#chuck phelps

[wutbju]

As I read the Indianapolis Star, I am struck by one thing.

Fundamentalism did not teach Torrie Lemon that adults having sex with minors is wrong.

Fundamentalism taught Torrie Lemon that being attracted to a person of the same sex is "inappropriate."

The focus is on the gender of the other person not the age of the other person. Consent is not the thing. Power is not the thing.

It's all parts.

Torrie Lemon's jury trial is scheduled for January 6, 2026.

[wutbju]

The weirdest part of the Torrie Lemon arrest story is that Bob Jones University is the hub.

Lemon didn't even attend here, and still BJU becomes the center of the story. It adds to the proof that

BJU is not safe!

So here's the timeline according to the Indianapolis Star in July 2025.

August 2024: Torrie Lemon began teaching kindergarten at Chuck Phelps' Colonial Christian Academy in Indianapolis.

January 2025: Lemon started texting with a 17yo female student "as friends." Things quickly turned "sexual." The student "never intended" for their relationship to "turn sexual" since she "knew it was wrong." On January 1, 2025, two counts of "child seduction" occurred.

February 9, 2025: The victim's parents invited Lemon over for a Super Bowl party. The mother observed a hasty relationship forming. This is when the third count of "child seduction" occurred.

February 10, 2025: A fourth count of "child seduction" occurred.

March 2025: Lemon and the underage student "had sex" at Lemon's on-campus apartment, in a church, and at the student's house.

April 10, 2025: Colonial Christian made their annual trek to Bob Jones University for the AACS National Competition. Lemon acted as a chaperone. The victim was present as a participant. Another friend found a hidden folder on the victim's phone which contained a video of Lemon and the victim kissing. The snoopy friend immediately informed a male teacher. The male teacher informed the parents, dismissed Lemon from the BJU trip, and filed a report to Indiana DCS and the Greenville police dept. Lemon and the victim admitted in Greenville that they were "in a relationship." The victim stayed in Lemon's room in the BJU dorms. Lemon told the Greenville police that "was having an inappropriate relationship with a student from her school" and she was "struggling with it."

April 14, 2025: Indianapolis police interviewed the victim and her mother.

April 16, 2025: Indianapolis police tried to contact Lemon, but she had left the state to move back to New Hampshire. That is, Phelps et al scuttled her away from the investigation. Lemon told the principal in her exit interview that things "started with hugs, then longer hugs, then kissing, and then sexual acts."

April 23, 2025: The case moved to Hamilton County.

July 1, 2025: Lemon was charged with two counts of Child Seduction.

November 5, 2025: Lemon was charged with two more counts.

November 6, 2025: Lemon was arrested.

[wutbju]

Torrie E. Lemon attended Maranatha Baptist University, just like her dad (her mom is a PCC grad). She earned a B.S. in Early Childhood Education in 2024.

She has since removed her LinkedIn, but I grabbed the deets beforehand:

[wutbju]

Let's back way up....

This is a letter Pastor Brian Fuller wrote to Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire on May 2, 2012.

You remember Trinity Baptist, right? That was the church that protected forcible rapist Ernie Willis and obstructed justice by sending Tina Anderson out of state. Chuck Phelps was Trinity's pastor at the time of Ernie's crime, and Brian Fuller was its pastor when Willis was tried.

That's when Brian Fuller -- the same Brian Fuller behind BJU News & Views and the Positives and all that -- went on ABCNews 20/20 to insist there's no BJU "network" -- a network that he's now describing with much falderal on his new blog here.

Enough background.

Here's what the letter says:

Dear Church Family,

It pains me to inform you that Joshua Budgett, a member of our church, was charged with 10 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. As you can imagine, the grief in our hearts is nothing in comparison with the pain and suffering that this family is experiencing right now. Besides bearing the hurt of these disgusting allegations, suddenly having the primary wage-earner removed from their home has caused immediate financial difficulty for and her children. If you would like to assist and would appreciate hearing some specific immediate needs that _______ and her children have, please contact Pastor Joe Bolduc at [email protected]. Please feel free to show your love, compassion, and support for ________ and the children as you are led by the Lord. Please be mindful as well that the youngest children know very little details and we should seek to not overwhelm them with our attention.

