His congregation called him “Apostle.” The judge called him a “false prophet.” His victims forgave him, then they wept.
Woodlawn pastor Gerald Griffith sat stone-faced Wednesday while Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Robert Dugan sentenced him to eight years in prison. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped 41 other sex-abuse charges involving five youth. Under the deal, he will not face charges in four cases in which he was accused of molesting three boys and one girl during counseling sessions.
“If there ever was a false prophet, he sits there,” Dugan said, pointing at Griffith. “He?s clearly guilty.”
Dugan also sentenced the 41-year-old pastor to five years of probation and prohibited him from having unsupervised contact with minors. He also must register as a sex offender.
The victims burst into tears in the courtroom.
“If he?s truly sorry and not just doing this because it?s in his best interest to plead guilty … he would admit to his entire church what he?s done,” a male victim said.
Griffith was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing the same youth in Howard County. The victim, then 14 years old, was abused between November 2002 and October 2005 in hotels in Howard and in Griffith?s office at Redemption Christian Fellowship Inc. in Baltimore, which split the case between two jurisdictions.
The pastor?s inner circle once again came out to support him, which angered the victims.
“He?s in jail, his people are still out thereand this will go on,” the female victim told the court. “They?re still standing with him.”
In an effort to appease the victims, Griffith?s attorney David Irwin told them, “This man is going to hell on earth when he leaves this courtroom today.”
