Preacher’s Troubled Past Soon on Trial

Preaching across rural Alabama, pastor Geronimo Galvan Burgos mixed Bible lessons with tales of his gangster youth in Southern California.

He spoke of lessons learned running with Santa Ana’s notorious Southside gang, accounts of drinking, drug-taking and violence. The poor Latino immigrants admired their young pastor who overcame a troubled past and embraced God and family. They watched his sermons on television. They helped him build a church. They witnessed his daughter’s baptism.

Then, they saw him get arrested.

Shortly after Burgos finished a Sunday service in February, Alabama police handcuffed the preacher and whisked him away for the start of a cross-country trip back to the city of his troubled youth, where he was wanted for a murder committed eight years earlier.

Burgos, 30, is due in court today for scheduling of a trial in which jurors must somehow square the two very different sides of the defendant: violent gang felon and beloved country preacher. It’s something even detectives who tracked Burgos down are still struggling with.

“We were pretty much taken aback” when the trail led to Burgos, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dan Beaumarchais. “I’ve been investigating murders for a long time. This is the first pastor we’ve come across. . . . Everybody is intrigued by what makes somebody change like that.”

Despite Burgos’ new life as a pastor, authorities said the facts of their case are clear. A witness identified Burgos as a passenger in a car that took part in a 1993 drive-by shooting in which three rival gang members were shot. One of them, 18-year-old Christian Madera, died. They said Burgos aimed a gun from the passenger window but did not fire.

Prosecutors charged Burgos with murder, saying his participation in the crime made him as guilty as the actual killer. Still, prosecutors could offer Burgos leniency if he pleads guilty before trial.

Burgos has pleaded not guilty and declined repeated interview requests. An Orange County judge was impressed enough by Burgos’ transformation that he cut the pastor’s bail in half, to $125,000. In May, church members raised the funds to bring their pastor home, where he continues to deliver sermons at his church in Russellville, Ala. He returned to Santa Ana recently, however, to huddle with attorneys in preparing his defense.

“The people value him very, very much. He is an excellent man. Recto. Bien recto--very honorable,” said the Rev. Ramon Rivas, a Southern Baptist minister who worked with Burgos. “We need him.”

Police, however, said Burgos must pay for his past--even if he’s changed his life.

“Here you have a kid who was involved in a street gang, who was involved in robberies and it escalated to murder. And a short time after that he left town,” said Sgt. Beaumarchais. “That’s not inconsistent with a lot of people in Santa Ana who commit killings.”

Burgos grew up in a neighborhood overrun by gangs. By the early 1990s, gang membership had risen to record levels, along with violence.

Rivalries over territory and drug sales led to regular drive-by shootings, which sparked revenge attacks--a deadly cycle that lasted more than a decade. In 1993, the year Madera was killed, Santa Ana recorded 48 gang-related killings, an infamous record that stands today.

“It was a crazy time,” said Santa Ana Police Cpl. Kevin Ruiz, a detective in the gang unit. “Everything just kind of hit a crescendo.”

Burgos, police allege, was in the middle of it as an active member of Southside, one of the city’s oldest and most violent gangs.

He had already been arrested, at age 19, after a series of armed robberies.

Burgos robbed three mini-marts in the span of a few hours. He would aim his gun, demand money and then begin a chilling countdown: “15 . . . 14 . . . 13 . . . “

“I thought [for] sure I was going to be shot,” said Darryl Harnish, a witness to one of the robberies.

A cop on patrol arrested Burgos that night with $585 in cash, 12 grams of cocaine and some black tar heroin. After pleading guilty to armed robbery and drug possession, he was sentenced to a five years in prison.

Shortly after his parole, authorities contend, Burgos was back on the streets of Santa Ana running with the same gang crowd. In February 1993, he allegedly pointed a handgun from the passenger window of a car at rival gang members while another gang member opened fire, killing Madera. It was the last crime police say Burgos committed.

Friends and family deny Burgos had any role in Madera’s death, saying he changed his life after the prison stint for the armed robbery. They say he got a job as a deliveryman and vowed to stay off the streets. One day in 1993, while walking in downtown Santa Ana, Burgos heard the sounds of a choir coming from a little storefront church on Main Street, his family said.

His mother, Consuelo Galvan, said Burgos’ life was altered forever when he passed through those church doors. “He accepted God. He changed,” she said.

Burgos became a regular, arriving early and staying late to learn about the Bible. The pastor at that Santa Ana church, Juan Jose Medel, sent him to other churches to preach and tell his unique story. Burgos also made prison visits to counsel inmates.

Medel said Burgos became one of the most devout members in his Santa Ana congregation, a very serious and studious man who devoted himself entirely to his new calling. “He may have had problems in the past, but he was no trouble for us,” he said. “He was a good teacher.”

After three years, Medel recommended that Burgos lead his own church. It was in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama.

Once home to only black and white residents, the area had seen a huge influx of poor immigrants from Latin America in the past 10 years.

Burgos, newly married and with two children, agreed to take on the challenge.

The Rev. Roy Sherman invited Burgos to his tiny church in Russellville, where the congregation had dwindled to just 10 members. A white, cinder-block building without a steeple, the church hadn’t been upgraded in years. Burgos and the new congregation started fixing it up.

They installed new carpeting, hung curtains and painted the building inside and out. They also bought a new pulpit and installed a new heating system.

Burgos was an inspiring speaker, said Sherman, who retired after Burgos took over the church.

The tattoos that cover Burgos’ arms were a symbol of his past life, which he discussed openly with church members, troubled youth and recovering alcoholics. The congregation grew to the point that it’s now looking to build a new church.

Rivas said Burgos’ life serves as an inspiration to others. Most of the Latinos in the area are poor immigrants, and some of the men have severe drinking problems. Because the local government prohibits alcohol sales, the drinkers drive 30 miles to get liquor, and when they do, they often go on long binges.

Jaime Miguel, a factory worker from Tuscaloosa, Ala., said Burgos helped him kick his drinking problem. “I was in jail and he said, ‘God saved me and now God can save you too,’ ” said Miguel.

Burgos’ loyalists in Alabama said they didn’t think twice about raising bail money and welcoming him back into their lives. To them, whatever happened in Santa Ana is in the past.

“Geronimo lived in a different age and time, when street gangs and stuff like that was going on. I never faced that,” Sherman said. “Boys are boys. I guess until we grow up and become men, we’re all children. But sometimes children get in trouble. I can understand that this is what happened to Geronimo. But he straightened out. . . . He’s a very wonderful man.”