Most entries on these pages only contain arrests, charges, or indictments, which may eventually be reduced, dropped, or expunged, and as such, these actors may in fact be innocent in a court of law. These are just a few of the kidnapping incidents we have identified. There are many more to be uploaded, so please check back.
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- 2018 – Holy Rosary Church, Indianapolis, IN. Luke Reese (pastor) arrested for kidnapping in the domestic abuse of his wife. Indianapolis priest charged with kidnapping and battery in dispute with his wife.
- 2018 – Calvary Pentecostal Church, Jeanerette, LA – Suspect and kidnapped child from Iberia Parish found in New Orleans, AMBER Alert canceled.
- 2018 – New Hope Cathedral & Ministries Church (Stockbridge), DeKalb County, GA. Alvin Joiner (former minister) arrested for kidnapping and enticing, and had a history of sex offenses. Man accused of attempted kidnapping of high school student was a minister.
- 2018 – Faith City Mission, Amarillo, TX. Joshua Len Jones arrested for using gun and threatening to take hostages. He disarmed a possible church shooter — then the police arrived and shot him.
- 2018 – David Wayne English Jr. (preacher), & Jennifer Lynn Bunting (teacher) were arrested for kidnapping a newborn, and English charged with domestic assault, New Hope Baptist Church, Clinton, SC – LCSO: Infant’s kidnapping leads to charges for pastor, wife.
- 2018 – Philadelphia Baptist Church, Framingham, MA. Jackson Sugrue arrested for holding a gay man captive in a church basement bathroom for days. He also beat and choked the victim. Framingham man accused of beating, holding gay man captive for 4 days.
- 2017 – Life Center For a New Tormorrow, LLC. Church of Scientology, Nashville, TN. Dennis Flamond, Hans Lytle, and Marc Vallieres were all charged with various charges relating to kidnapping. Tennessee Scientologist charged in kidnapping case.
- 2017 – Eric Brian Brown was arrested, East Stonewall AME Zion Church, Charlotte, NC – Man Arrested In Kidnapping, Murder Of Virginia Teen Found Near North Charlotte Church.
- 2017 – Word of Faith Fellowship, Spindale, NC – Revealed: The evangelical North Carolina church that ‘kidnapped children with the help of a social worker insider and brainwashed them through years of abuse’.
- 2017 – Word of Faith Church, Spindale, NC – This Church Has Kidnapped, Beaten, and Tortured Members. Why Did It Take So Long to Expose Them?
- 2017 – Timothy Wilson arrested for abducting at knife point and taken to church parking lot where she was sexually assaulted, Atlanta, GA – Police: suspect in custody after kidnapping, sexual assault.
- 2017 – Unidentified stranger abduction, Riverside, CA – Girl abducted from Mormon church sexually assaulted in dumpster: cops.
- 2017 – Erick Dailing arrested for taking his wife and two children hostage using handgun and assault rifle, Success Baptist Church, Success, TX – Man is charged with holding kids, pastor as hostages at church.
- 2017 – Brenard O. Carr arrested for attempting to kidnap 13-year old and 11-year old girls outside church. Who would try to kidnap a young girl outside church? Liberty City Church of Christ, Miami, FL – Cops look for man with facial tattoos.
- 2017 – Demetria Karzarieas Anderson arrested for kidnapping a female to behind a church where he raped her multiple times. Unidentified Greenville church, SC – Man admits to kidnapping woman, raping her behind Greenville church.
- 2016 – Maria Guadalupe Vasquez arrested for taking a seven-year-old boy, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Bakersfield, CA – Delano police: Woman suspected in kidnapping at church.
- 2016 – Bullard First Assembly Church, Kayla, Tyler, TX – Search ends for missing 10-year-old abducted at church.
- 2016 – Samuel Pierre arrested for drugging and raping victim younger than 12, Tabernacle of Prayer and Miracles International church, Orange County, CA – Church youth pastor arrested on rape, kidnapping charges.
- 2016 – Wallace D. Spence arrested was a former gay-homicide offender and had met current victim through church functions, New Destiny Ministries, Rockdale, KY – Ashland man accused of kidnapping Boyd County teenager lived inside church.
- 2016 – Willy Didier Semuhungu was arrested for rape, kidnapping, and lewdness. Concord, NH – African immigrant charged with after church rape, kidnapping, lewdness.
- 2016 – Willie Warren Junior (deacon) arrested for kidnapping and sexual assault on nine-year old, The Church of the Living God, Cleveland, OH – Cleveland church deacon charged with sexual assault and kidnapping of a minor.
