Tulsa Minister to Face Trial on Child Molestation Charges

By Bill Braun
Tulsa World
July 10, 2014

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/tulsa-minister-to-face-trial-on-child-molestation-charges/article_7dbfc9a8-4ab9-56e0-82db-6982ffa401d6.html

A Tulsa pastor must face trial on nine counts of lewd molestation, a judge ruled Wednesday.

At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing that started Monday, Damien Keith Bonner Sr., 32, was ordered to face trial on charges involving three teenage girls.

Bonner most recently has been pastor of the Galilee Baptist Church, 721 E. Pine St., police said. Defense attorney Stan Monroe said Wednesday that Bonner was recently terminated from his preaching job there.

The charges allege that Bonner knew two of the girls through that church and the other girl through Mount Zion Baptist Church, 419 N. Elgin Ave., where he previously was a minister.

The charges allege that the molestations occurred at various places, including in Bonner’s car, at his apartment in Owasso and at Lacy Park in Tulsa.

Most of the offenses are alleged to have occurred between March 2013 and April of this year. However, two charges involving one girl allege that crimes occurred between June 2006 and April 2008. That child is now an adult.

Monroe said Bonner denies improperly touching the girls.

Bonner, who was arrested on March 14, remained in the Tulsa Jail on Wednesday with bail set at $450,000.

The hearing was in Tulsa County Special Judge David Youll’s court.

Bill Braun 918-5?81-8455