Roan S. Faulkner, bishop of a Pentecostal church in Catonsville, pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting a 43-year-old congregant last year after she went to him for advice on a family matter.
By pleading to the second-degree assault charge, the defendant avoided a trial on seven criminal counts levied against him, including attempted second-degree rape, two sex offenses and committing unnatural or perverted acts. The remaining counts were dropped.
Under the plea agreement, Faulkner, 63, the pastor of New Life Pentecostal Ministries, could be sentenced to 10 years in prison but will serve no more than 18 months. Faulkner is also likely to be placed on supervised probation for five years when he is sentenced June 29 by Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger.
If the case had gone to trial, prosecutor Stephanie Picard Porter said she was prepared to present as witnesses not only the woman who was assaulted Feb. 21, 2010, but three others who she said were "victims of other incidents of this behavior by this defendant."
David B. Irwin, one of Faulkner's two defense lawyers, countered that the other women had made "five- to 10-year-old allegations of a kiss and a hug," none of them "similar to these allegations." But Irwin, in explaining to his client the ramifications of the agreement with the prosecution, warned him that by pleading guilty in the most recent case he was establishing "the highest form of self-incrimination."
The defendant's wife, who is known as "Queen" Esther Faulkner and is also a pastor at New Life Pentecostal Ministries, listened from the front row of the courtroom. They have three grown children.
Reading the allegations into the court record, Porter said the victim, who had attended services at the church on Melvin Avenue for more than two years, had asked Faulkner for advice about dealing with her grief over a family member's medical crisis. Faulkner gave the woman $100 for her brother's medical care and then began "kissing and hugging her," which "made her uncomfortable," Porter said.
Later, he exposed himself to the woman, fondled her and forced her to the floor, where he tore her clothing and attempted to rape her, the prosecutor said. Even after the woman began crying, Faulkner forced her to perform a sexual act on him, and she complied because she "feared for her safety," Porter told the judge. Faulkner then instructed the woman not to tell anyone, adding that if she told his wife, "she would not believe her," according to Porter.