As for Joshua, we are approaching these accusations on a few fronts. First, the Security Team is continuing to fulfill their duties to provide, as best as possible, a safe and secure environment for worship as outlined by Article XX of the Constitution. Over the past two years, the Security Team has met with Joshua Budgett and prescribed appropriate restrictions. I can assure you that this is a priority with the Security Team, especially as it pertains to individuals with backgrounds such as Joshua's. In addition, they have already contacted Joshua by registered mail and filed a trespass notice with Concord Police informing him that he is not allowed on the campus of Trinity Baptist Church.

Once again, please be in prayer for this scarred and hurting family. Pray as well that we will rally as a church family to meet the needs of this family in crisis and that they will receive all the care, counseling, and assistance that they need. I am confident you will all show them enormous care and compassion.

Pastor [Brian Fuller]

This is a lot to process. I can offer the timeline.

In 1997, Trinity Baptist "disciplined" a 15-year-old victim of forcible rape while protecting the perpetrator.

As Willis details came to light in 2010, Brian Fuller emailed the church "advising parishioners to remain silent" on the matter according to the AP news.

In April 2010, ABCNews 20/20 aired Brian Fuller's defense of the BJU "Notwork."

Two years later....

after Fuller had just gone through all these same things with Willis in front of the whole nation, proving that Fuller was on notice about how not to protect sexual predators....

He proves that he had learned nothing.

Joshua Budgett was arrested on April 18, 2012. Fourteen days later Fuller writes this letter initially informing the church about a member's arrest.

Why did he wait so long?

Here's why. On the same day Fuller wrote this, Budgett had posted bail. He was out, "free." The Concord Monitor documented this on May 3, 2012, on page 1 and 2.

Make sure you catch that first full paragraph of this second picture:

Budgett was previously convicted of two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault in Rockingham County Superior Court in 1994. The victim was under the age of 13, according to the state's sex offender registry.

The Monitor reported in 2013 that Budgett assaulted his stepdaughter between September 2009 and April 2012.

I am at a loss for words here. Pastor Fuller was protecting convicted sexual predator Joshua Budgett in the Trinity Baptist membership after the Ernie Willis trial.

A convicted sexual predator continued his predation while in the Trinity Baptist's protection on Brian Fuller's watch.

The last paragraph up there shows that Budgett's wife was on the public record for enabling his predation as well. And we can also conclude that....

The public schools were protecting kids but Brian Fuller was not.

I am just floored.

[wutbju]

On November 22, 2011, I and several other BJU alumni protested BJU's inclusion of Chuck Phelps on the BJU Board of Trustees. We attended Chapel that day.

Here's where I sat.

It took me a month to recover from the whole thing.

[wutbju]

Oh yeah. It is time for transparency. I seem to remember some BJU grads saying that at graduation in 2012. Remember?

We even had a list of demands:

Appoint all top-tier administrators and board members from outside the Jones family.

Make all financial operations public.

Stop administrative hazing of students and employees.

Institute a Student Bill of Rights.

Cooperate with the Julie Valentine Center to oversee sexual abuse prevention on campus.

Hire faculty from outside Bob Jones University’s educational, familial, and ecclesiastical network.

Guarantee academic freedom without retribution.

Establish a faculty senate so faculty can govern all academic decisions.

Pay faculty competitive wages at all costs.

Choose department chairs with terminal degrees from regionally accredited institutions.

Encourage faculty to interact within their academic disciplines.

Allow employees and students to attend a local church according to the dictates of their conscience.

Create an honor code of conduct for students that permits and encourages free speech and conscientious dissent.

Separate the spiritual life of the students from the discipline system.

Banish all INFOMAN codes.

Communicate the facts about national accreditation risks and Bob Jones University’s standing within regional accreditation bodies.

Make the Alumni Association independent of Bob Jones University.

Tell the truth about Bob Jones University’s history and political alignments.

[wutbju]

WutBJU covers the deaths of Bob Jones University alumni because they seem to be overlooked by our alma mater. It’s comforting to see the variety of people that have passed through the same classroom doors and know that a full life is possible.

Memorializing Daniel Clark Stodala’s death is different. He never attended BJU, but he would have. His parents attended PCC, and they are employed at The WILDS in New England. His sister graduated in 2018, and his two brothers are current students.

