Youth Pastor Accused of Sexually Abusing Child in Hancock County

By Wesley Muller
Sun Herald
March 15, 2016

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article66244832.html

David Thorne

A youth pastor was arrested Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

Hancock County sheriff's investigators booked David Matthew Thorne, 35, of Picayune, on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

The alleged crimes occurred in Hancock County and came under investigation after the child's parents notified authorities, Grannan said.

According to his biography on the Goodyear Baptist Church's website, Thorne is originally from Hickory and has been serving at Goodyear since July 2007.

Calls to the church were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.