Written by Brett James (free-lance reporter) trialbypress.wordpress.com
(2012)
Jeff Testerman was the award winning, Pulitzer Prize star of the St. Pete Times. However, he seemed to make a habit of only telling the parts of his investigative reports that fit his story line. Many have said he sensationalized his articles to attract readers and sell newspapers! He is quoted as saying “I am not in the business of telling the truth but a story that sells papers”.
In one particular series concerning the Seminole Indian Tribe Testerman and the Times faced a lawsuit for libel from a powerful Indian Tribe in Florida. Testerman was accused of writing articles with manufactured or exaggerated evidence and he was accused of the unethical way he tried to gather his evidence. Testerman wrote a belligerent attack on the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida, However, he had finally met a powerful and wealthy adversary who’s operations are financed by tribal casino’s. Their deep pockets were probably deeper than the Times and they were not going to take it lying down. Testerman and the Times had misjudged the tribe for the last time. Testerman’s investigative reports were on public trial and the Seminole Indians had there own media outlets to spread the story. Testerman was brought to his knees and humiliated, It has cast a long, dark shadow on all the articles that he has written, said many who heard the facts.
In another report written by Testerman that was proven in court to be based on half-truths and 
innuendos occurred in a series of stories about prominent Tampa Pastor Ron Clark of Living Water Church in 2003 and 2004. Clark’s stories made front page news and were read by tens of thousands around the world. The problem with Testermen’s stores on Clark? His wild speculations proved to be false in a court once again.
The story that Pastor Clark was in the middle of a divorce with his wife of 25 years, Belinda Clark is true. The fact that Pastor Clarks sister, Linda Clark Gestrin had joined her sister in law, Belinda in making serious charges concerning Pastor Clark’s handling of church finances was also true… The fact that Mr. Testerman had a “juicy story” that could win him another “Pulitzer” is probably the last true statement written! Testerman knew his reader would not pass up reading a “crooked preacher” story. I quickly began to discover that either Testerman was once again “creating a story line” that could not be supported by the facts of the case. Just as he did when he wrote the Seminole Tribe stories, we weTesterman’s assertions and find the truth in plain sight. So, several college journalism students who had been given an assignment to research Testerman and his investigative writing skills were were dismayed that he was not the “Pulitzer Prize” winning journalist that we had hoped. We concluded after months of research that Testerman’s accusations about Pastor Clark and the Living Water Church were fabrications of Belinda Clark, Gestrin and Jeff Testerman reported their accusations as if they were facts in the case.
Belinda Clark
I will attempt to explain just how we came to the conclusion that Pastor Ron Clark was vilified by Testerman with a “fictional story line”. Here is the basis for our conclusions. I investigated this story with a group of students as an assignment for our journalism class in 2005. I began the investigation by wanting to “learn” from the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalism skills of Mr. Testerman. I traveled to Dade City, Florida to read for myself the court records of the divorce proceedings. Hundreds of hours of sworn testimony was on record. I interviewed witnesses, court officials and observers as well as Living Water Church members. I was able to sit down with church board members who knew Pastor Clark best. I was also able to track down a few relatives and they gave me insight into Pastor Clark and his sister Linda Clark Gestrin. I was even able to talk to Belinda Clark’s boyfriend, with whom she had a sexual affair which prompted the divorce in he first place. The Reverend Daryl Scott Akers who had served as a pastor at the Carpenters Home Church were he met Belinda was now serving a long prison sentence in the Florida Corrections Prison System for selling drugs, battery on a law enforcement officer, forgery, fleeing and alluding police among other serious crimes.
It became very apparent as I read the court record and reviewed the testimony of the witnesses that Testerman had manipulated the facts and omitted facts in order to “create a story” rather than “report the story”. Testerman’s habit of creating news in slow stories was again the issue. This is not to say that Jeff Testerman always “mislead his readers in every story” is not the case. But in these two cases it was clear that he was not above his type of misleading journalism.
