Reader content warning:
the following account contains descriptions of grooming and sexual abuse.
My name is David Pittman – For 30 years I kept a secret that almost killed me. From the time I was 12 until I was 15, I was sexually abused by a youth minister at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Tucker, Georgia. I was sexually molested and raped. His name is Frankie Wiley, full name Franklin Andrew Wiley. Due to the pathetic statute of limitation laws in Georgia and too many states throughout the USA, he walks free. Until recently he was serving as an associate minister at Trinity Baptist Church in Ashburn, Ga. While he no longer holds an “paid” position at the church, he still has a leadership role as the “Worship Leader” and has access to little boys because the pastor of the church defends him. I have been told they grew up together so he’s allowing this confessed child molester continued access to potential victims of sexual abuse.
In 2006, I found Frankie serving as youth minister at Jodeco Road Baptist Church, where Jerry Light was the Pastor. I contacted Pastor Light and told him my story. He and the Chairman of Deacons, after doing their due diligence, confronted Frankie. Frankie admitted to both men that he had sexually abused me and swore to them I was the only child this happened to. He was allowed to resign. He then went back to get help from a family at a previous church in Flowery Branch, Ga. When they were made aware of the circumstances, they too told him to leave. He returned to his hometown of Ashburn, Ga and got a job with the school as a substitute teacher. When I told the superintendent, Ray Jordan, he allowed Wiley to “resign”. Jordan belongs to the same church as Wiley. Fellow advocates continue to track his activity with children via social media and personal contacts. If you look at his social media pages, he has dozens and dozens of children as “friends”. Unfortunately, the internet has given him a whole new world of potential victims.
There is an important update I need to give you as the reader. I first posted this article in October of 2012, but as of April, 2022, a total of 12 men have come forward, from 4 different churches, whose ages ranged from 9 to 15, that Frankie raped, molested or sexually assaulted in some way prior to, during or after the time he was sexually abusing me. Their words condemn Frankie as a liar, since he told church officials I was the only victim.
Some of their names are Cale Harbour, Christopher Elrod, Ray Harrell and sadly one is now deceased, Andy Harrell (Ray’s big brother). Andy gave me permission to use his name prior to is death in 2012. Unfortunately several others are not in a place of healing and told me “they just can’t talk about it right now” and I know how they feel. It’s how myself, Ray, Cale and Christopher felt for many years. But they reached out to me because they thought all this time they were the only ones and needed to talk to someone who understood what they had been through.
It’s important that you know how Frankie and other sexual predators like him operate. He invites 2-3 boys over to his house for sleepovers. He keeps 1 or 2 in another room and has the other boy stay with him in his bed. This is where the abuse and/or rape takes place. Or he will tell you that several boys are staying over and when you arrive, you are the only one…trapped.
These vultures go after others like me who come from a family of divorce or worse. They take advantage of our vulnerability; a young boy simply wanting attention from a male role model. This is their “play”, also known as “grooming” and it eventually leads to the abuse. God only knows how many victims there actually are-which is why I am writing this.
The Department of Justice tells us that “a male perpetrator who prefers boys and remains uncaught will have approximately 150 victims over the course of his life.” And one young man I mentioned, can no longer speak at all. He died in June 2012. According to what he told me, because of the shame and guilt from being molested by Frankie Wiley, he took drugs to numb the pain, the drugs lowered his ability to make proper decisions, and in the end it cost him his life. It’s clear to me that his death is on the hands of Frankie Wiley.
And since the state of Georgia has a pathetic statute of limitations on child rape, none of us are able to bring him to justice.
I called Kenneth Keene at the Georgia Baptist Convention (now called the Georgia Baptist Mission Board) to inform him of this pedophile using Southern Baptist churches in Georgia as a haven for hunting. His response was to pray for me and say “sorry but each church acts separately and there is nothing we can do.” After two conversations, I tried to tell him that Frankie had moved churches, but he stopped taking my calls and responding to my emails.
And there really isn’t enough time or space here to share how the SBC, SBC EC, GBMB, Augie Boto, Frank Page, Thomas Hammond and many others in those organizations failed me and countless other victims of sexual abuse.
It appears the Southern Baptist Convention and GBMB, as organizations, are following in the footsteps of the Roman Catholic Church. They prefer to deny and cover-up, rather than own up to the evil within. It appears the Southern Baptist Convention and its churches would rather have more children abused, molested and raped, than to be proactive, remove pedophiles from its churches and help victims.
But don’t just take my word for it, multiple organizations have found countless leaders within the Southern Baptist Church who know of instances of abuse and choose to do nothing. Mr. Keene is listed among them.
“The only thing needed for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
How many other adults out there have suffered this atrocity and are unable to bring their abusers to justice due to the insufficient laws held by almost every state in the land? Sexual predators know this and count on it. They count on us not saying anything until it is legally too late. The reason being is most survivors of abuse aren’t capable of acknowledging what happened to them until they are about 52 years old. The statute of limitations in almost every state runs out between the ages of 18 to 23. It’s simple math for sexual predators and the organizations that protect them.
