Southern Baptist Convention’s list of alleged abusers includes 3 connected to New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This week, Southern Baptist Church leaders released a once-secret list of hundreds of alleged sexual abuse offenders connected to the church.

The Southern Baptist Convention posted a lengthy statement on its website about the release, saying, “This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform.”

KOB 4 found three New Mexico connections in the more than 200-page list of accused abusers.

• A judge sentenced James Colyn to seven years in prison after he admitted involvement with a teenage girl when he was a youth minister at Temple Baptist Church in Albuquerque.
• Paul Cunningham was a pastor at First Baptist Church in Los Alamos. He pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of obscene materials in 2016. He served one year in prison.
• Michael Latham is a former Baptist camp director at the Glorieta Conference Center. He pleaded guilty to a federal sex crime for sending obscene photos of himself online.

All of the alleged cases on the list span from 2000 to 2019.