Former youth pastor arrested on sexual assault charge

By F.t. Norton
StarNews
August 19, 2015

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20150819/ARTICLES/150819625?Title=-Former-youth-pastor-arrested-on-sexual-assault-charge&tc=ar

Donald Dwayne Ramsey, 45, is charged with felony second-degree sexual offense. He was arrested July 24 at his home in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on the New Hanover County warrant.

New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office investigators picked Ramsey up from Ohio on Sunday, said Lt. Jerry Brewer.

According to Brewer, Ramsey was a youth pastor at Peace Baptist Church on Military Cutoff Road.

The alleged offense took place while Ramsey was working in his capacity as youth pastor and at a time when he was supposed to be taking the 16-year-old female victim to the church, Brewer said.

Church leader Dr. Rudy Shepard said the married Ramsey -- at the time living on Parmele Road in Castle Hayne -- worked for the church for seven years.

“He was the teenage youth pastor and he was in charge of our bus ministry -- so he transported kids in and out. He also cleaned the church. He was wearing a lot of hats,” Shepard said.

He said when the allegations came to light Ramsey told Shepard that on the advice of his attorney he and his wife were leaving for Ohio to be with Ramsey's wife's family.

The pastor said the news came as a shock to him.

"(Ramsey) didn’t come to work for three days, and then he shows up one Saturday morning and tells me that he’s resigning – that’s when we heard about it," Shephard said. Shepard was left to share the information with the church deacons and congregation.

"I was very surprised," tShepard said of the news. "He was very much involved with the kids. He really seemed to care for the kids and the kids loved him.”

Ramsey is being held in the New Hanover County jail on $100,000 bail.