When Dr. Light contacted the pastor of Trinity Baptist, Rodney Brown, with verification that Frankie Wiley admitted to molesting/raping me, he said he would bring it to the church. Brown lied. We had to tell the congregation ourselves. While Frankie is no longer a paid staff member, he is still active with the youth. What they fail to understand is these predators NEVER stop until they are caught and incarcerated or deceased. The deacons and leadership at Trinity are either ignorant, negligent or both in failing to protect the children within their care.
When I sent an email to the parents of Trinity Baptist, after the pastor failed to tell them, he called me and said I was a bad person. Pastor Rodney Brown said I was destroying “his” church, that I caused a split in “his” church. To which I replied, “pastor, first of all, it’s not YOUR church. The “Church” is the people who make up the body of Christ, not the person standing in the pulpit. And who is the bad person here? Me, for letting the parents of Trinity know about an admitted child molester with access to their children, OR YOU, who CHOSE to keep it secret until you were FORCED to admit what I told them was the truth?
And hearing that the church split tells me that half of the people there didn’t agree with you in allowing this sexual predator to continue to be around their children.” Below you will find a link to Trinity Baptist Church where they proudly list Frankie as their worship leader. Is this the type of church you want to send your little boys and feel safe about doing it?
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/turner/trinity.html
And to any of the people who would deny anything I’ve said, I challenge them to submit to a lie-detector test. I am more than willing to do so and testify under oath. Cale, Christopher and I have the one thing they don’t…the truth.
I wonder how many parents of the children Jerry Sandusky molested wished they had this kind of information. How many little boys would still have their innocence? How many little boys would have been protected? In my view, Rodney Brown is almost WORSE than the pedophile. A pedophile is sick and usually don’t stop until incarcerated or deceased. Rodney Brown, like the administrators at Penn State, or leaders in the Catholic Church, choose to protect the monster in their midst.
My childhood voice was strangled by the rope of molestation. My assailant is free (for now). But with your help, other victims might have the courage to come forward in time to incarcerate these predators. Most survivors have a similar feeling. Feeling trapped and forced to relive the crime in silence. And in too many cases this costs them their lives. Too many have committed suicide because they didn’t have the tools to handle the trauma. Others (including myself) turned to drugs and alcohol to numb their pain (many times ending in an overdose). And even more who are never able to have any kind of life. No loving relationships, no lasting friendships, the loss of any family or support – all due to the pain caused by the crime of abuse, molestation, and rape.
I was told by a GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) investigator in 2006 something that is seared into my mind…”a pedophile is like a serial killer that leaves their victims alive.”
That is truth articulated. Read it again and really think about it. Think about a little child, trapped, unable to fight off the attacks. And then, unlike a murder victim, that little child has to relive each and every assault for the rest of their lives.
Frankie served as a music and/or youth minister at the following churches from the mid to late 70’s to 2011 – if you or anyone you know has concerns or questions, please contact me.
Pinecrest Baptist Church, Cordele, Ga.
Rehoboth Baptist, Tucker, Ga.
Second Avenue Baptist, Rome, Ga.
Tom’s Creek Baptist Church, Toccoa, Ga,
Poplar Springs Baptist Church
Grace Baptist Church, Gainesville, Ga
A Baptist church in Flowery Branch, Ga.
Jodeco Road Baptist, Stockbridge, Ga.
Trinity Baptist, Ashburn, Ga.
He also worked as a substitute teacher at the local school system in Ashburn, Ga., sometime around 2009-2011.
If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused by Frankie Wiley or by anyone, please reach out to someone. Things are different now. You WILL be believed, you are NOT alone. Please, reach out…there are people you can trust now.
9/25/2013 – Update on the Sexual Predator, Frankie Wiley.
We have a 2013 Update that further validates and reaffirms all we knew. I am posting what ANOTHER victim of Frankie Wiley sent me. You can read it after the ***** marks and my statement about it will follow.
Here is this victim’s story…please read how to this day he feels responsible for what Frankie did to him.
*****
I just wanted to let you know that I too encountered Frankie Wiley in my youth, growing up in Ashburn GA. It was pretty well-known in the ’70s that he was molesting kids. I know of several other boys besides myself during that time. I see you also mention Rodney Brown, and if that is the old Pastor Brown’s son from Sycamore, then he knew about Frankie back then too. I think Rodney was about Frankie’s age, or maybe a few years older, and he and his brother Eddie both knew about Frankie, heck just about everyone in town did. Back then people just called him queer and other names and kind of turned their back, perhaps most not really knowing that he was actually molesting young boys in the church. But all the kids knew. This is when Frankie was in his 20s and he was always involved in leading some kind of youth group. He particularly liked to organize campouts for boys. You get the idea.
