Pastor Charged After Hiring Homeless as Security Guards

A disagreement over what constitutes a security guard has led to the filing of criminal charges against a minister whose church has become a camping ground for homeless people.

“He just went out and got badges for his campers,” said assistant city prosecutor Gregory P. Palmer who, late Thursday, filed charges against Wiley S. Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, accusing him of 11 misdemeanor violations of various municipal codes.

Drake, however, had a different view. “Those security guards,” he said, “are as bona fide as Mr. Palmer’s legal degree.”

The episode is the latest in a series of legal and verbal skirmishes between the church and city officials beginning last June over Drake’s use of his church as a campground for homeless people. In August, the minister agreed to apply for permits allowing the church to build a shelter to house the homeless people. But he was late in paying his fees. And from September until December, Palmer said, the church’s homeless guests more than doubled, causing a threefold increase in calls to police about problems on the property, ranging from drinking to attempted kidnapping.

Earlier this week, the city gave Drake a choice of reducing the church’s homeless population to 25, the number living there in August, or hiring security guards to patrol church grounds 24 hours a day.

Drake chose the latter, and the guards began patrolling on Tuesday. While he admits that some of them are homeless church residents, he says they all underwent a few hours of training and were tested by a legitimate security company before being issued temporary guard cards by the state.

Palmer said the use of inexperienced guards violates the city’s agreement.

“They were just put in makeshift uniforms and told to patrol, and that’s not what we asked for,” he said. “We were very explicit in requiring bona fide security guards from a security firm. He’s just got them working freelance under his command. We’ve had enough.”

The charges filed Thursday accuse Drake of violating various city ordinances by, among other things, allowing people to live outdoors, enclosing a patio and installing electrical equipment without permits and illegally storing furniture outside, each of which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Drake’s arraignment has been scheduled for Monday at Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton.

Drake, meanwhile, said he hasn’t yet decided how to respond.

“Mr. Palmer has gone back on his end of the deal,” he said. “I’m waiting for my attorneys to tell me what to do.”