I obtained a copy of the “depositions” of the Clark’s, Gestrin and other prominent witnesses and I read
The Rev. Karl Strader
over 700 pages of testimony. I was shocked at the discrepancies between the “St. Pete Times” articles and the actual court records. Mr. Testerman claimed to have attended the same proceedings but what he wrote was not remotely accurate. For example, he would headline that Pastor Clark was accused by his wife of “stealing $400,00.00 from the church and hiding the money in an offshore account” and this accusation was made. However, he did not tell his readers that absolutely no evidence was ever presented to substantiate her claim! When Testerman wrote about the “accusation made by Belinda that her husband had pushed her and committed domestic violence, he again failed to report that the Judge had dismissed all charges after a day long hearing. We made numerous attempts by letter, email and phone to reach Jeff Testerman as well as the St. Pete Times editorial board, we did not receive a call back.
Testerman’s articles were read my over 500,000 readers including agents of the IRS Tampa office. His slanted stories that painted Pastor Clark as an “embezzler, tax evader with a plan to flee the country” it was noticed by the Tampa office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations Unit. This is resulted in a “full criminal investigation by the IRS ” into Pastor Clark and the churches finances. Again, Testerman wrote numerous stories which headlined in the Sunday edition concerning “Pastor Clark’s IRS criminal investigation”. However, in the Testerman style, not one article was written when Pastor Clark and the Church received written notice that the investigation was being dropped.
Linda and Dennis Gestrin
The problem with the IRS case is that it was based on Testerman’s stories and his only key witnesses against Pastor Clark were Belinda Clark and Linda Clark Gestrin. The IRS discovered that the ladies could not offer one shred of evidence to support their story. In fact, when the judge asked for any evidence, Belinda Clark’s attorney, a Jack Hogwind of Dade City, Florida finally had to admit to the court that he had none but he was relying on what “Pastor Clark had told Belinda and Linda” in a conversation! He received a strong rebuke from the judge. Testerman never reported these facts in his stories but he continued to write his articles with impunity and Treated Belinda Clark’s testimony as fact. Witness after witness for Belinda Clark were dismissed by the judge because their testimony was not relevant to the case. Belinda’s attorney even had the Clark’s two minor children testify and hey admitted that “Mr. Hogewind had told them what to say”. This once again cuased the court to caution Hogewwind about misconduct.
Testerman’s penchant for half-truths or fabrications in his story became very clear when I read the court
transcripts regarding the “criminal perjury” charges and resulting trial for Belinda Clark during the divorce trial. It appears that Belinda Clark and Linda Clark Gestrin had conspired together to “fabricate the allegations”made against Pastor Clark. Both were caught passing notes during testimony and lying to the court. They were accused of “suborned perjury” in the same court room where they had made the serious charges against Pastor Clark. After the short criminal trial, Belinda Clark was convicted of contempt of court and perjury. She faced one year in jail and a fine. However, Circuit Court Judge Linda Babb “suspended the sentence” because it was her first criminal conviction. However, the impact of the perjury resulted much of the testimony of both women was “stricken from the court record”. In addition, Linda Clark Gestrin was physically removed from the courtroom and not allowed to return for the rest of the case.
The “inside witness” of Mr. Testerman was Linda Clark Gestrin. This was revealed when Gestrin inadvertently sent documents that she said she had taken from Pastor Clark study and sent them to 
Testerman, the IRS and Clark’s own attorney, Dennis Alfonso by mistake. The problem seemed to be that the documents were not real. After his clients perjury conviction, it was implied that Mr. Hogwind, Belinda Clark’s attorney may have “coached” both women in their testimonies and apparently tried to influence the Clarks children to make up charges or misconduct by their dad. This was revealed when the children testified in their custody hearing that he had told them what to say. However, these allegations were dropped when Pastor Clark obtained permanent custody of both their minor children. These facts never appeared in the St. Pete Times.
Jeff Testerman, “Yellow Journalist” of the St. Petersburg Times (part 2)
Testerman wrote all of his stories with impunity. He came across to the readers as a man with a grasp on all the facts and appeared certain of all of his assumptions or conclusions. Mr. Testerman was an award wining reporter who never backed down, even when he was wrong. He rarely used the word “alleged” but spoke with a “moral certainty” that gave the impressions to the community that with his investigation, guilt was certain and the case was closed. In Times front page headlines, Testerman reported that Pastor Clark had “embezzled funds”, hid the money offshore and had plains to “flee to the jungles of Africa”. Another headline said Pastor Clark had “domestic violence”. The problem with the stories were they were simply not true. The accusations were made in divorce court but the Judge later ruled that “no evidence” was ever presented to substantiate the accusations. This did not stop Testerman when he reported that Pastor Clark was under investigation for “embezzling” $400,00.00 from the Living Water Church. He implied Clark was another “dirty preacher” whose hand was caught in the cookie jar. However, after a year-long criminal investigation by the IRS, their investigation was closed when their only witnesses, Belinda Clark and Linda Gestrin were accused of Perjury. They issued a letter to Pastor Clark and his Tax Attorney, George Tragos that Clark was no longer the subject of a criminal investigation and owed no additional tax.
