The heads of a South Carolina church allowed a sex offender to work around kids – and were arrested after their furious congregation found out.
Leaders at Pawleys Island Community Church said they were well aware of the criminal background of Warren Spence Perry, 70, when they allowed him to start volunteering.
Perry had been convicted in 2023 for a sex crime involving a minor three years prior and was required to avoid being in proximity to children as a condition of his parole, records show.
But church leaders still decided to allow Perry to volunteer at the house of worship, saying they believed that he’d been following the conditions of his parole under “strict supervision,” News 13 reported.
Parents of children who participated in youth education at the church were uninformed about Perry’s perverted past – but soon found out after two tipsters alerted local cops that the sex offender was working as a custodian at a school run by the church, ABC 15 reported.
Perry was volunteering at Pawleys Island Christian Academy when he was booked by law enforcement on July 14, cops said.
Eliza Perez, who formerly worked at the school, said she found out about Perry’s status by accident when she clicked a link to a site that lists offenders on Facebook.
“My stomach dropped, and I immediately screenshot it, send it to two of my coworkers, and I’m like, this can’t be real, right?” Perez told the outlet.
“I got on the phone, and I immediately called my boss, which is my pastor’s wife. And her response to me was, ‘I know. We know.’”
The shocking revelation infuriated the congregation, many of whom had children in the school that had been in proximity to Perry.
Pastor Don Williams reportedly admitted the church allowed Perry to work near children despite knowing of his sex offender status to parents at a meeting the following night.
He said that Perry had a provision to not be alone with children and that there were no instances of him acting inappropriately with them.
But moms and dads present at the meeting were furious, with several screaming at the pastor as he addressed the peeved parents.
“Our kids are not a lottery ticket!” screamed one parent.
“This place needs to be burned down!” yelled another.
Following the backlash, Pastor Williams, his wife Ginny and Academy director Niki Howard announced they would be stepping down from their leadership positions in an email to congregants on Friday evening, News 13 reported.
The church and school were hit with a class action lawsuit by parents the next day, according to the outlet.
The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services were also aware Perry volunteered at the church – though they were never informed he was working at the school near children, ABC 15 reported.
The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Department announced they’d be hitting the trio with a bevy of criminal charges on Monday afternoon and had executed a warrant on the church and school.
All three were hit with obstruction of justice charges and criminal conspiracy, among other charges, cops said.
“When people purposely use their position to go around those safeguards… sometimes it’s hard to detect but believe you will be got. You will be found,” Sheriff Carter Weaver said.
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