Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Pastor, Who Abused Child for 7 Years, Avoids Jail Time in Plea Deal on 5 Felonies

[essentialsaltes]

A Texas college pastor who sexually abused an underage family member for 7 years will not serve any jail time due to a recent plea agreement. The pastor, William C. Robinson, led a chapter of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries and was mentored by sex offender Daniel Savala, the central figure in a widening sex abuse scandal.

On March 22, Robinson, 47, appeared at a district court hearing in Nueces County, Texas, and accepted a plea deal. That deal, approved by District Judge David Stith, deferred Robinson’s sentence for five felony charges related to child sex abuse and gave him 10 years of probation and 120 hours of community service instead.

According to court records, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, one count of sexual assault of a child, and three counts of indecency with a child.

In the indictment reported by KRIS News, Robinson admitted to sexually abusing an underage family member from July 2015, when the girl was nine years old, until June 2022, when Robinson was arrested.
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Last June, Savala was arrested on child sex abuse charges and his criminal case is ongoing in Harris County, Texas.

Since last year, multiple reports and criminal indictments have revealed how Savala was welcomed as a mentor by at least a dozen Chi Alpha chapters in south-central Texas.

Laymon told TRR that “perverted teachings about nudity and masturbation” were interwoven within Chi Alpha teachings in that region.

Serving with Will Robinson at that time was Chris Hundl, who has since been indicted on child sex abuse charges.

 

[AlexB23]

A Texas college pastor who sexually abused an underage family member for 7 years will not serve any jail time due to a recent plea agreement. The pastor, William C. Robinson, led a chapter of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries and was mentored by sex offender Daniel Savala, the central figure in a widening sex abuse scandal.

On March 22, Robinson, 47, appeared at a district court hearing in Nueces County, Texas, and accepted a plea deal. That deal, approved by District Judge David Stith, deferred Robinson’s sentence for five felony charges related to child sex abuse and gave him 10 years of probation and 120 hours of community service instead.

According to court records, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, one count of sexual assault of a child, and three counts of indecency with a child.

In the indictment reported by KRIS News, Robinson admitted to sexually abusing an underage family member from July 2015, when the girl was nine years old, until June 2022, when Robinson was arrested.
-
Last June, Savala was arrested on child sex abuse charges and his criminal case is ongoing in Harris County, Texas.

Since last year, multiple reports and criminal indictments have revealed how Savala was welcomed as a mentor by at least a dozen Chi Alpha chapters in south-central Texas.

Laymon told TRR that “perverted teachings about nudity and masturbation” were interwoven within Chi Alpha teachings in that region.

Serving with Will Robinson at that time was Chris Hundl, who has since been indicted on child sex abuse charges.

Man, this article is so sad, that I do not want to summarize it. These perverts need to be locked away.

 

[essentialsaltes]

How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students​

Daniel Savala [note this is the 'central figure' in 1st paragraph of OP, not the pastor in the title] urged generations of Chi Alpha members to get naked in his Houston sauna. Why did Assemblies of God pastors keep bringing teenagers to his home?

In the two years since Savala recorded that confession at his home in Houston, lawyers, activists and whistleblowers have worked to untangle how a convicted sex offender with an eighth-grade education managed to convince scores of pastors and young Christians to put their faith in him — and why church officials repeatedly failed to stop him.

Savala’s ministry collapsed in early 2023 when several men came forward, some anonymously, to accuse him and some of his protégés of sexual abuse and exploitation, triggering a wave of criminal charges, lawsuits and pastor dismissals. Savala was arrested, and at least six Chi Alpha pastors, leaders and students who studied under him were charged with sexual abuse.

The reporting reveals that Assemblies of God leaders — all the way up to the denomination’s national superintendent — were warned repeatedly about Savala’s troubling history but did not cut off his influence. These failures allowed more children and young men to be abused, the reporting shows.

Chi Alpha had a clear opportunity to break ties with Savala in 2012, when authorities in Alaska charged him with sexually abusing boys as a youth minister in the 1990s. Instead, ministry leaders in Texas rallied to his defense, sending a staff member to Alaska to pay his bail and — after Savala pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor — organizing a letter-writing campaign to ask the judge for leniency. After a stint in jail, Savala went right back to hosting Chi Alpha students at his home in Houston.

In the summer of 2012, Eli Stewart, one of the top Chi Alpha pastors at Sam Houston State, wrote an urgent plea to ministry leaders and alumni: “Our dear friend Daniel needs you.”

Describing the allegations as “an absolute attack of the devil,” Stewart wrote that Savala was preparing to take a plea deal — not to reduce his sentence, but to protect the families of the men falsely accusing him.

At a Chi Alpha staff meeting later that year, Stewart insisted that Savala, who served 90 days in jail and was now a registered sex offender, was innocent.

Over the next decade, the pattern repeated again and again. People came to church leaders with concerns about Savala, and those warnings went unheeded.

 

[Landon Caeli]

I don't understand how using a sauna properly (naked) is considered sexual abuse / exploitation. When I was in high school, I was forced to strip naked in front of the entire class, and shower with other naked kids in a community shower after swimming and gym class. We all did. And the teachers were there to ensure everyone actually showered and didn't skip out.

It's not a big deal, IMO.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I don't understand how using a sauna properly (naked) is considered sexual abuse / exploitation.

I tried to spare the sensibilities of sheltered forum posters by not quoting explicit passages from the news article. If the criminal charges are not convincing, you may read more about the allegations.

 

[Pommer]

How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students​

I don't understand how using a sauna properly (naked) is considered sexual abuse / exploitation. When I was in high school, I was forced to strip naked in front of the entire class, and shower with other naked kids in a community shower after swimming and gym class. We all did. And the teachers were there to ensure everyone actually showered and didn't skip out.

It's not a big deal, IMO.

Gotta read the links to get the full skinny.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Gotta read the links to get the full skinny.

Well, I'll take yours and essential's word on it. It hurts my soul to read about adults abusing children, so I'll pass on the links.

 

[Pommer]

Well, I'll take yours and essential's word on it. It hurts my soul to read about adults abusing children, so I'll pass on the links.

I well understand the aversion to read news stories that are unsettling and it’s wise to pick & choose what one consumes, especially these days, though the larger story (beyond the horrific actions of the accused) is that the denomination (AoG) was at least complicit in these crimes, even though the (main) perpetrator wasn’t an officially sanctioned AoG minister.