Posted on 11/15/2023 9:17:31 AM PST by Morgana
A Florida church has removed its youth pastor, who pleaded guilty last year to exposing himself, shortly after The Roys Report (TRR) began inquiring about the man’s employment.
Austin W. Plappert, 26, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exposing his sexual organs in September 2022, Volusia County court records show. A police report obtained by TRR also reveals a similar incident in 2020.
In late October 2023, Plappert and his wife were employed as youth directors at Pentecostals of Deland (POD) near Daytona Beach, according to an archived screenshot of the church’s website.
On Oct. 24, TRR first reached out to POD Senior Pastor Glenn Hires via email to inquire about Plappert’s employment at the church and if there was a restoration process. Hires didn’t answer, but Plappert wrote back saying Hires had forwarded him the email.
Plappert told TRR in his email response that he became youth director in 2023. But he wrote that he wasn’t on staff at the church at the time of what he called an “isolated incident” in March 2022. In Florida, a first-time offense for this charge is a misdemeanor of the first degree. A second offense is a felony of the third degree.
“This was an isolated incident, in which, with the support of my wife and my pastor, I received counciling (sic) for, both spiritual and professional,” he wrote. “When this incident occurred, we were in no position of staff or ministry. We only recently, in 2023, became youth directors at the church.”
Last Friday, TRR reached out to Hires again, through email, to ask about Plappert. Hires replied, “Austin Plappert has been removed from all duties, offices and opportunities related to the Pentecostals of Deland.”
Hires and his wife no longer appear on POD’s website. Charge of exposure of sexual organs
TRR has obtained two police reports, involving Plappert—one from Feb. 21, 2020, and one from March 18, 2022.
Both reports state that Plappert drove up to a woman, or women, who were walking along a road. Then he masturbated in front of them, while still in the car.
In the 2020 incident, the woman decided not to press charges, the report states. However, in the March 2022 incident, the women involved decided to press charges.
On Sept. 21, 2022, Plappert was given a 12-month probation to include a “deviant public behavior” course, psycho-sexual and mental health treatment, and no contact with the victims, records show.
Additional records show his probation was completed on Sept. 20, 2023.
Plappert didn’t answer TRR’s inquiry, asking the specific date in 2023 when he became a youth director. TRR also emailed Hires to ask when Plappert was removed from his position at the church, but Hires did not respond.
But in April 2023, Plappert preached at the church and shared updates on the children’s ministry, according to the church’s YouTube channel.
“I’m in the first quarter of the year . . . we’ve seen nine students receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and 10 baptized in Jesus’ name,” he told the congregation. “There was a P7 club that was started at University High School, which had 24 students added as of a week ago.”
Plappert also preached in 2020 and in August 2022, POD’s YouTube channel shows.
In Plappert’s April 2023 sermon at POD, Plappert preached on the importance of truth and righteousness.
“Young person, if you don’t do anything else, get ahold of truth,” he preached. “The church wants to water down righteousness. These young people need to see there’s a difference in how we live. Be separate. Right living is important. Right living is necessary . . . We need purity in our thoughts. We do not need to underestimate what goes on up here.”
On March 5, 2022, about two weeks before his second indecent exposure incident. Plappert married his current wife, Holly Plappert, court records show. POD Senior Pastor Glenn Hires signed the marriage license.
Purgatory Parole
How Catholic “indulgences” work.
The New York Times reported Monday that the Catholic Church is re-emphasizing the practice of offering indulgences. According to the Times, there are both “partial indulgences, which reduce purgatorial time by a certain number of days or years, and plenary indulgences, which eliminate all of it, until another sin is committed.” How do Catholics calculate spiritual sentences in the first place?
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/02/how-catholics-calculate-purgatory-sentences.html
Almost 1,700 priests and clergy accused of sex abuse are unsupervised
An Associated Press investigation found that those credibly accused are now teachers, coaches, counselors and also live near playgrounds.
Nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the Roman Catholic Church considers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living under the radar with little to no oversight from religious authorities or law enforcement, decades after the first wave of the church abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioceses, an Associated Press investigation has found.
These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and daycare centers. They foster and care for children.
Why are you posting that here? Wrong thread. This is about other potential victims of sex abuse or do you not care about them?
Agreed. And even if I (a Protestant) want to know about Catholic practices I wouldn't get my information from Slate or any other source of the god-denying Dims.
“Why are you posting that here? Wrong thread. This is about other potential victims of sex abuse or do you not care about them?”
The real question is do you care about the multitudes of victims groomed and assaulted by those placed in authority of the roman catholic church?
Churches and ministries are intended to be safe havens that foster healing and restoration. Unfortunately, they are sometimes a source of pain and abuse instead. Children are the most vulnerable. It’s hard to tell exactly how common child abuse is in the United States. According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, 26% of children are subjected to verbal/emotional abuse, 15% to physical abuse, and 12% to sexual abuse. Many studies indicate that rates are actually significantly higher. Others are vulnerable as well. The authority held by those in Church leadership creates a power differential that has been exploited to abuse and mistreat people of every gender, every background, and every age group. This must not be ignored by the Church, but sadly, we have not prepared our leaders to respond in a God-honoring and survivor-centered way. At times, we have misapplied the truth of Scripture to justify the abuse or our silence. At times, we have hidden from the truth or sided with those who abuse instead of those who have been abused. At times, we have further harmed children and adult survivors by using as a weapon the power God has entrusted to us. This does not reflect the heart of God, and I believe it does not reflect the heart of most people in God’s Church.
