Author: Lois

This past Tuesday, June 21, 2022, was a year ago that United Pentecostal minister Don Giovanni “Donnie” Martin was arrested and charged with second-degree rape, second-degree sex offense and second-degree assault of an 11 year old girl in 1990. Martin would have been 25 at the time of his crime and was married. Pay attention to dates, as these will be important in what I will share in a subsequent post. This is case number C-03-CR-21-002614. You may read some of the court documents in PDF format here.

The assault happened at Martin’s apartment during a youth group sleepover at which his wife was also present. Martin was a youth pastor at Abundant Life Church, previously the Dundalk United Pentecostal Church, and lived on Havenwood Road in Baltimore County.

Martin had been known to flirt with girls in the youth group, including the victim. While the others were asleep, Martin and the victim went out on the balcony where he kissed her, pulled her pants down and penetrated her from behind.

The day after the rape, the girl told her sister and mother. It was reported to the pastor, Chris Tharp, who set up a meeting with the victim and Don Martin. Martin’s wife was also present. Martin denied the accusation and his wife is said to have yelled at the victim. After this, the Martin family left the church and went to Christian Revival Center in Reisterstown, where Charles Curry was, and still is, pastor. Meanwhile, in late 1997, David Reever became pastor of Abundant Life.

In 2003, Don Martin wanted to return to Abundant Life Church due to something that happened at the other church, so a meeting was held where Don Martin and David M. Reever were present, along with two other UPC ministers who worked with Reever, Raymond Almsteadt and Andrew Smith. In that meeting, Don Martin admitted to ‘having sex with’ the victim and claimed that she was attractive and came on to him.

When Andrew Smith was interviewed by police in 2021, he recalled the meeting and shared that Don Martin admitted that he was unfaithful to his wife and that it may have involved a minor. When Reever was interviewed by police the same year, he remembered who the victim was and shared that Martin admitted to having sex with her when she was a minor.

Ray Almsteadt shared that he spoke to David Reever in an attempt to prevent Martin from returning to the church, but he was told by Reever that he had unforgiveness in his heart and needed to forgive Martin.

Martin, born March 26, 1965, originally had five charges against him, but in a plea agreement on October 28, 2021, he plead guilty to second degree rape, a felony, and the other charges were dropped. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, with 18 of them suspended, and he was ordered to serve five years of supervised probation. Unfortunately, he was not required to register as a sex offender due to how long ago the crime occurred.

On November 29, 2021,  a petition for modification of Martin’s sentence was filed by him and on December 22, 2021 it was denied by the court. He is currently serving his time at the Baltimore City Correctional Center, a minimum security level facility in Baltimore.

One man shared on social media that he was shocked to show up at court and see church members who arrived to support Martin, including David and Christina Reever. The authorities were also shocked that so many showed up for the sentencing of a rapist. How is this consistent with the 2019 UPCI position paper which calls for its ministers and churches to prioritize care for the victim? (“The UPCI charges our ministers and our institutions to create a culture in which victims can safely share instances of abuse and receive necessary care and protection throughout the process.”)

This is not the first time I have heard of this happening, where church members and/or ministers attend court proceedings in support of a perpetrator, instead of the victim(s).

The man wrote, “This came out 30 years later because the perpetrator was given a license to pastor even though his endorsing pastor was aware of the abuse that happened. When the victim confronted the endorsing pastor he dismissed her feelings and said ‘I hope you find healing.'”

The endorsing pastor mentioned is David Reever, the current Superintendent of the Maryland-Washington DC District of the UPCI, having been elected in April of 2021. He has been the pastor of Abundant Life Church, an affiliated UPCI church, for more than two decades.

It is important to note that when an individual applies for a UPC license, the pastor must endorse them and sign their application. This is what David Reever did, after the 2003 meeting mentioned above. Let that sink in. This clearly goes against the rules outlined in the UPCI Manual. Martin never should have even been considered for a license as his crimes forever banned him from obtaining one, as well as being forbidden to ever preach in one of their churches.

Don Martin first appears in the 2020 UPCI Directory, indicating that he received his license in 2019, as the Directories are issued every January. Chester Wright was the District Superintendent then, with Reever the District Secretary. It is extremely important to note that this license was granted after at least four UPC ministers had been made aware of his crimes. There was also at least one other alleged assault of which I am aware, that happened after this victim, but she was not a minor. Martin was asked to resign his license in 2021, which he did.

The crime was reported to police in early 2021, after the victim learned that David Reever permitted Don Martin to preach at Abundant Life. She first reached out to Reever, asking why he was allowed to have influence, as Martin had returned to the church and later became licensed. As shared above, Reever’s response to her was, “I hope you find healing.” When interviewed by police, Reever stated that he allowed Don Martin to preach there because he didn’t have access to children. This is untrue and has been confirmed by more than one individual.

After this was reported to police, they suspected there could be more victims (like in the ongoing Scott and Travis Huse cases in Wisconsin). It is well known that a pedophile does not abuse just one person. In all the years which have passed, there could be many survivors out there and if so, we hope they will come forward. Maryland has no criminal statute of limitations on child sexual abuse. Baltimore Police can still be contacted at 410-307-2020 if you were a victim, or know of a victim. Callers may remain anonymous.

I previously wrote an article on the United Pentecostal Church Rules Regarding Sexual Immorality & Ministers as well as a six part series with information on licensing in the United Pentecostal Church and the rules for ministers.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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This is infuriating. How does the United Pentecostal Church expect people to take them seriously when one of their pastors, who TWICE mishandled sexual abuse cases, gets elected as a presbyter of the Western District? Yes, Ron Earl Bohde is now the presbyter of Section 3.

David Bernard, the General Superintendent of the UPCI, states that since September 2021 they’ve been working on the new section of their website called SafeChurch. They are supposed to be making reforms regarding sexual abuse and how it should be handled and prevented. When one of their Districts does something like this, it calls into question how serious they are about addressing the decades long issue of sexual abuse in their midst.

Remember Dylan Ritterman, who pleaded guilty to two counts each of attempted first degree sexual abuse and second degree sexual abuse of two boys at Bethel United Pentecostal Church in Oregon? Ron Bohde was the pastor. He failed to report the abuse to police when he heard of allegations. After that he was uncooperative with the police investigation at first.

Prosecutor Kevin Barton had this to say about Bohde, “This was a worst-case scenario when it comes to a church and a pastor not cooperating.” Let that sink in- A WORST-CASE SCENARIO.

Even SNAP released a statement saying, “This pastor [Bohde] should be harshly punished.” They were deeply disturbed by Ron Bohde’s actions.

After that Bohde headed south and took over as pastor of the Calvary Apostolic Church in Dinubi, California. Remember Victor Becerra, a former licensed United Pentecostal minister? He was found guilty of 19 counts of child molestation involving four minor girls.

It was reported that Bohde and some church members were supportive of Becerra. When people were protesting outside the church, Bohde was quoted as saying in a sermon, “Just to mess with their minds- I’m just praying that they get rain, cold and soaked wet, and miserably enjoy their protest.”

This is the type of man and pastor that the Western District voted in to become the presbyter of section three. This is so very wrong and sends a message quite opposite of what David Bernard is stating.

This District, in my opinion, has failed survivors of sexual abuse once again.

For additional information on Ron Bohde, see our prior article.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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