Police: AL pastor offered to babysit 13-year-old, then took her to his church and raped her

By David Edwards
Raw Story
May 6, 2014

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/06/police-al-pastor-offered-to-babysit-13-year-old-then-took-her-to-his-church-and-raped-her/

An Alabama pastor was arrested last week after being accused of taking a 13-year-old girl to a church and raping her.

According to authorities in Jefferson County, the girl’s mother said that Pastor Tyrone Banks, Sr. had offered to watch her daughter while she attended an event on Saturday, April 12.

The girl told her mother that Banks drove her to a church in Hueytown, where he claimed he worked as an associate pastor, WSFA reported.

“He had a key to the church and took the victim inside to the kitchen where he sexually assaulted her,” Chief Deputy Randy Christian explained.

The girl later reported the assault to her mother, who called the police.

Lt. Don Edge of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said that Banks appeared to be a minister at the church, not an associate pastor. Edge, however, declined to name the church.

Banks was arrested on May 2, and charged with rape by forcible compulsion and first degree sodomy. He was released on May 4 after posting a $120,000 bond.

Authorities said that additional charges could be forthcoming, and that he had a previous 2002 charge for first degree robbery.

Watch the video below from WSFA, broadcast May 5, 2014.