Please see Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Ken Adkins Turns Down Plea Deal and Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Ken Adkins Found Guilty of Sexual Molestation for further information on Adkins and his crimes.
Last week, News 4-JAX reported that child molester Ken Adkins, pastor of Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship in Brunswick, Georgia denies committing the crimes for which he was convicted:
Speaking from jail, Brunswick Pastor Ken Adkins said he is still shocked that a jury found him guilty of eight charges connected to the molestation of two teenagers in 2010.
Adkins called News4Jax from the Glynn County Jail late Friday afternoon, saying he feels like he’s in a dream or a nightmare and somebody’s going to wake him up.
As a pastor, as a bishop, I am mad with life and I am angry with God,” Adkins said.
After a six-day trial, the Glynn County jury deliberated for less than an hour Monday before finding Adkins guilty of all charges.
During the phone call, Adkins did express remorse, but not for the crimes a jury said he committed. He maintains that all the other accusations against him are not true.
“I did not molest any children. I did not touch anybody, I didn’t have oral sex with anybody. I didn’t allow anybody to have oral sex with me. I did not do those things,” Adkins said.
He said he is sorry for some inappropriate photos and texts he sent to the female victim in this case, but he said that happened four to six years after the crimes he’s accused of committing.
“Do you feel that there was a hidden agenda here?” News4Jax asked by phone.
Adkins replied, “Yes ma’am. I most certainly (do).”
He believes the guilty verdict was reached based on emotions, not facts, saying he was convicted in part because he’s been so outspoken against the LGBT community, and that the male accuser — who is gay — wanted revenge.
In the conversation, Adkins offered an apology to the LGBT community. After spending time with transgender families last summer for a documentary, he said, he realized he’s gone about presenting his beliefs all wrong and has since apologized for the viral videos and online degradation of gay people.
Perhaps, Adkins said, this is why he’s now facing a life sentence.
“If it’s God’s will that I spend the rest of my life in prison, then I have no choice but to accept that. I don’t believe it is. I did not do it, and I’m going to fight until I have a last breath to gain my freedom once again,” he said.
Adkins also said one sexually explicit photo he sent by text to the male victim centered around questions the teen had about circumcision.
Update #1
Adkins was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison. CBS-47 reports:
Georgia pastor Ken Adkins, convicted earlier this month of allowing teens to have sex while he watched, was sentenced Monday morning to 35 years in prison.
Adkins, 57, will serve life on probation after serving the 35 year sentence.
Prosecutors said Adkins was sexually involved with teenagers he met through church. Allegations of sexual molestation surfaced after one of the teenage boys joined the military.
The state says the young man, now in his 20s, told police he had been molested by Adkins.
“He would let them use his locations his office, his house, his cars, places where they could have sex, where he could watch,” prosecutor Katie Gropper told the jury.
Adkins had been held without bail in a Georgia jail since August 2016. At one point, Adkins solicited $10,000 for his defense from his congregation via a Facebook post.
