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Southern Baptist Convention sex abuse list includes at least 30 from N.C.
By Charles Duncan North Carolina
PUBLISHED 2:30 PM ET May 31, 2022

A list of sex abuse cases involving people connected to Southern Baptist
churches includes at least 30 names from North Carolina.

The list has numerous redactions, so there could be more preachers,
teachers and volunteers from North Carolina on the list released last
week. The Southern Baptist Convention released the list following a
damning investigation by the Houston Chronicle.

The list includes more than 700 details on people associated with the
church accused or convicted of sex crimes. The crimes include molesting
children, rape and soliciting prostitutes.

“This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but
important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and
implementing reform,” Southern Baptist Convention CEO Willie McLaurin and
executive committee chair Rolland Slade said in a joint statement.

“Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction
brought about by sexual abuse. Our prayer is that the survivors of these
heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this
list proactively to protect and care for the most vulnerable among us,”
they said.

An investigation into abuse allegations by Guidepost Solutions criticized
the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. Abuse survivors,
the report said, were “met, time and time again, with resistance,
stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.” Church
leaders were more concerned about avoiding legal liability, according to
the report.

“In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were
ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could
take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy – even if it
meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or
warning to their current church or congregation,” the report said.

The company that compiled the report for the Southern Baptist Convention
set up a hotline for survivors to report abuse and get help: 202-864-5578
or SBCho...@guidepostsolutions.com.

Here’s the list and details on each person with North Carolina
connections, provided by the Southern Baptist Convention:

2019

Phillip Jerard Buckson, pastor, Cleveland Chapel Baptist Church, SC, gave
a full confession and was charged with four counts of criminal sexual
conduct with a minor. The Associated Press reported that Buckson had
preached across Georgia, Chicago, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

2019 - Four Oaks, North Carolina

Stephen Morris, pastor of Oliver’s Grove Baptist Church, Four Oaks, N.C.,
was arrested, July 5, 2019, and charged with five counts of statutory rape
and five counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. Alleged abuse
of the 13-year-old victim occurred between June 2013 and June 2014.

2018 - Ruffin, North Carolina

In 2018, Kevin Scott Heffner, pastor at Victory Baptist Church and private
school principal in Ruffin, N.C., was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years
in prison without the chance of parole after pleading guilty to performing
inappropriate sex acts and sending a dozen of nude pictures to one of his
minor female students, who was also a member of his congregation.

2017 - REDACTED

REDACTED, pastor, REDACTED, charged with 13 counts of felony sexual
offense with a child.

2016 - Avery County, North Carolina

Jude Dayton Hughes, 50, pastor of Jonas Ridge Baptist Church and Avery
County High School custodian sent pornographic photos of himself to a 17-
year-old girl. Registered sex offender in North Carolina for 2016
conviction of taking indecent liberties with a student, aged 17. Sentenced
to 12-months probation.

2015 - Boone, North Carolina

Larry Edward Elliott, 50, Baptist pastor for 20 years, (Church Name
Unstated), Boone, NC, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old
student and was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

2013 - Cherryville, North Carolina

Brandon James Carter was convicted in 2012 for abusing a 13-year-old girl
in 2004. Carter was a youth and music minister at Mt. Zion Baptist Church
in Cherryville, NC. He accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to less
than two years in prison. Once released, Carter will be on probation for
nearly three years and be added to the Sex Offender Registry for 30 years.

2013 - Waynesville, North Carolina

Dallas Sherman Surrett, former youth pastor, Cove Creek Baptist Church,
Waynesville, N.C. (Southern Baptist), was arrested for a lewd and
lascivious act on a young girl, which allegedly took place in 2005. He was
convicted of sexual offenses in 2014 and sentenced to seven years;
incarcerated from Aug. 4, 2014 to March 25, 2018.

2013 - Caswell Beach, North Carolina

In 2015, Clyde Wesley Way pleaded guilty to charges regarding youth he had
taken to camp at North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell while
serving as volunteer student ministries team leader for the Stanly Baptist
Association. North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell is a
conference center for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. In
1990, he attended FBC, Glen Burnie, Md., which is affiliated with the SBC.
He also planned to chaperone another group from Richfield Baptist Church,
which is associated with the CBF. Multiple victims complained of
inappropriate behavior by Way at a church camp, according to news reports.
His convictions involved a plea deal.

2012 - Union County, North Carolina

Robert Gibson Warrick, deacon, convicted of four counts of indecent
liberties with a minor in 2012. Sentence and convictions upheld on appeal.
Released from prison in 2015. Registered sex offender in North Carolina.

2011 - Dunn, North Carolina

Abuse Against an Adult. Paul Burke Johnson, pastor, was arrested on charge
of sexual battery. The abuse happened at a nursing home.

2011 - Edenton, North Carolina

Jonathan Winfield Rose, music and youth minister, Rocky Hock Baptist
Church, Edenton, N.C., was arrested when his church group arrived at
Ridgecrest Boys Camp in Black Mountain. He was charged with solicitation
of a child by computer to commit illegal sex acts.

2010

REDACTED, bus director and assistant pastor, REDACTED, arrested for child
sex abuse.

2010 - Roseboro, North Carolina

Thomas Lee Elliott, youth minister, Autryville Baptist Church, Roseboro,
N.C., was arrested for soliciting a minor over the internet for a sexual
act and attempted indecent liberties with a minor. He registered as a sex
offender in North Carolina with convictions of solicitation of a child by
computer to commit a sex act and attempted indecent liberties with a
minor. He received a suspended sentence and probation in 2011. Victim aged
14.

