Parents thought their kids were safest at church, until they learned a convicted sex offender had been walking the same halls for years while leaders said nothing.
Story Snapshot
- A registered sex offender volunteered and worked around children at a South Carolina church school for years.
- Church leaders admit they knew about his conviction but did not tell teachers or parents.
- Authorities say parole rules barred him from contact with minors; he is now charged with violating probation.
- The pastor, his wife, and school leaders now face criminal charges and a $25 million lawsuit over alleged cover-ups.
How A “Second Chance” Turned Into A Criminal Case
Georgetown County deputies say seventy-year-old Warren Spence Perry, a registered sex offender from Murrells Inlet, spent years volunteering and working at Pawleys Island Community Church, which runs a Christian academy, preschool, and nursery. Perry was convicted in 2023 of sexual exploitation of a minor for a crime that happened in 2020, and placed on probation with clear rules: no contact with minors and no presence at places where children gather without approval from his probation officer. Yet he moved freely across a campus built around children.
Local reports say Perry served as a custodian and volunteer at Pawleys Island Christian Academy after his conviction, with access to classrooms, hallways, and common areas used by kids. Parents later learned he had worked there for about three years as a convicted sex offender and had volunteered at the church for about six years in total. Some parents and teachers described seeing him near children, helping with tasks and interacting in ways they assumed were approved by leadership. That assumption shattered when one teacher checked the state sex offender registry at home.
What Church Leaders Knew And Chose Not To Share
At a tense church meeting, Pastor Don Williams admitted that he, other church leaders, and academy leadership had known for years that Perry was a convicted sex offender. A post from ChurchLeaders, a Christian news outlet, claimed leadership knew Perry’s status as early as 2020 but never told teachers at the school. Parents say they were also kept in the dark, even while Perry moved through areas used by their children every day. This was not a rumor; the pastor’s own words confirmed that a small circle knew and made a deliberate decision to contain that knowledge.
Williams told the congregation the church had put “strict supervision” in place once Perry went on probation, saying Perry was never supposed to be alone with children and always under watch. He also admitted the church chose not to tell teachers or parents, claiming they believed only those directly overseeing Perry needed that information. From an American conservative perspective grounded in common sense, that logic collapses on contact with reality. If you truly treat children’s safety as your top duty, you do not keep a known sex offender’s identity secret from the adults who stand between him and those kids.
Why Prosecutors Say This Crossed A Criminal Line
Prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies now argue this was not just bad judgment but criminal behavior. They say church officials knowingly allowed Perry to have contact with children in violation of his probation terms, then concealed the full truth from authorities and the public. The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services says it allowed Perry to work at the church based partly on character statements from Williams, but that Perry never told his probation officer that the church operated a school and daycare on site. That missing detail matters, because state law requires prior approval for any sex offender to be near children or work where kids are present.
An incident report from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office notes Perry had multiple interactions with children on campus. After questions reached his probation officer, Perry was arrested for violating probation by failing to stay away from minors and places they frequent. Deputies also say church leaders misled them about the scope of his contact with kids, prompting a broader investigation and search warrants at both the church and the school. Now the pastor, his wife Ginny, and academy leaders face charges including obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy. That means investigators believe the problem was not only Perry’s choices, but the way leaders helped shape and hide his access.
Parents, Lawsuits, And A Pattern Churches Keep Repeating
Parents filed a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking at least twenty-five million dollars in actual and punitive damages from the church and academy. The complaint says leaders negligently hired and kept a registered sex offender, allowed him to supervise children, and failed to warn parents, even as he allegedly touched children on multiple occasions. Those allegations have not yet been proven in court, and no official agency has said any child suffered sexual abuse. Still, the charges reflect a deep sense of betrayal: families trusted church leaders to guard their children, not to run quiet experiments on how much supervision might be “enough.”
This case does not stand alone. Investigations into child sexual abuse in religious settings have shown a familiar pattern: leaders focus on protecting the institution’s image, handle problems internally, and keep parents and law enforcement at arm’s length. Studies of abuse in churches describe how offenders gain access through volunteer roles, build trust with families, and then exploit gaps in oversight. From a conservative and practical view, the lesson is simple: the moment a leader starts weighing a predator’s “dignity” against a child’s safety, the institution has already lost its moral compass.
What “Common Sense” Protection Should Look Like
Many church members in Pawleys Island now ask how this ever reached the point of criminal charges. The honest answer is that several basic guardrails broke at once. First, leadership trusted Perry’s word about his probation more than they trusted clear state rules and the public registry. Second, they decided not to tell front-line staff or parents, creating a two-tier system of knowledge that left families blind. Third, they accepted vague “strict supervision” instead of hard policies backed by documentation, sign-in records, and visible boundaries.
Community leaders charged after sex offender found working at Pawleys Island church school https://t.co/0DyGrt3yKQ
— Live5News (@Live5News) July 21, 2026
Authorities and parents now push for changes that sound obvious but were ignored: full background checks for anyone near children, automatic bans on registered sex offenders from school campuses, and open communication with parents about any safety concern. For churches that share traditional values, this is not “being harsh”; it is honoring the God-given duty to protect the vulnerable before protecting reputations. When a church forgets that order, sheriffs, prosecutors, and civil juries step in to remind them.
Sources:
nypost.com, wpde.com, wfxb.com, wbtw.com, youtube.com, facebook.com, abcnews4.com
