Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Palm Beach County, Florida, USA · 2019

United States: 'Apostle' pastor convicted of sexually abusing three girls in his congregation

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Pastor and self-styled 'Apostle', Church of Restoration of Life Ministries

Organization

Church of Restoration of Life Ministries, Palm Beach County, Florida

Spiritual nexus

Stubbs was pastor and self-proclaimed 'Apostle' of the small congregation the victim's family belonged to; he told her being an Apostle meant he spoke for God, and told her that if a boy touched her he, as her Apostle, would have to remove the resulting 'spirits.' A second congregant testified she did not resist his advances because he was her pastor; a third testified he was a 'trusted religious advisor' to her family who acted as their spiritual authority.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Prophecy or divine command
  • Threatened spiritual consequence

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · trial

    Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County, Florida. Jury convicted Stephen Stubbs of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Similar-fact testimony from two other congregation members described comparable grooming and abuse by Stubbs.

  2. 2019-04-17 · appellate

    District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District. Conviction affirmed; the court held the trial court properly admitted similar-fact evidence from the two other victims.

Appellate history

  1. 2019-04-17

    Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • claimed prophetic authority ('speaking from God') used to direct victims' compliance
  • supernatural-consequence framing — telling a victim he had to 'take off' spirits placed on her by physical contact with others
  • status-based subordination taught as doctrine — victims testified they did not resist because he was their pastor/Apostle

Primary record

Sources

court opinion appellate opinion Stubbs v. State, No. 4D17-3295 (Fla. 4th DCA Apr. 17, 2019).

Full appellate opinion recounting trial testimony from the victim and two similar-fact witnesses describing Stubbs's use of his 'Apostle' status and claimed divine authority to groom and sexually abuse congregants; conviction affirmed.

Related record

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