Polk Investigators Say Clevon Ghent, 18-Year-Old Nephew Gernard Jones Abused Girl Several Times This Year.
By Shoshana Walter
The Ledger
September 4, 2009
http://www.theledger.com/article/20090904/NEWS/909045060?Title=Police-Men-Had-Sex-With-Girl-12
LAKELAND | A volunteer minister and his nephew were arrested Thursday on charges they had sex with a 12-year-old girl who attends their church.
Clevon Ghent, 35, of 1161 Waterview Point in Lakeland, is charged with five counts of custodial sexual battery. His nephew, 18-year-old Gernard Jones, a Kathleen High School student, is charged with three counts of lewd battery.
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| Gernard Jones |
According to the Sheriff's Office, the abuse began in May or June, when the girl said she first had sex with Jones in a parked car in her driveway. The next incident occurred while the girl was babysitting Ghent's children, and in a third encounter, both men had sex with the girl before driving her home from Bible study, the Sheriff's Office said.
Ghent met the girl as a volunteer minister at the Born Again Church of God and Christ in Auburndale, where he managed Trinity Cleaning Service, the church's cleaning business.
The investigation began Aug. 28 when the girl told two teachers at school that she'd had sex with "Minister Ghent" and Jones. The teachers notified the girl's father, who contacted authorities. Lakeland police began the initial investigation.
The Sheriff's Office provided the following timeline of events:
In July, Ghent drove the girl to his home to babysit his children, who are 6, 7, 8 and 12 years old. During the ride, he told the girl he was aware that she'd had sex with Jones. When they arrived, Ghent told Jones to take the other children for a walk. When the girl asked Ghent if she could go along, Ghent told her she was grounded and not allowed to go.
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| Clevon Ghent |
As the others left, Ghent took the girl into his kitchen where he told her he'd been sexually abused as a child. Then Ghent took the girl into his bedroom and had sex with her.
In late July, Ghent had sex with the girl in his home again.
About a month later, he agreed to give the girl a ride home from Bible study. Ghent dropped off two of his children at home, then drove Jones and the girl to a vacant lot on Reynolds Road in Lakeland. The girl had sex with both men in the car. Neither suspect wore a condom during the incidents, the Sheriff's Office said.
In interviews after their arrests, the suspects admitted to the incidents and said they were aware of the girl's age, the Sheriff's Office said.
Detectives are also investigating other allegations of sexual abuse that the girl had written about in her journal.
Ghent and Jones were being held in Polk County Jail without bail Friday night.
Authorities say Ghent and Jones are not the first to abuse positions of authority.
In April, former First Baptist Church at the Mall volunteer Marshal Seymour was sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting three boys.
And last month, Jere Michael Temple of Lakeland was charged with custodial sexual battery after police say he had sex with a 13-year-old boy he mentored and met through Rainbow Promise Community Church in Auburndale.
Shoshana Walter can be reached at shoshana.walter@theledger.com or 863-802-7590.
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