At least 28 SC pastors, church workers named in Southern Baptist sexual abuse list
At least 28 South Carolina pastors, church workers and volunteers associated with Southern Baptist churches are accused of sexual abuse, according to a once-secret list released by the national Southern Baptist Convention Thursday night.
The alleged South Carolina abusers, some of whom have been convicted of sex crimes, are among more than 600 people accused nationally on the list. The convention released the database after a sweeping investigation published this month showed top organizational officials kept the catalog of abusive ministers while denigrating abuse survivors over decades.
At least one of the people tied to South Carolina had served at multiple churches across the state despite sex abuse convictions years prior.
More than 600 entries on the national list detail reports of sexual abuse based largely on news articles compiled from 2007 through 2022. At least 28 entries stem from South Carolina, including several names that have been redacted in the published list. They include:
Name redacted, youth minister at redacted church
Mark Aderholt, a former employee of the International Mission Board and South Carolina Baptist Convention. Aderholt was arrested in 2018 and charged with assaulting a 16-year-old girl years earlier, when he was a 25-year-old student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth. A decade before the charge, the International Mission Board investigated the claim but did not report Aderholt to police, according to news reports.
Donald Chrisler Batson, youth minister Bushy Creek Baptist, Easley. According to court records, Batson in 1991 pleaded guilty to 17 felony counts of criminal sexual conduct involving two minor girls.
Jerry Blaxton, youth and music minister Sand Hill Baptist, Varnville. Blaxton was convicted on child pornography charges in Spartanburg County in 2019, The State reported. He pleaded guilty to operating a child porn file sharing network and was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of probation.
James William Bell, youth minister Mount Tabor Baptist, Anderson. Bell was convicted in Anderson in 2002 for sexually abusing four different boys, WYFF TV reported. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and required to registered as a sex offender.
Stephen Douglas Berry, associate pastor and youth pastor, New Life Baptist, Union. In 2013 Berry was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor for molesting a 15-year-old friend of his daughters who he met through his position as youth pastor, according to court records. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Timothy Lynn Brumit, Sunset Boulevard Baptist, Aiken. Brumit, a former Midlands school teacher, was convicted in 2008 on charges that he attempted to solicit sex from a teenage boy, and for transporting child porn online, WIS TV reported. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Phillip Jerard Buckson, Cleveland Chapel Baptist. Buckson in 2019 pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, WYFF TV reported. Buckson sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl who later became pregnant. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender.
Name redacted, youth group volunteer
Joshua Finney, youth pastor, First Baptist, Conestee. Finney in 2014 pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual conduct with a minor and was sentenced to three years in prison, WYFF TV reported. Finney admitted having a three-year sexual relationship with a child who attended his church. He was also required to register as a sex offender for life.
Lujon Augustin “Fernando” Garcia, hispanic ministry, Abbeville Baptist Association, Greenwood. Garcia in 2001 admitted to abusing 23 children ranging in age from 5 years old to 13, the Associated Press reported. He pleaded guilty to 47 charges and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Audrey Grabarkiewicz, former preschool teacher, Lake Bowen Baptist Church, Inman. Grabarkiewicz in 2010 was sentenced to three years of probation and 120 hours of community service for hosting “sex parties” for middle and high school students, CBS News reported.
Patrick Clinton Hattler, Cornerstone Community Church, 2014. According to the database, Hattler was convicted in 2014 of assault and battery involving an adult female congregant. He was required to register as a sex offender.
Gregory Martin Hill, church youth group worker, First Baptist, Dillon. Hill pleaded guilty in 2012 to sending sexual photos and videos to 14 and 15-year-old girls and soliciting sexual material from the girls, WPDE TV reported. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender in South Carolina.
John Gleason Hubner, youth worker, First Baptist, Columbia. Hubner has faced sex abuse charges in Maine and South Carolina for assaulting minors. In 2002 Hubner was sentenced to 36 years in prison for sexaully abusing a 12-year-old girl. In 2017, an anonymous person and their parents filed a motion to unseal court records related to Hubner’s crimes, The State reported.
Robert David Johnston Jr., minister, New Hope Baptist, Clinton. In 2008 Johnston was charged with four counts of lewd acts on children under 16 years old, The Greenville News reported. He pleaded not guilty, and it is unclear if he was convicted on those charges.
