Florida Church To be Auctioned Off if Doesn't Pay Injured Girl's Family from Church Van Accident
A West Palm Beach church has been given 60 days to pay its debts or go on the auction block.
A Palm Beach Circuit judge ruled earlier this month that Westgate Tabernacle must raise $60,000 to pay a family that sued five years ago after their daughter was injured when struck by the church’s uninsured van.
The Palm Beach Post reports the church has been struggling financially for years and at one point had amassed nearly $100,000 in code enforcement liens for issues including inadequate plumbing and faulty wiring.
Westgate Bishop Ronnie Green says the church doesn’t have the money, but that “Jesus will provide with the help of the people.” -From The Associated Press
But this is not the only thing this church leader has been involved in because apparently he has a very colorful past.
We found out some very interesting things about Bishop Ronnie Green and this may explain why the church is in the trouble its in today.
According to the Palm Beach Post reported on Dec, 17, 2010, Ronnie Green was convicted of raping a 6 year old girl. Investigators say the rape incident occurred in Miami over a 5 year period which led to 15 charges of capital sexual battery of a child. The good bishop pleaded guilty in January 1994 to 10 counts of attempted sexual battery of a child younger than 12.
While in prison, Green got saved and wrote a letter to the judge. When he was released, he became a preacher in West Palm Beach. Ronnie Green got involved with the West Palm Beach County who was giving out payments for new group of summer camp operators. Naturally, Green's church, J.I.T.A. Outreach Ministries, got in line for the benefits.
There were six full-time church employees who were ready to watch over as many as 100 children ages 5 to 16. Corporate records list six people as officers and directors of the church. One of them - the president - is Green. The county approved the camp and added it to its provider list.
Bishop Ronnie Green was a registered sex offender and watched over underaged children in this camp along with others.
Here's more of his past:
Green was taken into custody 30 times between 1981 and 2007, state records show, on charges ranging from burglary to cocaine possession - ended three years ago in another felony conviction. The charge was failure to register as a sex offender.
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