TENNESSEE
Jackson Sun
Craig Thomas, cthomas2@jacksonsun.com June 27, 2016
A Union University student and former Englewood Baptist Church youth ministry intern was arrested Monday.
Heath Ransom is charged with 13 counts of solicitation of a minor, 13 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of tampering with evidence.
Jackson Police Chief Julian Wiser said Ransom, 21, was indicted by a grand jury and was in custody as of Monday afternoon, but he did not know when Ransom would be arraigned.
Englewood Executive Pastor Paul Priddy said the church investigated Ransom over six days starting in late April and dismissed him in early May. He did not specify what the church investigated other than saying it involved “some things that were outside our policy.”
The church released the following statement in a Monday afternoon press release:
Recently, Englewood Baptist Church administration became aware that one of its part-time ministry interns had violated Church policy. The administration immediately investigated the matter and, when additional facts surfaced during its investigation, acted promptly to terminate its relationship with the intern and to report the matter to local law enforcement authorities. Englewood is saddened and deeply grieved by this situation. The Church uses a thorough and rigorous process to investigate the background and character of any person admitted into its intern program and then to appropriately supervise those interns. Nevertheless, the Church is evaluating its process in this regard to lessen the possibility of a future problem. Additionally, Englewood is making all efforts to appropriately minister to those students and families impacted by this situation.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.