Youth Pastor Accused of Sexually Assaulting 14-year-old Girl on Train

By John Counts
MLive
July 10, 2017

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2017/07/youth_pastor_charged_with_sexu.html

Blaine Faircloth Jr., left, appears at the podium for a hearing at the 14A-1 District Court in Pittsfield Township on Thursday, July 6, 2017. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News(Melanie Maxwell)

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI - A Tennessee man is charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on a train during a church trip to Michigan five years ago.

Blaine Faircloth Jr., 33, appeared Thursday, July 6, in Pittsfield Township's 14A-1 District Court, where Judge Elizabeth Hines set a preliminary examination for July 27. There was no other discussion about the case in court Thursday.

Faircloth is accused of using a position of authority as a youth pastor in a church group to coerce the teen into a sexual relationship, according to the warrant.

Faircloth was 28 years old at the time of the alleged offenses, which police say took place between July 17, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2012 on a church trip, specifically on a train from Chicago to Dearborn. That's according to Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Edward Price, who presented that information in testimony before a magistrate when swearing to the arrest warrant.

Price was then with the Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force, an FBI task force that investigates human trafficking.

"The sexual contact started originally on this trip overseas in Bangkok, and continued on a plane ride overseas to Chicago," Price told the magistrate. "The sexual assault continued to take place on a train ride that started in Chicago .. with that train passing through Ann Arbor ... "

Price said Faircloth was a "person in a place of authority over this child, and fondled her multiple times during this train ride ... on her genitals, and also her breast area."

It's unclear why it took prosecutors five years to bring criminal charges.

Officials wouldn't disclose other details about the case. Michigan State Police, the investigating agency, could not be reached for comment. Federal officials with the Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force also could not be reached for comment.

Court records show Faircloth was charged June 21 with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Faircloth most recently was living in Tennessee and was extradited to Michigan, according to the Megan Hawthorne, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. The felony warrant lists Faircloth as a Southgate resident, however.

Faircloth was a youth minister at the Riverview Church of God, in Riverview, Michigan at the time of the alleged assault, according to Hawthorne.

The Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force investigated the incident because it's alleged to have occurred on a train, Hawthorne added. It's being investigated as an isolated incident, according to Hawthorne.

Faircloth Jr. is free on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.