BishopAccountability.org
	Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Balto. Co. Pastor Bowie Man Charged with Sexual Abuse of a Minor He Counseled By Tyrone Richardson Baltimore Sun [Maryland] March 6, 2007 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-griffith0306,0,3268718.story?coll=bal-local-headlines Jury selection began this morning in Howard County Circuit Court in the trial of a Baltimore County pastor accused of engaging in sexual acts with a teenage male in Howard County hotels in 2004 and 2005. Gerald Fitroy Griffith, pastor of Redemption Christian Fellowship Church in Woodlawn, was indicted by a grand jury in August and charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Griffith, 40, of Bowie, dressed in a black pinstripe suit, entered a plea of not guilty at today's trial. According to charging documents filed by investigators, Griffith counseled the youth between October 2003 and October 2005 for behavioral problems. The youth told police that Griffith began sexually assaulting him at the church in November 2003, when he was 14 years old. Between May 2004 and May 2005, Griffith and the youth occasionally stayed overnight at hotels in Columbia, where the victim told police that Griffith sexually assaulted him, according to court documents. Opening statements from Griffith's attorney, Joseph Murtha, and prosecutors are expected this afternoon. Griffith was charged in Baltimore County in 2005 with sexually abusing the youth and two other teenagers during counseling sessions. His trial in that case is scheduled for May. In addition, Gary Warren Warfield, a deacon at the church, was accused in 2005 with sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy at the church. A Baltimore County jury acquitted him of the charge in November.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.