KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A minister and former leader of a local NAACP chapter is being charged with assaulting a deacon at his church last year.
Rev. Stricjavvar “Strick” Strickland was arraigned on Wednesday, February 12th on one misdemeanor count of assault and battery after a former church member accused him of assault during a December 15th incident.
The 37-year-old pastor and his wife were previously accused of allegedly paying under-aged teens for sex acts in connection to an unrelated investigation launched by Michigan State Police. Strickland has strongly denied those allegations reported on by area media outlets and has not been charged with any crime.
On the morning of his arraignment he told media outlets that the allegations against him were unfounded, and that the incident involving the former deacon was not one-sided.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety issued a warrant for Strickland’s arrest on Monday, February 10th. He turned himself in not long after and posted a $500 dollar cash bond before being released.
Strickland has served as the executive senior pastor at Second Baptist Church in Kalamazoo since 2012, and previously served as the president of the Kalamazoo chapter of the NAACP until being succeeded in December 2018.
