Abuse: SBC P/2

                                                            
                                                             Read Part One Here

 Here is my first post of a story on abuse in one of the Southern Baptist Churches in the US.

Pastor Ruben Garcia was arrested nearly two years ago in Hays County, prosecuted on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and prohibited by a judge from being alone with children.
But the preacher kept his job at the Southern Baptist Church.
Garcia, 60, sang hymns and taught kids about the Lord at Betania Baptist Church in Austin, a church so small that her Sunday services feel more like a family gathering.

In February 2016, a teenage girl told police in the Austin suburb of Buda, where Garcia lives that he sexually assaulted her multiple times in the summers of 2013 and 2014, records show. Police arrested Garcia in June 2017 and he was later released on bond.
Then Garcia continued serving as co-pastor of his church, where few members of the congregation questioned the appropriateness of their spiritual leader remaining in his post with sexual-assault charges pending against him.
Their support continued in 2018 after Garcia pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and avoided prison - but he was prohibited from being around children as part of the terms of his sentence.....

I will share a second story on abuse in one of the Southern Baptist Churches in the US in my next post.

 

Read Part Three HERE