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  Priest Pleads Guilty to Charges from Sex Sting

By Josh Boatwright
Citizen-Times
March 14, 2008

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/NEWS01/80314051

WAYNESVILLE An Episcopal priest found guilty Thursday of soliciting sex from undercover Waynesville police officers is the last of seven men to make guilty pleas after being charged in a sting operation last summer in park restrooms.

Michael Royce Penland, 46, pleaded guilty to soliciting crimes against nature and was ordered to pay court costs and stay away from Haywood County recreation property, according to the Haywood County clerk of courts office.

Penland resigned from his position as a youth minister at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, Fla., in September, following his arrest, according to church meeting records.

Waynesville police made the arrests during a three-month undercover sting at two city park restrooms.

To catch the men, undercover officers waited in and around park restrooms on Vance Street and East Marshall Street. The suspects approached the officers and offered sex or exposed themselves, police said.

The officers then signaled to a nearby surveillance team, and the suspects were arrested, police said.

Others found guilty in sting:

• Max L. Surrett, 64, indecent exposure, ordered to pay court costs, fine and stay off park property.

• Michael Edward Jenkins, 53, indecent exposure, ordered to pay court costs, fine, stay off park property.

• Maxwell "Max" Davis, 75, simple assault, pay court costs, fines, 12-months probation, stay off park property.

• Dane Henry Burr, 81, indecent exposure, pay court costs, fines, 12-months probation, restricted from Vance Street Recreation Park.

• Bruce Warren Stough Jr., 36, soliciting crimes against nature, pay court costs, fines, 12-months probation, ordered not to violate any laws.

 
 

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