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Preying on the Congregation

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A week later, while the Montreal ministers were in Lauderhill, Williams called Gardener's house and urged her not to tell her pastor about what he had done, Gardener said. He claimed it would destroy both his ministry and her pastor's, she added. At that point Gardener was having trouble sleeping and she frequently cried, so she sought a therapist. Later her therapist, her pastor, and her husband urged Gardener to go to the police. On January 27 she filed a sexual-assault complaint against Williams with the Montreal police department.

After reviewing statements made by Gardener, the attorney general will decide whether or not to question Williams, according to Montreal police officer Christian Emond. The penalty for sexual assault varies, he says, depending on the severity of the attack. As late as last week, Emond could not say when a decision would be made.

Gardener, it appears, is not the only Canadian complaining about Williams. Maureen Mitchell, another parishioner at Restoration Ministries, says he made several inappropriate gestures, in the church office and at a restaurant with other parishioners present. He invited her to his hotel room, repeatedly asked for her phone number, and once grabbed her by the back of the neck, she claims.

Since Mitchell, age 28, joined Restoration Ministries, many outside ministers have visited the church and not one has acted "overly friendly" like Williams, she says. After hearing about Gardener's alleged difficulties, Mitchell was relieved she did not go to Williams' hotel room. "She's a new Christian, and she didn't know any better," she says of Gardener. "I wish I could grab that man by the throat."

While Montreal police are still investigating allegations made against Williams, Lauderhill police have closed their case involving Ricky's nine-year-old daughter. Spokesperson Lucy Crockett says charges weren't filed against Williams because the incident allegedly took place six to nine months before it was reported, and therefore no physical evidence exists. "It's a case of it's her word against his word," she says. "However, we have offered counseling to the girl through our victim advocate."

Nicewander, the assistant state attorney, says that prosecuting a relatively old case of sexual child abuse is a thorny issue. "We get cases presented to us by police departments all the time," he adds. "They're called 'not in custody' cases, where the police don't have corroboration, and they don't believe they have probable cause but want us to look over the case."

Ricky's daughter's case would fall into that category. According to the Lauderhill police report, Williams was baby-sitting the girl at the time of the alleged incident. He brought her to Grace Christian World Church with him to let someone in. She said he took her into the back office and started touching her rear end, then pressed up against her and gyrated his hips. On the drive back, she said, Williams pulled into a parking lot and asked if he could touch her breasts. She said she told him yes because "Stedroy is her pastor and she was afraid to say no to him," according to the police report.

In a taped statement, Williams gave police a different version of events. He denied making advances. He did pull into a parking lot, he said, but that was because the girl said she needed to talk to him. She cried as she told him her cousin had touched her inappropriately and that another man had exposed himself to her, Williams said. Offering comfort, he hugged her for two minutes.

Child-molestation cases are particularly challenging because, short of providing physical evidence, an attorney has only the complainant's testimony on which to rely. Ricky says he believes his daughter, despite Williams' denials. "Why would my daughter lie?" he asks. His daughter is fine, he adds, but he worries that she may have lasting emotional scars. "I didn't get any satisfaction from the police."

Williams may be suffering, however. Attendance at his church has been steadily shrinking since the December fallout, according to parishioners. And the pastor has temporarily stepped down from the pulpit, allowing Beerom to fill in. He's still running the ministry, however, and he attends every service and never made good on his promise to get treatment, parishioners say. "He said it was too expensive," says one former member of the church who recently left after attending for seven years.

Williams also continues to deliver fiery sermons Monday through Friday during a ten-minute radio show for which he buys time on WEXY-AM (1520), an all-religious station. The show serves a vital purpose, says a former church singer, in luring new parishioners into the fold. During a recent broadcast, Williams sounded like he was gearing up for a battle worthy of King David to save his church.

"God has given us the spirit of vengeance," he boomed in early February. "Before we can fight a war, we must understand what we are fighting…. There are a lot of people who are out there to destroy. But you and I have been given the power of God to fight against the kingdom of darkness."

Ricky doesn't go to Grace Christian World Church anymore. He now attends a larger Pentecostal church in the area, the Plantation Worship Center, where he feels his family is safe. He says he's almost sorry McPherson stopped him from killing Williams that Sunday night in December. He won't say how he would have done the job, only that he did not bring a gun with him.

"I'm from Jamaica," he says, "and when something like this happens there, we take care of it ourselves."

Contact Julie Kay at her e-mail address:

julie.kay@newtimesbpb.com

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