A pre-trial hearing was postponed until Feb. 25 for a former Illinois pastor charged with grooming a minor. The attorney representing Joseph M. Krol asked a Macon County judge for a continuance in a brief court appearance Jan. 7. The judge agreed.
Krol is charged with four counts relating to texting activity with a minor. He pled not guilty to all four counts at his Dec. 1 arraignment.
Krol was pastor of Rochester First Baptist Church at the time of his arrest in October, although the case does not involve anyone at that church. Rochester FBC dismissed Krol after his arrest. He was employed there three months. Krol was previously pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Decatur.
Krol’s wife is an employee of the Illinois Baptist State Association.
IBSA worked with both churches in their response to the arrest and ministry to those affected. IBSA continues to equip churches in screening staff and volunteers with appropriate background checks by law enforcement, in training church workers to help prevent sexual abuse of vulnerable persons, and in ministry to victims and their families.
The Southern Baptist Convention made sex abuse prevention and ministry to victims one of its top goals at the 2021 annual meeting, at the request of messengers who attended that meeting.