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	Grandson, 13, Testifies That Former Preacher Abused Him By Martha Deller mdeller@star-telegram.com Fort Worth Star-Telegram March 2, 2006 http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13997934.htm FORT WORTH -- He's barely 13 and slightly built, but on the witness stand Wednesday, he mesmerized a Tarrant County courtroom with his account of how his grandfather, former Baptist preacher Larry Nuell Neathery, sexually assaulted him for years. Neathery, 56, is on trial on charges involving five boys, including three of his grandsons. The verdict may hinge on whether jurors believe his young accusers or his attorneys' contentions that the boys have falsely accused the former pastor of Westside Victory Baptist Church. Neathery's grandson acknowledged that he didn't want to talk about the sex acts that the man he called "Pops" forced him to participate in "too many times" to count, starting when he was 5 or 6. Led by prosecutor Mitch Poe, he quietly detailed for more than three hours how Neathery initially fondled him outside his clothing. Sometimes the abuse occurred in Neathery's locked church office, he said. Other times, it took place in his grandfather's River Oaks home. As he got older, the teen testified, Neathery asked him to remove his pants so they could engage in sex acts. Sometimes, he said, he awoke to find his grandfather having sex with him. When he tried to resist or threatened to tell someone, the teen testified, Neathery threatened "to beat me until I was a vegetable." He said he believed the threats because sometimes Neathery beat him with a belt. When he was 7, the teen said, his grandfather took him to another man's house, where the men videotaped a prostitute having sex with the boy. He said his grandfather also had sex with the other man and with the prostitute and looked at pornography on a computer. The incidents at the other man's house occurred 10 or 15 times over two years, he said, sometimes including his younger brother, who was forced to participate in sex acts with him. The teen said he tried unsuccessfully to stop his grandfather from abusing his younger brother. After one of his friends accused Neathery in April 2004, the boy said, police investigators came to his school to talk to him. At first, he said, he didn't back up his friend's account or admit that Neathery had assaulted him, too. About six months later, however, he told his mother and stepfather about the abuse after his grandfather again tried to molest him. Defense attorney Leon Haley suggested that the teen accused Neathery after he was punished for cursing and refusing to help his mother clean the house. In his questioning of the teen and his stepfather, Haley also suggested that the teen and his younger brother concocted the account they gave their parents. Martha Deller, (817) 390-7857 mdeller@star-telegram.com
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