Dressed in orange inmate coveralls, his hands and feet in cuffs, Eddie sat at the defense desk in the courtroom, sometimes looking straight ahead at District Judge Chad Coker, sometimes looking down at the desktop. He only made eye contact with his attorney.

Eddie, 42, 706 Courtland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is charged with 31 counts of second-degree sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and two counts of possession of child pornography of children younger than 17 years of age.

Eddie, who was children's pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals from 1998 until his arrest, was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing and a motion hearing to reduce his $1,030,000 bond.

After a brief conversation between his attorney, Billy Underwood, Colbert County District Attorney Bryce Graham Jr. and Chief Assistant District Attorney Kyle Brown, Eddie and Underwood briefly conferred and agreed to wave the preliminary hearing and to remove the motion to reduce the bond.

Coker said by waving the preliminary hearing, the case against Eddie will automatically be presented during the March grand jury session.

"We didn't want to inflame the public with what would come out from the preliminary hearing," Underwood said when asked why his client declined the preliminary hearing. "And if the bond was lowered enough that he could get out, there might be more charges filed against him and he would be back in jail. So, nothing would be gained by reducing the bond today."

The charges Eddie is facing involves one boy who was 11 at the time he said the abuse began. However, as more children come forward, Eddie could face charges stemming from accusations of inappropriate actions with several children that could date back numerous years, authorities said.

Graham said his office was prepared to proceed with the preliminary hearing and would have opposed any kind of bond reduction.

"We feel like no hearing was in the best interest of all parties at this time," Graham said.

Graham said the investigation into the allegations is continuing and additional cases could be presented to the grand jury in March.

Court officials said several family members of some of the children who have spoken with authorities were in attendance during Tuesday morning's brief proceedings.

Agent Brian Faulkner, of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, is assisting the Muscle Shoals Police Department with the case. He said as the investigation has progressed, more potential victims have been coming forward.

He declined to elaborate as to how many have been interviewed.

"The victims are from Highland Park Baptist, prior churches he attended and even from church retreats he went to," Faulkner said.

Authorities said the church retreats were in other counties in Alabama.

Police took Eddie into custody Jan. 31. He was charged Feb. 4.

Underwood said it was apparent by Eddie's demeanor in the courtroom that he feels bad about the situation.

"I'm sad about this, for everyone involved," Underwood said. "This is a black eye on the community."

Eddie remains in the Colbert County Jail.