Pastor's wife is arrested eight months after he and two other black ministers were apprehended by the FBI for 'luring and paying to have sex with teen girls at their churches'
By Regina F. Graham
Daily Mail
December 17, 2017
The wife of one of three Ohio pastors accused of child sex trafficking has been indicted on federal charges accusing her of interfering in her husband's investigation.
U.S. District Court records show 43-year-old Laura Lloyd-Jenkins was arrested Friday in Toledo on such charges as obstructing a sex trafficking investigation and making a false statement.
She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held pending a detention hearing. Her attorney declined to comment after the arraignment.
Lucas County commissioners recently fired Lloyd-Jenkins from her job as a county administrator in Ohio.
Her 47-year-old husband, Cordell Jenkins, pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he, 38-year-old Anthony Haynes and 37-year-old Kenneth Butler conspired to recruit teen girls to have sex with them and shared photos and videos of the girls.
There were at least three victims mentioned in the indictment, the youngest being 14.
Haynes and Jenkins were arrested in April while Butler, who most recently ran a small church where his wife was the co-pastor, was arrested in October.
It's not surprising if the three men were acting together, said Celia Williamson, director of the University of Toledo's Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute.
'It says to me what we already knew, that sex trafficking is a business,' she said. 'Of course they worked together. That's how it thrives.'
Prosecutors say Haynes first began pursuing and grooming a 14-year-old girl in 2014 and that he gave her money for sex. He also warned her not to say anything because it would ruin his family and his church, according to court documents.
Haynes later introduced the girl to Jenkins and shared pornographic photos and videos that he had recorded, prosecutors said.
Jenkins, who followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a preacher in 1994, founded Abundant Life Ministries in Toledo seven years ago. The church closed after his arrest.
He began having sex with the girl supplied by Haynes in December, and later with another underage girl, an FBI agent testified. One of those girls attended his church, the agent said.
Jenkins, the agent testified, had sex with the girls at his home, church office and a motel. He often recorded the acts with his phone, according to court documents.
The same agent said that a third girl was 15 when she met Butler at Haynes' church.
Butler stared giving the girl rides to work and tried to touch her and convince her to have sex, she told investigators. They later had sex twice, she said according to a court document.
The FBI agent said Butler admitted having sex with the girl and knowing she was underage, but he denied giving her money for sex.
Each of the men could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
If Laura is found guilty, she could face a maximum of 28 years in jail. She will have a detention hearing Thursday December 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment