Pastor Geronimo Aguilar Accused of Child Sex Crimes, Gets $115K Severance Package
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/pastor-geronimo-aguilar-accused-child-sex-crimes-gets-115k-severance-package
By Michael Allen, Mon, June 17, 2013
Pastor G (pictured with his wife Samantha) is accused of sexually abusing an 11-year old girl and her older sister for more than a year in 1996.
However, he will still receive his $115,930 annual salary and live in the church's half-million dollar parsonage until December.
According to WTVR-TV, Pastor G was extradited to Fort Worth, Texas, to face charges, posted a $200,000 bail and returned to Richmond on May 30.
The Richmond Outreach Center announced the resignations of Pastor G, Pastor Jason Helmlinger, Pastor Andrew Delgado and Pastor G's brother, Pastor Matthew Aguilar, on June 5. The church has 11,000 members.
Stephen Lewis, an attorney for the Richmond Outreach Center, said the church board felt Pastor G deserved the severance package because of his years of service as the founder of the church, even though he might spend life in prison if convicted.
"He was under an employment agreement, but I don't think that was the reason for the severance," Lewis told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "The reason was [because] people appreciate what he's done and with what he's got going on, people want to make sure his family was taken care of. We certainly could have had no severance package at all, but the board thinks they are doing the right thing."
Richmond Outreach Center said that Pastor G's $115,930 annual salary was based on pastoral salaries for other large churches, which is not supported biblically.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch and WTVR-TV
Jury: Church Should Pay $3.6M to Woman Sexually Assaulted by Pastor
By Jeff Schapiro ,
Christian Post Reporter
June 18, 2013|7:03 pm
A jury says an Ohio church should pay $3.6 million to a woman who was sexually assaulted as a teenager by her then pastor.
"Brian Williams employment at Delaware Grace Brethren Church ended in 2004," wrote Delaware Grace's pastor, Gary Underwood, in a statement. "We were shocked when we heard of his criminal actions in March of 2008. However, we could never have foreseen Brian's crimes, and our church had nothing to do with his crimes.
"We accept the jury's verdict, but respectfully disagree with their decision. We will continue to pray for [the victim] and her family."
The lawsuit says Williams was a youth and associate pastor at Delaware Grace from 1988 through 2004. Prior to his becoming the senior pastor of Sunbury Grace around September 2004, the complaint states, Delaware Grace was aware of at least two incidents in which he had "engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with females" while serving as youth pastor.
After becoming a senior pastor, the document says, he continued to receive financial support, guidance and supervision from Delaware Grace.
Then, during a counseling session in 2008, Williams sexually assaulted the woman. He later pled guilty to two counts of sexual battery in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, and was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.
In addition to the amount awarded to the woman, the jury also said the defendant should pay her father damages in the amount of $75,000.
"I think the decision was entirely appropriate and warranted by the evidence," the plaintiff's attorney, John K. Fitch, told The Christian Post. "Our case was largely based on admissions from church officials, the defendant church officials, about what had taken place."
But W. Charles Curley, attorney for the church, says the damages awarded by the jury are "shockingly high and not consistent with the evidence presented at trial."
Curley says he will challenge the amount awarded to the woman under a state statute that allows for a maximum of only $250,000 in "noneconomic damages" to be awarded per plaintiff. If the judge decides the statute applies in this case, Fitch says he intends to challenge the constitutionality of the damages cap.
