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NY Pastor pleads guilty to sexually abusing children in Pittsford
Son, also a pastor, earlier pled guilty to sexual charges
by WHAM Staff
June 2nd 2021
(WHAM) - A pastor pleaded guilty to sexually abusing at least one child in Pittsford.
Joseph Burress, Sr., 71, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sexual abuse.
Burress had been charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse. Both survivors of the abuse were under the age of 14 at the time of the abuse.
According to court documents, the two people accusing Burress of sexually abusing them said the incidents happened separately. One was between September 1, 2018 and August 15, 2020; the other was between January 1, 2014 and January 31, 2017. Both incidents happened in Pittsford, according to court documents.
It is not clear at this time which child Burress admitted to abusing.
The allegations were investigated by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
When asked for comment after pleading guilty, Burress declined to speak with media.
Burress is scheduled to be sentenced on September 2 in Pittsford Town Court. He will remain out of custody on his own recognizance until the hearing.
13WHAM has confirmed Burress is the father of former Henrietta pastor Paul Burress.
Paul Burress pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in 2018. He had been arrested a year earlier, accused of forcible touching. The allegations came from three women, all involving separate alleged incidents in a hot tub at his home.
He was later sentenced to one year on probation with sex offender conditions.
Former Henrietta pastor, Paul Burress, pleads guilty to sexual abuse
Victoria E. Freile
Democrat and Chronicle
Mar 15, 2018
A former Henrietta pastor known for running a fight club in his church pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges Wednesday in Henrietta Town Court.
Burress was a charismatic pastor at Victory Church in Henrietta, a large nondenominational church, for a number of years.
The charges arose from separate incidents in 2016 and 2017, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Each of the victims attended Burress' church and one lived in his home for about two months, according to court documents.
As part of a plea agreement, Burress will serve one year of probation, according to the District Attorney's Office. Orders of protection were also issued for the victims.
Burress is a mixed-martial arts fighter as well as a minister, and received a great deal of publicity when he was featured in Fight Church, a 2014 documentary.
Southern Baptists meet amid controversy over leaked letters
The Canadian Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As Southern Baptists prepare for their biggest annual meeting in more than a quarter-century, accusations that leaders have shielded churches from claims of sexual abuse and simmering tensions around race threaten to once again mire the nation’s largest Protestant denomination in a conflict that can look more political than theological.
More than 16,000 voting delegates are pre-registered for the two-day gathering that starts on Tuesday in Nashville. Southern Baptist Convention members have been a powerful force in conservative Republican politics for a generation. This year’s convention follows weeks of internal controversies stoked by leaked letters, secret recordings and video rebuttals.
Despite claiming 14 million members, the denomination has been in decline for 14 years. Adding to long-term membership losses have been the recent loud departures of its top public policy official, a mega-selling author and several prominent Black clergy over issues that include sexual abuse, racism and the treatment of women.
Key votes on who leads the convention and where it stands on these issues will not only set the denomination’s direction but determine whether more people head for the exits, including Black clergy who see the denomination regressing on racial issues.
The letters and subsequently released secret recordings purport to show some SBC leaders tried to slow-walk efforts to hold churches accountable for sexual abuse and to intimidate and retaliate against those who advocated on the issue.
In the documents, Moore accused certain leaders of caricaturing sexual abuse victims as “at best, mentally disturbed and, at worst, as sexually-promiscuous sinners.”
Mike Stone, a Georgia pastor who is running for SBC president this year, is specifically called out as pushing back against Moore’s accountability efforts. In an interview, Stone said Moore’s allegations were outrageous, especially considering that Stone is himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse. However, Stone said the fact that the convention is a loose affiliation of autonomous churches makes it difficult to act on the issue.
“The Southern Baptist Convention was not, and to a large degree is still not, set up today to do the kinds of things that Russell Moore wanted to see us doing,” Stone said.
Amid calls for a third-party investigation of Moore’s allegations, Executive Committee president Ronnie Floyd announced Friday that the panel had retained a firm to conduct it. But some pastors reacted with calls for an independent task force, saying they don't trust the committee to oversee an investigation of itself.
