Man Convicted of Rape, Sex Abuse Involving Young Girls

Gadsden Times
April 6, 2012

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20120405/NEWS/120409914/1084/NEWS?Title=Man-convicted-of-rape-sex-abuse-involving-young-girls

A 59-year-old Gadsden man has been convicted of rape and sex abuse charges involving four young girls he befriended at the church where he volunteered, according to a news release from District Attorney Jimmie Harp.

Thomas Russell Reilly, 59, was convicted Thursday by an Etowah County jury on charges of first-degree rape and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 years old.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours after the trial that has taken place this week in Circuit Judge Allen Millican's courtroom. Millican set sentencing for May 30.

Reilly was charged after it was determined he allowed numerous young girls to spend the night with him at his house, on the premise that if they stayed the night, he could take them with him to church the next morning at The Tabernacle in Gadsden, according to Carol Griffith, deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.

Reilly, who lived alone, also picked up children from school on Wednesdays to attend church that night.

He later told law enforcement officers he worked as an usher and security guard for the church and drove children to church in a van. However, church officials say the van was Reilly’s personal one and not a church van.

Reilly said he was not paid for the job and did not charge parents for baby-sitting services, Griffith said.

The Tabernacle senior pastor, Tommy Marshall, said the event from which the charges occurred were not at any church-sanctioned event or on church property. He said he knew Reilly brought some of the children to church, but he was not a sanctioned church van driver.

“We had no knowledge that these girls were staying at his home,” Marshall said.

The girls ranged from ages 5 to 10 years old at the time of the incidents. Each girl testified in court about incidents at Reilly's home in which he exposed himself to them and their friends several times.

“This was a man who showed two different faces to society. In public, he was a person who was just trying to help his fellow man, but in private, Thomas Reilly had an ulterior motive for allowing those young girls to come into his home,” Griffith said. “When they were there alone, he was free to pick and choose his victims.”

Harp said abuse cases involving children always are difficult, but are even more challenging when such young victims have to testify about the crime.

“We were fortunate in this matter to have four little girls who understood that what had happened to them was wrong, and that they had to stand up for themselves in order to make sure that this defendant did not have the opportunity to commit this type of crime, or victimize another child, again,” Harp said.

The cases were investigated by Gadsden Police Sgt. Mike Hooks, who worked with the Department of Human Resources and the James M. Barrie Center for Children.

Reilly faces sentences of 20 years to life in prison.

April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month, Griffith said, and it is especially important that the public be made aware of the abuse of children and the work done by child advocates at the Barrie Center and DHR and in law enforcement.

“These folks do a lot of work to help make my job of prosecuting those who commit crimes against children easier,” she said. “Without their continuing assistance and dedication, the convictions today would not have been possible.”

Griffith said she also appreciates the victims and their families and the jurors in the case.