LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune
By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on March 23, 2015
Jonathan Bailey, the former youth minister fired last month from First Baptist New Orleans church, has been arrested a third time after the Orleans Parish grand jury handed up a massive 13-count indictment alleging a pattern of predatory sexual conduct with an underage congregant.
The alleged victim in the indictment is the same 14-year-old girl questioned by New Orleans police six weeks ago, after authorities said video surveillance cameras captured her and Bailey slipping into a darkened closet together during a Feb. 8 function at the large Lakeview church. Bailey was arrested Feb. 23, accused of indecent behavior with a juvenile, then was re-arrested March 4 and booked with sexual battery, after investigators said the girl told of more serious sexual conduct with the married church staffer in a second interview with police.
Bailey twice posted bonds of $35,000 to be free after those arrests. But he was booked into Orleans Parish Prison again Monday (March 23) with a new bond of $6.5 million set by the grand jury bill — $500,000 on each of the 13 counts.
Bailey’s attorney, Townsend Myers, said Monday night he was aware of the new charges but declined comment on the case or his client.
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