By Jeff Weiner
Orlando Sentinel
December 17, 2011
www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/os-pastor-arrested-polk-county-20111217,0,2061579.story
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| Arnold Maurice Mathis, 40, was arrested by Polk County deputies on Saturday. He faces five counts of sexual battery on a child by a person of authority. (Polk County Sheriff's Office / December 17, 2011) |
A sex-offender working as an assistant pastor at a Polk County church was arrested on Saturday after deputies say he confessed to having sex with a 14-year-old boy six years ago.
Arnold Maurice Mathis, who now works at Higher Praise Ministries in Lake Wales, was senior pastor for Saint City Power and Praise Ministries in Winter Haven when the abuse occurred, deputies said.
The victim, now age 21, contacted the Sheriff's Office this week. He told investigators that Mathis, now 40, approached him after a high school basketball game when he was a 14-year-old freshman.
An arrest report states Mathis asked the victim about his shoes, and offered to "help" financially. The victim said he didn't have a father figure in his life at the time, and thought Mathis could fill that role.
The report states that the teen called Mathis the next day, and they met and went to a fast food restaurant. After eating, they returned to Mathis' home, the report states, where the abuse occurred.
Mathis, the report says, performed a sex act on the child, then drove to a nearby bank. There, he gave the teen $100, instructing him to buy a pre-paid cell phone so they could communicate.
Within days, the victim said, Mathis again molested the child at his home, then engaged the teen in sexual intercourse. The victim described the incidents to detectives in graphic detail.
The report says the sexual activity took place repeatedly, and Mathis always gave the teen money afterwards. Officials say Mathis offered a full confession when interviewed by detectives.
Records show Mathis was designated a registered sexual offender after a 1997 Leon County conviction for indecent assault of a child. He was sentenced to four years in prison, serving less than two.
Since, he has been arrested twice in Polk County for failing to registers as a sex offender, according to the Sheriff's Office. He now faces five counts of sexual battery on a child by a person of authority.
State business records list Mathis as the president of Saint City Power and Praise Ministries, his church at the time of the abuse, which was officially founded in 2005 and has since been dissolved.
Harold Lonton, pastor and president of Higher Praise Ministries in Lake Wales, did not answer or immediately return a call to the phone number listed for the church in state business records.
Contact: jeweiner@tribune.com
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