Feb 10, 2008 11:56 pm US/Eastern
Sunday Service Held After Music Director Charged
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Members of a West Baltimore church react after one of their own admits to raping a 12-year-old girl.
Members of a West Baltimore church react after one of their own admits to raping a 12-year-old girl.
Jessica Kartalija has more from Bethel AME on the first Sunday service held since the church's musical director was thrown in jail.
Bethel AME Church has more than 17,000 registered members. When asked how they felt about sex abuse charges filed against one of their own,
Eyewitness News got "no comment" from everyone.
The congregation's 31-year-old music director, Timothy Price of Owings Mills, is charged with second-degree rape, assault, child abuse and multiple sex offenses.
Investigators say Price admitted to having sex with a 12-year-old parishioner on at least three occasions--twice in a parking lot near Druid Hill Park and once in a West Baltimore alley.
"The suspect in this case works with many children. From what we understand, he is a musician of the church, so therefore, they had plenty of access well before any of the incidents ever took place," Donny Moses, Baltimore City Police spokesperson, said.
Eyewitness News has learned the girl kept a journal and, after the last incident, told her mother what was going on.
Charging documents explain those incidents in graphic detail, saying the two began communicating through text messages and via cell phone last June.
Pastor Frank Reid says the entire congregation is praying for the victim, as well as Price. Price, who is married with a one-year-old daughter, will appear in court March 4.
Price has been held on $1 million bail at Baltimore's Central Booking since his arrest on Wednesday.
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