Category: sexual abuse

The 43rd installment in this series about sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church takes place in Michigan. This concerns a former UPCI minister, Roland “Ro” Stirnemann, who plead guilty in January 2009 to two of four sexual abuse charges involving a minor, starting when she was six years old. At the time of his arrest in 2008, he had not been licensed through the UPCI for several years. However, one of the charges involved the time when he yet held license. He is a registered sex offender in Michigan [screen shot]. (He is non-compliant as of at least June 21, 2023. screenshot  He has since been compliant as of at least July 11, 2023.)  As Stirneman similarly asked in his article, Sodom’s Subtle Seduction, I will similarly ask, “How did Roland Stirnemann get to the place where he was able to overlook the obvious immorality of his actions, time and time again?” [Warning: this article shares details of his crimes.]

Roland K. Stirnemann was born on September 11, 1962. He married his wife, Sue Ellen, in 1981, a year after he graduated high school, and they have two sons, which were adopted from the UPCI endorsed Tupelo Children’s Mansion.  He’s a 4th generation Oneness Pentecostal and yet touts himself as a minister [source]. Roland first appears in the 1990 UPCI Directory with a general license, which means he received it in 1989, and it shows him as living in Fall River, Massachusetts. At that time, his brother Jay was pastor of an affiliated UPCI church in that town and Roland started helping at his brother’s small church after graduating from Bible College, but before obtaining his license, which was granted soon after moving there. He preached and taught some at the church, gave personal Bible studies, and taught the high school Sunday School class. Stirnemann claims that God spoke to him almost 30 years ago, that he was to be a watchman and an intercessor on behalf of the church [source: The Last Trump, page 9].

Prior to this, he helped for years at the Faith Apostolic Church of Troy, a UPCI church in Michigan, as did his late father, Robert Walter Stirnemann. I am told he was considered an elder at Faith Apostolic. He claims to have done missionary work in Africa, Central and South America and the Caribbean [source]. It appears this work was done through the United Pentecostal Church’s AIM (Associates in Missions) program, which is a short term entry-level missions program that any UPC member may request to attend. He was never appointed as a missionary in the organization and it has been shared he collected donations to help pay for these trips.

In 1991 Roland is listed as living in Clawson, Michigan and in 1999 he is seen in Auburn Hills. [Note: I do not have 1993-1998 Directories.] He is last seen listed in the 2001 UPCI Directory, which means he could have no longer been licensed near the end of 2000 or some time in 2001. I am unaware as to whether he dropped out of the organization or if they dismissed him. His brother, Jay Robert Stirnemann, was licensed long before Roland and has served as the District Superintendent of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island District since 2010. Jay has also been the pastor of  Christ Temple United Pentecostal Church in Tiverton since 1986.

This is case 2008-223287-FH. The charges against Roland K. Stirnemann were 750.520c (criminal sexual conduct in the second degree; felony; multiple variables), 750.520e (criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree; misdemeanor),  750.520c1b (criminal sexual conduct in the second degree; felony; relation) and 750.520d1d (criminal sexual conduct in the third degree; felony). Regarding 750.520c, it’s the second most serious form of criminal sexual conduct in Michigan. It mainly applies to sexual contact of victims under particularly egregious circumstances [source]. The charges spanned from 1997 through 2008. Stirnemann was represented by attorney Jerome L. Fenton, who appears to now practice in Arizona.

It appears Roland Stirnemann was attending the Apostolic Church of Auburn Hills at this time as Steve Warman, then a UPCI minister, was listed among the 28 potential witnesses in the court records. That church is last seen in the 2013 UPCI Directory, so the church could have left anywhere between late 2012 and at any point in 2013. Apparently Stirnemann has been unhappy with the direction the church has taken as can be seen in his Apostolic Witchcraft article, which he also posted on at least one Facebook group. In it, he partially laments about being “greeted at the door by a lady in slacks with hair chopped to her shoulders, her face laden with makeup and jewelry.” The woman was 4th generation Apostolic and neither her husband, who was there with her, or the church elders said anything about it. And, gasp, another 4th generation woman, a praise singer, wore tiny earrings! He claims that God spoke to him about his sons’ rebellion at the time and pointed out how they “see rebellion in their local church from the greeting at the front door to the platform.” I have seen too much of this where men who are strict or very judgmental about these standards (and other things) are often found to be hiding something in their lives.

