GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A former pastor and Cornerstone University professor has pleaded guilty to climbing a ladder propped against a home so he could watch a couple have sex in their bedroom.

Jeremy Grinnell, 42, pleaded guilty Tuesday, May 13, in Kent County Circuit Court to one count of surveilling unclothed persons stemming from the incident on Nov. 7.

Grinnell propped a ladder up against the home, climbed up to a second-floor window and admitted to watching the Cannon Township couple having sex.

When he returned for another viewing the next evening, he was caught by the male victim and subsequently arrested.



Related: Cornerstone theology professor and pastor accused as 'peeping tom' at woman's house

At the time of his arrest, Grinnell was an assistant professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, a division of Cornerstone University. He was also a “teaching pastor” at Bella Vista Church in Rockford. He no longer holds either position.

Church officials said Grinnell had been a teaching pastor at the church since May 2012 and began teaching at the seminary as an adjunct professor in 1999 before moving to his last position.

Grinnell earned a degree from the seminary in 2000 and earned a Ph.D. from Calvin Theological Seminary in 2011.

Grinnell was originally charged with two counts of the high-court misdemeanor that has a maximum prison sentence of two years. Standing with his attorney David Dodge, Grinnell was allowed to plead to one count which names both victims.

The plea to one offense allows for the possibility of the charge being expunged from his record after five years as long as he does not commit another crime.

Grinnell lives in Rockford along with his wife.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26 before Judge Dennis Leiber.

E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton or Facebook at facebook.com/bartondeiters.5