A church pastor locked an underage girl in a room and begged her for hours to take off her clothes, according to a police warrant.
Corinth police arrested Pastor Jeffrey Dale Williams for sexual performance on a child, a third-degree felony. He bonded out of jail late Wednesday night.
According to the warrant, the incident happened on March 30. The listed address for where the incident happened is 3201 Tower Ridge Drive, which is the church address for the Church of Corinth.
In early April, Child Protective Services forwarded police two separate reports of sexual abuse allegations. Police were able to contact a witness and the witness provided detectives with five audio recordings of Williams and a female juvenile.
Detectives said you can hear Williams trying to plead and beg the girl for two hours to take off her clothes so he could see some “eye candy.”
(READ COMPLETE AFFIDAVIT FOR ARREST)
At the end of April the victim met with police and told her story, which matches the audio tapes.
According to the warrant, the victim -- whose name and age have been redacted -- “told Jeff Williams over and over that this was not right that he was a preacher and he should not be doing this."
The victim told police Williams, “locked the door and put a chair up against the door….then tried to persuade her for over two hours off and on to remove her clothes so he could see her naked."
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Church Members Shocked
Church members were shocked to hear the news of the arrest.
Tina Martin attends the Church of Corinth. She’s known Williams for more than four years, and she can’t believe the allegations against him.
“From what I know about Pastor Jeff Williams is that he is a God-fearing man who does everything to teach his congregation, his town and his people everything about God,” Martin said.
The Church of Corinth released the following official statement early Thursday morning:
"We have no knowledge of nor any reason to suspect any inappropriate behavior. We intend to and will fully investigate the allegations, and we will fully cooperate with the authorities. Our prayers go out to this family of our Church."
Corinth police say the investigation is ongoing and are asking for any additional victims or witnesses to contact Corinth PD at 940-498-2017.
