Retired Adrian pastor faces more molestation charges, waives hearing

ADRIAN — A retired Adrian pastor accused of molesting children waived his right to a probable cause hearing and had his case bound over to circuit court on Monday.

The hearing in Lenawee County District Court was punctuated by an angry father of two of Michael Ronald Goble's alleged victims, who stormed out of Judge Laura J. Schaedler's courtroom, loudly slamming one of the courtroom doors on his way out. Schaedler had court officers bring the man back to the courtroom so that she could address his behavior.

Goble is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 28 in Lenawee County Circuit Court on the original two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 along with four new charges: two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a detained juvenile.

Investigators said when Goble was arrested in July that they suspected there may be more possible victims. At the time of Goble's first hearings in district court , Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor Phebie McClure said the prosecutor's office was reviewing whether additional charges could be authorized under the statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct cases involving minors.

The new charges, which were authorized Aug. 5, are alleged to have occurred between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2014, and Aug. 1, 2011, and March 1, 2013. McClure said they involved two children, and the charges related to detained juveniles happened at the Maurice Spear Campus, which is Lenawee County's juvenile detention facility.

The original charges allege Goble molested two brothers on separate occasions with each boy as they helped him with yard work at his home this past June and in 2022.

Second-degree criminal sexual conduct involves inappropriate touching. All of the charges have a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

By waiving a preliminary examination in district court, Goble gave up his right to have the prosecution present evidence and witnesses to show to a judge there is probable cause to believe crimes were committed and he is likely to have committed them.

The man who stormed out of Schaedler's courtroom told her that two of the victims are his children. As he initially left the courtroom, he said under his breath, "I'll be back for the next one, but that m----------- might not be."

"I prosecuted people like Pastor Goble for 20 years of my life," Schaedler told him, after he had been brought back to the courtroom and Goble had been escorted out to be returned to the Lenawee County Jail where he is being held on bond. "I do understand the anxiety and anger that creates."

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Schaedler told the man that him getting in trouble in her court would not help his children's situation.

"They're going to interpret your anger as you being angry with them," she said. "Your misbehavior doesn't solve that, it doesn't help that."

There is nothing the legal system can do to give him or his children back what's alleged to have been taken.

"I could give you 10 minutes alone with him and a baseball bat in a dark room, and it won't help," she said.

Instead, Schaedler said, he should turn the situation over to God and tell his children that the justice system would do what it can in this world.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian .

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Retired Adrian pastor faces more molestation charges, waives hearing