MIDLAND (MI)
WNEM [Saginaw, MI]
October 21, 2024
By Blake Keller
A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.
MIDLAND, Mich. (WNEM) – A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.
WARNING: Details in this story may be considered graphic.
Mark Barclay Ministries’ Rev. James Randolph, 58, is currently on administrative leave from the church after an alleged victim testified in court that he would touch her at night starting in the sixth grade.
In February 2024, Randolph was charged with six criminal sexual conduct felonies after his arrest in Nov. 2023. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
A motion to amend his $5 million bond was denied.
WNEM-TV5 requested the felony complaint that resulted in Randolph’s charges from the Midland County Prosecutor’s Office. From it, TV5 learned Randolph had two prior convictions and prison sentences out of Jackson County.
TV5 accessed court records through a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) and learned Randolph’s first conviction came from a plea deal on a charge for assault less than murder.
Court documents from July 1983 reveal that Randolph and several others were accused of beating two men at a party with a 3-foot-by-1 1/4-inch pipe and other weapons in Jackson County. It left one of the men with a 4-inch abrasion in his head, the other man had eye swelling, a broken left hand, and fractured left knee. Randolph was sentenced to prison in Dec. 1983 until he was paroled Aug. 1984.
Less than two months after getting out, Randolph was accused of criminal sexual conduct in Oct. 1984.
In January, TV5 requested the documents of the criminal sexual assault case from Jackson City Attorney Matthew Hagerty. He denied the request on the principle the “victim in that case was a minor at the time of the assault… any information that would identify a juvenile victim of CSC is exempt from disclosure to protect his or her identity.”
Through Jackson County Circuit Court, TV5 accessed court transcripts and police reports from the case. We won’t be identifying the victim in order to protect their identity.
In one of the first police interviews with the 15-year-old victim, she said she was a run-away and went to sleep the night at a home on Ganson Street in Jackson; that’s where she said she was later raped. One of the men involved was a then-18-year-old James Randolph, also known as Jimmy.
In the police interview, she told officers Randolph and two other men raped her several times by penetrating her with household items, including an empty beer bottle, plunger handle, and a hanger. She also told police she was afraid if she didn’t cooperate with the men she would be beaten.
Police reports and court testimony indicate Randolph hit her with his hand several times, and even hit her with a leather belt. She also said that Randolph hit her in the right eye with a shoe because she wouldn’t perform a sex act on him.
On Dec. 10, 1984, the charges against five suspects were dismissed by the 13th District Court after the victim didn’t testify. The case was brought back against Randolph and two men in January 1985 after new witness statements and evidence.
In a plea hearing in Aug. 1985, the court told then-19-year-old Randolph he was charged for having sexual penetration with another person being at least 13 years old but under 16 years old. Originally charged with five criminal sexual conduct charges, he was only convicted of a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge in a plea deal that dropped four other charges.
Randolph was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and up to a maximum of 15 years in prison. His appeals in the years after were denied.
In a memorandum of law after the denials, the Circuit Court established “the defendant and the two Allen cousins forced a 15-year-old girl, with limited mental capacities, to first stick a beer bottler up her vagina and then a plunger.”
The Department of Corrections confirmed to TV5 that Randolph was released from prison in 1993 and was discharged from parole in this case in 1995. TV5 reached out to his attorney, Nicole Blank Becker, and the church for comment but have yet to hear back.
Randolph’s next court hearing in Midland County is scheduled for Oct. 22.