Larry Albert Flake, who is 75-years-old, has been running from the law for the last 20 years. For 10 of those years, he has been serving as the worship pastor at a church in Alabama. He was arrested on Friday, November 19, 2021 after the FBI and Birmingham, Alabama police located him.
According to a statement released by Richmond, Indiana’s Police Department, “Larry Flake was convicted of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor on August 30, 2001, from an incident reported to the Richmond Police Department in the fall of 1999. Flake failed to appear for the trial and has been a fugitive from justice since August 2001.”
Flake went by the name Larry White, or Reverend White, in an attempt to hide his identity from those at Evergreen True House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church.
The church’s pastor, Willie Perry, told WBRC News, “I never would have thought that it was to this degree—He’s a good liar.”
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“It was heart wrenching. I mean, you couldn’t imagine the horror of waking up and finding out that someone had this kind of checkered past,” Perry said, then admitting that he never really got to know Flake over the past decade. Flake kept to himself, limiting the personal information he shared with others. Now Perry knows why.
Perry took full responsibility, saying, “Trust but verify. I apologize to this body of Christ and this congregation. It should not have happened.” Although the pastor received multiple references from other churches that endorsed Flake, Perry shared he will triple check the background of his next hire.
“No minister should have to deal with that. You had somebody in the midst of your congregation that had no character at all,” Perry said.
20 years ago, Flake was identified out of a photo lineup by his 15-year-old victim, whom he had forced into his car and raped.
“Acting on a new lead received in this case in January of 2021, the Investigative Services Division of the Richmond Police Department, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigations Indianapolis Field Office, worked tirelessly together to bring Flake safely to justice,” Richmond’s Captain Curt Leverton said. “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 twenty year old case.”
Alabama authorities will return Flake to Indiana, where he will face justice.