The real story about Pastor Clark was a lot less interesting and probably would have only made a mention on the Metro Section on page 4. He was embroiled in a difficult divorce and custody battle for two young children with his wife of 25 years. Belinda Clark had an “old fashion” affair with a “convicted drug dealer” and minister at a church were she was working as principal of their parochial school. Oh, that seems to be a bigger story that the one made up by Testerman. The truth of the matter is Testerman would not have garnered the “headlines” or got him a nomination for another “Pulitzer Prize” for an investigative report on another “adulterous wife”.
Belinda Clark had an “old fashion affair” with a minister from the Carpenters Home Church in Lakeland Florida were she served as the principal of the large school. Her affair with the Reverend Daryl Akers , an associate pastor, was in charge of the prison and outreach ministry for the Reverend Karl Strader. Reverend Akers, testified that he and Belinda had a “passionate affair” and both of them were “taking drugs” and he was selling it as well.
Akers was subpoenaed by Clark’s attorney, Dennis Alfonso for a “custody hearing”. Akers was brought to the court from the Polk County Jail by armed deputies and was brought into the courtroom “wearing a prison orange jumpsuit with POLK COUNTY JAIL in black letters emblazoned on the back. He was escorted by two armed “bailiffs” wearing stainless steel handcuffs in front and leg shackles to the witness stand. Akers, was awaiting sentencing for his felony conviction in felony drug sale and possession as well as battery on a law enforcement officer and felony fleeing and alluding among other charges. Akers was sworn in and questioned by both attorneys. To the surprise of most people in the courtroom he gave nauseating details of his “passionate love affair” with Belinda Clark. Akers admitted to the court he was “still loved in love with Belinda” and would be a “good father to [the Clarks children]. Akers wanted Belinda to wait for him until his prison sentence was served. Akers was shocked to find out that Belinda already had a new live in boyfriend, named “Ronnie Fraley”. Akers also admitted that Belinda Clark had been in the car during some of his drug deals. The Reverend Akers was just another career criminal when he “found Jesus” at Carpenters Home Church” and was later hired by the senior minister, the Reverend Karl Strader and his son the Reverend Steven Strader of the now defunct Carpenters Home Church to be their “minister to prisons and jails as well as the “outreach pastor”. Reverend Strader was well-known the Tampa Bay area when his son, Daniel David Strader was convicted of defrauding many of the senior members of the church of millions of dollars. Daniel Strader was sentenced to 45 years in the Florida State Prison. Reverend Strader has stood by his son, Daniel and claimed his innocence.
When Akers was done testifying the revelation of his love lost had depressed him. To the shock of the court, when he walked by Pastor Clark, he suddenly fell at Pastor Clark’s feet and started begging Clark for forgiveness. He screamed he didn’t want to go to hell for what he had done to Pastor Clark’s marriage. Two large Court Bailiffs carried Akers screaming and crying from the courtroom. Judge Linda Babb called the court to a 30 minute recess. Akers was later sentenced to a long prison term his crimes and is now in the Florida State Prison at Raiford. It is not surprising that when Testerman wrote about the hearing the next day, he failed to mention any of the “drama” in his report. Once again, Testerman failed to mention any of the facts that would have cast a shadow over his previous stories.
Jeff Testerman ever failed to mention that Linda Clark Gestrin, Pastor Clark’s estranged sister and Belinda Clark were caught passing notes to each “coaching each others testimony” on what to say under oath. Both were caught by court officials when Linda Gestrin was asked for the note by a court officer but said she did not have one. She was sitting on it when Bailiffs had her stand up. This event probably marked the turning point in the trial but failed to make the Times articles.