At the time when I ended all contact with Frankie, despite his efforts to contact me, I believe he was the Minister of Music at a church in Cordele, GA. That doesn’t seem to be on your list. This would have been somewhere around 1975 or 76. Seems like he was also involved in a church musical group called Maranatha out of Cordele too.
Over the years I’ve looked online to see if he ever got caught or punished, and this website (together-we-heal.org) is the first time I ever found anything mentioning him. Apparently, he still goes UNPUNISHED and UNREFORMED. In my case this was nearly 40 years ago, so that would make him in his mid-60’s now, I think. And he’s probably done the same stuff for 40 years. Even though there were at least 3 incidents I recall, I’ve lived a pretty normal life and been able to cope, I think. I’m sure the scars have caused me some problems, but I’ve never talked about it and never told anyone that I was molested as a child, much less publicly accused Frankie. I’m probably not interested in coming forward now either, after all these years. But after finding this site I had to at least post a note. I’ve put in an email address that will actually reach me, it’s real but anonymized.
If I can provide any information that will help your cause then I’ll consider it, but I’ll probably not make my own identity public. I don’t really want to open up that old wound again, and don’t really want to admit to people who know me that this happened. Yes I was a child, but I feel like I somehow allowed it to happen too, being at a very susceptible age. So I remain ashamed to this day.
*****
Notice how this latest victim coming forward feels responsible for what Frankie did to him? This is why we must protect the children that are currently in harm’s way. Even after being sexually abused, the victim often times feels as though it was something they did to allow it to happen. The ONLY one to blame here is Frankie Wiley! Frankie is the sexual predator. This child did NOTHING to deserve this. Help us support survivors of childhood sexual abuse, educate families about keeping children safer and identifying and prosecuting predators like Wiley.
At one time I thought I was the only person Frankie Wiley sexually molested while I was in the youth group at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Tucker, Ga. But now we know there were more before me, there were others at Rehoboth at the same time as me, and several after at other churches. Today I learned this goes back long before RBC. And this exposes another lie Frankie has told in an attempt to justify his predatory actions. He told me the reason he molested and raped me was because he was raped in seminary. Not that it’s any type of rationale, just the reason he gave. I have also learned this is the type of lie sexual predators make up in order to gain sympathy or early release if incarcerated.
Truth is, he’d been molesting little boys long before that.
Below is a comment posted to the TWH website from a victim of Frankie’s that happened long before Rehoboth and seminary and the cover-up that’s been going on to protect him. This is why we do what we do. To this day, Frankie has access to little boys and we must expose him for what he is.
There are many other “Frankie’s” out there. Please help us name them so we can help those in need receive the healing they desperately deserve!
5/15/2022 – ANOTHER Frankie Wiley/Rodney Brown/Trinity Baptist Church UPDATE
If you recall from this article, there was a time when Wiley was supposedly “fired” from Trinity Baptist Church by Rodney Brown. Well, that wasn’t the truth. Wiley was allowed to resign and quietly leave…for a time.
Wiley tried to join another church in South Georgia. Journey Church in Tifton, Georgia. We were made aware of this, warned the pastor there and they asked him not to come back. But this was just a temporary moment away from church leadership for Wiley.
Sometime during 2021 and 2022, Trinity Baptist Church left the “Cooperation” of the Southern Baptist Convention, and rebranded itself, “Trinity Community Church of Ashburn”. Same Rodney Brown as their pastor, but a different location for the church building. And seemingly most important to them, they are no longer accountable to the SBC for bringing back the admitted child rapist, Frankie Wiley.
Trinity Community Church of Ashburn and Rodney Brown have brought Wiley back into their fold, on to their stage where he is ONCE AGAIN in a position of authority in the minds and eyes of the children and adults of that church. Hard to believe? Don’t believe me? Look them up on Facebook. You’ll find them all right there together!
So all that talk from Rodney Brown about being sorry, for not knowing better, for ridding Wiley from the church to protect the kids under his care. I guess that’s all that was…talk, lies and a PR stunt. Please be sure to refresh your memory of what Brown said not that long ago.
Evidently Rodney Brown’s real belief, which match his actions, is that he couldn’t dump the SBC quick enough in order to get his buddy Wiley back on stage with him.
And just when you thought Wiley couldn’t sink any lower. He is now trying to sell 2 books. One is an autobiography he writes under his own name but fails to mention any of the boys he’s raped for decades. And the other is a “how to worship better” book under a pseudonym. I guess he wants to be able to sell them without anyone knowing who he really is and what he does. Might put a damper on sales if they know you’ve raped little boys.
Please help us expose Wiley so he can no longer profit from the pain of the lives and souls he’s destroyed! What he is doing is the definition of taking God’s name in vain.
I wish this were all some kind of tragic joke. But it’s not. It just gets worse and worse, and these people don’t seem to care what happens to their children.
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