Posted on 12/02/2009 8:01:30 AM PST by markomalley
LOWELL -- Members of a Gaston county church are vowing to support their pastor after he was accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.
Keith Pettis, pastor of New Life Christian Center, was arrested in August on several charges, including statutory rape, taking indecent liberties with a child, and first-degree sex offense with a child.
The girl, now 14 and living in another N.C. town, said the abuse started in August 2006 and continued until March of this year, according to Gaston County Police.
Pettis, 42, was surrounded by parishioners and his family Tuesday evening as the church held a rally for their spiritual leader.
"I believe in his innocence," said Michelle Brown, one of about 40 supporters who attended the rally. "I don't believe that he did this."
Pettis, who was released on $50,000 bond after his arrest, is due in court on Thursday. He declined to speak with reporters Tuesday evening.
His older brother, Winifred Pettis, said the church saw a drop in attendance immediately after the pastor's arrest but more worshipers now attend weekly services.
"I'm his brother. I know his character," the elder Pettis said. "I raised him, that's not in him."
The Duke players placed themselves in a position where the accusation could be made. Pastors are supposed to know better.
If your child’s babysitter had an accusation against them, would you ignore it?
In that case you would have evidence. Is there evidence here?
Would people be asking these very valid questions if this was a 30 year old accusation against a Catholic priest?
If a policeman accuses you of running a stop sign, where is the evidence?
Of course I wouldn’t ignore it. But I wouldn’t publicly defame her if there were no physical/actual evidence to support the charges.
And what physical evidence is sufficient to make you suspicious of a person watching your child?
Ignoring an accusation because evidence is difficult to obtain is myopic. My experience has been that these accusations are accurate. If you watch “To Catch A Predator” a few times, you will realize that these people exist in vast numbers.
“He declined to speak with reporters Tuesday evening.”
I would be screaming of my innocence at every turn.
I’ve lived that one. Challenged a ticket for running a red light. My word against the Cop. No evidence either way. GUILTY!
Seriously, can you not understand what I’m saying?
I’m saying that while we should not dismiss accusations of sexual abuse, we should not be quick to assume that someone is guilty simply because they’ve been accused of it.
I can’t explain it any more clearly than that.
I would hope that if someone accuses you of sexual abuse, others would not be so quick to assume that you truly are guilty. For the record, AppyPappy, I would not be quick to assume that you are guilty.
If a man walks up and shoots you, you do not have to assume he is innocent of the crime.If a man walks up and shoots you, you may not remain alive long enough to assume he's innocent of the crime. ;)
If a man walks up and shoots you, you do not have to assume he is innocent of the crime.
If a man walks up and shoots you, you may not remain alive long enough to assume he's innocent of the crime. ;)
Having known of girls who lied about this sort of thing. We have to be very very careful that we have more evidence than just her say so. Too many innocent men are being marked for life as “sex offenders” these days for crimes they did not commit or petty things that should not be registered as a sex offense. I knew a young man who mooned his principal.. she in turn called the police, charged him with indecent exposure, and he had to register as a sex offender. I also knew a man whose teenaged daughter had mental problems and accused him of molesting her because he refused to buy her something.. because this happened on an army base, it automatically became a federal case, which is handled more differently, with stricter penalties. I’m not saying this kind of thing doesn’t happen, but we have to be careful not to give in to automatically believing a child never lies.
Please see comment #32.
That’s good to know.
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