ADRIAN (MI)
ChurchLeaders.com [Wheaton, IL]
August 23, 2024
By Dale Chamberlain
A former Michigan pastor is facing four new charges in an ongoing child sex abuse case. Michael Ronald Goble, formerly the pastor of the now-defunct Church of the Good Shepherd in Adrian, Michigan, was originally arrested in July and charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree.
In July, two victims were identified, both of whom were younger than age 13 at the time of the alleged abuse.
At the time of Goble’s arrest, police said that “more victims are believed to exist that have not yet been identified.”
The original charges were the result of accusations that Goble, 75, sexually abused two brothers on separate occasions as they helped him with yard work at his home. These incidents are alleged to have occurred in 2022 and earlier this year.
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Now Goble is facing four additional charges: two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 and two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a detained juvenile.
These new charges relate to allegations from then-detained juveniles at Lenawee County’s juvenile detention facility. These two victims claim that the incidents occurred between August 2011 and March 2013 and between September 2012 and August 2014.
According to The Daily Telegram, tempers flared at a court hearing on Monday when the father of two of the alleged victims stormed out of the room and loudly slammed the door, reportedly uttering an apparent threat of physical violence toward Goble on his way out.
Judge Laura J. Schaedler had court officers escort the father back into the courtroom.
After Goble had been escorted out, Schaedler told the father, “I prosecuted people like Pastor Goble for 20 years of my life…I do understand the anxiety and anger that creates.”
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However, Schaedler told the father that his conduct was not helping the situation and would not regain what his sons had lost.
“Your misbehavior doesn’t solve that, it doesn’t help that,” she said. “I could give you 10 minutes alone with him and a baseball bat in a dark room, and it won’t help.”
Schaedler instead encouraged the man to give the situation to God and trust that the justice system will do everything it can to achieve earthly justice.
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While Goble’s bond was originally set at $150,000, it has since been reduced to $100,000. Goble remains in custody at the Lenawee County Jail.