ALABAMA
Montgomery Advertiser
FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — A former Methodist church worker faces sex abuse charges in northwest Alabama, but questions about his conduct go back decades.
The TimesDaily reported that Oliver Brazelle, 79, of Sheffield was charged with sexual abuse and sodomy.
Brazelle is a former music and youth minister at First United Methodist Church of Sheffield, where he worked until 2012.
The paper reported that Brazelle was arrested Monday, but an investigation over allegations dating from the 1970s resulted in Brazelle being restricted from working with youth choirs by the church’s bishop a decade ago.
The criminal charges involve allegations that Brazelle sexually abused a teenage boy who was a member of his church youth group in the mid-1990s.
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