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	New Orleans Pentacostal Bishop Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Crimes By John Simerman The Times-Picayune December 3, 2011 http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/12/new_orleans_pentacostal_church.html With supporters packing a courtroom gallery like a church nave, Bishop Charles E. Brown pleaded not guilty Friday to sex crimes against three juveniles dating as far back as 1977. Judge Karen Herman remanded Brown, the 59-year-old spiritual head of a local Pentecostal church, to jail Friday in lieu of $900,000 bond from a grand jury indictment handed up last month. Several of his supporters, many of them women who dressed up and wore hats, appeared ready on Friday to chip in for the bond. Brown is scheduled to return to court Monday with the paperwork. Brown faces a count of forcible rape and two counts each of sexual battery and committing a lewd act on a juvenile in three alleged crimes all dating back at least 30 years. Police originally booked Brown with aggravated rape on June 28, after an unidentified 39-year-old woman called the NOPD's child abuse unit in March to report that Brown had molested her between the ages of 14 and 16. According to police, the woman said Brown had been her aunt's boyfriend and committed the acts at his home. Since then, at least two other people have come forward with accusations against him, according to the indictment. One of them, now 47, claims Brown committed indecent behavior and sexual battery sometime between her 13th and 17th birthdays, according to the indictment. Brown forcibly raped another woman, identified only as "G.H.," in 1977, when she was 17, the indictment states. A brief police report says that woman reported the incident Sept. 28, after The Times-Picayune reported on the first allegation. A familiar local religious figure prior to Hurricane Katrina, Brown has divided his time since the storm between the city and Houston. "I think the charges are very suspicious and the timing is also suspicious," said Brown's attorney, Garron Johnson, declining to elaborate. "He looks forward to putting up a very strong defense." Brown is the jurisdictional bishop for Greater New Orleans in the Church of God in Christ, which has its headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. He also is pastor of Full Gospel Church of God in Christ in New Orleans. A spokesman for The Church of God in Christ said the church suspended Brown after learning of the first allegation. After the hearing Friday, an officer handcuffed Brown and led him away for booking. Contact: jsimerman@timespicayune.com
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