Kansas pastor resigns after being charged with child sex crime

As reported by Chance Swaim of the Wichita Eagle, July 14, 2018 (links in original):

A Sedgwick pastor was arrested in Harvey County Friday on suspicion of a child sex crime, according to the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office.

Kevin Berry, the lead pastor at First Christian Church of Sedgwick, was arrested on suspicion of indecent liberties with a child.

Berry began ministering in Sedgwick in 2015, according to the First Christian Church of Sedgwick website. Before that, he worked in Amoret, Missouri, where he ministered for six years, the site says.

The case has been presented to the Harvey County district attorney, who will decide if he will charge Berry, who is being held on $25,000 bond.

As reported by Mr. Swaim and Katherine Burgess of the Wichita Eagle on August 4, 2018 (links in original):

The First Christian Church of Sedgwick took the side of its pastor, who has been charged with a child sex crime, over its children, according to a couple who pulled their children out of the church after they saw how its leaders handled the situation.

One of the parents’ complaints is that the church leadership allowed the pastor to participate in children’s activities after it knew the pastor — Kevin Berry — was being investigated for a child sex crime.

A video posted on the church’s website shows he was allowed to participate in a children’s activity after the church told parents he would not.

Berry, lead minister at First Christian Church of Sedgwick, was arrested July 13 on suspicion of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. That’s more than a year after a police reports says the sex crime could have started and almost 10 months after it was reported to police.

After allegations were made against Berry in September, the church sent an Oct. 8 letter to churchgoers informing them that Berry was being investigated and saying the “church leadership firmly supports our pastor (Kevin Berry).”

The letter said Berry voluntarily chose to no longer participate in children’s activities at the church while he was under investigation.

Summer and Curtis Peters, whose children attended the church’s youth group, said they don’t think Berry actually refrained from participating in children’s activities.

A video posted on the church’s YouTube account two months after the letter was sent shows Berry narrating a children’s Christmas pageant. Near the end of the video, a woman says that Berry and his wife helped write the children’s play and were “such a vital part of all of this.”

The Peterses, who attended Berry’s church until the fall, said their teenage children were regular attendees of the youth group but stopped going after they saw how church leadership handled allegations against Berry.

Reached by phone, Berry referred all questions about the investigation to his attorney, who did not respond to The Eagle’s requests for comment.

David Hewett, an elder at the church, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The church also did not provide the requested full text of a letter it says it sent to churchgoers in October.

Berry was charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child, a felony.

The police report, which is heavily redacted and includes the original report by the Sedgwick Police Department and a supplemental report by the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office, says the alleged crime happened at the listed address of the First Christian Church, which shares an address with Little Hands Preschool.

The Sedgwick police report lists the offense dates of Aug. 21, 2017, to Sept. 25, 2017, the date the report was made. The Harvey sheriff’s report lists June 1, 2017, to Sept. 23, 2017.

The complaint filed in Harvey County District Court says the alleged crime occurred around mid-September.

The Peters family’s concerns with Berry began in September, when a neighbor told them to check if their own teenage daughter was OK.

The couple then spoke with a youth leader, who is no longer with the church, and several children, asking if anything at church made them feel uncomfortable.

What the children said “raised flags” about inappropriate behavior on the part of the pastor, Curtis Peters said. Later that Sunday evening, as rumors buzzed through the town of fewer than 2,000, church members, elders, children and the pastor gathered to discuss the concerns.

“When the kids saw the pastor in the room, they truly felt uncomfortable,” Summer Peters said. “They were scared to say anything, scared to speak up.”

Elders in the church chastised the concerned parents, including the Peterses, and acted as if the children were lying, Summer Peters said.

It was implied that law enforcement was not needed, Curtis Peters said.

“From that point on, it just didn’t seem like the church really was concerned about the kids as much as they were about the pastor,” Curtis Peters said. “I don’t feel like they really did anything to distance the pastor from the situation.”

Curtis Peters said he reported the sex crimes, which he did not want to describe to The Eagle, to the police.

The church did not put Berry on administrative leave until July, when it did so at Berry’s request, a statement released after his arrest said. A March statement by the church said Berry had begun “personal counseling and will receive further training on leading and appropriate interaction with children and youth.”

Both the July and March letters say that the church leadership supports Berry.

As reported by Mr. Swaim on August 9, 2018:

Kevin Berry — a Sedgwick pastor charged with a child sex crime — has resigned from his position at First Christian Church of Sedgwick, a church official said.

Berry was on voluntary leave after being arrested and charged last month with aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The church publicly supported Berry throughout a 10-month investigation into the allegations and allowed him to be involved in at least one children’s activity after the church told parents he would not.

Sunday, The Eagle reported that a video on the church’s website showed Berry participating in a children’s activity during that time.

Monday, the church took down its website, where the video had been, and its Facebook page, which had two posts stating the church leadership’s support for Berry.

John Hubert, a church leader at First Christian Church, said he is “under strict instructions from the church’s lawyer . . . not to discuss with any newspaper or any media our situation.” But he said he was willing to confirm Berry has resigned.

“We had a meeting Sunday and have hired an interim minister who specializes in rescuing churches like ours who have some division as a result of indecision or decisions that didn’t meet with approval of everybody,” Hubert said.

“We’ve taken the biblical approach rather than the secular-humanist worldview of how to solve problems — and it hasn’t resulted in the most positive results. But it’s resulted in the results that we can biblically live with, so things are moving forward now.

“I’m happy with the results, and I’m going to keep following the instructions that we’re getting from our new interim minister and we look forward to a brighter future,” Hubert said.

Hubert would not comment on the website or Facebook page.

Berry has directed all questions to his attorney, who has not returned phone calls from The Eagle.

Berry, lead minister at First Christian Church of Sedgwick, was arrested July 13. That’s more than a year after a police report says the sex crime could have started almost 10 months after it was reported to police.

The complaint filed in Harvey County District Court says the alleged crime occurred around mid-September.

The church did not put Berry on administrative leave until July, when it did so at Berry’s request, a statement released after his arrest said.