These 33 Alabama ministers are on the Southern Baptist Church’s alleged sex abuser list

One of several entries from the Southern Baptist list of sex abusers that was redacted in its entirety.

The executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention on Thursday night released a 205 page list of alleged sex abusers.

The list contains at least 33 ministers that served in Alabama churches or had ties to the state.

The release of the list comes after a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday showed the largest Protestant denomination in America stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations.

The seven-month investigation was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the Executive Committee.

“We are releasing the list in the exact form that it was provided to Guidepost Solutions by an Executive Committee staff member,” a statement accompanying the list read.

However, many entries were redacted either in part or in their entirety.

Entries that were not redacted at all were those that ended with a conviction, guilty plea, an admission of guilt, a court ruling against the minister or their inclusion on the sex offender registry.

Entries that “did not indicate a disposition” were redacted, the statement added.

Many of the entries came from a database compiled by the Houston Chronicle during its 2019 investigation of sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Church.

“There will be more exhaustive research and analysis of the redacted entries and we anticipate some of the redacted entries will be released in the future.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Here are the Alabama ministers listed in the report.

In 2009, Ralph Lee Aaron, 54, pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship and former pastor of Victory Baptist Church, in Andalusia, agreed to consecutive life terms in prison for production of child pornography and first-degree sodomy of multiple 8-12 year –old males. He is a Registered Sex Offender. Aaron was investigated in 2005 while pastor of a Southern Baptist church.
In 2012, Daniel Montague Acker, Jr. ,a school teacher and school bus driver who retired in 2009, admitted to sexually abusing 20 girls during his 25-year tenure. He was sentenced to serve 17 years in prison for 8 counts of child sexual abuse. Release date is scheduled for January 1, 2029. In 1992, Acker was accused of touching a minor for sexual gratification; however, the grand jury did not indict him. In 2016, he admitted to the 1992 abuse. In 1992, Acker was also serving as youth pastor at Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster. He was also music and youth minister at Mayberry Baptist Church in Montevallo and served as a camp counselor at the Alabama Baptist Boys Camp.

Acker was a well-known figure in Shelby County and the son of a county commissioner.

In 2014, Charles Kyle Adcock was youth minister and worship pastor for Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals from 2010-2012. He pleaded guilty in 2016 and was charged with 29 counts of rape and sodomy against a teenage girl. Adcock was sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence, split with 15 months to serve in state prison. He registered as a sex offender in Arkansas for the sodomy conviction.
In 2002, John Lankston Anderson Jr., former pastor, Carbon Hill First Baptist, was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of juveniles under the age of 12, pleaded guilty to all charges and sentenced to three yrs. Immediately transferred to Arkansas, where he pleaded guilty to another sex abuse charge and was sentenced to 10 more years. Served prison sentences in both states. He was a pulpit preacher at Southside in Russellville, Natural Bridge Baptist, West Blocton Baptist, Hartselle Baptist, and other churches in Mississippi. He pleaded guilty in 2002 to three counts of sexual abuse in Alabama and was sentenced to three years. Immediately transferred to Arkansas, where he pleaded guilty to another sex abuse charge and was sentenced to 10 more years. Served prison sentences in both states. He is on the sex offender registry in Tennessee.
In 2006, Charles Andrews, an ex-teacher and minister of a Baptist church in Jefferson County, received a sentence of probation after pleading guilty in 2006, for sexually abusing a student in 2005. In 2008, after failing to respond to a lawsuit which accused Charles Andrews, a federal judge ordered Andrews to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages and $500,000 in compensation. “Can’t find the name of the church,” the list states.
In 2014, REDACTED, assistant pastor, REDACTED, was charged with raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old. A second victim has led to additional charges. He also faced charges of parole violation. In 2001, he was convicted on a first degree robbery change and served prison time from August 2002-2009.
James L. Bevel: “Don’t think he was SBC,” the list states. “Bevel attended American Baptist Theological Seminary In 2005 Bevel was accused of REDACTED by REDACTED and abuse by three others. He was tried in April 2008. Bevel was convicted of unlawful fornication; pursuant to the recommendation of the jury, which could have sentenced him to anywhere from 5 to 20 years, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $50,000. After serving seven months he was freed awaiting an appeal; he died of pancreatic cancer in December 2008. He was buried in Eutaw, Alabama,” the list added.

Bevel was a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. and architect of the 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham whose legacy was clouded by an incest conviction.

