TEXAS
WFAA
[with video]
by JIM DOUGLAS
WFAA
Posted on January 3, 2013
CLEBURNE — Last Sunday, members of New Heart Family Worship Center elected Claude Gilliland III to senior pastor. Some now say they didn’t know he’s a convicted sex offender.
The founder and retiring leader of the little church in Cleburne said there was no intent to hide Gilliland’s past.
“There’s nothing that was ever kept secret,” Carl Roye said. “He said two weeks ago, ‘I’ve got a dark, dark past, and if anybody wants to know about it, you just ask me and I’ll be glad to tell you.'”
Pastor Carl Roye said Gilliland told church leaders about his past when they interviewed him this summer. He said he served four years in prison for sexual assault involving his now-former wife.
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