Florida Pastor and School Dean Arrested for Child Abuse

Florida Pastor and School Dean Arrested for Child Abuse

Report from WKRG:

We are happy the abuse was not sexual but if the pastor apparently went too far in physically disciplining a student, then this is just as bad.

Let's see what happen in the story below.

A local pastor, Willie Demps, who is also an administrator of a local Christian Academy, was arrested yesterday after a student accused him of punching her several times in the leg for misbehaving and paddling her on two other occasions.

Pastor Willie Demps, 69, was arrested at S. L. Jones Christian Academy after an interview with deputies about the incidents.

Demps was accused of Child Abuse after a student told her grandparent that she had been paddled by Demps last week for misconduct. The student then came home limping and told her Grandparent that Demps had punched her thigh several times after an altercation on the bus with another student.

Deputies contacted Demps at the school where he provided deputies with a statement.

After all parties were interviewed and observing the physical evidence, Demps was placed under arrest for three counts of Child Abuse and placed under a $3,000.00 bond.

The child’s injuries were not life threatening.

We know that paddling is still allowed in some schools and churches but there's a fine line when doing so because the parents and student may not want this from someone else. Pastors and teachers have to be careful and know their lmits.  Also, punching a child while paddling is not acceptable. Punching is a form of fighting and is abuse!

Get this: Corporal punishment is allowed in Florida public schools and the DOE said they do not oversee private school policies. This is why the pastor felt he had the right to do so.

Source

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Florida Pastor on Trial in Child Sex Trafficking Case

Florida Pastor on Trial in Child Sex Trafficking Case

Report from News Journal Online:

Opening statements followed by closed-door testimony began Tuesday morning in the trial of an Ormond Beach pastor who federal prosecutors called a serial sexual predator who molested children in a case described as child sex trafficking.

The defense for Luis E. Morales said the allegations are “outlandish” claims of children with no physical evidence or witnesses to back them up.

Morales, 58, sat quietly as Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gable laid out the prosecution's case claiming he used his position as the self-proclaimed "apostle" of the En Fuego For Jesus ministry to fondle four girls between the ages of 10 and 14, and rape one of them.

Gable said Morales taught the victims that to become “ordained prophets” in the church they had to accept this abuse.

“He exploited their faith and their vulnerabilities as children,” Gable told the 12 jurors.
In a federal indictment issued in May, Morales is charged with five counts of transporting children for the purpose of sexual activity. His co-defendant in the case, Rebeca Rivera, 27, of Connecticut, is similarly charged in two of those counts.

Prosecutors believe in 2009 Morales took a girl from Florida to Connecticut and during that trip molested her on several occasions, including in the back of his minivan as the girl's uncle was driving it down the road. Then in December 2010 he brought another girl from Arizona to Florida for the same purpose. That girl also traveled with Morales to the U.S. Virgin Islands. During that trip she claims he molested her on the airplane, Gable said.

Defense counsel Kenneth Weaver countered saying there was no physical or DNA evidence or even adult witnesses that these events even took place.

“This is very, very hard to believe,” Morales' attorney said. “It is based on children's reports and that is it.”

To read more on the case and testimonies to come go HERE.

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