Emotional Testimony in Trial of Youth Pastor Accused of Sex Abuse

CBS Miami
April 1, 2014

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/04/01/emotional-testimony-in-trial-of-youth-pastor-accused-of-sex-abuse/

[with video]

Emotions ran high during testimony Tuesday in the trial of a former youth pastor who is accused of molesting children.

Jeffrey London faces 27 abuse charges and is looking at life in prison if convicted on all counts.

His accusers are now grown up and say the abuse started when they were young children.

One of the accusers testified Tuesday that he was sexually abused from the ages of 11 to 18.

That prosecution witness is now 25 and says he met London at the age of seven while attending a program at the Boys and Girls Club of Ft. Lauderdale where London was a counselor.

He said his grandmother trusted London and allowed him to move in with the pastor because she thought he would be safe with him.

The man sobbed as he described the abuse he endured and felt powerless to make it stop.

“I had nobody, I had no support system. My mom and dad were not there.”

He added that London raped him repeatedly and gave him gifts to keep him quiet.

“He said I love you and you are my son.”

He also spoke of alleged physical abuse saying once at the church where London was a youth minister, London choked him in front of the whole church.

A second man testified that he moved in with London when he was 14-years-old.

“I was looking for a male figure.” He also described repeated abuse that happened at London’s home and on the road.

“I would tell him I couldn’t pay attention and looked out the window,” the man testified.

Prosecutors say London who was also a dean of students at a charter school had dozens of underage boys live in his home.

London reportedly controlled what they ate, who they saw and demanded that they keep their bedroom doors unlocked.

Another man who is now 28-years-old testified that he is distantly related to London and also lived at his home on and off.

Even when London was diagnosed with a form of stomach cancer he told the jury that London continued to abuse him, though not as often.

The accuser told the jury he never reported the abuse because he had fear in his heart.

“Nobody would believe a child. They would say I was making up stories.”

Several members of London’s family packed the courtroom. They say the accusers are lying and maintain London is innocent.

Testimony resumes Wednesday.