A teenage girl who looked to Anthony Haynes as her father was sexually assaulted and groomed to be used by other men, federal prosecutors told a jury during opening statements Monday at the former Toledo pastor’s trial.
Anthony Haynes, 40, who led Greater Life Christian Center, agreed to let the 14-year-old girl live with his family in 2014 after she was neglected by her biological mother, federal prosecutor Michael Freeman said in U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Ohio.
Mr. Haynes is charged with conspiracy to sex-traffic children, sex trafficking, sex exploitation of a minor, and obstruction. The jury, selected Monday morning out of 60 prospective jurors from Northwest Ohio, heard testimony from the girl’s school counselor, as well as from FBI agents who executed search warrants on April 7, 2017.
It wasn’t long after the girl moved in that she soon realized her relationship with Mr. Haynes would not include a father-daughter bond, the prosecutor told the jury.
Weeks after moving in with the Haynes family, Mr. Haynes took the eighth-grade girl to an apartment where he engaged in oral sex with another woman in front of the teenager, Mr. Freeman told the jury. Days later, Mr. Haynes took the teenager and the same woman to his church, where he ordered them to engage in sexual acts with each other, which Mr. Haynes recorded on his cell phone.
Mr. Haynes then took the girl to his church by herself, Mr. Freeman said.
“At the place of worship, when she’s 14 years old, he had sex with her,” the federal prosecutor said.
Mr. Haynes later introduced the girl to another pastor, Kenneth Butler, who has pleaded guilty to having sex with her.
The teen later moved in with a new guardian and began attending Abundant Life Ministries, Cordell Jenkins’ church. Jenkins expressed an interest in the girl, and Mr. Haynes encouraged her to have sex with the fellow pastor — coaching her with what to say in text messages, Mr. Freeman said.
Aside from the victim testifying, federal prosecutors said they will show text and voice messages from former county administrator Laura Lloyd-Jenkins to Mr. Haynes, warning him of an upcoming investigation after she met with the girl and her guardian one evening at a pizza shop.
The girl’s guardian looked through her phone and saw the racy text messages and confronted Lloyd-Jenkins at the restaurant, Mr. Freeman said.
Callie Haas, a counselor at Penta Career Center, testified the girl showed quite a change in personality the next day at school — going from an outgoing student ambassador who gave tours of the school facility to someone who seemed “numb.”
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SOURCE: The Toledo Blade, Allison Dunn
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