Interviews continue in Pierce case
The Benton Courier
April 29, 2009
Investigators with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office are continuing to conduct interviews related to the recent arrest of David Pierce, First Baptist Church’s former music minister.
Pierce, 56, was arrested Friday on one count of sexual indecency with a child, but Sheriff Bruce Pennington said Friday he expects additional charges to be filed.
Today, Lt. Mike Frost said he does not anticipate filing new charges against Pierce until the investigation is complete.
“We’re continuing to get calls, and that’s what we want,” he said.
“We’ve interviewed numerous individuals and expect to interview more,” he said.
“This will be a several-week process,” Frost added.
He encouraged anyone with information about the case to call the sheriff’s office at 303-5609.
Pierce, who served 29 years in the music minister’s position, was jailed Friday and released from custody about 6 p.m. Monday after posting a $2,500 bond.
While he was incarcerated, he was housed separately from other inmates because of his health, Pennington said. Pierce reportedly suffers from congestive heart failure, is a diabetic and has sleep apnea, requiring the use of a special apparatus for sleeping.
Through videotaped transmission, Pierce appeared before District Judge Mike Robinson in a bond hearing Monday morning in Saline County District Court. He is scheduled for another appearance on June 9.
He was released in conjunction with an order that bars him from having any contact with current or former members of the Pure Energy youth choir or staff members of the church.
The sheriff said allegations of abuse have been raised by several individuals who have been associated with Pierce through the Pure Energy Youth Choir program. Several have said the abuse began when they were around 15, authorities said.
Dr. Rick Grant, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, said church officials are continuing to “cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities in what we understand is an ongoing investigation.”
“Legally, that’s about all I can say,” Grant said.
“As I’ve told everyone, I’m heartsick over all of this. During my 20-plus years in the ministry here, this is the most difficult thing I’ve had to deal with, by far. This is a good church. We love the Lord. I can’t tell you how many people — church members here and others — have told us they are praying for us, both individually and as a church.
“We are praying for the church, for all families who may have been affected by this — and on some level that’s all of us — and we pray for David Pierce and his family.”
A letter that Pierce gave to the church reportedly apologized to the leaders as well as the church body for his behavior. Part of the letter stated: “I feel that it is important for you to know that while I fully acknowledge the sinfulness and immorality of my past behavior, I did not engage in actual sexual contact (specifically oral sex, intercourse or masturbating another individual) with any person, nor do I believe that in recent conversation with legal counsel that I have violated criminal or civil law.”
The conditions of his pretrial release prohibit Pierce from contact with the “Benton First Baptist Church Campus, or First Baptist Church activities or functions.”
The order states that he cannot have contact with any current or former member of the First Baptist Youth Choir “ ... or any person that is or was under the age of 18 over whom the defendant held a leadership role while he was employed by First Baptist Church.”
The order further states that Pierce may have no contact with church leaders, including the pastor, the chairman of deacons, the church Personnel Committee, or any church employee except his son.
He was further ordered to have no contact with “any child under the age of 18 to whom he is not related” and is prohibited from “using third parties to circumvent these conditions.”
The order prohibits him from using Facebook, MySpace “or any other form of passive Internet communication.” He also was ordered to surrender his passport.
Detective Allison Hoskins of the Sheriff’s Office said, in an affidavit, that she spoke with the church’s senior deacon, Paul White, on April 23. At that time, Hoskins said, White provided the names of three men who allegedly told the church pastor, Dr. Rick Grant, that as teenagers they had been victimized by Pierce.
A previous victim reportedly stated that Pierce would record “charting” on a legal pad. The charting included measurements of the boys’ bodies, including chest, arms, stomach and genitals, which Pierce would document on what appeared to be a spread sheet, the victim told investigators.
The most recent victim claimed that Pierce took him to a county location where, in addition to the charting, he also spoke with him about sexual activities, such as masturbation. Pierce allegedly told the teenager that he had a “strong bond with all past presidents in the student ministry and would do ‘charting’ with them.”
In an e-mail Pierce sent to the church pastor, he reportedly asked to retrieve personal documents and personal files that are saved on the computer he used at the church.
In Hoskins’ affidavit, she stated that two of the individuals who have made allegations about Pierce said Pierce showed them pornography on the computer at the church.
The affidavit notes that Pierce had an iphone which has Internet access as well as multi-media recording. Pierce reportedly gave the iphone to his wife, Rhonda Pierce, when he was arrested.
A search warrant was issued to enable detectives to retrieve the iphone.
Conviction of sexual indecency with a child, a Class D felony, carries a possible punishment of up to six years in prison.
The Baptist Press carried a story about Pierce’s arrest. In that account, it noted that the southern Baptist Convention has gone on record “for having stood strongly against sexual abuse, Morris h. Chapman, president of the denomination’s Executive Committee, said. “We have long condemned those who would use our churches as a hunting ground for their sick and selfish pleasure.
“ ... Even though the number of Southern Baptist ministers who are sexual predators may seem to be relatively small, we must be on watch and take immediate action against those who prey on the most innocent among us,” Chapman said. “One sexual predator in our midst is one too many.”
http://www.bentoncourier.com/content/view/169168/1/
SNAP note: First Baptist Church in Benton, Arkansas is shown as an SBC-affiliated church.
See also:
Judge to Pierce: No contacts, Benton Courier, 4/28/09
3 more claim abuse by former minister, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 4/28/09
Benton Choir Minister Arrested for Sexual Indecency with a Child, KTHV-TV, 4/25/09