2009 - Bessemer City, North Carolina

Harley Michael Keough, pastor, King James Baptist Church, Bessemer City,
N.C., accused of groping multiple women. Keough was convicted of two
counts of sexual battery and ordered to register as a sex offender. He was
given 18 months probation and would not go to prison. He died in 2013.

2008 - Charlotte, North Carolina

Lawrence Webber, member, member of men’s choir, lay preacher, Reeder
Memorial Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C., was charged with three counts of
rape of a child under 13 and five counts of indecent liberties with a
child. Earlier, in 1997, Webber was convicted of taking indecent liberties
with a child for charges stemming from a 1991 incident in Gaston County.
He received a suspended sentence and probation for the crime. He was on
the North Carolina Sex Offenders Registry. The pastor knew of Webber’s
previous conviction.

2008 - High Point, North Carolina

Guy Ellis Carr Jr. was a deacon at Emerywood Baptist Church in High Point.
Carr was convicted in 2009 on eight counts of indecent liberties with a
minor that occurred between 1976 and 1979. Imprisoned from Dec. 18, 2009,
to April 10, 2013.

2008 - Gastonia, North Carolina

Paul Kevin Shives, a deacon at New Hope Baptist Church in Gastonia, was
sentenced to prison in 2008 after being convicted of 11 charges, including
indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape. He appealed, but the
North Carolina Court of Appeals found no error on April 21, 2009.

2008 - Fayetteville, North Carolina

Anthony Phillips Denton, 57, was a former counselor at Trinity Baptist
Church in Jacksonville, FL. The abuse occurred while employed as music
minister, Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C. Denton was charged
with 16 counts of taking indecent liberties with children between 1977-81
in N.C.

2008 - Goldsboro, North Carolina

Example of multiple offenses. Robert Lee Adams Reaves, former bishop of
Living in Favor Global Network Churches, Goldsboro, N.C., was sentenced to
life in prison for killing a 21-year-old North Carolina college student.
He was the preacher at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Bennettsville, S.C.,
in the mid 1980s until 1987 when he left after being accused of criminal
sexual conduct involving a boy under the age of 17. He was convicted of
third-degree sex charges. In 1982, he was also charged with simple assault
and battery.

2008 - Goldsboro, North Carolina

REDACTED, youth leader, REDACTED, was accused of sexual abuse of two girls
under the age of 13 and secret peeping.

2007 - Wake Forest, North Carolina

In 2007, Justin Eugene Taylor, 27, Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary student was arrested on one count of indecent liberties with a
10-year-old child. Taylor was suspended from the school.

2007 - Wake Forest, North Carolina

Coy Privette, past president of the Baptist State Convention of North
Carolina, trustee/chair of the SBC's Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and a trustee of the SBC's Ethics and
Religious Liberty Commission. The retired Baptist minister and former
state legislator. Pleaded guilty in 2007 to aiding and abetting
prostitution and was sentenced to probation. He died in 2015.

2007 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Ronald Lee Simpson, 42, former pastor, St. Matthews Missionary Baptist
Church, Parkton or Lumberton, N.C., was sentenced to at least 15 years in
prison for abusing two girls, 12 and 14, in 2003.

2007 - High Point, North Carolina

Todd Turner Brock, 42, former pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church, High
Point, N.C., pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation to commit first
degree sexual exploitation of a minor, participating in the prostitution
of a 17-yr-old boy and dissemination obscenity. He was sentenced to 10-12
months in prison. He resigned from church March 30, 2007.

2007 - Raleigh, North Carolina

In 2007, Brian “Doug” Goodrich, Jr., 26, volunteer youth worker and
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary student, Providence Baptist
Church, Raleigh, N.C., was sentenced to 13 years in prison in exchange for
guilty pleas on 2 counts of statutory sex offense, 4 counts of first
degree sexual exploitation of minor, two counts of taking indecent
liberties with a child (8 boys ages 13-15 who were part of Bible study).
The abuse occurred in 2005 while Goodrish was an intern at Providence
Baptist Church. He was sentenced to a 13-year minimum prison sentence for
six felonies, including two counts of statutory rape and four counts of
sexual exploitation of a minor.

2007 - Asheville and Mars Hill, North Carolina

In 2007, Roy Mace Honeycutt, II, 63, pastor, affiliated with at least 2
churches, Bethel Baptist Church, Ashville, N.C., and Trinity Baptist
Church, Mars Hill, N.C., was charged with 6 counts of indecent liberties
with a child and 2 counts of first degree sex offense with a boy under age
13. The crimes dated back to the 1960s: He was convicted June 25, 2008 and
released in 2011.

2007 - Hendersonville, North Carolina

Duain A. Whittemore, 66, director of the Anchor Baptist Church’s Missions
International in Transylvania County, in the Pisgah Forest, was arrested
sentenced for two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a
minor. The abuse occurred between 1976-84. Whittmore abused a 13-year-old
girl and a second girl under the age of 16. The abuse occurred when
Whittemore was director of Tabernacle Baptist Church’s Children’s Home,
S.C.

2002 - Iron Station, North Carolina

In 2002, Dewey “Eddie” White, pastor of Heavenly View Baptist Church in
Iron Station, N.C., was found guilty of propositioning a 15-year-old.

1999 - Fayetteville

Laurie Christine Rehrer, 33, former teacher at New Hope Christian Academy
took a plea agreement for having sex with two teenage boys (ages 14 and
15). She was sentenced to six months in prison. She pleaded guilty to
lesser counts and received five years’ probation, was ordered to stay away
from boys younger than 18 and register as a sex offender. Rehrer’s father
was pastor and administrator for the school.