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JEFF TESTERMANThe accusers say the Rev. Ronald Clark used his influence as a reserve deputy to bring charges against them.
TAMPA - William Fuentes, a 61-year-old accountant from Seminole, visited Living Water Church of Tampa a year ago to discuss concerns about his son with the Rev. Ronald H. Clark. A disagreement ensued, and after Fuentes left, he was charged with battery on Clark's associate pastor.
Kathy Lee Houmes, a 45-year-old Tampa woman who had attended Living Water Church for more than a decade, went to see Clark in March to discuss his impending divorce. After Houmes left, she was told by a Hillsborough Sheriff's deputy not to return to the church. Later, she was charged with battering a church secretary.
John Marshall, a Largo accountant, was enjoying the fourth quarter of a Buccaneers-Packers game at Raymond James Stadium last November when he was arrested on charges of felony battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and disorderly intoxication. One of the arresting deputies: Clark, then a reserve sheriff's deputy.
Fuentes, Houmes and Marshall all say they were wrongfully arrested. They also accuse Clark of using his influence as a reserve deputy and chaplain at the Sheriff's Office to seek prosecution of those who opposed him.
"How can you believe what this man says about the Bible when he conducts himself like this?" Fuentes said.
Pinellas attorney John Trevena, who represents both Marshall and Houmes, said "There's no question John Marshall was the subject of a wrongful arrest and excessive force, and it was caused in part by Ronald Clark's involvement at the scene." "As for Kathy Houmes, she's a woman with heart problems and a bad back who has no prior record, and where there is no indication she would do anything like this," Trevena said.
Until this summer, Ronald Clark served as pastor at Living Water Church and moonlighted as a reserve deputy and chaplain at the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office.
Clark resigned his $148,000-a-year pastor's position in June, in the midst of a combative divorce from his wife, Belinda. In July, Ronald Clark's employment with the sheriff ended in the wake of a series of rules violations.
Mrs. Clark accused her husband of domestic abuse - a claim she later dropped - and said he had a secret plan to channel a fortune in church assets overseas so that her divorce settlement would amount to "half of nothing." Mrs. Clark maintains the $5-million church is a marital asset in which she should share.
Clark, known as "Rev. Ron" to parishioners, has accused his wife of adultery and viewing pornography. He says his wife is out to ruin him.
Next week, divorce issues and the claims of false arrest may spill out in one courtroom.
Mrs. Clark has been subpoenaed to appear at a hearing on Thursday in which Marshall is seeking a new trial.
Marshall, who took out full-page newspaper ads to seek witnesses to his arrest, was convicted of obstructing an officer in a jury trial in May. He was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.
He has maintained his innocence, and Trevena said Ronald Clark "used his pull to get Marshall charged."
According to an affidavit from Trevena's investigator D.J. Witowski, Belinda Clark said Ronald Clark frequently talked about his "exploits" at the sheriff's office, but "changed the story" he told about Marshall's arrest.
A former church secretary interviewed by Trevena's investigator said Clark talked about the "altercation with the CPA" at the Bucs game in more than one sermon at Living Water Church. Jenny McCord said Clark talked about putting his knee into the CPA's collarbone "so hard that he heard the bone either crunch, pop, or snap," according to the affidavit.
The Sheriff's Office has stood by Clark's version of events at the Bucs game, partly because it was confirmed by other onduty officers. But Sheriff Cal Henderson decided last month that he no longer could stand by Clark.
After a series of reports indicating Clark violated department rules regarding issue and care of sheriff's gear and protocol for surrendering weapons when Clark was accused of domestic violence, the sheriff determined Clark's services were no longer needed.
Fuentes went to trial on battery charges a year ago, after Clark's associate pastor, Richard Barker, said Fuentes had knocked him down.
Fuentes said he went to the church for a counseling session regarding his son when a shouting match ensued. He said Clark threw a notepad at him and poked him in the nose, and that Barker, blocking the door to the church, fell when Fuentes tried to escape the confrontation.
At one point, Fuentes said, Clark pulled out his badge and warned, "Now, you're going to jail."
The battery complaint was filed by Barker, a close ally of Clark who succeeded him as pastor of Living Water Church. Barker also is listed as a partner with Clark in a Dade City salon, corporate records show.
Barker also filed a criminal complaint against Belinda Clark alleging she had diverted church mail and contributions sent to Living Water Church to her private post office box in Dade City. U.S. Postal Service inspectors investigated the claim, and found no evidence Mrs. Clark had taken any mail not meant for her.
Neither Ronald Clark nor Barker returned calls from the St. Petersburg Times Thursday.
Fuentes was convicted of battery in a non-jury trial in June. But the judge reversed the decision a month later.
"The judge said there was sufficient evidence to believe Mr. Fuentes was in reasonable fear and acted in self-defense" when he attempted to flee the church and passed Barker, said Fuentes' attorney, Michael Herron.
Fuentes has sent a letter to the state attorney's office saying Clark and Barker should be prosecuted for false imprisonment in the incident.
Houmes, a longtime friend of Belinda Clark, was accused of battering a church secretary after seeing Ronald Clark to talk about the couple's divorce.
A sheriff's report says Houmes "grabbed the victim and pushed her hard," but Trevena says Houmes merely brushed the secretary's shoulder upon leaving the church.
"The deputy who investigated didn't want to write a report," said Trevena. "Kathy Houmes was arrested because Ron Clark wanted her arrested."
- Jeff Testerman can be reached at 226-3422 or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com