A former First Baptist Church of Canton volunteer accused of molesting a child at Bible school in the summer of 2010 pleaded guilty this month to the lesser offense of sexual battery against a minor. 

Cherokee County Superior Court Chief Judge Jackson Harris sentenced Matthew Brent Sheffield on April 18 to serve eight years on probation for the aforementioned offense.

Conditions of his probation also require Sheffield to register as a sex offender. 

According to court records, Sheffield was indicted by a Cherokee County Grand Jury in April 2011 on two counts of child molestation. The indictment charged Sheffield with inappropriately touching a juvenile’s thigh and leg in June 2010, as well as touching the boy’s buttocks. 

A civil suit filed by the parents of the juvenile, which was dismissed with prejudice last July, contended that the alleged misconduct occurred during a Bible school program at First Baptist Church of Canton and again during a church sanctioned trip to the beach. 

The lawsuit, which named senior pastor Dr. George Anderson and former church employee Shawn Finch as defendants, stated that Sheffield had a history of sexual misconduct but was allowed to volunteer with the church anyway.

Sheffield was accused of texting “sexually suggestive remarks” to students of the Cherokee County School District, where, according to the lawsuit, he worked as a substitute teacher. The Cherokee County Board of Education reportedly was made aware of the allegations against Sheffield by parents of juveniles who received those text messages.

The lawsuit further alleged that both Anderson and Finch were aware of the remarks made by Sheffield to students and even advised him to stop sending text messages to minors.

Sheffield reportedly continued to send sexually explicit messages to male students and was terminated from his supervisor job at First Baptist Church of Canton for insubordination. 

Several months later, however, Sheffield was allowed to volunteer with the church and was assigned to operate the sound system at various church events, including the Bible school program where the alleged sexual battery against the minor victim occurred.

Sheffield also was permitted to attend a trip to the beach, where he again committed sexual battery against the minor boy. The juvenile allegedly reported the incidents to his family and law enforcement officers were called. 

Sheffield was arrested in August 2010 on these allegations and pleaded not guilty in May 2011. 

The case had been continued several times since the 2011 indictment.