Dear Heritage Baptist Church Member,

My name is Ruth Arnold Roose, a former member of Heritage Baptist Church. It has recently
come to light that many felonious sexual assault crimes were perpetrated against children who
attended Heritage Baptist Church. Your elders, Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, & Jarrett Downs,
knew about the crimes and covered them up.

From 2003-2005, Benjamin Cole, a member of the church, sexually assaulted Amanda Hodson
and my sister, Marybeth Arnold. The girls were between 13 and 15, while Benjamin was between
20 and 22. No matter the circumstances, this was a violent sexual assault, as well as being a
felony. They were children and he was an adult.

The pastors at the time, Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, and Jarrett Downs, found out about this
and decided to have a counseling session with each girl individually. During these counseling
sessions, the pastors deeply shamed the girls for “their part in the sin.” They were told to never
speak of this to anyone, because the pastors were going to take care of the issue.

Your elders not only failed these children, they broke the law by not reporting the sexual abuse of
minors. In the state of Texas, all adults, especially ones in a leadership role or professional
authority, are required by law to report to the police any abuse towards children (Texas Family
code 261.101(a), & 261.109). As you may have already heard, Benjamin Cole is in jail for child
pornography and child soliciting. However, he has gone completely unpunished for the crimes
committed against Marybeth Arnold and Amanda Hodson due to your elders, Larry Vincent,
Steve Garrick, & Jarrett Downs, choosing to protect him and failing to report the crime to the
police.

Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, and Jarrett Downs allowed a known sexual predator to walk free,
completely unpunished. This led to more children being abused because of their illegal inaction.
They are legally and morally culpable for the abuse of other victims, because they failed to
follow the law and protect innocent people.

The Bible talks so much about a pastor being a shepherd. The main job of a shepherd is to keep
wolves out of the flock.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.

The elders of Heritage Baptist Church refused to protect their flock. Instead of following the law
and turning Benjamin Cole into the police, they placed the blame on the children and continued
to let Benjamin be an esteemed member of the church. They even allowed him to attend youth
camp when he was in college. If Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, or Jarrett Downs had reported him
to the police, he would have been marked as a child molester, and that could have saved so many
other children from being harmed by him down the line.

Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked
conceals violence.
The Bible says that if you conceal violence, you are wicked. Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, and
Jarrett Downs, by this standard in Proverbs, are wicked men. They knew about an adult man
sexually abusing children, and they did nothing. Wicked by God’s standards, and morally
reprehensible by man’s standards. What kind of monster sides with a child sexual predator over
his victims, and enables that behavior to continue for years?

Matthew 18:6 But whoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the
depth of the sea.

Jesus doesn’t play when it comes to hurting children. He said anyone who offends children need
to be drowned in the sea.

These young girls had to continue to go to church every week and see Benjamin there. To see
your abuser regularly is nothing less than traumatic. They had to listen to Larry Vincent, Steve
Garrick, and Jarrett Downs preach from the Bible knowing that the elders didn’t follow the Bible
and failed them deeply. Your elders were only concerned with outward appearances.

Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like
whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of
the dead and everything unclean.

Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth
of your spices, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and
faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

While my parents, Eddie and Joan Arnold, were members of your church, my dad was the
treasurer. Larry Vincent came to him and demanded a list of anyone who didn’t tithe exactly one-
tenth of their income so he could go hunt them down and make them pay. Literally. Larry
Vincent was so much more concerned that his church members pay tithe than he was about his
church members committing sexual crimes against children.

I come to you as a Christian pleading with you to see that Heritage Baptist Church is not a
Christian place, certainly not a safe place, and is run by the worst kind of elders: the ones who
turn a blind eye to sexual crimes against children. I've personally seen the damage it's done to the
victims and I would never wish that on anyone's family.

Church, calling out injustice is one of the responsibilities of a Christ-Follower. It is unacceptable

for Larry Vincent and Jarrett Downs to remain as your elders where they are in a position to
continue horrific cover ups of crimes. They have broken the law and because of that, countless
children were sexually assaulted and abused.

It is time for you to take action and support the victims of these crimes and bring about justice
for the victims. Larry Vincent, Steve Garrick, and Jarrett Downs must be held responsible for the
role they had in these crimes.

Sincerely,
Ruth Arnold Roose, on behalf of the Arnold family and all of Benjamin Cole’s victims

Please contact Peter Arnold at peter.arnold625@gmail.com if you have any questions.