ALABAMA
Daily Reporter
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A former pastor at a Birmingham-area Baptist Church has been charged with sexual abuse and sodomy after two adults told investigators he molested them years ago when they were children.
Sharon Heights Baptist Church cut all ties with the Rev. Jay Strickland, who had served as the Jefferson County church’s administrative pastor, after sheriff’s investigators arrested him last month. Strickland was freed from jail on $70,000 bond and faces a preliminary court hearing July 17.
Authorities began investigating Strickland in April after a man came forward and said the minister had sexually abused him as a boy, al. com reported (http://bit.ly/VG1gdW ). Jefferson County sheriff’s Sgt. Jack Self said investigators later tracked down a woman who told them she too had been molested by Strickland during her childhood.
Few other details about the case have been released. Strickland’s defense attorney, Richard Jaffe, said authorities claim the abuse described by their witnesses happened at least seven years ago.
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