Today’s edition of Stories That Not Be False™, a series inspired by the illiteracy of a bloated crone named India, takes us to Toledo, Ohio, where we ask the musical question: “Does anybody in Ohio
dream of that Spanish citadel?”
One of three Toledo area pastors caught up in an alleged child sex trafficking scheme admitted in court Monday that he had sex with two minor girls, even at times at his friend’s church office.
Kenneth Butler, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to sex traffic children, obstruction of a sex trafficking investigation, and two counts of sex trafficking of children.
Although three of the charges carry maximum possible sentences of life in prison, Butler is to be sentenced to 17½ years in prison as part of a plea agreement. Judge Jack Zouhary scheduled sentencing for Sept. 12.
“This defendant has admitted to crimes that include preying on a foster child who was previously the victim of sexual abuse, and he committed these crimes in a house of worship,” U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman said in a news release. “Butler may hold himself out to the community as a pastor, but in the eyes of the law he is a criminal who pays money to sexually assault children.”
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Butler, who was pastor of Detroit-based Kingdom Encounter Family Worship Center, was indicted on the charges last November — more than six months after federal agents arrested the Rev. Cordell Jenkins, 47, pastor and founder of Abundant Life Ministries in Toledo, and the Rev. Anthony Haynes, 39, who led the Greater Life Christian Center in Toledo.
Michael Freeman, an assistant U.S. attorney, laid out the facts of the case against Butler, which he said began after Butler started attending Mr. Haynes’ church. In 2015, Mr. Haynes told him that a minor girl who allegedly had been sexually abused by family members was living at Mr. Haynes’ home.
Mr. Freeman said Mr. Haynes and Butler both had sex with the girl at Mr. Haynes’ office at Greater Life Christian Center. After Mr. Haynes closed that church in 2016, he opened a new church at the University Bible Fellowship location and again invited Butler there to have sex with the victim.
One time he gave the girl $30 to have her hair styled after they had sex, Mr. Freeman said.
“Haynes told Butler that Cordell Jenkins also was having sex with Juvenile #1,” Mr. Freeman said. “Butler knew Jenkins as another pastor in the Toledo area. Butler went to Jenkins’ church on a few occasions when Haynes was a guest preacher. Likewise, Jenkins was a guest preacher at Haynes’s church.”
Butler later had sex with a second minor girl who attended Greater Life and on one occasion gave her $20 after they had sex in his car driving back to Toledo from his church in Detroit, Mr. Freeman said. The girl routinely watched Butler’s children during services at his church in Detroit, Mr. Freeman said.
When he learned there was a federal investigation into the matter in March, 2017, Butler deleted text messages with the first victim on his phone. Mr. Freeman said that in October, Butler told the second victim “to lie to federal authorities when asked about their sex.”
Judge Zouhary repeatedly asked Butler if he disagreed with any of the statements Mr. Freeman was making, and Butler replied, “No, not at this time.”