Howard Blattel, a 65-year-old former Bolingbrook resident and Marquette Manor Baptist Church deacon, was charged in Alabama with sexually assaulting an 89-year-old woman in 2004.
In 2010, Walter Jay Bowen, 68, former minister of music and radio station owner and personality, was arrested for sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and sentenced to 10 years in prison based on a plea agreement which dropped a second sex abuse case involving another child younger than 12. He was convicted of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old and sentenced to 10 years. As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors agreed to drop a second sex abuse case. Incarcerated. His prison release date was in 2019 and he is listed in Alabama as a registered sex offender.
In 2010, Gregory “Lee” Bowman, 30, health and wellness minister for both adult and youth recreation programs at Eden Westside Baptist Church in Pell City, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual abuse of a 14-year-old juvenile and was sentenced to serve a 12-month split sentence and required to serve 24 months on supervised probation. He pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual abuse in August 2010 and is a a registered sex offender in Alabama.
In 1987, Charles Brown, of London Baptist Church in Evergreen, was convicted of abusing a teenage boy in 1986. Brown was convicted of a reduced misdemeanor charge and given a suspended sentence.
Fred Robert Chambers in 1998 was convicted of four counts of sodomy with a 14-year-old boy. He was a volunteer church leader; the church was not named.
In 2008, Stanley Daniel, pastor of El-Bethel Baptist Church and Pearls of Promise Girls Academy in Rock Stand, pleaded guilty to “first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy and two counts of distribution of obscene material.”
Mack Allen Davis, former youth minister, Lakeside Baptist Church, was sentenced to 35 years in 2015 for three counts of sodomy and four counts of sexual abuse, with victims in three different counties, His is in the Alabama state prison.
In 2006, Garret Albert Dykes, 38, former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Wetumpka, pleaded guilty to 13 sex related charges against two girls under the age of 10. He was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison.
In 2014, Jeffery Dale Eddie, children’s minister of Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including sodomy, sexual abuse of a child under 12 and possession of child pornography, according to federal civil court documents. He is serving a 30-year sentence in Alabama state prison.
Zachary Reed Emerson, a part-time youth employee at East Memorial Baptist Church, in Prattville, was convicted of enticing a child for immoral purposes in Alabama in 2011. He is a registered sex offender in Florida.
Luis Federico Garcia, pastor of Spanish ministries at First Baptist Church in Pelham, pleaded guilty to three charges of first-degree sexual abuse involving three girls younger than 12 years old. He is a registered sex offender after he was convicted in 2007 of three counts of sexual abuse in Shelby County. The victim was an 8-year-old female. “Lives in the Dominican Republic,” the list states.
In 2016, Jason Michael Hankins, a former staff member at Shades Crest Baptist Church’s Family Life Center in Birmingham, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child, plus 20 more years of possessing child pornography. He will remain on supervised release for the rest of his life.
In 2017, John Edgar Harris, a former employee of Glynwood Baptist Church in Prattville, pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault and facilitating the travel of a child for an unlawful sex act. As of Nov. 2, 2018, no court date has been set.
In 1993, Henry Hobson, pastor of Moffett Road Baptist Church in Mobile, admitted guilt for abusing a 14-year-old girl in 1991. “Attorneys reached an agreement between Hobson and the victim just before a civil case went to jury,” the list states.
Michael Likos was a registered sex offender while being the church piano player at Seventh Street Baptist Church in Cullman. Likos had previous convictions in Louisiana and Mississippi for crossing a state line to engage in sexual contact with a minor. In 2006, Likos was indicted on sexual abuse in the first degree.
“2010 REDACTED, youth pastor, REDACTED, arrested on charges of inappropriate sexual relationship,” the list states.
Timothy Chun-Chuck Mann, minister at First Baptist Church in Gaithersburg and choir director at Shades Crest Baptist Church in Hoover, is now a registered sex offender in Alabama. He pleaded guilty to child abuse of a 14-year-old female in Maryland in 2008 and was sentenced to 13 years with seven years in confinement with the rest suspended, according to Maryland court records.
Billy Paul Masters, pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Boaz, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse of a boy under 12. He also faced a parole violation in connection with 2001 conviction of sodomy involving three boys. Following his release from prison in 2007, Masters registered as a sex offender.
James “Javie” Vernon McNeal, children’s minister of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hazel Green, was convicted of two felony sex offenses and sentenced to 40 years in 2018, according to Alabama prison records.
In 2004, Ralph Randall Melton, pastor of Prospect Baptist Church in Wilsonville in 2004 and former pastor of New Salem Baptist Church and Big Springs Baptist Church in Chilton County and his wife were charged and pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing children in 1975-87. They were sentenced to more than three months in prison followed by 36 months probation and were to register as sex offenders. Prior to his death on June 14, 2018, together with his wife, Cathy, were both registered sex offenders for child rape convictions in Alabama in 2005. (Cathy Melton is still a registered sex offender). Their victims were a 1-year-old male and 16-year-old female.
In 2007, Douglas Myers, 57, former pastor of Triangle Community Church in Tavares, Florida, and former pastor of Harbor Baptist Fellowship in Eustis, Florida and Concord Baptist Church in Russellville, and Bayside Baptist Church in Chesapeake Beach pleaded guilty for abusing a 13-year- old boy, a church members’ grandson, in 2006. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison in Florida in 2007. After being released, he was convicted in 2012 in Maryland of child abuse for offenses that occurred in 1997, 1999 and 2001. He is serving a 15-year sentence in Maryland and faced a related civil lawsuit.
In 2007, Donald Brent Page, 33, was former youth pastor, Dogwood Grove Baptist Church in Montevallo, and former youth minister of Siluria Baptist Church in Alabaster and youth worker at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Birmingham (now The River Church). In 2007, traveled from Alabama to Tennessee to have sex with what he thought to be a 13-year-old girl but was actually a Memphis FBI Crimes Against Children Task Force Member. He was charged with traveling to to have sex with minor.
In 2007, Marshal A. Seymour, 40, a volunteer youth minister at FBC at the Mall in Lakeland, Florida, and former youth minister at Parkway Assembly of God in Mobile, faced charges of unlawful sexual activity and three counts of using a child in a sexual performance. He pleaded guilty to assault. The church 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. He is a registered sex offender in Florida. As part of a plea agreement, he was convicted of three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one charge of directing sexual performance of a child. He was released in 2016.
Gary Ladell Smitherman, a youth minister at Friendship Baptist Church in Clanton, was found guilty of one count of sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to 20 years in 2018. He is incarcerated in Alabama.
Jay Clair Strickland, a former administrative pastor of Sharon Heights Baptist Church in Brookside, was convicted of first-degree sodomy in Jefferson County in 2016. He is a registered sex offender.
In 2018, Christopher Cody Stutts, a youth minister at Westwood Baptist Church in Birmingham, was arrested for sexual abuse of a child under age 12 over the course of more than three years. A grand jury heard indicted Stutts on the initial charges of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and second-degree sodomy. The grand jury also added additional charges of first-degree sodomy, second-degree rape and another second-degree sodomy charge. Stutts was fired following his arrest.