HAMMOND (IN)
Hammond Community
Magazine, records show pattern of sex-related allegations at Hammond church
[Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church – Chicago Magazine]
Marc Chase marc.chase@nwi.com, (219) 662-5330
HAMMOND | The alleged sexual indiscretions of religious leaders associated with the First Baptist Church of Hammond didn’t begin with the former head pastor’s recent admission to having sex with a 16-year-old church girl.
That is the picture painted in both a newly published Chicago Magazine article and in court records pertaining to other criminal defendants affiliated with church leadership.
An article in the magazine’s January 2013 edition characterizes the church’s history as consisting of overbearing and authoritarian pastoral control of parishioners, sexual abuse and affairs and criminal cases involving church leaders and some of their affiliates.
Former head Pastor Jack Schaap, scheduled to be sentenced in Hammond federal court next month, faces 10 years in prison after admitting he had multiple sexual encounters in Illinois and Michigan with a 16-year-old church girl he was supposed to be counseling.
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