NEWS- Prayer for judgment: Nudie pics, voyeur cams stun flock

When Val Payne saw the headline that a pastor/counselor had been charged with possession of child pornography and surreptitious videotaping, her reaction was pure disbelief. "I was stunned," she exclaims. "I would sooner have believed my own father had been charged than Gregory Briehl."

Briehl's July 18 arrest sent shockwaves throughout the community of parishioners at Peace Lutheran Church where he served as an associate pastor, and among his clients at First Stone Counseling Center, which advertises "counseling from a Christian perspective."

According to a search warrant affidavit, Briehl's wife discovered several cameras in the bathrooms and bedrooms of their residence. She told police he attempted to videotape youths from their church he'd invited to babysit or to use the hot tub, and when she confronted him, he allegedly admitted "some of the actions."

Investigators also found "possible child pornography" on the family computer. In Juvenile and Domestic Relations court July 19, Albemarle police Detective Chuck Marshall said that of the 400 alleged porn images, 100 appeared to be minors. (Marshall cites experience– and breast development– in determining whether the females depicted are younger than 18.)

None of the subjects were prepubescent, and none were engaged in sexual acts, Marshall says. Nonetheless, Briehl is charged with 20 counts of possession of child porn, a Class 6 felony that carries up to five years for each count and a possible fine.

The voyeur-cam system brought two counts of videotaping without consent, a Class 1 misdemeanor that can carry up to 12 months in jail and a fine. After a contractor left a hidden camera in the bathroom of an Albemarle County home in 2003, Delegate Rob Bell sponsored a bill that made it illegal to videotape in areas where one has a reasonable expectation of privacy. 

Two adults were in the videotapes that Briehl is charged with possessing. "There was one underage in the video, and there could be additional charges," says Marshall. None of the hidden cameras were in the church.

Despite the tawdriness of the charges, Briehl has his defenders. University Baptist Church minister Tom Leland was one of six people who pooled money to put up 10 percent of Briehl's $102,500 bond. And members of the Hollymead-area Peace Lutheran offered him a place to live.

"Sadness and disappointment" is how the Rev. Leland describes his reaction to the news. "Even if the charges are true," he says, "they're not the sum total of the man."

When Leland moved here five years ago, his mother had died, and his brother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. "I slipped into a mild depression," he says. "I was a strong proponent of pastoral counseling, and I found Greg in the yellow pages."

Leland estimates he's referred approximately 25 people to Briehl over the past five years, and he recently got a thank-you note from a woman he'd sent to Briehl.

"Some people thanked me for standing by a friend," says Leland. "They know the easiest thing would be to abandon  him."

Nonetheless, stresses Leland, "In doing this, I'm in no way diminishing the pain or sadness of the people hurt by this."

"Certainly our hearts have been broken over this situation," says John Herman, pastor at Peace Lutheran, where Briehl served as interim pastor from October 2000 to April 2002.  

Briehl resigned as part-time pastor this March. "The truth, as we know it," writes Herman in an email, "is that Greg Briehl crossed professional boundaries as a pastor in a relationship of inappropriate intimacy with more than one woman."

Former client Val Payne praises Briehl's professionalism as a counselor. A Waynesboro resident, she sought counseling from him back in the late '80s, when the now-embattled Briehl was named 1987 Augusta County Mental Health professional of the year.

"He had tons of integrity," she recalls. "He was a man I could really admire. His advice was very sound, with a strong Christian core." She adds, "He was never inappropriate."

Payne, now a counselor herself, is more disturbed by the hidden cameras than the alleged porn. "I know people who look at porn, and they're not bad people," she says. "But the cameras– that's calculated. That's disturbing. It takes forethought and effort."

She wonders what happened to the man she considered a pillar. "I feel bad for him. Not that I'd defend it, because it's disgusting and perverted and terrible," she says. "But something must have gone terribly wrong."

Susan McKibbin is another former client who frequently saw Briehl playing tennis at the Boar's Head Sports Club. 

"If the charges are true, I think it's a very sad story of a caring, capable counselor," she says. "He helped [my family] through a lot of things." And she's particularly concerned about how the scandal affects Briehl's children.

McKibbin remembers an intelligent, articulate man with "an edgy sense of humor" who taught her that the avoidance of the truth causes the most pain in life. 

"Alcoholism, drugs, overworking, abuse– whatever people do to hide from dealing directly with a problem– causes more pain in their lives than confronting the actual issue, the truth," she says. "That's a Briehlism."

McKibbin believes pornography is all too accessible and all too easily hidden from family members. When she read about Briehl, she thought, "He who is without sin, turn over your hard drive."

She imagines, "You could hear the files being dumped all over Charlottesville."

Briehl goes back to court September 18.

Supporters extol Greg Briehl's talents as a counselor, and wonder how he ended up charged with child porn possession and illegal videotaping..
PHOTO COURTESY GREGORY BRIEHL

Greg Briehl is looking at up to 100 years in jail if convicted of child porn possession, although none of the images are of prepubescent children and none depict sexual acts.
PHOTO COURTESY ALBEMARLE POLICE

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