauderdale, Coy’s Calvary Chapel had 25,000 in regular attendance. He hosted George W. Bush and Benjamin Netanyahu and was a frequent guest on religious radio and television. He was sought out by Republicans for endorsements. His standards were so low he endorsed war criminal Allen West. Then he resigned, admitting to having several affairs and being addicted to pornography. He went to work for a dance club.

The police got a call from a woman asking them to talk to her daughter about what Bob Coy had done to her. They heard a very graphic, detailed story of sexual abuse beginning when the girl was four and continuing for ten years. So what happened after that? The police did nothing. They did not question Coy. Coy’s attorneys persuaded a Republican judge to seal Coy’s divorce records so they could not be used to investigate the church. The church has an unsavory history of lax supervision and pedophile pastors being fired and rehired elsewhere without the police being informed of their actions

194: C. J. Mahaney

Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Child Rape, Organizational Cover-Up

C. J. Mahaney co-founded the Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD with Larry Tomczak in 1982 Tomczak left in 1997 leaving Mahaney at the top. It was a successful megachurch that grew into a religious conglomerate known as Sovereign Grace Ministries. SGM formed churches all over the US, as well as in Mexico and the Philippines. That had 28,000 members around the world.

A three-year-old girl was rapped by a 15-year-old boy who was babysitting her during a church activity. When her family went to the police, the pastors intervened pressuring the family to forgive the rapist and let it go. After two years of pressure, the girl’s family quit the church. That was the first known occasion of the church organizing a cover-up. The mother wrote it up in a blog post for SGM Survivors, where until then people talked more about how controlling the community was. Her post opened the floodgates.

There are several cases of someone coming forward with an abuse allegation and being told to reconcile with the abuser. Children who reported sexual abuse by a parent were not helped but rather hurt because the church told the parent who only abused them more. There is a case of a man raping his adopted daughter. When his wife learns of this she wants a divorce and the church told her not to do it. She got out, and reported it to the police. He went to jail, but SGM lobbied for his early release and has him doing work in contact with children

193: Raymond Burke

Child Molestation, Organizational Cover-Up

Cardinal Raymond Burke was only a bishop when he made this list for protecting pedophile priests. He wielded the power of excommunication to attack a local church board and pastor over a church governance conflict. He has excommunicated women who dared to call themselves priests. He has not excommunicated convicted pedophiles.

He blamed women for the rampant pedophilia problem in the church. All those women volunteering at the church make manly men uncomfortable. Then altar girls do their job too well so there are few manly boys taking up church duties. Yes, he thinks the pedophiles are gay.

Burke advanced so far in the church because he appeared to be running his diocese better than the rest. Other diocese were finding about 4% of their priests molested children but his diocese was running at about 1.5%. But that was deceptive. He had fewer pedophile priests removed from service because he let them stay where they were. Burke kept a higher percentage of priests with allegations of child sex abuse in their ministry than any other in the United St

176: Darrell Gilyard

Child Molestation, Child Rape, Sexual Assault

Darrell Gilyard was a successful mega-church preacher. So famed was he, there was a film about him “The Darrell Gilyard” story that had Jerry Falwell. one of his mentors, give a testimonial saying he was one of “most brilliant men in the pulpit.”

This is all in spite of him being fired in 1991 for child molestation. His main mentor, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, knew but since he forgave him, he promoted his career. At least the first time.

That all ended when he was convicted of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl. He served three years and has been released but has been barred from being in the presence of minors.

So a church hired him anyway and barred children from the church. That’s right. The convicted sex offender was chosen over the children. He is welcome, they are not.

172: Douglas Marks

Child Molestation

Douglas Marks was a scion of an important Republican family in Montana. His brother, Bob Marks, was the Speaker of the House. He was a teacher and molested children likely over thirty years before he was arrested. The prosecutor said he knew of at least 45 students, but over the course of his career, he molested children of men he had molested when they were young.