A convicted sex offender, who has been on the run for 20 years, was found hiding out as a worker at an Alabama church.
Last Friday, FBI officials took 75-year-old Larry Albert Flake into custody while he was employed as a minister of music at the Evergreen True House of Prayer. He’d been living under the name Larry White and was known by his community as Rev. White.
According to court records, Flake was convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in Richmond, Indiana, in 2001. His conviction comes after he attacked a 15-year-old girl who left her home to go visit some of her friends. The New York Post reports Flake grabbed the girl, forced her into his car and raped her.
Authorities eventually caught Flake and the girl was able to identify him in a police lineup. Flake became a fugitive after he failed to appear at trial in August 2001. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Thanks to a tip, FBI agents were able to locate and arrest him. “Without the new lead and the collaboration with the FBI Indianapolis and Birmingham field offices as well as the Birmingham Police Department, Larry Flake would not have been captured, which gives closure to this 20-year-old case,” Capt. Curt Leverton said.
The church’s paster, Willie Perry, hired Flake after he allegedly received Flake as a reference. “I mean, you couldn’t imagine the horror of waking up and finding out that someone had this kind of checkered past. When you are on the run, you limit as to what people know about you,” said Perry, who apologized to his community.
“I apologize to this body of Christ and this congregation. It should not have happened. No minister should have to deal with that. You had somebody in the midst of your congregation that had no character at all,” said Perry.
