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  Martin County Pastor Again Accused of Beating Daughter, 16

By Keona Gardner
Sun-Sentinel
June 20, 2008

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/treasurecoast/sfl-flppastor0620pnjun20,0,96988.story

SEWALL'S POINT - A local pastor and civic activist in St. Lucie and Martin counties is facing an allegation of child abuse for the second time in three months.

The Martin County Sheriff's Office arrested Rodney McGill, 41, pastor of New Hope Outreach Center in Jensen Beach, on Thursday and charged him with aggravated child abuse. He originally was arrested in April in St. Lucie County after being accused of beating his daughter, 16, with an extension cord. He denied the allegation, and prosecutors dropped the charges May 20.

Two days after the charges were dropped, according to a Sewall's Point Police report, the daughter was asked to leave the home after she did not put away milk. The girl was returned to the home by a deputy. After the deputy left, McGill grabbed the teenager, choked her and pushed her into the house, causing an abrasion on her back to reopen, according to the report.

McGill ordered the girl upstairs, where he hit her on the side of her face and head, causing small cuts on her nose, right temple, middle of the back and right hip, according to the police report.

The report states another incident took place Wednesday when McGill entered the girl's room and told her she had not been obeying the rules. After swinging at her and missing, he climbed on top of her and struck her on the head and face and choked her, according to the police report.

Then McGill also ordered the teenager to stand in the shower fully dressed while cold water ran on her and told her that is how he felt when he was arrested in April, according to the report.

While the incident was going on, McGill's wife, Shalonda Gibson McGill, 36, was yelling in the background, "You gonna listen now," according to the report.

Sewall's Point Police arrested Gibson McGill on Wednesday and charged her with failing to protect the girl.

An investigator with the Department of Children & Families said the girl had a small fracture of her nose.

Rodney McGill was released from the Martin County Jail on Thursday on $5,000 bail and Gibson McGill was released Wednesday on $750 bail.

 
 

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