By Kimberly Dick
Lake Wylie Pilot
August 25 2010
http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2010/08/24/828727/rock-hill-minister-arrested-on.html
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| William Cabe. Courtesy of York County Sheriff's Office. |
A Rock Hill minister convicted of bilking investors out of millions of dollars now faces sexual abuse charges. It’s the third time the convicted felon who lives in York has been accused of child-abuse related charges.
The Rev. Johnny William “Bill” Cabe, 50, was arrested Tuesday after a weeks-long investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship with a child, said Lt. Mike Baker of the York County Sheriff's Office.
Cabe was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, committing lewd act on a child under 16 and unlawfully practicing medicine, Baker said. He was released from jail Tuesday afternoon on $12,000 bond.
The charges stem from an allegation made to officers July 29 by a now 11-year-old boy, who claimed Cabe, a pastor at of Riverside Baptist Church in Rock Hill, touched him inappropriately at the church, according to a sheriff’s report and an arrest warrant.
“The charges are based on allegations over a period of time of sexual conduct between an adult and child,” Baker said. The incidents happened between December 2008 and June, according to sheriff’s documents. Cabe watched the boy while his caretaker was working and in school, the report states.
The charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor is based on allegations that Cabe provided a communication device – a subscriber identity module, or SIM card, for a cell phone – to continue contact with the 11-year-old victim after his caretaker cut off communication between them, Baker said. The child was told not to tell the caretaker about that memory card, the arrest warrant states.
The unlawfully practicing medicine charge stems from allegations Cabe performed an examination of the child, diagnosed a physical ailment and prescribed a treatment, according to an arrest warrant. Baker declined to provide further details.
“We don’t see the charge often in York County,” Baker said.
Cabe was booked around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Moss Justice Center in York after turning himself in. His attorney, Thomas McKinney, was not available for comment Tuesday.
The conditions of Cabe’s bond specify that he is not to have contact with the child who is a member of his church or his family.
Cabe has a criminal history that includes allegations, but not convictions, of touching children.
Cabe was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in 2001 after being found guilty of 26 charges related to bilking religious investors out of millions of dollars. Prosecutors argued during Cabe's trial that he promised investors a return of as much as 500 percent on $8.5 million in investments in 1998 in an international high-yield investment scheme called HisWay International Ministries.
Sentenced to 109 months, Cabe was released from a federal prison July 2008, said Edmond Ross, spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was not under supervision after his release, Ross said.
Previous misdemeanor charges of practicing medicine without a license against Cabe stem from allegations from two teenage boys in 1998 and 1999. The boys claim he performed hernia-like checks on them. Those charges were dismissed with the right to refile, said 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson.
“When he was convicted in federal court, we dismissed those charges because there was no way we could have added additional time to him at that point,” Thompson said.
Now, solicitors plan to contact the victims in those cases to consider prosecution, he said.
“Since it seems almost like a continuing pattern, we’re going to look if we can restore them,” Thompson said.
A jury acquitted Cabe of five counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and two counts of performing a lewd act on a minor in 1994. The charges stemmed from his allegedly beating and fondling three young boys under his care in 1991 and 1992. Charges were initially brought in 1993.
He was convicted of assault in 1989 in connection with a confrontation with a church member, according to a State Law Enforcement Division background check.
kdick@heraldonline.com
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