Former Alabama pastor pleads guilty to raping, sexually abusing young girls

By Jeremy Gray
AL.com
November 16, 2015

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/11/former_alabama_pastor_pleads_g.html

Mack Charles Andrews Jr. / Clarke County Sheriff's Office

Andrews was pastor at First United Pentacostal Church in Thomasville, now known as New Life Pentecostal Church.

The Clarke County Courthouse.

A former Clarke County pastor today pleaded guilty to charges of raping, sexually abusing and sodomizing multiple young girls.

Mack Charles Andrews Jr., 55, will serve 15 years in prison as part of the plea agreement.

Andrews was expected to stand trial starting today on charges involving multiple minors in the late 80s and into the 90s when he was pastor of the First United Pentacostal Church in Thomasville and principal of Faith Christian Academy.

Andrews was arrested on Oct. 3, 2013 on multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse, attempted rape, sodomy and sexual torture, according to court records. He is being held at the Clarke County Jail on $500,000 bond.

Warrants filed by Thomasville police at the time of the arrest outline charges involving multiple minors in the late 80s and into the 90s.

In September, one of Andrews' accusers shared with AL.com her story of alleged abuse. That victim said she was victimized from age 7 until she was 12. 

The day after that article was published, the judge in the case issued a gag order preventing attorneys and witnesses in the case from talking with reporters or posting details of the case on social media.

That victim, who now lives out of state, did not return to Alabama to participate in the trial, District Attorney Spencer Walker said. Four other victims, however, agreed to the plea deal.

"They did not want to go through a public trial," Walker said. 

Andrews' defense attorney declined to comment after the sentencing.