Norman Henley Keesee, church is not named in investigation, but news reports tie Keesee to Emerald Baptist Church in Greenwood. Keesee pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and battery in 2012 after being charged with sexual misconduct with a minor. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended to five years probation, per reporting by Greenwood Today.
Marion Leon Kosier Jr., former pastor, Branchville Baptist, Branchville. Kosier has been charged with sex-related offenses in 1984, 1995 and 2009 while serving at different churches, WIS TV reported. In 1984 he was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of probation for criminal sexual conduct with a minor. In 1995, he received a six-month suspended prison sentence and two years of probation for exposing himself to and committing lewd acts on a minor. In 2009, while pastor at Harleyville Christian Church in Summerville, Kosier as accused of exposing himself again to a 5-year-old girl.
Kevin Ogle, former pastor, Northgate Colonial Baptist Church, Camden. Ogle pleaded guilty to 15 charges of sexual exploitation of children in 2006, according to reporting from multiple news sources. He was arrested for cyber sex with an officer he thought was a 14-year-old girl, which was initiated in Georgia. He was sentenced to five years in prison and 20 years probation.
Name redacted, church name redacted.
Kamron Eugene Reames, associate pastor, Central Baptist Church, Darlington. Reames was arrested in 2015 for inappropriately touching a 16-year-old boy, WPDE TV reported. It’s unclear if Reames was ever convicted.
Charles “DJ” Rhodes, teacher and coach, First Baptist Church, Charleston. In 2011 Rhodes was arrested for asking a 12-year-old girl for sex via text message, the Post & Courier reported. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received a plea deal. He served no jail time and did not have to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to 30 days of community service and two years of probation.
Name redacted, former minister of education at church name redacted.
Dennis Fred Rutledge, minister of music, Camp Creek Baptist Church. Rutledge in 2015 pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child under 11 years old, The State reported. Around the same time, he was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a different minor. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the first charge and a concurrent 13 years for the latter conviction.
James Garner Smith, youth pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church, West Union. Smith in 2014 pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and battery after sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl over the span of several months, the Independent-Mail reported. Smith was initially charged with criminal sexual conduct of a minor but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. He was sentenced to three years of probation and substance abuse treatment. He was also required to register as a sex offender.
Duain A. Whittemore, director of Anchor Baptist Church’s Missions International in North Carolina, abuse occurred in South Carolina when Whittemore was director of Tabernacle Baptist Church’s Children’s Home. Whittemore in 2007 was charged with sexually assaulting two minors in the 1980s and 1990s, but the charges were later dismissed, the Transylvania Times reported.
Name redacted, church name redacted.
Name redacted, active member and ex-deacon at church name redacted, kidnapping and Armed Robbery, 2009.
The database contains a disclaimer that the list is “incomplete,” “has not been proofed” and “has not been adequately researched.” The majority of the information is pulled from published news reports from across the country. The majority of the abuse cases and accused abusers have been reported on by this newspaper and other South Carolina media over the years.
The Southern Baptist Convention executive committee hired a third-party investigator to conduct the sexual abuse inquiry after others in the organization urged leaders to do so.
“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior (executive committee) leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the (executive committee’s) response to these reports of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the (Southern Baptist Convention),” the investigation report said.
After that report was published, the organization promised it would release the database of names.
South Carolina’s Southern Baptist Convention has promised action through a newly formed sex abuse task force.
“We are grieved by the results of the Southern Baptist Convention Sexual Abuse Task Force report. Foremost, we are grieved for the survivors that have been overlooked, unheard, or dismissed. We lament the actions and abuses that have brought us to this point,” executive director of the South Carolina convention Gary Hollingsworth said in a recorded statement May 23.
The local task force is responsible for taking the results of the national investigation and applying them to the South Carolina Convention’s “internal processes,” according to the statement. Those wishing to contact the task force with questions, comments or information can email taskforce@scbaptist.org.
The Southern Baptist church is the largest protestant denomination in the United States. The church is dominant throughout South Carolina as well, with some 2,000 churches and more than half a million members statewide, according to convention documents.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 10:48 AM.