It appears that Judge Linda Babb had grown tired of Belinda Clark’s antics. Belinda Clark was found guilty of perjury and contempt of court but did not serve time since it was her first criminal offense. After this, Judge Babb called into question almost all the testimony provided by Belinda Clark and Linda Gestrin and since they were the only witnesses to almost every one of the accusations made in court concerning Pastor Clark, Belinda Clark’s case ended. Eventually all the claims made by of them [Gestrin and Belinda Clark] and their testimony was thrown out of court including the allegations and suggestions of criminal wrongdoing about Ron Clark. Belinda faced one year in jail but the sentence was suspended unless she committed another crime during the next year.
In the end, Pastor Ron Clark was given permanent custody of their two minor children. Belinda Clark lost “permanent alimony” of nearly $4000.00 per month and Belinda was ordered to help her former husband with the children s expenses by paying child support. (No evidence that she ever paid anything). Clark had to pay nearly $100,000 in legal fees to defend himself against her accusations. Belinda Clark’s boyfriend is serving a long sentence in the Florida State Prison system. Linda Clark Gestrin went back to High Springs Florida to run for city commissioner. The city of Tampa lost one of its best pastors and top churches. The Tampa Bay Times readers were entertained by the fictional account of a local pastors divorce but felt cheated of the truth. Testerman retired and cannot do this again.
In conclusion, Jeff Testerman’s articles did not remotely resemble the narrative of several hundred hours of court testimony and his conclusions were complete fabrications. This was my first introduction to “yellow journalism”. Yellow Journalism is written to attract readers with sensational headlines, exaggerations during the turn of the 19th century in New York City. The Pulitzer Prize named after Joseph Pulitzer who was the leading proponent of “yellow journalism”. Pulitzer published “bogus” stories that dominated the headlines and sold millions of copies. An endowment from his vast earnings created the “Pulitzer Prize” and it is given out today for “excellence in journalism. How ironic that Mr. Testerman had won a “Pulitzer Prize” for investigative reporting.
Jeff Testerman, the award-winning Pulitzer Prize journalist from the St. Pete TIMES is retired. The St. Pete TIMES is gone through a “make over” and is now called the “Tampa Bay Times”. It is the largest, most read newspaper in the Tampa Bay area with two million potential readers and is one of the largest newspapers in Florida. According to some readers, Testerman was a “bottom feeder “reporter who could dig up or maybe make up a story about anyone in order to sell newspapers.
Material used in the original 2005 articles written by Bret James
Testerman spent most of 2003 and 2004 writing about the messy divorce of one of Tampa Bay’s most prominent ministers. Pastor Ron Clark was well-known in Tampa Bay, having worked for short time as a “special reporter” during the 5:30 news on the ABC TV affiliate in the 1990’s. In addition, he was serving as the chaplain of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office where he was also a fully certified reserve deputy sheriff. Clark was the founder and senior minister at the Living Waters Church on I-4 in Tampa. This story was already big without Testerman help.
Testerman was quick to write about the accusations of Clark’s now ex-wife Belinda Clark but never told the readers about her many court room antics. He also failed to mention that it was the affair that Belinda Clark was having a secret love affair with the Reverend DARYL SCOTT AKERS (50) a career criminal turned preacher turned back to career criminal at the time of the divorce. The Reverend Akers and Belinda Clark both had worked at the Carpenters Home Church in Lakeland and were introduced by mutual staff members. Akers was arrested and in jail shortly after Clark filed for divorce and custody of the Children.
The Reverend Karl Strader, who led protesters at the divorce hearings of Pastor Clark, was very vocal on Belinda’s behalf until it was revealed that his former associate, the Reverend Akers was in an affair with her. Karl Strader’s son, Danny Strader is currently serving 45 years in Florida State Prison for “ripping off his father’s church retired church members” for millions of dollars in Polk County, Florida. Belinda Clark was a “god-daughter” to the Reverend Karl and Joyce Strader according to Jennifer Williams, who attended Carpenters Church at the time.
