Posted on 08/23/2005 6:24:14 AM PDT by Abathar
INDIANAPOLIS -- A local church raised money to post bond for a choir director who is accused of molesting two boys, upsetting the boys' mother and surprising police, RTV6's Jack Rinehart reported Monday.
The Refuge Temple Revival Center raised more than $5,000 during a yard sale last week to free 28-year-old Oshea Otis from jail. Otis, the son of the church's pastor, had been arrested Aug. 11 and is charged with molesting two boys over an 18-month period at the pastor's home.
The boys' mother, a former member of the church who spoke to RTV6 on condition of anonymity, said she is alarmed that the church's members don't believe her children's allegations.
"They're not the type of children to make up these things," the woman said. "For the church to support (Oshea Otis) as if it was nothing, I feel that it's very wrong and unfair to my kids -- something they have to suffer with for the rest of their lives." The pastor said the allegations against his son are false, and that the woman is out for revenge.
"She is evil. She has no kind of remorse toward her soul," the Rev. Paul Otis said. "I'm telling you, that girl, she (doesn't) even care for her own soul."
Indianapolis police said they believe that in posting bond for Oshea Otis, church members didn't get the full story behind the allegations. Detective Steve Buchanan said the allegations involve details about inappropriate touching that causes him to believe the children.
"They're not the normal allegations that you would hear about," Buchanan said.
Paul Otis said his son would remain the church's choir director. A trial is expected to occur later this year.
After hearing the pastor's kind, loving reply about the lady, I'm inclined to believe her. Even IF his assessment of her was correct, it was not Christ-like.
I agree. Innocent until proven guilty, but something stinks here. The fact that there's a familial relationship in the organization means that extra precautions must be taken to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Bottom line, the pastor is using contributions to bail out his own son. That oughta be enough to at least investigate whether this church should keep its 501(c)(3).
The response was spoken like a father, not a pastor. The whole church really stinks, from this perspective.
If he only allowed Protestant choir directors to marry, this kind of thing would never happen.
LOL!
These are not the words of a pastor and not the WAY.
Those are the words of a scared father, protecting his son and thus himself by association using any means necessary. Some people refuse to accept that their little angle might not be the person who they think they are, they preach tolerance and love on Sunday but come Monday morning they will stoop to any level they have to to protect their image and standing in the donating eyes of the congregation.
The article said they raised the money with a yard sale.
It doesn't appear that tax free church donations were used to raise the bail money.
The people of the church know the people involed much better than I do and they chose to raise the money for his bail.
I clearly don't have enough information to form a reasonable opinion on the guy's guilt or innocnece, but it does say something that he has the support of the church community.
"Bottom line, the pastor is using contributions to bail out his own son. That oughta be enough to at least investigate whether this church should keep its 501(c)(3)."
It says they raised the money with a yard sale. It doesn't say that those donating goods for the yard sale were given a tax deduction.
Even if they were able to donate the goods tax free, as long as those donating the items knew what they were being sold to raise money for, I see nothing inappropriate.
The accused is an employee of the church and is part of the church community. I don't see what's wrong with the church contributing toward his bail, especiall if he were accused of doing inappropriate things while performing duties related to his employment at the church.
The church congregation which knows both parties appears to believe him over the mother. If they want to bail him out of jail, I don't see how it's any of our business or the IRS's business.
I still say something stinks. The pastor's response to the allegations is interesting, to say the least.
I missed the part about the yard sale, but did they pay taxes on it? And would they have done this if the accused wasn't the son of the pastor?
There are a lot of questions about this. That's why I said at the beginning that when there is a familial relationship in a non-profit, there must be extra caution to ensure that there is no appearance of a conflict of interest.
You forgot the sarcasm alert. The Pope is Catholic.
If the man is found innocent in the end, where does he go to get his name back?
(cliche but true)
With a name like "Oshea Otis," would he really want it back?
Leni
Did I really need a sarcasm alert?
"I still say something stinks. The pastor's response to the allegations is interesting, to say the least."
You mean the short and provocative quote that the reporter chose to use?
Any opinion formed on a one line quote in a newspaper article is useless.
"I missed the part about the yard sale, but did they pay taxes on it? And would they have done this if the accused wasn't the son of the pastor?"
I doubt they paid taxes on it, nor would I expect they would pay taxes on it regardless of who's bail the money went towards.
"There are a lot of questions about this. That's why I said at the beginning that when there is a familial relationship in a non-profit, there must be extra caution to ensure that there is no appearance of a conflict of interest."
The pastor didn't pull funds out of the church treasury for this. They raised funds through a specific fund raiser.
You're looking awfully hard to find something wrong with very few facts, and none showing that something underhanded was done by the church or it's pastor.
A jury will get to decide if the son is guilty or innocent, but consider the following facts.
The congregation that knows both the accused and the accusor raised the oney for his bail.
A judge granted him bail rather than having him held without bail.
It doesn't sound like there's much evidence in this case, and it appears the congregation questions the credibility of the accusor.
My uncle was arrested for fraud. I can assure you he was as guilty as sin. But he was also good friends with his preacher and they had a sermon basically dedicated to raising thousands of dollars for bail and restitution, while insisting this "good Christian deacon" couldn't possibly be guilty.
End result: Someone else paid his fine, and he got out of jail.
Aren't Uncles great? Mine gets his pick of donated cars from the Salvation Army for whatever it costs to not raise a red flag at the BMV. It is such a shame that you can pick almost every aspect of your life, your friends, spouse, career, location, but you can't pick the most important choice of all... relatives.
Sounds like a Pentecostal church (speaking in tongues, Benny Hinn, etc)
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