South Carolina church leaders charged after allowing sex offender to work around children: cops

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 ...