Another burning issue is how, or even whether, to address systemic racism. Stone is among those calling for a repudiation of critical race theory while some Black pastors are exiting the SBC in frustration over what they see as racial insensitivity from overwhelmingly white leadership.
Moore, who is white, says in a letter that his work on racial reconciliation led to “constant threats from white nationalists and white supremacists, including within our convention.”
How Southern Baptists feel about these issues will likely determine who is elected SBC president. Stone is part of the Conservative Baptist Network, which accuses Russell Moore, current president J.D. Greear and others of contributing to a liberal drift.
Another leading candidate, Al Mohler, has been supportive of sex abuse victims but angered some Southern Baptists for endorsing Donald Trump last year and for signing a statement, in his capacity as president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, denouncing critical race theory.
Meanwhile, Ed Litton, an Alabama pastor, is supported by Fred Luter, the only Black pastor ever to be denomination president. The two are among the co-signers of a statement by a multiethnic group of Southern Baptists asserting that systemic racial injustice is a reality.
For all the Baptists who will be in the room this week, looming large will be the influence of a non-Baptist who’s not present: Trump. The Conservative Baptist Network announced at its formation in February 2020 that members had been concerned over an effort to keep former Vice President Mike Pence from speaking at the 2018 meeting. Strong Southern Baptists support for Trump contributed to the estrangement between the denomination and Beth Moore and Russell Moore, both of whom had criticized the former president.
“One of the things that is happening is that many conservative evangelicals want their denomination and church to line up to what they are hearing on cable news,” said Ed Stetzer, executive director of Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center. “So if they hear that critical race theory is a huge problem in the culture, they want it dealt with in the church, even though it’s not a major issue there.”
The meeting is shaping up as the most contentious since the late 20th century, when those championing more conservative views on the Bible, politics and male authority in homes and churches took control of seminaries and denominational offices. The current controversies are driving huge pre-registration numbers.
Eric Costanzo, pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said he’s bringing more church members than normally attend.
“I’ve also assembled a team of leaders to dig in deeper to the issues facing the SBC,” he said. “They have not enjoyed most of what they’ve seen.”
Former Lubbock Christian School president pleads guilty
to federal child porn charge
Gabriel Monte
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
A former Lubbock Christian School president will be on house arrest for the time being after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.
Rogers stood next to his attorney, John Floyd, before U.S. Magistrate D. Gordon Bryant, who accepted his plea of guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
Rogers, who was removed from office in November, faces up to 10 years in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender.
According to court documents, Rogers' wife caught him in October holding his iPhone under a bathroom door taking pictures of a 15-year-old girl as she was naked in the bathroom preparing to take a shower.
He admitted to his wife that he took pictures and videos of the girl and later deleted the materials.
A colleague, who learned about the behavior, also confronted Rogers, who admitted it and said, "I guess I should resign," the documents state.
Police investigators searched his phone but found Rogers recently cleared it.
However, Rogers admitted that he used the phone to possess images of child sexual abuse until about Nov. 20.
According to an amended factual resume, Rogers admitted that among the materials of child sexual abuse he deleted from on his phone included images of a fully nude child that "were intended or designed to elicit a sexual response in Rogers."
Federal prosecutors did not file a request to place Rogers in custody and Bryant allowed Rogers to be released on an unsecured $15,000 bond.
However, possession of child pornography requires mandatory detention once a defendant is found guilty. Bryant told Rogers he could return to court for a detention hearing once U.S. District Judge James Wes Hendrix, who will determine his punishment, accepts the plea and finds him guilty.
Among the conditions of his pre-trial release, Rogers will be under home detention at his sister's residence. He can leave the residence for work, medical, substance abuse or mental health treatment, attorney visits, church services, and court appearances. He will need prior approval from a supervising officer to leave for other activities.
Rogers would also be required to participate in sex offender-specific treatment if deemed appropriate by his pre-trial supervisors. He is also prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children.
Rogers' sister told Bryant she would make every effort to make sure her brother followed the conditions of his bond and promised to report any violations.
"I absolutely will," she said.
You absolutely better, or it's just going to get worse. Sin is progressive!
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