Ex-church Youth Leader Faces New Fed Charge of Abusing Boy
By Paula McMahon,
Though the April acquittals — on 27 state charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery on a minor — were a defense victory, London remained jailed without bond because he is facing more state charges of abusing at least six more boys. His trial on the remaining state charges was scheduled to begin next week, but the Broward State Attorney's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office, working together, made a "strategic decision" to handle the case in federal court — for now, authorities said Friday. London's lawyer, Lourdes Gonzalez, said she expects London will be found not guilty of the federal allegations too. She said there is proof he did not have his phone and was "on the keyboards at the front of the church" when the inappropriate texts were sent. "He is not guilty," she said. At least a dozen boys have accused London of sexually abusing them, giving them money, clothes and video games in exchange for sex. Authorities said the abuse began in about 2000 and went unreported until shortly before his arrest in early 2012. The Sun Sentinel is not naming the alleged victims because of the nature of the case. London, locked up since his arrest in January 2012, testified in his state trial that he was innocent. In that case, he was charged with abusing four boys. Prosecutors presented evidence he engaged in similar conduct with three more boys entrusted to his care between 2000 and 2011. His ex-wife, Aretha Wimberly, told jurors she once walked in on her husband in bed with a 16-year-old boy but did not see enough to report a crime. London testified he did nothing illegal and only wanted to help disadvantaged people. In the 1990s, he worked at a Boys & Girls Club in Broward County, then became a youth mentor at the Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale and the dean of students at Eagle Academy Charter School in Lauderdale Lakes. He said he took boys whose families couldn't care for them into his unlicensed foster home, which he called "London's Hotel," and treated them like they were his sons. In the new criminal complaint, filed Wednesday by the FBI, agents said London started abusing the boy when he was 7. The boy, a distant relative and a member of London's "Somebody Cares" church youth group, was victimized repeatedly over nine years, agents wrote. The boy told investigators that London initiated the abuse by lying beside him on a bed, putting his arms around him, and kissing and licking the boy's ear and neck while London became aroused. It happened several more times before London forced him to perform oral sex, he said. When the boy was 15 or 16, he said London had anal sex with him once and had him participate in "threesomes" with London and other boys. London started giving him games, clothes, cellphones or $25 to a few hundred dollars for sex after he turned 15, he said. London then used the cellphone to send the boy "dirty" text messages and summon him for sex, the boy said. "Can I get some daddy action tonight?" read one text agents said London sent the boy in 2011. "How about doing me up a little in the car and I will give u extra 5.00," London wrote in another text, according to agents. London always referred to the boy by his nickname in the texts, which agents said proves London knew he was communicating with an underage boy.
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