On January 15, 2009, Stirnemann entered a guilty plea for 750.520c and 750.520c1b and the other two charges were dropped as a result of the agreement. On February 4, 2009, he was sentenced by Judge Wendy Potts to 365 days in prison and was given credit for 20 days. He was ordered to pay $5,000 restitution, as well as some other fees that totaled $680.00. In addition, he was to pay a supervision fee to the Department of Corrections in the amount of $3,000. He was to be on five years of probation where he was to have no contact with children under 18 and was forbidden to be in a leadership role in schools, churches or sporting events, nor could there be any activities with children under 18. He was also ordered to have no contact of any kind with the victim or her family and he had to stay at least 500 feet away from their home, places of employment and school.

On March 3, 2012, the court allowed Stirnemann to return to his marital home. It appears that at least part of the time after his arrest he had been living at his parent’s home in Madison Heights.

In an article he wrote in 2018, Roland Stirnemann claimed to be a seeker of truth. With that in mind, let’s look at the truth of the sexual crimes he committed. None of his brazen intentional actions can be identified as mistakes, nor accidents. Each was deliberate, with him knowing exactly what he was doing.  It wasn’t a one-time event, not that this would be acceptable, but these happened over the course of 11 years- 11 years. Had he not been reported to the police and arrested in 2008, every sign pointed to the fact that he would have continued and probably would have eventually raped this young girl. In cases such as this, one must also wonder if there are other victims, as people who do such things usually don’t stop with one person.

Based on the testimony given at Stirnemann’s probable cause hearing in October 2008, these are his crimes:

• In 1997 or 1998 in her bedroom, when the girl was only six years old, he put his hand up her skirt and touched her vagina with his hand.
• In 2006 or 2007 at her grandmother’s home, he came up behind her where she was sitting and put his hand down her shirt, touching one breast under her bra.
• In June or July of 2008 in the hallway at her home, he put his hand up her skirt, touched her vagina with his hand underneath her underwear and inserted his finger.
• In August 2008 in her bedroom, after asking if anyone was there with her, he reached out and touched her breast with his hand.
• At Stirnemann’s home when she was 13 or 14, he came up to her while both were standing, placed his arms around her and forcefully starting kissing her on the lips with his lips and tongue. After she resisted, he stepped aside and said, “I need to teach you how to kiss.”

All of the above occurred when other people were present in the homes, but was not witnessed by them. In addition to these, the following also occurred, but these charges were not included in Stirnemann’s arrest as they happened in an area outside the jurisdiction of the court. They were allowed to be presented under MCL 768.27a. “When a defendant is charged with a sexual offense against a minor, the prosecution may now introduce evidence of a defendant’s uncharged sexual offenses against minors without having to justify the admissibility of the evidence.” [source]

1. In 2005 or 2006 at a cottage in Michigan, he stood in the bathroom with the door open and his pants and underwear down, exposing himself to her. [NOTE: I have been in contact with one woman whose sister alleges that Stirnemann did this on more than one occasion to her from inside his home, in front of a picture window. It was shared that at times he walked around his home naked in front of this window when his wife was not present.]
2. Another time when she was going to walk into the living room, he grabbed her hand and put it up his shorts, forcing her to touch his penis under his clothing.
3. Another time when she was standing in the kitchen, he came up behind her and put his hand down her skirt and underwear and touched her vagina.

