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	Life Term for Molester By Joe Johnson Athens Banner-Herald July 11, 2009 http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/071109/new_461997144.shtml 'Prophet' lured single moms, preyed on their sons A storefront preacher will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Clarke County jury convicted him of hiding behind the word of God to molest young boys in Athens. Antonio Andrette Sands, 36, called himself a prophet, pastor and apostle to ingratiate himself with single mothers, then molested and sodomized their sons - ages 7 to 13, all of whom had learning disabilities, authorities say. A jury last week found Sands guilty of aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, and three counts each of sexual battery and child molestation. Superior Court Chief Judge Lawton Stephens on Friday ordered Sands to serve life plus 60 years in prison. "I can't affect the past, but I can make certain you never have the opportunity to abuse another child for as long as you live," Stephens told Sands. Sands, who had oral and anal sex with his victims, expressed no remorse. "The only thing I have to say to the families is I forgive them," he said before deputies led him from the courtroom. Jon Forwood, assistant district attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit, called Sands a sexual predator who singled out his victims because they were vulnerable - learning-disabled boys who lived with poor, single mothers. He brought the victims clothes and other gifts their mothers couldn't afford, and held himself as a father figure whose only interest was to mentor the boys, Forwood said. Sands met the victims and their mothers at storefront churches, where he began speaking as a guest, then preached more regularly. There was no evidence that Sands ever was ordained as a minister, though he referred to himself as "Prophet Sands" and by other ecclesiastic titles, Forwood said. Before sentencing Sands, the judge heard from two mothers and a grandmother about how he hurt their families. "(My son) used to love to go to church, now he says he doesn't want to go back," one mother said. "He used to trust people, but he doesn't trust anymore." Another mother told the judge that after Sands molested her son, he's run away from home and tried suicide. The woman addressed Sands, telling him she had trusted him with her son "because you came to us in the name of Jesus." The trial that ended last week was Sands' second in less than three years. A native of the Bahamas who came to Athens about five years ago, Sands was living on Zetella Lane in April 2006 when he was arrested for allegedly sodomizing two young boys who were having sleep-overs with his own children. A jury acquitted him of aggravated sodomy and eight related felonies in December that year. Sands faces another three counts of aggravated sodomy when he goes on trial yet again Monday for allegedly forcing a 17-year-old boy to have sex in January 2008. Contact: joe.johnson@onlineathens.com
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