But this is not the end of the story. There is hope for prevention, healing, and accountability. Jesus modeled this hope. Hearing, loving, and protecting children and the vulnerable were central themes of Jesus’ ministry on Earth. Whether welcoming them to him, holding them up as an ideal of faith, or proclaiming judgment on those who harmed them, Jesus clearly showed a heart for children and the vulnerable. As the tangible expression of God’s presence on Earth, the Church must do the same.
This heart is at the core of GRACE’s mission to empower Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to abuse. The early Church, so close to the time of Christ, played a central role in ending many abusive practices that were prevalent at that time. We believe the Church today is called to take up that mantle once again and be a safe haven for children and all who are vulnerable.
The work is not easy. It is not quickly finished. But it CAN be done. Through education, consultation, and accountability, GRACE believes we can work together for the sake of those who have been abused. We believe this movement can bring about a deep cultural change as the Church more closely reflects the heart of God toward children and all people. We long to lift our voices with yours for the sake of those who are vulnerable. Christ calls us to do no less.
Peace,
I care about all churches.
If you notice I’ve even posted recently about some non christian ones like the FLDS just last week or were you paying attention?
And no where in your comments do you address the worst abuses within the roman catholic church. In fact all your “abuse” threads target those OUTSIDE of the roman catholic church. don’t you care about the victims of child abuse committed by those placed in authority of the roman catholic church?
peace
Good point.
Our church has everyone who works or volunteers in children or youth ministry undergo a background check, even if it’s just for a one time event.
” “isolated incident””
It is still an incident. I never felt compelled to show my junk to unwilling people. Imagine that. It just doesn’t happen by accident.
The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now
The institution of the Catholic Church finds itself in a period of extraordinary crisis.
An August 2018 grand jury report on clerical sex abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses gave a detailed, often graphic account of decades of criminal offenses against minors by Catholic priests. Other states have since launched their own investigations. Evidence that church superiors—bishops, archbishops, and even popes—failed to address abuses effectively has only amplified the outrage.
Some church leaders were found to have engaged in such acts themselves. A leading figure of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, Theodore E. McCarrick, had a long and widely rumored history of misconduct against priests, seminarians, and several minors. Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe “a life of prayer and penance in seclusion” before accepting his resignation in July 2018. In an extraordinary measure, he was removed from the priesthood in February 2019.
All of these tragedies are tinged with a sense of déjà vu. Similar patterns of abuse have been front-page news in the United States since an explosive 2002 investigation by the Boston Globe (subject of the 2015 Academy Award-winning film Spotlight), but the problem was known decades earlier.
The intractability and pervasiveness of the problem suggest that it is deeply rooted in the Church’s own history. In fact, several explanations proffered in heated debates about the current crisis—especially among Catholics—are wrapped in historical judgments, particularly about the development of the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Some Church critics point to an ossified church structure and antiquated norms of sex and gender, including clerical celibacy and a male priesthood. Others denounce the subversion of the clergy by an assumed gay subculture or, more broadly, changing sexual mores since the 1960s.
Yes, with non-Catholics, it’s words like *relieved of duties*, *removed from pulpit*, *police reports*, *charges*, *jail* etc.
When it’s a Catholic priests it’s excuse city for why they are not disciplined or charged.
As FRoman Catholics on this very website have stated it’s *Once a priest, always a priest*, *they’re just sinners like the rest of us* (Um no. Perhaps they need to keep better company), and he can perform sacraments, mass, and serve communion *as long as his intent is pure*.
It doesn’t seem to faze them that the hands that handle the communion host and lays it on their tongue may have been molesting kids the night before. Least, I’ve never since a Catholic express revulsion at the thought.
“When it’s a Catholic priests it’s excuse city for why they are not disciplined or charged.”
Or transferred to another “parish” Where they can hide out while targeting their next victims. But I digress. I guess the purpose of this thread is only posted to make all non roman catholic Christians look guilty. All while sheltering and ignoring the wide spread abuses of children committed by those placed in authority of the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
What is does is besmirch the name of Christ to the world.
It’s disturbing that someone is so obsessed with sexual abuse that threads like these are posted almost non-stop on a daily basis. It makes for a very dark posting history.
Agree. That is why it must be met with “diversity” of responses.
No, it’s obviously no accident. I think most men — decent men who wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing — would be shocked at how often this happens to women and girls.
You are highjacking the thread. Post your own thread about your issue with the RCC.
Morgana has been diligently posting about child abuse from all sources, week after week. Do your own work, don’t just tear hers down.
Morgana’s regular readers do not appreciate your iunwelcome intrusion.
Or an agenda. Seems pretty clear to me.
No, not all sources.
There’s a noticeable dearth of abuse articles when it involves Roman Catholicism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.