One involves a 51-year-old closeted church pastor from Bryan who’s accused of meeting other men online and forcing them to have sex with him.

According to KBXT.com, Pastor George Randall Scott resigned from the Bethel Temple Church, where he had served since 1990, following his arrest last Tuesday.

In one case, Scott met his alleged victim on Craiglist and posed as a 17-year-old as they exchanged 12 e-mails over two days. Many of Scott’s e-mails came from a church computer:

Eventually the victim agreed to let Randy Scott come to his house but, “When the person showed up, it was an older man. The man told him that he was the stepfather of the person the victim had been emailing. The subject said that he is protective of his stepson and has set up his stepson’s email to forward him all of the emails that they have been exchanging. The victim said that the man told him that he is going to call the Police unless the victim pleasured him sexually,” court documents stated.

KBXT reports that Scott’s former congregation is “shocked but supportive.” From Stuart Quartemont, chairman of the Bethel Temple Church’s administrative board:

“On behalf of Bethel Temple we express our love, prayers and support for the Scott family. … One of the things the Lord has been sharing with us the last couple of day is we shouldn’t keep our eyes on circumstances but keep our eyes on Him and as we continue to focus on Him, He’ll take care off all the circumstances we go through.”

Our other Craiglist case was written up in The Dallas Morning News a few days back. It involves an Azle man who faces online harassment charges after posting a fake personal ad in the “men seeking men” section of the site.

The suspect, Clark Friesen, reportedly got in a heated e-mail dispute with the victim, Michael Martin, over a boat Martin had posted for sale. So Friesen posted the fake personal ad using Scott’s e-mail address, and as The DMN cleverly puts it, Martin “soon was hearing from dozens of men who were after more than his 20-foot Bayliner.”

“As soon as I’d hang up, it would ring again,” said Martin, who is married with a teenage stepdaughter. “I know if I ever go that direction, I won’t be lonely.”

He’s right, he won’t be lonely. He might just meet a pastor from Bryan.

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