In Virginia Beach, Rock Church International Pastor John Blanchard found all charges for his alleged involvement in soliciting sex with a minor dropped earlier this week. CBN News reports that Chesterfield County prosecutors requested that the charges be dismissed.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor told the judge that all charges would be dropped, but might be brought back again down the road if more evidence turns up, according to local news.
It was a surprising move, given what is known about the case. Last October, Blanchard was one of 17 men accused of soliciting sex from cops who posed as minors on social media as part of a sting operation. Blanchard was arrested, and then released just a few days later. He even preached at his church the following Sunday. In early November, the church announced that Blanchard had “voluntarily” stepped back from his duties, for now.
In a since-deleted Facebook post captured by CBN, Blanchard’s wife Robin Gimenez Blanchard wrote that “I think each of us has judged someone or something prematurely, and we have also probably experienced the pain of being judged that way. Lord, forgive us! We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt! We need to look closely enough and long enough to see the big picture before we rule things out. Why? Because God does that for us all the time.”
That’s all we know for the time being.
