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A Corona minister and two other men are due in Riverside County criminal court for arraignment Wednesday afternoon after being formally charged in the alleged torture of a 13-year-old boy who police said was forced to dig a grave, beaten with a shovel, tied up, pepper-sprayed and pinched with pliers.
Pastor Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, who heads the Heart of Worship Community Church, is accused of directing two men, Nicholas Craig, who is in his 20s, and Darryll Duane Jeter Jr., 28, to scare the boy after the youth’s mother went to Remmers seeking guidance and discipline for her son, police said.
Craig and Jeter each are each charged with nine felonies, including kidnap, criminal threats and assault.
Remmers was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and with inflicting corporal injury on a child.
The youngster’s ordeal began March 18 when his mother brought him to a group home in the 700 block of West 10th Street operated by the Heart of Worship Community Church in Corona and asked for guidance on how the boy should be disciplined.
Pastor Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, is accused of directing two men, Nicholas Craig, who is in his 20s, and Darryll Duane Jeter Jr., 28, to scare the boy, police said.
Craig and Jeter drove the boy from the group home 100 miles to the Barstow area, where the teen was forced to dig a grave, threatened with death, beaten with a shovel and half-buried, Rodriguez said in a telephone interview.
When the boy was brought back to Corona, the torture continued, police said.
At one point, he was brought to the pastor’s home on Sloan Drive for Bible study, where, police said, he was tortured by the pastor with a pair of pliers.
The boy did not require hospitalization, police said.
All three men were arrested Friday and are being held in county jail in Riverside. Bail for each was $1 million. They are all Corona residents.
Craig and Jeter are being held on suspicion of kidnapping, torture, child abuse and conspiracy. Remmers is being held on suspicion of torture, child abuse and conspiracy.
The boy and his 7-year-old sister have been taken into Child Protective Services custody. His mother, who is 30, was staying at another group home in Corona, police said.
The Heart of Worship church lists an address of 400 N. Main St. in Corona. The storefront location, a former dance studio, is now closed and the space is up for lease. It is in a strip mall that includes a dentist’s office, hair salon, income tax preparation business, T-shirt shop, discount store and a former Rite Aid pharmacy.
“Our mission at the Heart of Worship is to raise the church body to be true disciples of Christ, meaning that if Christ would not think it, say it, or do it, neither will we,” said a statement on the church’s website.
The group home on West 10th Street is a single-story stucco house near an elementary school. A man who answered the door would say only that it is a Christ-centered re-entry home for men.
Staff Writer Brian Rokos contributed to this report.
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