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Cops: Oklahoma Ministry Head Dies Amid Abuse Probe

TULSA, Okla. April 23, 2012 (AP)

Oklahoma authorities are investigating whether the executive director of
an international Christian ministry killed himself amid allegations he'd
molested a 10-year-old girl, police said Monday.

Tom White had been reported missing last Tuesday, the same day police in
Bartlesville received a report about the alleged molestation, said
Bartlesville Police Capt. Jay Hastings. White was the executive director
for The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit headquartered in in the city
50 miles north of Tulsa that says it provides medical supplies, food and
clothing to persecuted Christians worldwide.

Police found the 64-year-old's body at the organization's Bartlesville
headquarters Wednesday. Employees discovered a letter in White's vehicle
indicating he was "suicidal or possibly fleeing to avoid investigation"
and turned it over to police, Hastings said.

"You can take it either way," Hastings said. "It was kind of a goodbye
letter. You don't know if he was talking about himself."

Hastings said police are awaiting an autopsy report by the state Medical
Examiner's Office. A message seeking comment was left with the office
Monday.

In a document filed last week in Washington County District Court,
police had asked a judge to order White's cellphone carrier to provide
them with "real time GPS pinging" of the phone to determine where he
was. To support the request, officers stated in the document that White
"had been reported to have molested a 10-year-old juvenile female" and
that he disappeared when police began to investigate.

Hastings could not say Monday if the child was believed to be involved
in the ministry or how White is believed to have come in contact with her.

In a statement posted on its website, the ministry where White had
served as executive director for more than 20 years said its board of
directors did not know about the accusations at the time of White's
death. It went on to say that "rather than face those allegations, and
all of the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry and
himself, Tom appears to have chosen to take his own life."

"There is no doubt that Tom cared about his wife, his children and his
grandchildren. And there's no doubt that he cared about VOM," the
statement said. "We are deeply saddened by these events. Our hearts are
broken."

Ministry spokesman Todd Nettleton said he could not comment beyond the
statement.

No telephone listing for White's family could be found Monday.