By Ruth Ingram
Clarion Ledger
September 29, 2011
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011109290356
 |
| Langworthy |
Former Clinton High choir teacher John Langworthy has been indicted on eight felony counts of gratification of lust in Hinds County, prosecutors say.
The Clinton resident was served with the indictment Wednesday, said Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride.
Langworthy, 49, the married father of two girls, is accused of befriending boys at two Jackson Baptist churches more than two decades ago, then sexually abusing them.
Police and prosecutors say the alleged abuses occurred in Jackson and Clinton, involve a total five boys ages 10-13 at the time, and occurred between 1980 and 1984.
Langworthy was booked Wednesday at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond and released on his previous bond, McBride said.
He was initially arrested Sept. 7 by both Clinton and Jackson police; Clinton charged him with two counts of gratification of lust and Jackson charged him with five counts.
In the indictment, however, he is charged with eight counts of gratification of lust involving five boys, McBride said. Two of those counts stem from alleged crimes in Clinton and the other six from alleged crimes in Jackson, he said.
Jeff Rimes, Langworthy's attorney, said Wednesday he and Langworthy "have been in regular contact with the district attorney's office."
"The indictment involves the same allegations that we were already aware of, and we do continue to cooperate with the investigators," Rimes said.
Langworthy remains free on $200,000 bond on the Clinton charge and a $500,000 bond on the Jackson charge.
McBride said an investigation shows Langworthy was heavily involved with the youth choirs from 1980-84 at First Baptist Church of Jackson and Daniel Memorial Baptist Church in Jackson. The alleged abuse in Clinton happened at Langworthy's dormitory room at Mississippi College while he was baby-sitting two of the boys, McBride said.
The alleged victims in the Clinton case also are among five alleged victims in the Jackson case, McBride said.
An investigation moved swiftly after Langworthy, who resigned in May as music minister at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, publicly told congregants during Aug. 7 services that he moved to Mississippi because of what he termed "sexual indiscretions" with young boys in Texas more than two decades ago when he was a music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas.
Langworthy did not return this fall as the Clinton High Arrow Singers director.
The maximum penalty on each count is 10 years in prison and a $1,000 fine, which was the penalty at the time the alleged crimes occurred, police say.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.