CARTERSVILLE (GA)
Rome News-Tribune [Rome GA]
May 17, 2024
By John Bailey
When the man realized the youth pastor who had sexually victimized him as a child was going to adopt two young boys, he stepped forward.
He stepped forward despite the fact that he knew his youth pastor Christopher Codding is well loved at his church in Cartersville. He stepped forward despite the shame and pain he still suffered. He just knew he needed to stop it from happening to anyone else.
“When I would be invited to youth events (led by Codding) at elementary school I didn’t know I was being groomed… I didn’t know I already had a target on my back,” he told Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach during a sentencing hearing Thursday.
The man described being 10 years old and coming from a broken home, and waking up to Codding — a grown man he trusted and believed in — abusing him.
He described, from a child’s point of view, being scared and frozen and “not brave enough to say no.”
“This was the same man who did these things to me and then preached how wrong these things were,” he said. Codding was his support and loved by his peers and church group, many of whom were at court Thursday in support of him during his sentencing. “I was afraid of being called gay.”
Because of the abuse he withdrew, and even as a grown adult his voice sounded reminiscent of a wounded child. Through his life he’d seen the man who abused him praised for his faith and hard work and ability.
But when the time came and he saw Codding was seeking to adopt other children, he did the bravest thing a man can do. He stepped up. He stepped up despite his shame and pain and stopped it.
“The incredible men that came forward to stop this serial predator are the true heroes in this case and they prevented many more young boys from being abused,” said Floyd County Assistant District Attorney Emily Johnson.
Guilt
When the man who had suffered for so long stepped forward, Floyd County Police Department Sgt. Amy Nails, who is now retired, began investigating the case with a passion.
Aided by Lauren Thacker with the victim witness office and Jeff Richerson with the DA’s office, they were able to make a case. That investigation led to others coming forward and enough evidence to make an arrest.
In 2021, at the time of his arrest, Codding was employed as a radiologic technician, often working in Baltimore, Maryland, and as an instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. He volunteered as a youth pastor at Cassville Baptist Church in Cartersville.
Codding, 44, earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of felony child molestation and one count of sodomy in Floyd County Superior Court. Those crimes involved anal penetration of two boys who both were approximately 10 years old and attended the church where Codding was a youth pastor between 2014 and 2017.
The kids had troubled home lives, prosecutors said. Codding would step up and act as a father figure to the boys, and groomed them at a particular age.
He’d have them over at his house to play video games and spend the night. Once his age of preference passed, Johnson said, he’d move on to another victim.
The other victim who stepped forward was in court as well, to see Codding sentenced.
“You’ve shown no remorse for your crime,” he said in a statement. “You used me, manipulated me, abused me… You took something from me I can never get back.”
Another person who identified himself as a victim, although Codding is not charged with abusing him, also spoke out in court. He’d never met the other victims but described Codding abusing him in the early 2000s in New York.
Around 10 years old at the time, he described a broken home life and meeting Codding at church. He described the grooming process and how Codding convinced him to watch pornography and masturbate with him. He’d attempted to press charges back then but the case was dropped, deemed unprosecutable.
“I was just a little boy when you made me one of your victims,” he said. “You should feel ashamed of yourself for using God and his church to mask the evils of the monster you are.”
Now a father of two boys, he related the continuing pain the abuse caused him.
“I don’t even step in a church anymore, and the church you were a part of is just around the corner from where I live,” he told Codding via videoconference line during the hearing.
Sentencing
Disputing the prosecution’s assertion that Codding was a serial predator and just in church to find new victims, his attorney Molly Parmer pointed to the large number of people who’d come to support him in the courtroom.
They asked Judge Niedrach to sentence Codding to the minimum prison time, six years.
“We want to refute the idea that he is nothing more than a sophisticated predator,” Parmer said. “He’s had a long professional career and volunteered in the church.”
She also said the defense conducted their own investigation concerning other, unnamed victims, alleged by prosecutors.
“I have no reason to expect those exist,” she said. However, Codding faced multiple life sentences, potentially without parole, and decided to plead guilty to avoid a trial.
“He hopes this brings some closure to the victims,” Parmer told the judge. “This is a tragedy and these are tragic circumstances.”
Heyden Terry, who Codding raised as a son, spoke of his character.
“This man has been everything in my life. He’s been my best friend, he’s been my mentor,” Terry said. He spoke of the adventures they’d had together. “My plan when he gets out is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.”
Several more people praised Codding’s work ethic, his character, his devotion to family and his devotion to his church.
Speaking to the judge prior to sentencing, Codding asked for leniency.
“I took a plea deal for many reasons,” he said. “I did not want to put the victims and their families and my family through a trial.”
He talked about the amount it costs the state to keep him incarcerated. He outlined the quality of rehabilitative care. He spoke of the potential of losing his pro-social attitudes that have contributed to his success and the potential of adopting more criminal attitudes.
“Sometimes good people make bad choices,” Codding told the judge, following up by stating that everyone is just one bad choice away from imprisonment.
Prosecutors took a different tack in describing the events.
“He is pleading guilty and he is guilty of anally penetrating two young boys,” Johnson told the court. “He preyed on the weak and the vulnerable… (He) wants the child to feel they will not be believed. How will they believe these things about him when he is a man of God in public… but is a monster when out of the public eye.”
Quoting a verse from the New Testament, Johnson wrapped up her argument.
“But whoever misleads one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung about his neck and to be drowned,” Johnson told the judge. “While that’s not a sentencing option here, we ask that he be sentenced to serve all 19 years.”
Judge Niedrach, after taking a brief recess, returned to issue a sentence.
“The circumstances as they relate to this case justify no less of a sentence than 19 years,” the judge said. “And that’s what I’m going to do. I know everyone in this room is in pain and I share your pain. God bless you.”