'Scourge of sexual abuse': Southern Baptist list names 12 Ohio pastors

There are 12 Ohio pastors — including two from central Ohio — on a previously secret list of more than 700 Southern Baptist pastors and church personnel who have allegedly sexually abused people, according to a Dispatch analysis of the document.

The list was released by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) after Guidepost Solutions, an independent investigations group, made public a report in May that revealed that survivors of abuse and other members of the church had been contacting the SBC to report abuse to no avail for almost 20 years.

Southern Baptist sexual abuse:  Learn more about the Ohio pastors on the SBC list

Among those listed is Lonny 'Joe' Aleshire Jr., who spent almost seven years in prison for sexually assaulting two teen girls. He had served at Licking Baptist Church in Hebron.

There also is a man who served at Victory Baptist Church in Union County. Roy Burton, who died in 2021, spent a year in prison after going to meet someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl in a chatroom; she ended up being an undercover police officer.

Other individuals on the list from other parts of the state were found guilty of rape, sexual battery, unlawful sexual contact with a minor and other charges.

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Guidepost stated in its 288-page report that a few senior church officials who controlled the organization’s response met reports of sexual abuse with “resistance, stonewalling and even outright hostility.”

“Survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy – even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation,” the report reads.

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Most of the alleged abuse cataloged in the list took place from 2000 to 2019.

The document, released by the convention itself after its existence was revealed in the Guidepost's report, refers to 10 of the 12 Ohio pastors by name; the others are redacted.

There are two other individuals on the list who are not listed under the state of Ohio, but who have connections to the state, according to the list. One of their names also was redacted.

The national convention's statement on the list

The national convention, based in Nashville, released a statement with the list from Willie McLaurin, the convention's interim president and CEO of the SBC executive committee, and Rolland Slade, chairman of the executive committee.

The statement addressed the Guidepost report, which included a shorter, more incomplete list of alleged abusers put together by a former SBC employee, and said this more complete list was being made public as a "step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention."

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McLaurin and Slade said they released the list — which included church names and links to news reports concerning individuals involved — in the exact form that it was given to Guidepost, and within it are some question marks, incomplete information and other ambiguities.

The convention said that it redacted some information when it could not easily verify the entry. The statement says that the convention will research and analyze redacted entries, with the expectation that more information will be released in the future.

Ohio Baptists release a statement

The State Convention of Baptists in Ohio (SCBO) sent out an official statement shortly after the list's release to all its member churches, approximately 700.

It stated that those who signed the letter — Executive Director Jeremy Westbrook, President Ray Umphrey and SCBO Sexual Abuse Task Force Chairman Greg Jackson — knew the national report's "results would be disturbing" and that they grieve the findings of the Guidepost report and with survivors.

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"Sexual abuse is not only a barrier to the gospel; it is an attack on the gospel," the letter read. "The abuse of another person made in the image of God within the context of the local church is an unthinkable act of darkness. Just as light dispels darkness, however, truth dispels deception."

Westbrook, Umphrey and Jackson wrote that the report is painful but necessary to reform and healing.

The statement explained that the Sexual Abuse Task Force was created in November and continues to review all SCBO policies on sexual abuse as well as draft new ones and find "pathways for prevention and appropriate response within our convention."

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 12 Ohio pastors named on Southern Baptist sexual abuse list