Roy Gordon Lawrence

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Roy Gordon Lawrence is a convicted child molester.

Lawrence was as a Baptist pastor in Ottawa. [1]

Previously he resided in St. Albert, Alberta, when he was a 10-year veteran of the Edmonton Police Service. He was suspended and then resigned in 1991, after he had been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting three children. He captured the three children under ten years of age at knife point. All three were forced to perform sexual acts on each other and on Lawrence. Two of the children were brother and sister. Lawrence had rented a video camera and taped the four to five hours of abuse. Police alleged that there was a knife near the man during the incidents. It was alleged the attacks were well-planned.

Lawrence told a psychologist he had sex with children on earlier occasions, according to submissions in Court. Lawrence was convicted, and on appeal, his five year sentence was increased to eight years. Paul Bourque, for the Crown, quoted from the psychologist's report in which Lawrence said "he planned to try something different from his past sexual encounters with children." This, apparently, was the filming of his offences. Lawrence carried out his offences by driving to an "impoverished" area of the city, figuring he might find children who were already sexually abused, he later told a psychologist. At a playground, he offered two brothers money for delivering packages. The eight-year-old agreed, then changed his mind. Lawrence had a small knife and tried to drag the boy into his car. The child kicked the man and escaped. The boy suffered a bruised right arm and scraped chest. After driving to a school playground Lawrence approached a 10-year-old girl, her eight-year-old brother and his buddy, also eight. They agreed to the package delivery scheme and Lawrence drove the trio to his St. Albert home. For the next four hours, the children were forced assaulted. Lawrence used a rented video camera to film the children's acts. He said that he was making a commercial and demanded they swear. He also waved a kitchen knife at the three, threatening to kill them if they told anyone about the evening. At about 2 a.m., the children were returned to their neighborhood. Each received $20. The next morning, the children revealed the abuse. Lawrence was arrested August 13 and resigned from the police service soon after charges were laid. He said he had destroyed the video. Victim impact statements revealed the children and their families now have emotional problems. One eight-year-old boy, who used to be "happy-go-lucky," now gets violent and doesn't listen to adults. A victim impact statement is a written or verbal statement made as part of the judicial legal process, which allows a victim of crime the opportunity to speak during the sentencing of their attacker or at subsequent parole hearings.

Edmonton Police Service is responsible for policing in the City of Edmonton, Alberta. ... Citywide Church (formerly Westboro Baptist Church) is located at 307 Richmond Rd.

[2]

[edit] Prison and post-release career as pastor

Lawrence was convicted and sent to prison. He was released in 1997 [3] After prison Lawrence graduated from Toronto Baptist Seminary. He moved to Ottawa and became involved with local Baptist churches. In 2002, having covered his past, Lawrence became an associate pastor of Westboro Baptist Church (no relation to Westboro in Kansas).

The senior pastor of Westboro Baptist at the time, Rev. William Oosterman, along with the Deacons Board and the whole congregation, knew that Lawrence had a criminal past and had spent several years in prison. Mr. Lawrence came highly recommended by Toronto Baptist Seminary, and by the Ottawa church Alta Vista Baptist and their Pastor Rev. Gorden McLeod, where he had volunteered for several years. Rev. William Oosterman attests he was lied to by Lawrence who told him he was sent to prison for being involved with an underage prostitute. This is verified by the fact that he told the same lie to Pastor George Wallingford of Parkdale Baptist where Lawrence also tried to get a job. Certainly, sleeping with an underage prostitute is a lot less vile and disgusting than the acts Lawrence was truly guilty of. Mr. Lawrence covered his full gory past from the church in order to get a job. Based on the strong commendations from Toronto Baptist Seminary and Alta Vista Baptist church the Deacon's Board had no problem allowing the church to vote on Mr. Lawrence. Rev. Oosterman had informed the Deacons that Lawrence had a criminal past, as did some of the Disciples of Jesus Christ Himself, and they appointed Deacon Andrew Babcock to spend time with Lawrence to get all of the details. It was later proven that Lawrence did reveal his sordid past in molesting three children to Mr. Babcock. Mr. Lawrence failed to report the other 15 children he molested to this Deacon Andrew Babcock. As the Deacon's Minutes prove, when asked to report his three-hour meeting with Lawrence, Mr. Babcock said he had nothing to report. He gave Lawrence his personal vote of confidence, along with the rest of the Deacon's Board and allowed and supported Lawrence to become the associate pastor of Westboro Baptist Church. The Congregation was informed months before the vote that Lawrence had been in prison for a sex crime and they were encouraged to ask Mr. Lawrence and/or the Board for details. None of them availed themselves of this opportunity and Lawrence was voted in by 100% of the members. Along with his associate pastoral duties, Mr. Lawrence held the Sunday School Superintendent position. As the term "Superintendent" indicates to educated people, he did not actually teach any children's classes. Lawrence was in charge of assigning teachers for the classes at Westboro Baptist.[1] He did teach the Westboro adult class some of the time. Lawrence was asked by Ninon Proux, the Principle of the independent Christian School that operated in the same building, to teach the children some Bible classes. The children he took home for the sleep overs in January 2004 attended this school as well as Westboro Baptist.[1]

