ALABAMA
Digital Journal
By Brett Wilkins
Jan 9, 2014
Sheffield – A former Alabama Christian minister has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing boys who were members of his church youth group in the mid-1990s.
The Florence Times-Daily reports 79-year-old Oliver Brazelle, formerly music and youth minister at the First United Methodist Church of Sheffield, was arrested Wednesday by agents from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) and charged with second-degree sexual abuse and sodomy.
Authorities allege Brazelle sexually abused a teenage boy who was a member of his youth group at the church in the mid-1990s. The child was allegedly assaulted at Brazelle’s Shoals Creek home. Sheffield police launched an investigation in 2012 following accusations by church members who notified police of the alleged abuse, although no victims were initially willing to come forward. That changed last month when one alleged victim, now an adult, contacted authorities.
“I’m glad someone finally stepped up,” Sheffield Police Chief Greg Ray told the Times-Daily. “Maybe this will bring others forward.”
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