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Pastor Bound for Trial on Sex Charge WOOD September 19, 2011 http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kent_county/Pastor-bound-for-trial-on-sex-charge GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Tedd Butler, the pastor-on-leave at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Walker, was bound over for trial on a charge that years ago he sexually abused a man who is now in his 30s. During a preliminary hearing to determine if enough evidence existed to send the case to trial, three people testified against Butler. The main witness was the alleged victim, who is currently being held in a Minnesota jail on unrelated felony warrants. The man was in his teens when the alleged abuse took place. Butler's attorney tried to poke holes in the victim's story by repeatedly questioning him if he had been promised any type of plea deal for his testimony . The defense also questioned his memory of the incidents "Maybe not knowing what it was at the time and maybe so many memories being blotted together and at that time I don't even what that is," he testified, "and I've kind of tried to push all of that stuff away for the last 20 years." A police detective and a woman who interviewed the victim also testified. Butler, 46, was a staff member at the Landmark Baptist Church on 13 Mile Road in Algoma Township at the time of the alleged abuse in the late 1980s. He also faces similar charges in Ottawa County. Judge Steven Servaas found there was enough evidence on one charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct to send the case to trial. He will be arraigned in Circuit Court at a date not yet announced. |
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