Remember that Tennessee pastor who attacked a gay couple — his gay son and his son’s boyfriend — to prevent them from entering his church? When Pastor Pittman’s son, Robert Pittman, Jr., and his son’s boyfriend drove up to go to church, Pastor Pittman directed his deacons — one of whom is Robert’s uncle — to verbally and physically assault the two men, still in their car. Now, Pastor Pittman, of the Grace Fellowship Church in Humboldt (listed in news reports as as Fruitland) Tennessee, has been arrested for theft, on a tip from his estranged wife.
Via WBBJ:
“I went over to take the keys out of the ignition and all the sudden I hear someone say ‘sick’em,’†said Gibson County resident, Jerry Pittman Jr.
Pittman said the attacked was prompted by the pastor of the church, Jerry Pittman, his father.
“My uncle and two other deacons came over to the car per my dad’s request. My uncle smash me in the door as the other deacon knocked my boyfriend back so he couldn’t help me, punching him in his face and his chest. The other deacon came and hit me through my car window in my back,†said Pittman. He said bystanders did not offer assistance. He said the deacon yelled derogatory homosexual slurs, even after officers arrived. He said the officers never intervened to stop the deacons from yelling the slurs.
Well, WBBJ has another report now:
Police arrested the 52-year-old on September 21, after his estranged wife told them she had heard from co-workers that he had been stealing from her business.
“Our investigation into the incident that was reported showed that he and another gentleman did scrap copper at a scrap yard here in Trenton,” Lt. James Wilson said.
Investigators said he scrapped the copper at least three different times since August. It was hundreds of pounds, and worth more than $1,000.
“It was quite a bit that they scrapped,” Wilson said.
This actually is not the first time Pittman has been arrested. Police said he was arrested back in 2006 for a simple assault charge.
“It was over an incident where the daughter and the boyfriend had a joint child,” Wilson said. “There were some accusations involving the father of the child, which was the boyfriend, and he confronted the father of his grandchild at a local grocery store.”
According to investigators, Pittman is charged with theft of more than $1,000. He bonded out of jail the day he was arrested, and his next court appearance will be October 28 at Trenton Municipal Court.
In WBBJ’s initial report, the sheriff suggested that maybe the gay couple deserved the beating, after his officers refused to file charges against the Pastor and his henchmen deacons. The WBBJ reporter at the end of the video segment actually suggested that stress from the Pastor’s impending divorce might be to blame for him ordering his deacons to assault his own son.
The attack was clearly a hate crime.
But WBBJ now doesn’t suggest any reason for the theft by Pittman. Is that because theft is a “real” crime, but assaulting your own gay son isn’t?
(Hat tip: LGBTQ Nation)