Molestation trial begins for former youth mentor

By Rafael Olmeda
Sun Sentinel
April 01, 2014

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-jeffery-london-sex-abuse-trial-20140401,0,925078.story

Through sobs, a 21-year-old man told a Broward jury Tuesday how he really feels about the man accused of raping him repeatedly as a teenager.

“I still love him.”

The accuser, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the accusations, had just finished telling the jury that he was initiated into years of sexual abuse by former youth mentor Jeffery London, 50, who is being tried for 27 counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and sexual battery on a minor.

London, who lived in Lauderdale Lakes when he was arrested, faces life in prison if convicted. The charges involve four separate accusers, one of whom took the stand Tuesday. London, who served as a mentor at the Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale and as dean of students at Eagle Charter Academy in Lauderdale Lakes from 2003-09, was arrested in 2012 when abuse allegations came to light.

Since then, at least 10 men have accused him of molestation, all while the men were as young as pre-teens through their teenage years.

The charges being tried before Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan involve four accusers, but three other accusers have been allowed to testify in order to show London’s alleged pattern of behavior.

The last witness called on Tuesday was the 21-year-old man who told jurors he was a teenager who moved in with London and was surprised one night when London curled up against him in bed, kissed his neck and led him to perform oral sex on London.

He hesitated when prosecutor Justin Griffis asked him to identify London in court, not wanting to make eye contact with the defendant. He said he never told anyone about the abuse until after London’s arrest, and when Griffis asked why, the man said he never stopped caring about London.

London, who is divorced, had been a father figure to more than 15 young men, all of whom came from homes where the fathers were not present and the mothers had other challenges. The men who testified Tuesday said London started as a father figure and turned into a predator.

“I was a child,” said one witness, now 23, who accused London of abusing him twice a week for nearly seven years. “You listen to adults as a child… I felt no one would believe me.”

Each accuser said he had no idea London was abusing other teenage boys in his care.

In exchange for sexual favors, the alleged victims said, London would offer money, clothing, video games and other incentives.

The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.