- 2015 – Paul Nelson arrested for attempting to abduct two and five-year olds, Calvary Christian Center, Sacramento, CA – Jailed suspect calls attempted church kidnapping a misunderstanding, mother disagrees.
- 2015 – Yanhao “Eric” Ren (youth leader), Evangelical Formosan Church, Rowland Heights, CA – Rowland Heights Youth Church Leader Accused of Kidnapping, Sodomizing 13-Year-Old Girl: SBSD.
- 2015 – Carleous Clay arrested, kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted slaying during a burglary, Oak Glen United Reformed Church, Lansing, MI – Church stands behind victim in alleged kidnapping, assault case.
- 2014 – Set Free Christian Ministry, Colorado Springs, CO. Michael Abromovich (minister) arrested for targeted gay man to rob and kidnap him. He also impersonated a law-enforcement officer. Colorado Springs pastor impersonated U.S. marshall to kidnap, rob gay man.
- 2013 – Word of Faith Fellowship, Spindale, NC. Minister and four church members (Sarah Covington Anderson, Adam Bartley, Brooke Covington (pastor), Justin Covington, and Robert Louis Walker Jr.) arrested for kidnapping and beating a gay man at church. Gay man says church members beat, choked him for hours to expel ‘homosexual demons’.
- 2013 – Justin Brocke Covington, Brooke McFadden Covington, Robert Louis Walker, Jr. and Adam Chistopher Bartley indicted for kidnapping and assault of gay man. Word of Faith Fellowship, Spindale, NC – North Carolina church members indicted for kidnapping and assaulting gay man.
- 2012 – Andrew David Jordan (pastor), Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church, Middletown, PA – Church Stages Kidnapping of Youth Group Members.
- 2011 – Timothy David Miller (pastor) arrested for aiding an international parental kidnapping from a former lesbian couple. Christian Aid Ministries in Managua, Nicaragua. Crossville, TN – FBI arrests Tenn. Pastor in custody case of former lesbian partners.
- 2011 – Eddie “Reverend Ed” Wright (street preacher) arrested for “kidnapping, torturing and enslaving mentally disabled adults” to get their disability payments. Philadelphia, PA. Street preacher gets 27 years.
- 2011 – Jacob Wilcher arrested for abduction outside church which ended in car chase, Lifepoint Church, Minden, NV – Man Arrested for Kidnapping/Attempted Assault of Boy at Church.
- 2010 – Robert James Washington, Jr. (church volunteer) arrested for kidnapping and rape of underage victim. Using a gun drove victim to pastor’s study at the church, New Beginnings Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church, Caddo Parish, LA – Caddo church volunteer face kidnapping/rape charges.
- 2009 – Kentwood Community Church, Cutlerville, MI – Woman charged with kidnapping baby from church told police she ‘always wanted to be a mother’.
- 2009 – Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, UT. Parents of Alex Cooper kidnapped her, sent to a camp practicing forced “conversion therapy” to make their daughter no longer be lesbian. The courts eventually ruled against the parents. Teenager’s Gay Conversion Therapy Ordeal Told in New Memoir.
- 2009 – Adam Joe Louis Jordan III was arrested for driving victims around to ATM machines withdrawing money. Victims were kidnapped from church. Statesville, NC – Man charged in church kidnapping case, authorities say.
- 2002 – Mormon Church, Salt Lake City, UT. Wanda Barzee (church organist) convicted of helping her husband Brian David Mitchell (former street preacher) to kidnap Elizabeth Smart and others. Elizabeth Smart says it’s ‘incomprehensible’ that one of her captors will go free years earlier than expected.
- 1998 – Robin Wayne Martin was arrested for kidnapping and rape of 12-year old, Memorial United Methodist Church, Charlotte, NC – Abducted girl brings Easter to life for North Carolina.
- 1996 – Marcus Ford (former church leader), Calvary Worship Center, Pueblo, CO – Former church leader facing kidnapping charges.
- 1988 – Kenneth Alvin Michel convicted for abducting Candi Talarico and was held in a church dirt crawl space for six weeks, Elk Grove United Methodist Church, Elk Grove, CA – The Kidnapping Of Candi Talarico: How A Sacramento Girl Was Found Six Weeks After She Disappeared.
- 1982 – Ernest Stubblefield held victim in church attic for four months, Christ United Methodist Church, Memphis, TN – Cheerleader rescued from 250-pound captor.
Involuntary Servitude
- 2018 – John McCollum (pastor) arrested for involuntary servitude of a child. Godwin, NC. Cumberland County pastor arrested, charged with involuntary servitude with a child victim.