Pensacola News Journal
April 4, 2007
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/NEWS01/70404006
A Pensacola minister was arrested Tuesday after an investigation determined he had sex with a teenage boy.
Leon Rankins III, 35, of 3013 Tujaques Place, Pensacola, and 472 Heatherdown Way, Riverdale, Ga., was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a child after he turned himself in at the Pensacola Police Department about noon Tuesday, city police said in a news release. He is being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
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| Leon Rankins |
Rankins is the pastor of Restoration Full Gospel Baptist Church, 900 W. Cervantes St. He also is a registered sex offender, said Detective Tarlanda Gooden.
Gooden said the latest investigation began on March 20 after the victim's mother contacted police and said her 16-year-old son had been molested by his pastor.
The boy initially met Rankins several years ago in a local retail store. Gooden said Rankins befriended the youth and invited him to his church where the teenager eventually began doing various chores.
Gooden said the boy recently told his mother about the incidents because he had been praying and "asking God to deliver him from this situation," and had been depressed.
Anyone having information on or who may have been involved in similar incidents involving Rankins is asked to contact Detective Tarlanda Gooden at 435–1972.
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