By Bob Allen
A 71-year-old former Southern Baptist minister has been indicted by a grand jury in northern Mississippi on 18 felony counts of child sexual abuse.
The Democrat newspaper in Senatobia, Miss., reported March 26 that Larry Gene Singleton, former pastor of Bay Springs Baptist Church in Abbeville, Miss., faces charges of fondling, sexual battery and child pornography.
The Tate County Sheriff’s Department arrested Singleton Dec. 3 after an 18-year-old man accused the former pastor of sexually abusing him for a number of years, starting when he was 11 years old.
Police said Singleton also volunteered as a tutor at an extension campus of Gateway Christian Schools, sponsored by the independent Gateway Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., but did not have any contact with students there.
Singleton remains in the Tate County Jail under a $1 million bond. An initial court appearance is pending.
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