MIAMI (OK)
KSNF [Joplin, MO]
February 14, 2023
By Sheila Stogsdill
Fred McCoy Gammon, Jr. free on $35,000 bail
A Wyandotte pastor accused of abusing a child sent several sexually suggestive and inappropriate text messages to a juvenile victim, including one message about “wanting to smell her underwear,” court documents show.
Fred McCoy Gammon, Jr, 42, of Miami, is charged in Ottawa County District Court with child sexual abuse. He is free on $35,000 bail, court records show.
Gammon is still listed on the website as the reverend of Wayside Assembly of God church in Wyandotte. Gammon’s Facebook page, lists July 18, 2021, as the date he became pastor of the church. The charges of child sex abuse stem from alleged incidents in 2020 and 2021, according to an arrest affidavit.
He has denied the allegations, the affidavit states.
Jeremy Bennett and Ken Gallon, Gammon’s attorneys said in an email “Mr. Gammon maintains his innocence, but will not make any further comments on the advice of counsel.”
Telephone calls to the Oklahoma District Council of the Assemblies of God in Oklahoma City were also not returned. The last known telephone number for Wayside Assembly of God church was not a working number and the church’s official social media site has been deactivated.
When questioned about sexually suggestive and inappropriate text messages that purportedly came from his cell phone Gammon repeatedly denied the content of the text messages, the affidavit states.
According to a probable cause affidavit, text messages allegedly from Gammon’s cell phone to the juvenile show the pastor texting “Oh, I mean it, you are like a fire to me” and “You are hot” and references to smelling the juvenile’s underwear.
The affidavit also states that Gammon’s wife, Tonya, told investigators he approached her saying, “he was being convicted by God and he needed to let her know that he saw (the juvenile victim) in a different light now and he hopes she can forgive him as a wife.”
Gammon’s wife reportedly said she forgave her husband “but that it hurt her.”