Sex Offender Guilty Again, Tom Smith, Times Daily, February 26, 2009

Sex Offender Guilty Again

By Tom Smith
Times Daily
February 26, 2009

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090226/ARTICLES/902260331/1011/NEWS?Title=Sex-offender-guilty-again

Jerry King

DOUBLE SPRINGS - A former Haleyville Sunday School teacher and convicted sex offender from Michigan was found guilty Tuesday of sexually abusing a child.

Winston County Circuit Court officials said it took a jury five minutes to find Jerry Ray King, 47, of 983 Winston 36, guilty of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

King has not been sentenced, but faces the possibility of 15 years to life in prison because he is being sentenced as a habitual felony offender.

"I have been prosecuting child sex offenses for over 13 years," said Winston County Deputy District Attorney Neal Cook, who prosecuted the case. "During that time, I have encountered only two true child sexual predators. The first one was several years ago in Marion County. Jerry Ray King is the second one. He is the real deal. I do not personally know of a person who posed any greater danger to the children of our community than Mr. King."

Cook said King served nearly 18 years in a Michigan prison for molesting an 8 year-old. He almost immediately returned to his predatory ways when he arrived in Alabama, Cook said.

"Mr. King is an unrepentant child molester," Cook said during his closing remarks to the jury.

King was accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl he met at the City Lake Park in Haleyville in April while she was on an outing with her grandparents, according to testimony.

The child testified that King followed them for several minutes before engaging in a conversation with her and other members of her family, and invited them to attend services at the church in Haleyville where he taught Sunday school. The child's mother testified that she, the victim and the victim's older sister did go to the church the next week.

Authorities said that two days later, King showed up uninvited at the victim's house. The mother and sister were home, and King went to a back bedroom with the victim, where she wanted to show him something on a computer, according to testimony.

The victim said that while they were in the bedroom, King picked her up, and sat her on his lap, facing him before he kissed her, rubbing her back, chest and stomach. No immediate report was made by the child.

It was later discovered that King is a convicted sex offender from Michigan, and while his photo was being distributed around the area, the victim's sister recognized him and told her teacher he had visited her house. That information was reported to the Winston County Department of Human Resources and Haleyville police.

Investigators also received information that King had earlier followed a 9-year-old girl in a Haleyville grocery store and engaged in a conversation with the child's grandmother. It was also discovered that King had approached an 8-year-old girl in the toy department of a retail store in Haleyville.

Haleyville police received reports of a suspicious man, who turned out to be King, walking around the youth baseball fields. He was asked to leave when it was determined he was a convicted sex offender.

Records introduced during the trial indicated King was convicted in Michigan in 1989 on two counts of second-degree criminal sexual contact, which involved a child younger than 13. He was sentenced to 10 to 22 years and six months.

In December 2006, King was released by the Michigan Department of Corrections and moved to Haleyville.

King was ordered into immediate custody after the jury's verdict and was not allowed to be released on bond pending his sentencing hearing, which has not been set.