Posted on 10/29/2019 12:10:27 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Rev. Bryan Fulwider, a former Winter Park minister who was recently arrested on charges that he repeatedly raped a teenage girl while he was her pastor, killed himself at his Altamonte Springs home, according to police.
Emergency crews were called to Fulwiders home in the 600 block of Post Oak Circle about 11:50 p.m. Sunday for a possible suicide. Fulwider was pronounced dead there, ASPD spokeswoman Michelle Sosa said.
Fulwider, 59, had been out on bail since Oct. 17. The former 'Friends Talking Faith co-host faced a slew of charges including sexual battery on a minor by a person in custodial authority. He could have faced life in prison, if convicted. He had pleaded not guilty.
The Medical Examiners Office for Seminole County ruled the death a suicide, their records show.
The woman who had accused Fulwider of sexually abusing her for years said on Monday that she was not shocked by his suicide, and thanked the Winter Park Police Department for its work on the case and belief in victims.
Fulwiders day in court will never come because he knew all the truths I could tell, the woman wrote in a statement, shared with the Sentinel on the condition of anonymity. My story doesnt stop with his cowardice through; I will work in the coming months to get justice for myself and any other victims impacted by Fulwiders abuse.
Im thinking of Fulwiders other victims and hope they are well tonight, she wrote. The Sentinel does not typically identify victims of child sex abuse. Fulwider had not been accused by police of abusing anyone else at the time of his death, though WPPD said detectives were investigating whether there could be additional victims.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Washington Post will praise his courage because he killed himself rather than face justice.
Good for him. His guilty plea is accepted and he should be lauded for saving the taxpayers the room and board expenses.
Good Riddance.
Save the taxpayers some cash.
Fake Christianity can do that to a person.
While not as common as Catholic priests and young boys - there is very much a problem with too many Christian pastors and clergy with young girls.
The prison’s GP would have killed him within a few weeks/months, anyway.
He would have been more courageous had he taken some innocent bystander children with him.
“He was an austere Biblical scholar”.
Shades of The Rain by Somerset Maugham
As all innocent people wrongly accused do...
This is why I can’t deal with religion anymore.
If he was seeking to escape judgement, he miscalculated badly.
He took the Lord’s name in vain.
I rob banks because thats where the money is. - Willie Sutton
This abuse likely continued because the parents of the girl didn't have good commutation with their child.
Even if the abuser told her not to tell and threatened her if the parents had sat down with her after each unsupervised encounter they likely would have picked up on something not being right.
You can't just 'talk to you kids' once. You have to 'TALK TO YOUR KIDS' about their DAILY experiences.
I'm not blaming the victim or the parents but parents need to be more aware because abusers know all the tricks.
So you do not believe in the presumption of innocence? What would you do if someone, out of the clear blue, accused you?
Have you ever heard of false recovered memory syndrome?
The very first thing the police should do is ask the woman if she is in therapy. Then they should get the records and do a forensic examination to see if this idea arose out of hypnosis before they arrest the man or woman accused.
Another thing they should do is investigate the accuser to see if there is some hidden agenda.
We, as a society, need to commit to fair and honest trials so that accused people do not kill themselves.
For now, it is an unjust and wicked process. The woman should not be believed unless is is clear that she is probably telling the truth. The same goes for men.
Our prisons are filled with innocent men and women falsely accused.
Beware, this could happen to you and you are entirely innocent.
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