Collins( Missouri ) mayor (also a Pastor) arrested (for enticement of a child)

[Ian David]

Source: KY3 News

The mayor of one southwest Missouri town is behind bars tonight, being held on a $50,000 bond.

Collins Mayor Allen Kauffman has been arrested and charged in Newton County with four counts of Enticement of a Child.

The Diamond Police department says the 62-year-old was arrested Thursday as a result of an online, internet investigation that began back in mid-November.

<snip>

The Diamond Police Department says Kauffman is married and serves as a pastor of the Temple Lot Church in Collins.

More:
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/13755007.html


Read more: http://www.ky3.com/news/local/13755007.html

---

See also:

Ozarks Mayor Arrested For Enticing a Child
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/13758677.html

And:


Collins mayor arrested in Internet sting
By Staff reports
Neosho Daily News
Sun Jan 13, 2008, 12:22 AM CST

Diamond, Mo. -

An Internet investigation conducted by the Diamond Police Department has led to the arrest of the mayor of Collins, Mo., Diamond Police Chief Keith Brumfield said Friday.

On Nov. 15, Allen D. Kauffman, 62, approached a 13-year-old female decoy during an on-line training session for a Jasper County sheriff’s detective, said Brumfield.

“Kauffman told the decoy that he did not show a photograph of himself on his Yahoo profile ‘so no one can trace me down,’ ” Brumfield said in an e-mail received Friday evening by the Neosho Daily News. “However, he later turned on his webcam and numerous screen shots were taken of his face and other body parts.”

Brumfield said the man expressed concern that the decoy “could be a cop luring me into a trap,” but sent instant messages to her, discussing meeting her for the purpose of taking nude photographs and having sex.

More:
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/news/x1925661622



Mayor Of Collins Busted In Sex Sting
Sunday, Jan 13, 2008 @09:21pm CST

<snip>

Neighbors in Collins tell us they're shaken up since Kauffman is not only on the Board of Aldermen, but also a pastor at a local church.

If convicted on these charges, Kauffman could face life behind bars.

We did a check on Kauffman's background this evening, and he has no other felony charges here in Missouri.



More:
http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=16241



How long before The MSM confuses him with a completely different Mayor Allen Kaufman in Indiana, who is a Democrat?

[Ian David]

1. Collins mayor facing enticement charges

By Kathleen O'Dell
[e-mail]

When detectives came to arrest him at his home Thursday, Collins Mayor Allen Kauffman just wanted to know how he and police investigators could make it all go away, police said. He told them it wouldn’t be good for everyone to know the town mayor and pastor of Temple Lot Church in Collins was arrested for enticing a 13-year-old girl over an internet chat room, police said.

But the 62-year-old Kauffman was still behind bars today in the Newton County Jail, facing four counts of enticement of a child as the result of an online internet investigation by the Diamond Police Department that began in mid-November, said Diamond Police Chief Keith Brumfield.

<snip>

Murray was masquerading as a 13-year-old girl with the screen name “Cin” for “cindydiamond,” when “duke dukeadk” sent a private message asking if Cin lived in Diamond. Duke later asked Cin to add him to her Instant Messenger, and expressed interest taking nude pictures and having sex with her.

<snip>

At first he did not have any remembrance to what was going on,” Brumfield said. “As soon as some of the screen shots were shown to him, and some of the things he said were shown to him... he said ‘Yea, I made a mistake... How can we make this go away?’ because of his position in town and being a pastor,” Brumfield said. Kauffman is also married.

More:
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/BREAKING01/80114023

[Ian David]

2. Temple Lot Church (Mormon splinter group?)

Church of Christ, Temple Lot world 700 - 16
units - 1945 Ferm, Vergilius (ed). An Encyclopedia of Religion; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1976; 1st ed. pub. 1945 by Philosophical Library); pg. 432. "The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) is a group of 16 churches and 700 members which originally moved from Illinois, where they remained when the main body went to... to Independence, Mo... "
http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_181.html

Also:

Church of Christ (Temple Lot)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The headquarters building of the Church of Christ as seen from the original temple site designated by Joseph Smith, Jr.
The headquarters building of the Church of Christ as seen from the original temple site designated by Joseph Smith, Jr.

The Church of Christ is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement and is headquartered in Independence, Missouri on what is known as the Temple Lot. Members of the church have been known colloquially as Hedrickites, after Granville Hedrick, who was ordained the first leader of the faction in July 1863. The church no longer has any official dialogue with any other organization. Current church membership is about 5000 with members in several countries.

<snip>

Doctrines of The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) are heavily influenced by the writings of David Whitmer, who was declared an apostate by the LDS church during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, Jr. and who published a pamphlet in 1887 deeply critical of Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith. The pamphlet containing Whitmer's anti-Mormon rant, is today widely read and promoted among membership of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and is on sale in the lobby of its headquarters building.<4>. In it, Whitmer repeatedly claims Smith had 'fallen'--or began to 'fall'--from his Divine calling almost as soon as the church was established on April 6, 1830--or even before then. Reasons for Whitmer believing so include a charge that Smith was to have "pretended to no other gift" except the translation of the Book of Mormon, and was never to be more than a "first elder" among "fellow elders" in the fledgling church.

<snip>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Christ_(Temple_Lot)

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Really confusing writing

The article alternately says that he was chatting with "a 13 year old female decoy", "Diamond Police Det. Jim Murray" and "the 13-year-old “decoy”

Setting aside the reservations I have with internet stings, the article is extremely confusing as to whether the suspect has had any contact with an actual minor.

[RayOfHope]

4. Interesting. Collins is a *very* tiny town

in a very poor rural area that is heavily repug.

What is it with all these creepy 'pastors' in SW MO?

[brave1frommo]

5. Guilty before being tried

Be careful when you start executing suspects before they spend their day in court. To me it's almost like driving on a freeway with no posted speed limits and having someone taunt you into going 100+ when you know you are supposed to be limited to 70, only to find out the person taunting you is a police officer. You cant tell me this guy just blurted out the obscene crap and flashing pictures of his chest, etc. he is accused of without the detective taunting him a bit. I'm not defending his alleged disturbing behavior, but think about it. I've watched some of the televised reports where officers go online to catch these scumbags and the officers end up admitting they had to coax the perps into more graphic conversation. This guy probably has done this same thing a dozen times before with actual children and got away with it. Children whose parents are way too obsessed with their own lives to pay attention to what their responsibilities really are. This country was based off the belief that citizens, even those who are suspected in a crime, have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The press are circumventing this inherent right by labeling this guy guilty only "to sell newspapers". If this guy wasn't a mayor or a minister it wouldn't have made the news!