The Reverend Karl Strader with his parishioners shouting as Clark entered the court with his attorney the day Akers, his former “outreach minister” was brought into a Pasco County Courtroom by Bailiffs. Akers was called to testify in prison orange while shackled hand and feet. Akers told the court tales of his escapades with Clark’s wife or their involvement in alleged criminal activities together and how glad he was that she did not get caught. In one of the most memorable moments in trial filled with them was Akers suddenly lunged at Pastor Clark’s feet as he was being led out of court “begging for his forgiveness for his affair with his [Clark’s] …wife and that he did not want to burn in Hell for what he did”. The Judge had Akers drug out of court and back to prison in Pasco County to finish his 7 year conviction on felony drug charges. Belinda cried during the episode. This unusual event was not reported by Testerman.
esterman followed closely in the writing style of Pulitzer with sensational stories and “outlandish headlines. In the case of Pastor Clark, he brought down the pastor of one of the largest churches in Tampa Bay. Clark had thousands that attended his church that sat on I-4 across the Fair Grounds. Clark, who earned his doctors degrees from Oral Roberts University, was also the founder of a great humanitarian medical organization, Global Medical Relief. Clark and Global Medical were nominated for the prestigious “Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Prize” for outstanding humanitarian work in 1996. The nomination was based in part for Clark building the most advanced hospital for children in all of China in the mid 1990’s . The cost of the finished 120 bed children’s hospital in Shenyang, China after 4 years of work was estimated at 50 million dollars. Clark was well-known in political circles as a friend of both Democrats and Republicans and was a close friend of Tampa Mayor Dick Greco. Mayor Greco gave Pastor Clark a “Mayors Proclamation” on behalf of the city for his outstanding humanitarian efforts and was honored by Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Senate and House as well. Pastor Clark, was in the “sights” of Jeffrey Testerman and he was committed to “take him down” said one Times insider and it didn’t hurt that the story sold papers! No regard was every given to the “fallout” in the religious community or the impact that it would make on the Living Water Church.
Testerman seemed to only be able to write about the allegations about Pastor Clark but never mentioned anything derogatory about his star witnesses, Gestrin and Belinda Clark in any of his articles, He even failed to tell his readers that much of Gestrin and Belinda C larks testimony was called into question by the judge as a result of their court room antics. So, the biggest and most read newspapers in Florida were kept in the dark with unsubstantiated lies from two bitter women. The Testerman articles destroyed a church and it’s ministers, two notches in the TIMES “gun belt”. It seems that some would say they could get a side job in “character assassination” if the news business runs slow, commented a member of the clergy Sam West! The following article excerpt was found in the Tampa Tribune memorializing Belinda’s criminal antics:
LAW & ORDER
Author: A staff report
Date: February 24, 2004
Publication: The Tampa Tribune
Page: 5
Edition: FINAL
PASCO
Church Co-Founder In Contempt Of Court DADE CITY – A judge has found former Living Water Church co-pastor Belinda Clark in contempt of court for perjury during a hearing to address visitation issues between her estranged husband, Ron Clark, and the couple’s teenage children.
Did the TIMES just get “fooled” by a couple of “spurned woman” or did they not want to discredit their “Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Jeff Testerman? You be the judge! Is the TIMES a “hard news…paper” or a “rag like the National Enquirer? If the Testerman articles are evidence, one would wonder! How could this happen? It seems to comes down to a lazy reporter, who failed to verify his sources, mainly Belinda Clark and her partner in crime, Linda Clark Gestrin, a newly elected city commissioner from High Springs Florida. Both Belinda Clark and Gestrin would not comment for this article.
In-spite of his awards, Testerman can on occasion be “sloppy” in his investigative skills and he writes very “sensational stories” to gain more readers and a bigger pay check! Testerman targets successful people, preachers, politicians and public officials! Anyone who fits his “hit list” profile is susceptible. Much of what Testerman writes is not news according to one former colleague and most readers seem to give him the” benefit of the doubt”.
I guess you can call Testerman a “modern agnostic prophet” who had the power to make his predictions of a person’s demise with great accuracy or at least help them along a little. Since the newspapers articles he writes can be read online around the world his accusations can touch millions of readers and will long outlive the story itself.
Testerman and the TIMES share a “god complex” and feels that they can hide behind the attorneys of the TIMES which allows them to say anything with impunity or “exemption or immunity from unpleasant consequences or the law”. Only “public opinion has the power to face the TIMES. Let’s hope that articles like this will help bring a balance to their ego driven success. It is a fact that “investigative reporters” with large publishers standing behind them can say just about anything and get away with it. However, the time is now, for the readers to begin to question the assumptions made in the newspapers and on the air. This is my opinion.
Lie Not! 