After he was released from prison, he wrote three religious related books: Who Am I?: Your Son’s Search For Identity released in 2017, The Last Trump: A Clarion Call To End Time Believers in 2019 and Marred in the Potter’s Hand: A Collection of Inspirational Devotionals in 2020. Stirnemann also started a blog in November 2014, which is no longer in operation.

What is especially sickening about this blog is an entry titled, Maintaining My Character In The Middle Of Hell, which Stirnemann wrote about his imprisonment. He starts by stating, “This is the most transparent I have been since the founding of my blog” and shares it was originally written in the Spring of 2010, which would have been after he’d been released, but was yet on probation. He calls this a “traumatic experience” and goes on to state, “The enemy did his best to destroy the strong bonds and beautiful family my wife and I had cultivated over a long period of time but he lost.” [screen shot]

No, ‘the enemy’ did no such thing, as Stirnemann was arrested and charged for sexual crimes he had been committing for a decade. After reading the testimony of the victim, this article is infuriating, how he attempts to describe what he and his family went through with no concern shown for the harm he repeatedly inflicted.

 About 9 months before my arrest I had begun going to the church every morning for about an hour to pray with a group of men from my church. …I knew God was preparing me for something. I thought He was getting me ready for my next step of personal ministry. …I had no idea that all of that preparation was God’s way of building character in me for the 14 months I would end up spending in jail separated from my family. I honestly don’t believe I would have made it emotionally, mentally, and spiritually through that time period had I not spent those 9 months in regular prayer preparing for this test. – Roland Stirnemann, posted on his blog December 23, 2015 [screen shot]

In other words, in his mind God prompted him to pray like this to prepare him for his arrest and imprisonment, a ‘test,’ but amazingly God apparently never bothered to prompt him to pray before each of the numerous times he molested this girl, in an effort to prevent the abuse. Apparently God wasn’t interested in ‘building his character’ during those eleven years that he sexually abused her.

He never shares or even hints at the reasons why he spent time in prison and specifically referred to this time as a “test” and “things life can blindside us with.” He never once mentions his victim, nor what she would have endured and experienced due to his repeated criminal actions. Never once is any concern shown for what she might face throughout her life because of his perverted sexual desires. Absent are any concerns of how his actions may have affected her spiritually.

In his final paragraph he writes in part, “Yes, character is essential to making it through the tough times in life, but what most do not understand is that character is developed moment by moment through the most mundane routines of life before trouble ever comes our way. I think for me the greatest testimony to my own personal character has been the way others have responded to me since I have been released from jail. I thought some might treat me like a pariah but that has not been the case. I have been welcomed and hugged with open arms by many whom I didn’t even think really knew me. But it is now apparent to me that all those years of treating people properly and just being consistent in my daily good living is bearing fruit in how others are responding to my family and me in our time of need.” [screen shot]

Against the rules of Facebook, as they do not allow registered sex offenders on their platform, Roland Stirnemann had a personal profile [screen shot] as well as one where he featured his books [screen shot]. Facebook removed them prior to the writing of this article.

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

The 42nd installment in this series about sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church will be different from most of my entries, as at this time I wish to focus mainly on one aspect of the case. This concerns a lawsuit filed on December 3, 2020 by UPCI pastor Stephen Barker against Emily Calderon, a former church member, who has since sometime in 2020 been very outspoken about multiple cases of alleged sexual abuse involving Raul Rodriguez, a long-time member of Mount Zion Apostolic Church in Visalia (Goshen), California. Rodriguez married Kristen, the sister of Stephen Barker, in 2008.

