Oak Park Pastor Investigated in New Rape Case, by Andy Furillo, Sacramento Bee, February 6, 2010

Oak Park Pastor Investigated in New Rape Case

By Andy Furillo
Sacramento Bee
February 6, 2010

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2517360.html

SACRAMENTO (CA) -- A Sacramento sex crimes task force is investigating an Oak Park pastor on allegations that he raped a woman before he was arrested last month for failing to properly register as a sex offender.

Meanwhile, The Bee learned Friday that two registered sex offenders worked as ministers on Pastor Calvin Lee Little's staff at the nondenominational In a Sweet Way Ministries.

Michael Osborne was convicted in 1999 for lewd and lascivious acts with a child.

Authorities said the alleged victim in the new rape investigation contacted sexual assault investigators after they arrested Little on Jan. 19 for not registering as a sex offender at his church's location in the 3900 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

"Two days after he got arrested, a female came forward and filed fresh rape charges against him," said Sacramento Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Jones. "At this time, our sexual assault bureau is doing an active rape investigation on him."

Robert Lee Wagner has a misdemeanor molestation conviction, records indicate.

Jones, supervisor of the county's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement task force, said the woman was "horrified" and "scared for her safety."

"She came forward only after he got arrested because she knew he couldn't hurt her then," Jones said.

It was Jones' task force, which includes officers from nearly every law enforcement agency in Sacramento County, that arrested Little last month for his failure to register at the church. Little, 46, had been registered at his mother's house in North Highlands, but Jones said the pastor was not living at that address.

No charges have been filed against Little in the new rape case.

The pastor proclaimed his innocence on the new allegations in an interview Friday at the downtown jail, where he is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the registration case.

"It's just lies, lies, lies," Little said. "I'm ready to go to trial. I just have people that know me and are looking to support me, and I'm looking forward to a speedy trial."

Little is scheduled to return to court Feb. 23.

The burly pastor was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1984. Prosecutors in his hometown of Marion, Ind., said the conviction was overturned eight years later by the Indiana Supreme Court, but that Little then pleaded guilty rather than face a retrial. He was released from prison and moved to California in 1992.

In Sacramento, Little's record shows four drug-related convictions between 1992 and 1997. Two of them landed him in prison. He also was convicted in 2006 for failing to register as a sex offender. He got a 90-day jail term and three years probation.

Despite his criminal past, Little has made a name for himself over the past seven years for his food giveaway programs around town. He started his programs in midtown at Fremont Park and last year moved to the site on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Little said he had four ministers and four deacons on staff at his church with a congregation estimated at 40 members. Officials and other people associated with the ministry sleep on-site on a couch in a room with an unfinished concrete floor and space heaters, and on the floor in a back office.

The main room at the church has a few dozen chairs, a speaker's podium, a bandstand and a coffee maker. Church deacon and security chief Jerry Mabis said Friday that services have been suspended since Little's arrest, but that the staff is trying to organize a midweek assembly at the Oak Park Community Center.

Mabis confirmed Friday the two registered sex offenders worked as church ministers.

Michael Jerome Osborne, 52, was convicted in 1999 for lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years old, according to state Department of Justice and Sacramento Superior Court online records. Osborne is still involved with the church, Mabis said. "He teaches Sunday school and preaches sometimes," he said.

Records show that Osborne, who could not be reached for comment Friday, also has felony convictions for failing to register as a sex offender, possession of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine for sale.

The other registered sex offender-turned-minister, Robert Lee Wagner, 41, has a misdemeanor conviction for annoying or molesting children, according to the state's Megan's Law registry.

Mabis said Wagner has moved to the Bay Area. Wagner also could not be reached Friday. Both he and Osborne are listed on the state registry as transients.

Mabis said he did not know if either of the ministers slept at the church. Jones said it would be a technical violation of the state's sexual offender registration laws if they did.

Asked about Wagner and Osborne in his Friday interview at the jail, Little said, "All I know is these guys have changed their lives" and that "I'm trying to help people."