SBC releases list of over 700 ministers accused of sexual abuse, here’s the ones involving MS

A 205 page “highly confidential” document was released by the Southern Baptist Convention showing a list of over 700 ministers who have been accused of sexual abuse.

The list names those accused of sexual abuse from across the nation. The ones involving Mississippi are below. The full list can be found here.

• Christopher Donald Bean, pastor, Evergreen Baptist Church, Shubuta, MS.
  
  OUTCOME: Convicted of unlawful touching of a child and exploitation of a child. Sentenced to five years in 2017. Incarcerated in Mississippi.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  http://www.wlbt.com/story/34494393/paster-sentenced-to-5-years-for-physical-relationship-with-minor
• Michael Shane Casabella, youth pastor of North Corith Baptist Church and principal of North Corinth Christian academy, was arrested and convicted of fondling, sexual battery and exploitation of a child in Mississippi and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
  
  OUTCOME: Was arrested in the Houston area by U.S. marshals in 2018, according to news reports. Convicted in July of fondling, sexual battery and exploitation of a child in Mississippi and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  https://www.wtva.com/content/news/US-Marshals-Capture-Alcorn-County-Fugitive-474115623.html
• In 2013 Cory Alexander Cotten pleaded guilty to exploitation of children. In 2015 he was ordered to serve five years in prison and five years of post-release supervision under the Mississippi Department of
  Corrections for posing as a woman on Facebook and getting young boys to send nude photos to him.
  
  CHURCH POSITION: Youth minister at Eastview, Glade and North Columbia Baptist churches.
  
  COURT OF CONVICTION: Jones County, 2015
  
  OUTCOME: Registered sex offender in Mississippi for 2015 conviction of exploitation of children. He pleaded guilty to knowingly receiving and possessing a photo of two minors engaging in sexual conduct and was
  sentenced to five years in prison, court records show. He appealed, saying prosecutors failed to identify the children by name in an indictment, but an appellate court decision upheld his conviction, records show.

  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  https://www.leader-call.com/news/local/sexting-ex-youth-pastor-wants-name-age-of-victims/article 2b603f84-4507-5260-957a-5409b54872ba.html

• John Orin Langworthy, former youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, TX, admitted to molesting at least one youth student in the late 1980s.
  
  Note: Article noted Langworthy was minister of music, Morrison Heights Baptist Church, Clinton, MS. Victims were teenage boys 22 years ago when he worked at Prestonwood Baptist Church.
  
  OUTCOME: Registered sex offender in Mississippi for 2013 convictions of two counts of sexually touching a disabled child. Was not previously charged but was fired in 1989 from his position as music minister at a megachurch in the Dallas metro area after the executive pastor confirmed the church “received an allegation that John Langworthy had acted inappropriately with a teenaged student. Based on this allegation, he was dismissed from that post.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  Ex-Minister Faces Multiple Sex Charges in Small Mississippi Town, christianpost.com, 9/16/11 (R. Leigh Coleman)
  “Disturbing revelations about former Prestonwood minister” by Brett Shipp, 8/8/2011, WFAA.com
• Sammy Allen Nuckolls, Southern Baptist evangelist, and former camp pastor at LifeWay Christian Resources’ FUGE summer youth events
  
  OUTCOME: Serving a 10-year sentence in Mississippi state prison on three counts of video voyeurism, prison records show. Nuckolls originally faced 13 charges of video voyeurism in 2012, but the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned 10 of 13 counts in a ruling in 2015. Required to register as a sex offender.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  https://baptistnews.com/article/state-supreme-court-reverses-convictions-of-peeping-preacher/#.W2MVNNVKhaQ
  Evangelist charged with video voyeurism, abpnews.com, 10/31/11
  
  Note: Article noted Nuckolls was an evangelist who was charged with video voyeurism of a woman.
• In 2007, Marshal A.Seymour, 40, volunteer youth minister, FBC at the Mall, Lakeland, FL, and former youth minister, Parkway Assembly of God, Mobile, AL, faced charges of unlawful sexual activity and 3 counts of using a child in sexual performance. He pleaded guilty to 3rd degree assault in lew of the 2nd degree sexual abuse charge: 1 17 yr. old boy, 1 16 yr. old boy, 1 15 yr. old , 1998 – 1 16 yr. old boy. The churches background check did not show a previous 1999 Mobile assault conviction which was a misdemeanor. In 1999, Seymour moved to Lakeland and began volunteering at FBC at the Mall.
  
  OUTCOME: Registered sex offender in Florida. As part of a plea agreement, convicted of three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one charge of directing sexual performance of a child. Sentenced to maximum of 10 years on each count. Released in 2016.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  News story (http://www.ethicsdaily.com/sexual-abuse-scandal-hits-prominent-southern-baptistchurch-in-oridacms-11853/)
  Offender record (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4895862-Seymour-MARSHALAFlorida-SexualOffender.html)
  Police record (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4883644-FL-SeymourMarshalAFlreleasedinmates.html)
  Judge delays sentencing of ex-church worker on sex charges, The Ledger, 3/12/09 (Marshal Seymour)
  Former youth worker pleads guilty to molestation charge, ABP, 1/22/09 (Marshal Seymour)
  Seymour pleads guilty to molestation, avoids trial, 1/21/09 (Marshal Seymour)
  Jurors chosen for molestation trial, The Ledger, 1/20/09 (Marshal Seymour)
  www.EthicsDaily.com, 11/6/07
  Alabama Press Reporter, 11/5/07
  The Ledger, 10/29/07 and 11/4/07
  Associated Press, 11/5/07
• Larry Singleton, pastor, Bay Springs Baptist Church, Abbeville, MS, sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual battery of a boy. Bay Springs Baptist Church is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Singleton volunteered at an extension campus of Gateway Christian Schools, sponsored by the independent Gateway Baptist Church, Memphis, TN.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  https://wreg.com/2013/11/21/mississippi-pastor-sentenced-to-30-years-for-sex-assault/
  Southern Baptist Pastor Charged with Sexual Battery, 12/6/12 (Ken Silva)
• In 2016, Carlos Smith, pastor/preacher, Unity Baptist Church, Wiggins, MS, was convicted of “sexual battery of a girl at the church he previously led.” The abuse began in 2011 when the girl was 11.
  
  Not listed as SBC. https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article56144625.html
  Ex-preacher molested girl for 3 years at church.
• David Matthew Thorne, youth pastor, Goodyear Baptist Church, Picayune, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery and one count of touching a child for lustful purposes.
  
  OUTCOME: Sentenced to 25 years for sexual battery and unlawful touching of a child in 2017. Incarcerated in Mississippi.
  
  Listed on Houston Chronicle Database
  https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article167470302.html