BJU was his planned destination. His obituary states:

Daniel Clark Stodola was born on January 20, 2004. He went home to be with the Lord on November 6, 2020. While our hearts grieve, our hope is in the Lord who works all things together for good.

Daniel was a senior at Trinity Christian Academy in Concord, New Hampshire. He loved soccer, biology, anatomy, animals, climbing trees, and was always up for quoting Jim Gaffigan and the Grinch with his brothers. He will be remembered as intelligent, caring, and having a clever sense of humor. He loved to take care of his family, especially his mom.

Daniel will be dearly missed by his parents, Steve and Rhonae Stodola of Deering, New Hampshire; his older siblings, Kristy Stodola, Drew Stodola and David Stodola; grandparents, Kathryn Johnson of Augusta, Georgia and Doug and Ruth Stodola of Rockford, Illinois. He was preceded in death by his grandfathers, Ronald Hill and Jerry Olsen. In addition, Daniel was loved by many uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and classmates.

A Memorial Service to remember Daniel’s life and anchor our hope in God will be held on Tuesday, November 10, at 11:00 am at Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire. His burial will take place on Friday at The Wilds in Brevard, North Carolina.

In lieu of flowers, any memorial gifts can be given in Daniel’s memory to The Wilds of New England, 1181 Deering Center Road, Deering, New Hampshire, 03224.

He was buried up in the WILDS in Brevard, folks. That’s how devoted this family was to fundamentalism and to the piety that fundamentalism peddles. 

And we all know Trinity in New Hampshire with Chuck Phelps and Tina Anderson.

But there’s one more details. Suicide was the cause of Daniel’s death. His mother posted on November 7, 2020:

Our hearts are heavy and overwhelmed to say our youngest son, Daniel went to be with the Lord last night having taken his own life unexpectedly. We sorrow not as those who have no hope because we know Daniel accepted God’s free gift of salvation and we will see him in heaven someday.

Yes, Daniel is now safe in Jesus’ arms. I agree. But something made him feel completely unsafe on earth. Something caused him distress. And the WILDS with its GRACE-sanctioned Jim Berg curriculum did not comfort him. 

At all.

Read and heed, my friends. Read and heed. 

[wutbju]

Remember this case? Let's review.

The infamous Chuck Phelps was in the news last November when one of his Christian school teachers was arrested for sexual predation.

Just four months after she started teaching Kindergarten at Colonial Christian School, Torrie Lemon instigated a romantic relationship with a 17yo female student. Most folks call this "grooming."

By April, their "relationship" turned sexual and was exposed at Bob Jones University's AACS competition.

Now Lemon did not attend BJU. She attended Maranatha. And she attended Trinity's school in Concord, NH -- the same place that protected Ernie Willis. But still events happened at the infamously unsafe BJU.

As things developed in the case, Torrie Lemon clearly did not understand the difference between gender and consent. Quelle surprise!

But last Thursday, May 14, 2026, Torrie Lemon pleaded guilty to felony child seduction. WTHR reports:

INDIANAPOLIS — A former Indianapolis kindergarten teacher will not spend additional time in jail after pleading guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student in 2025. Torrie Lemon, 24, pleaded guilty to child seduction, a Level 5 felony, in Hamilton County on Thursday, May 14. Lemon was given a four-year sentence, but she will serve all of the remaining time on probation after previously serving 40 days in jail. The investigation started in April 2025 when a teacher at Colonial Christian School on the north side of Indianapolis reported learning of the sexual relationship between Lemon and a student while on a school trip to South Carolina. Court documents say Lemon said the relationship had been going on for about two months and "was struggling with it." In an interview with the victim, police learned the relationship at some point became sexual, according to court documents. When police went to speak with Lemon, she informed them she moved home to New Hampshire and would not be speaking to police without an attorney. According to court documents, Lemon never gave a statement to police for the investigation. Investigators obtained phone data from the victim, as well as social media data from Lemon's Facebook and Snapchat accounts. Lemon also faces two other felony child seduction charges in Marion County related to the same case, where she is set to be sentenced after a change of plea hearing Friday, May 22.

So Hamilton County is settled, but Marion county will be this Friday.