Ex-youth Minister Re-arrested in First Baptist Case; 2nd Church Reports Firing Him over Juvenile Affair Allegation

By Ken Daley
The Times-Picayune
March 4, 2015

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/03/former_youth_minister_re-arres.html

Former First Baptist New Orleans youth minister Jonathan Bailey, arrested Feb. 23 on accusations of indecent behavior with a juvenile, was arrested again Wednesday (March 4) and rebooked with the more serious charge of sexual battery. New Orleans police said the charge stems from the same case involving a 14-year-old female congregant. (Photo courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)

The former youth minister who last month was fired from Lakeview's First Baptist New Orleans church and arrested on accusations of indecent behavior with a juvenile was rebooked Wednesday (March 4) on a more serious charge of sexual battery involving the same underage girl.

Jonathan Bailey's new arrest warrant said a second church has contacted New Orleans police to say it fired Bailey as youth minister about 10 years ago, because of similar allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a juvenile congregant. Court documents did not name the second church or say whether it's located in New Orleans.

Orleans Parish magistrate commissioner Robert Blackburn on Wednesday set Bailey's new bond at $35,000. At a court appearance, Bailey's attorney, Townsend Myers, told the commissioner, "While this is a rebooking on a new charge, it's a new spin on the alleged conduct he already has been arrested for."

Bailey, 33, had been free on bond after being booked Feb. 23 with one count of indecent behavior with a juvenile. That arrest came after First Baptist New Orleans officials and the parents of a 14-year-old girl notified NOPD Special Victims Section Detective Corey Lymous of alleged inappropriate behavior between the youth minister and the student inside a church closet, and during an earlier out-of-state retreat in Mississippi.

The girl, according to that first arrest report, told her parents that Bailey "kissed her and touched her inappropriately while in the closet." Church surveillance video recorded Bailey and the girl entering and exiting the closet. The report said the girl described being "in a relationship" with the married church staffer, and told of two other instances of Bailey kissing and fondling her.

Second police interview leads to new charges

First Baptist New Orleans senior pastor David Crosby said Bailey was fired and escorted off church property Feb. 9, the day the allegations first were reported to him and to police.

The warrant for Bailey's new arrest says the girl consented to a second interview on Feb. 24, in which she said she had not told her parents or police the full extent of her contact with Bailey.

"She reiterated the previous information," the new warrant said, "and added two instances of which she and Jonathan Bailey had engaged in oral sex acts." The warrant says one instance occurred in Biloxi, Mississippi. The other took place "in a room" inside the First Baptist New Orleans complex at 5290 Canal Blvd., the warrant said.

Intercourse is not alleged, according to the report, but the degree of sexual contact reported by the girl was enough for authorities to re-arrest Bailey on the more serious felony charge at 3:51 a.m. on Wednesday.

Warrant: Other church fired Bailey for "inappropiate relationship"

The warrant indicated this is not the first time Bailey has faced allegations of misconduct. On March 2, the warrant said, Detective Lymous received a telephone call from a previous employer of Bailey. That person said Bailey worked as a youth minister for their church a decade ago, but was fired after church officials discovered "an inappropriate relationship between him and a under aged (sic) member of the congregation."

The warrant doesn't say whether that relationship was reported to police.

Bailey's new charge increases the potential sentence he could face if convicted. The original charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile is punishable in Louisiana by up to seven years in prison with the possibility of parole, probation or a suspended sentence. But a conviction for sexual battery would carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison without parole, probation or suspended-sentence possibilities.

Myers, Bailey's attorney, declined to comment outside court, as did Bailey's parents, who avoided speaking to a reporter. Attempts to contact Crosby for comment on the new allegations were not successful.

Blackburn set a May 3 date for Bailey's next hearing.