Westboro Baptist went through a church split in March 2004, with a group of people attempting to replace Pastor Oosterman with Mr. Roy Lawrence. The church had guaranteed by a special agreement, in February 2003, approved by 98% of the members, that Pastor Oosterman be given ten months medical leave to recover from the severe medical treatment (Pegatron and Interferon) he was receiving for Hep C, which had resulted in a mild heart attack, a complete breakdown and system collapse. The written agreement, drafted and read out by Pastor Oosterman, included the following:

“I suggest now that a bloodbath, with all of the terrible accusations flying back and forth, with all of the grief and tearing of this precious flock, for which we would all have to give account before Christ, that this can and should be avoided. How? Follow Andrew Caldwell’s suggestion ”d” which is “a disability leave and/or sabbatical”. This is a way out of an otherwise terrible time for all. Westboro needs time to sort out many important issues. It will give this church time to calm down and heal. Time, with much prayer and humility, will put this turmoil into a much more sane context. At the end of that time you may say “We really do miss you. Please come back” or “It is time for us to lovingly and graciously part company”. I can and will accept either. (N.B.) After almost eleven years of intense and demanding ministry, and while I am taking this Hep-C treatment, it will give your loved (I hope) Pastor a time to heal. Both Dorothy and I desperately need this. I will have minimal contact. I am on the medicine for another nine months, with a month of recovery after this. The period I have in mind is March through December of this year. By then God will have revealed to this flock and to myself what his will is. Hopefully, no one will leave this church (I will be out of the picture) and this family of God can heal. I truly hope that the kind hearts and wise minds of the people I have come to love will prevail. If you accept this now, I urge you all, my supporters and detractors, to stop all attempts to build up or tear down. Resist the temptation to either attack or justify. We are all sinners saved by grace. If you choose to open fronts and draw the battle lines and attack, this evening you will find that Jesus will depart. Is it worth that to prove your point, what ever it is? I beg you as one who loves and cares for you, spare my wee little ones the carnage, the blood and guts of a terrible battle among saints.”

The above covenant, a contract, was passed by 99% and submitted in writing to the church clerk to be added to the official Minutes. All but one couple voted for it. If it had been followed, the church would still be there. In an act of blatant betrayal and hypocrisy, after having agreed to give their Pastor tens months much needed medical leave, a group of people, including Roy Lawrence, immediately began organizing for a vote to have the pastor dismissed. In fact, a day later they changed the locks on the church building and the pastor’s office, without the Trustees or members being informed. During this split, Lawrence's past started to become public knowledge -- to the shock of some of the congregation. It did not stop the break away group from calling Mr. Lawrence as Elder, as their Official Minutes of April 4, 2004 record, or defending him as a "pastor" in the Ottawa Sun articles. To date Pastor Oosterman is the only one who has publicly admitted his failure (Sun Articles and Letter) in giving Mr. Lawrence the benefit of the doubt and allowing Mr. Lawrence to become an Assistant Pastor. After the articles in the Ottawa Sun, The Chairman of a Canadian Group of sexual abuse survivors wrote to Pastor Oosterman thanking him for taking responsibility. The letter said, "You are the first church leader in Canada to publicly go on record as accepting responsibility and we thank you for setting this example". [4]

Lawrence resigned from the Westboro Pastoral position in March 2004 to become pastor of the newly formed Grace Baptist Church. Shortly thereafter, Ottawa police obtained a protective order against Lawrence, upon learning that he had hosted a sleepover with children in January 2004 and that he was involved with other children's ministries at the Grace Baptist Church.[3] The church was in the process of firing Lawrence when he resigned.[citation needed]

A group of people left Westboro Baptist with Roy Lawrence in March 2004. They formed Grace Baptist of Ottawa where, amazingly, Roy Lawrence still teaches and preaches on a regular basis. The Ottawa police protective order was in place for a year and was to prevent him from any kind of leadership position in the newly formed church. The Police were concerned that children would look up to Lawrence and he would be able to gain their trust. As soon as the court order expired this group began to have him preach and teach on a regular basis. It is not known if they inform all new families who attend of Lawrence's pedophile past and recent activities.[citation needed]

Pastor Oosterman is now ministering in the Dominican Republic, preaching in various Spanish and English churches, training pastors and bringing aid to destitute villages. He is working on his second novel Clergy Killers: Christians In Satan's Service which will be based on the above events.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Seymour, Andrew; “Pastor's past splits church” Ottawa Sun, Friday 3 September 2004
  2. ^ "Accused officer quits", Canadian Press/Calgary Herald, August 27, 1991. pg. A.8.
  3. ^ a b Seymour, Andrew, “Pedophile gives up fight” Ottawa Sun, Saturday 4 December 2004
  4. ^ Seymour, Andrew; “Elders Stand by their Man” Ottawa Sun, Saturday 4 September 2004

[edit] External links