OXNARD, Calif. -- A minister arrested in a crackdown on prostitution tearfully told his congregation he used 'bad judgment' and asked church members to forgive him.
After the Rev. Edward Rothenberger, a member of the advisory council of Californians for Biblical Morality, told his story during the Sunday service, members of the Oxnard Baptist Temple rallied behind him without a word of dissent.
Tears streaming down his cheeks, Rothenberger told the hushed crowd of about 400 how he was arrested.
He said he had been ill for several days and decided to leave his home and go to a store in the shopping center. He said a 'young lady' approached his car and he rolled down the window and began talking with her.
'I knew that she was a prostitute,' he said. 'I used bad judgment and injudiciously said things that led her to believe that I might be a customer. I never intended to go through with it.'
The minister said he drove away and was arrested about half a mile away. The 'prostitute' was an undercover police woman.
Rothenberger was among 85 people arrested May 15 near the shopping center that had a reputation as a haven of prostitution. He was taken into custody on suspicion of 'disorderly conduct -- prostitution' under the California Penal Code, booked at the Oxnard Police Department and released on his own recognizance.
Rothenberger, 40, said he has not yet been formally charged with an offense and that the charge under which he was booked was a misdemeanor.
The minister said he had refused to talk to reporters and would continue that stance but he felt he must tell his story to his congregation.
'There is a time to run and a time to stand,' he said. 'Last Friday (when news of his arrest was disclosed) was a time to run and now is time to stand.'
Rothenberger said he found it 'incredible' that his arrest has drawn national attention and suggested the news media had jumped on the story because of his affiliation with Californians for Biblical Morality.
'Actually I have never been active in the council and I have not attended any of their meetings in the last two years,' he said.
The organization claims a membership of 1,000 pastors and 500,000 church members and calls for the eradication of prostitution, abortion and homosexuality.
'I find it incredible that this matter has been seized upon by the media, television, UPI, that it is even being printed in Connecticut -- this matter of a minister in a small California town,' Rothenberger said.
'I would rather die than embarrass you and my church. I ask for your forgiveness.'
Rothenberger said he would not resign his ministry but in this moment of emotion he did not want church elders to take a stand backing him that they might later regret. He said he wanted to go away for a time to make long-range plans.
The head of the elders then spoke briefly and, to a murmured chorus of assent, said he felt the matter would draw them all closer together in the love of God.
A minister from another church conducted the regular service. He began with the Biblical story of Christ and his admonition: 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'