The defamation lawsuit is also against twenty unnamed individuals and seeks payment of a half million dollars. The church is represented by attorney Mike Chappers and Calderon by attorney Lenden Franklin Webb. This is happening in the Western District of the United Pentecostal Church, which has had difficulties in recent years. District Superintendent Gaylen Cantrell is mentioned by the plaintiffs in the court documents. [It should be pointed out that Mount Zion Apostolic Church previously had as its pastor Harvey C. Cantrell, who is Gaylen’s father, and he is an Honorary Secretary of the Western District. Harvey Cantrell was the pastor 17 years ago when Meghan Estrada (now Robles), a preacher’s kid, was allegedly groomed and molested for over a year by Raul Rodriguez, starting when she was 13 years old and he was 23. Three years later when she was 16, Harvey Cantrell was made aware of what happened by Meghan’s father, but neither men reported it to police. At that time, Cantrell allegedly stated that Meghan had been wearing tight clothing and was promiscuous. Meghan’s case is especially complicated as Stephen Barker and Kristen Rodriguez are her cousins. According to a partial screen shot Emily Calderon posted in her TikTok account of a conversation between Kristen and Meghan in 2012, a few months before they were married, Cantrell told Raul to tell Kristen about the situation. Why Cantrell waited so long to advise this is problematic as Kristen has shared on her Facebook profile that they dated for seven years before marrying. What Raul allegedly did to Meghan would have happened during this time.]

This is case VCU285173. At present a settlement conference is scheduled for December 20, 2021, with a jury trial scheduled for January 31, 2022. Prior to this on November 17, 2020, Steven Calderon, Emily’s husband, filed for civil harassment restraining orders against Ron Barker, Stephen Barker’s father. This was case VCU285028. It was denied on December 7, 2020.

When someone sues for defamation, the burden of proof rests on the person(s) filing the lawsuit. My understanding of this is that they must prove the statements made against them are false and that the individual(s) knew the statements were untrue or made them maliciously, not caring about the veracity or lack thereof. They must prove the statements were made to a third party and that they incurred damages due to them. I would like to point out that this lawsuit is a public record, I believe the pastor would be considered a public figure, and as such people are free to discuss the case and the issues involved with it, sharing their thoughts and opinions. In addition, the issue of sexual abuse is unquestionably a very public issue. It should be clearly noted that while I understand that there is a police investigation, Raul Rodriguez has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. This is being posted to bring awareness to the situation and to show that Raul Rodriguez has been very involved at Mt. Zion Apostolic Church for many years.

Emily Calderon has made numerous TikTok videos about the situation, some of which have been removed due to them being reported. She has also publicly posted on her Facebook profile. Despite being sued by her former pastor, his father Ron Barker, and Mount Zion Apostolic Church, she has continued to speak out and filed a cross complaint against these parties on February 17, 2021. On May 27, the judge ruled against the church demurrer (basically a motion to dismiss) regarding Calderon’s cross complaint. At some point after the church lawsuit was filed, they removed the Facebook page for the church. They also removed the mention on the church website staff page of Raul Rodriguez and his wife being the music directors for the church. In this screen shot from Bing of their ministry staff page, it shows that Rodriguez was listed as the music director from as far back as at least October 28, 2020. (When clicking on ‘9 months ago’ on Bing, it gives the date as on or before October 28.)

I learned long ago that when reporting on cases such as this, that things tend to disappear from the internet. Because of this, when I initially started looking into this story several months ago, I collected a variety of screen shots including ones that showed Raul Rodriguez’s church involvement, which goes back many years. In one of the court documents, Calderon has shared an excerpt where Stephen Barker stated, “Raul is not a leader of the Church. Although Raul participates in Church music activities, Raul is not a leader, is not in a position of power, and does not have decision making authority.” Above I shared screen shots that show he was clearly the music director, which I believe most would consider to be a ‘position of power’ and that position would come with some ‘decision making authority.’ How could one be a music director and have neither of these? While Rodriguez is not a pastor at the church, from all I have seen, he has been in leadership positions and very heavily involved in the activities of Mount Zion Apostolic Church. Let’s look a little closer.

