FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel
[with video]
By Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
7:40 p.m. EDT, April 9, 2014
They trusted him. They loved him. They looked to him as a father figure. And Jeffery London betrayed that trust by sexually molesting the boys in his care, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A Broward jury began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon over whether London was a serial pedophile or, as his defense lawyer argued, a kind man whose good deeds are being punished by opportunistic fortune seekers.
London, 50, of Lauderdale Lakes, faces life in prison if convicted of 27 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery on a child. He was a youth mentor at Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale and the dean of students at Eagle Academy Charter School.
The allegations first surfaced in 2011, with more than a dozen teenagers eventually coming forward.
Prosecutor Justin Griffis reminded jurors of the testimony of seven men, all of whom told similar stories of how their difficult family lives led them to stay with London temporarily at his home in Coral Springs and, later, Lauderdale Lakes. The men said London traded money, clothing and video games for sexual favors.
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