South Carolina church leaders now face criminal charges after admitting they let a convicted sex offender work around young children for years under “strict supervision.”
Story Snapshot
- Church leaders at Pawleys Island Community Church are charged after allowing a convicted sex offender to volunteer near children.
- Officials say the leaders knew about his sex crime conviction but still let him serve on the church-run school campus.
- Parents and teachers were not clearly told about his record, even as he moved in and out of classrooms.
- The case highlights how protecting an institution’s image can override child safety in some churches.
Convicted Sex Offender Worked Around Children At Church School
Georgetown County deputies and state probation officers arrested seventy-year-old Warren Spence Perry after finding he had been volunteering at Pawleys Island Community Church in close contact with children. Perry was convicted in 2023 of sexual exploitation of a minor for a crime committed in 2020 and placed on the South Carolina sex offender registry. Despite clear parole rules to stay away from children, he served as a custodian at the church’s preschool and Christian academy for several years, often inside classrooms while school was in session.
Investigators say Perry was “frequently around minors” and had full access to the school grounds, including regular contact with students. A parent whose child attended Pawleys Island Christian Academy filed a complaint in June, triggering the investigation that led to his July 14 arrest at the school. Arrest records show Perry was charged with violating probation after officials learned he had lied for months, telling his agents he had no contact with minors and was not in restricted areas.
Church Leaders Knew His Record But Kept Parents In The Dark
News reports and a viral message from ChurchLeaders state that Pawleys Island Community Church leadership knew Perry was a convicted sex offender as early as 2020. Pastor Don Williams later confirmed in a church meeting that he, other church leaders, staff, and academy leadership were aware of Perry’s conviction. Yet teachers, parents, and many members of the congregation were never clearly informed that the friendly custodian walking their halls each day had pled guilty to a sex crime involving a minor.
Parents only discovered the truth when a preschool teacher checked the state sex offender registry on her own time and found Perry’s name and conviction, then reported what she learned. That discovery set off a wave of anger in the community, with parents demanding to know why church leadership kept such vital information from families whose children were on the campus every day. The gap between what leaders knew and what parents were told is now central to a proposed twenty-five million dollar lawsuit, which claims the church negligently kept a known sex offender around children and failed to notify families.
Leaders Claim “Strict Supervision” As Sheriff Pursues Charges
In response to the backlash, Pastor Williams told the congregation the church had tried to manage the risk by placing Perry under “stringent safeguards” and strict supervision, banning him from being alone with children. Williams said he met with Perry and his probation officer, who later told him Perry was not following his conditions and had admitted violating them. Those statements match the probation warrant, which says Perry repeatedly gave false reports that he had no contact with minors.
CHARGED | A South Carolina sheriff announced criminal charges against leaders of the Pawleys Island Community Church and its Christian Academy.
— Queen City News (@Queen_City_News) July 21, 2026
Despite these claims of supervision, county officials now say the church’s choices crossed the line from bad judgment into possible crime. The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Department announced that it executed warrants at the church and school and is pursuing multiple charges against three leaders, including obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy. According to media reports, investigators are looking at whether leaders hid key facts from parents and from state probation officers, including the reality that Perry was working inside a school and daycare run by the church.
Pattern Of Churches Protecting Image Over Children’s Safety
This case fits a wider pattern experts have documented across many church settings. Investigations into church abuse often show leaders handle problems quietly inside the institution, hold back information from parents and police, and focus on shielding the church’s reputation instead of putting child safety first. Studies of church abuse describe how offenders gain access and trust, then use their roles to move freely around children when clear boundaries and transparency are missing.
Research also warns that most child molesters present as religious and may target church members and ministries where trust is high and oversight is weak. That is why many child safety advocates argue for simple, firm rules that conservative families can agree on: no known sex offender should ever serve around kids; every parent deserves full information; and churches must call law enforcement early, not after years of quiet access. When those basic guardrails fail, as they appear to have at Pawleys Island Community Church, it is not only a breach of trust but a direct threat to the most vulnerable lives in the community.
Sources:
nypost.com, wpde.com, wfxb.com, wbtw.com, facebook.com, abcnews4.com
