BishopAccountability.org

Pastor indicted on 11 counts related to child sex abuse

By Wes Wolfe
Golden Isles News
November 22, 2016

http://goldenisles.news/news/local_news/pastor-indicted-on-counts-related-to-child-sex-abuse/article_07e900e5-bdcf-5dd1-adcc-0a3a128a4925.html

Kenneth Adkins

A Glynn County grand jury issued an 11-count indictment Thursday accusing the Rev. Kenneth Adkins of five counts of aggravated child molestation, three counts of child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and one count of influencing a witness.

Adkins turned himself in to authorities at the Glynn County Detention Center the morning of Aug. 26 after police sought his arrest on child molestation charges.

His accuser, referred to in court by the initials A.J., is now 21 years old and went to an Army sexual assault counselor in April where prosecutors say he told of sexual acts performed on him and with him by Adkins when the alleged victim was 15 years old.

During a combative evidentiary hearing Sept. 9, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent James Feller went into graphic and specific detail of incidents between Adkins, A.J. and a girl referenced as T.V. that were associated with the ministry Adkins ran at the time on G Street.

During recorded phone calls from the Glynn County Detention Center to a friend of A.J.’s, played during Adkins’ first bond hearing, prosecutors contend Adkins tried to illegally influence the friend and, by extension, A.J., to drop the case.

Brunswick Superior Court Judge E.M. Wilkes III issued an order Sept. 28 denying Adkins’ bond.

Adkins’ defense attorney, former Brunswick Judicial Circuit Public Defender Kevin Gough, submitted a motion Nov. 4 for a second bond hearing, stating that Adkins’ First Amendment rights were violated and that the court misinterpreted his statements from jail.

According to a statement sent with the motion, Gough said the court violated Adkins’ “due process rights by expressly denying bail based on Adkins’ stated belief that his prosecution was ‘politically motivated’ and his expressed doubts as to whether he could receive a fair trial.”

Wilkes mentioned in his reasoning that Adkins might feel justified about jumping bond if he felt his civil rights were violated.

“There is nothing ‘new’ in the indictment, which is not evidence of anything anyway,” Gough said in a message to news media following the release of the indictment. “As Judge Sol Wachtler once famously observed, a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Having already demanded a speedy trial, and eager to clear his good name, Pastor Kenneth Adkins and his family look forward to his day in court.”

A hearing on the second motion for bail is scheduled for Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Glynn County Courthouse.

 

Contact: wwolfe@goldenisles.news




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