A clear example of Raul Rodriguez being proclaimed as a leader is found in an April 13, 2015 post on the now removed Facebook page for Mount Zion Apostolic Church. As you can see from the screen shot, he and his wife were proclaimed to be “hardworking youth leaders” and the church “couldn’t wait to see what the future holds for them and their ministry.” Due to him being a youth leader in his local church, he most likely then had the opportunity to be involved with the youth on a District level.

From April 2016 until April 2018 [screen shot], Rodriguez was the Section Three Youth Director for the Western District Youth Committee. Not only was he the Section Three Youth Director, but in 2018 he won an award as the Sectional Director of the year [screen shot]. Anyone being in this position gained additional opportunities to be around the youth of various churches. According to page 91 the 2017 UPCI Manual, two of the duties of a Sectional Youth Director are “to cooperate with the pastors in fostering youth work in the churches throughout the section” and “to be in charge of the rallies of his or her section.”

In 2017 he is seen at the UPCI church in Dinuba for a Section Three Youth Prayer event [screen shot]. If you have read my previous article, you may recall that on October 8, 2020, a jury found Victor Becerra, a former licensed United Pentecostal minister, guilty of 19 counts of child molestation of four minor girls at Calvary Apostolic Church in Dinuba, California where Ronald Bohde is the pastor and Becerra was a youth leader.

In May of 2019, Rodriguez received a Leadership Development Certificate, though I do not know the details on this. In this 2018 Facebook advertisement for a Back 2 School event at Revival Tabernacle, it shows that Rodriguez would be in charge of the music and lists him as Rev. Raul Rodriguez.

Raul has also been involved during Vacation Bible School at the church. The earliest evidence I discovered was from 2009 in this screen shot at the 30 second mark of a video that showed pictures from 2009 through 2019. He can also be seen at the 5:06 mark from 2017 and I believe at the 5:43 mark from 2018. In 2020 he was a guest for and the video producer of the Power Hour of the Sunday School ministry [screen shot] and helped with a number of these [additional screen shot].

In a 2017 video about the music ministry of the church, Rodriguez can be seen singing with others on the platform [screen shot]. If you skim through some of the church YouTube videos of services, you can see him on the platform playing and singing, such as this screen shot from March 29, 2020, this screen shot from April 15, 2020 and this screen shot from December 17, 2020. This YouTube channel was started on March 19, 2020. There is an older YouTube channel from 2014 that only has five videos.

I believe the above examples show some of the extent of Raul Rodriguez’s involvement in the church, as well as the Youth Division of the Western District, that the involvement extends over many years, and that he has held leadership [the action of leading a group of people] roles.

According to Calderon, she has twice attempted to settle the lawsuit by asking that they drop it without prejudice and pay her attorney fees. They have declined. Though the circumstances are different, this lawsuit reminds me of the one brought against Julie Anne Smith (and others) by her former pastor and Beaverton Grace Bible Church. Her attorney filed an an anti-SLAPP motion, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s lawsuit and the pastor/church had to pay many thousands of dollars in her attorney fees.

I am also reminded of two United Pentecostal Church ministers in California, Arthur Hodges III and George Nobbs, who were arrested in 1988 for failing to report child sexual abuse that was committed by a fellow UPC minister, Lyn Meche. Hodges and Nobbs were convicted in 1991 and when they appealed their conviction, it was upheld in 1992. This case is mentioned on pages 130 and 131 in the book, The Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis and the Legal Responses. It is because of the actions of these two ministers that clergy were specifically added to the mandatory reporting law in California.

On August 27, 2021, Meghan (Estrada) Robles gave her deposition for this lawsuit. Below is a video she previously released, where she speaks about the matter and why she is coming forward now.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 NOTE: After this article was posted Raul Rodriguez passed away on September 5, 2021, after a battle with COVID. He was just shy of turning 40. The lawsuit is ongoing.

NOVEMBER 6, 2021 NOTE: On November 1, Ron Barker, the father of Stephen Barker and Kristen Rodriguez, passed away.

Added November 14: Sign Emily’s petition here.

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