Ex-benton Minister Paroled Following 2009 Sex Crime

Arkansas Online
January 31, 2012

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/jan/31/former-benton-minister-paroled-following-sex-crime/

David Pierce (center) is led into a police car Thursday by bailiffs Jake Postema (left) and Kevin Wiley outside the Saline County Courthouse, where the former Baptist music minister pled guilty to charges of sexual indecency with a child.

A former Benton music minister who plead guilty in 2009 to sexual indecency with children is to be released on parole, according to multiple news reports.

The date when David Pierce is to be released has not been disclosed. According to reports, he must first find a state willing to accept his residence under its parole program.The reports also say that if Pierce chooses to return to Arkansas, he may not live within 50 miles of Saline County or have contact with the victims or their families.

Pierce, who was 56 at the time of his conviction, was formerly a music minister at Benton's First Baptist Church for 29 years until he was fired following the investigation. Pierce plead guilty in 2009 to 54 counts of sexual indecency with children. He was convicted in August 2009 by the Saline County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Court records were disclosed in a previous Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story published on June 16, 2009:

"The accusers told authorities Pierce made them disrobe and then took measurements of their genitals and other body parts as part of what he called 'charting,' court records say. After that, Pierce and the boys often would masturbate, the records say.

The reported incidents took place at Pierce’s church office, at the bell tower, at a cabin in rural Saline County and at his home, the records say.

Two accusers said Pierce showed them pornography on a computer.

Investigators have searched Pierce’s home and office, seizing cameras, a computer, bottles of lubricant, legal pads, videos, CDs, letters addressed to three different males and photos of boys in their underwear, court records say. "

Calls to Saline County's parole and probation officials were not immediately returned. Arkansas Online will have more details on this story as it develops.