MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY WESLEY MULLER
wmuller@sunherald.com

HANCOCK COUNTY — 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.