Alabama children’s pastor tells police he ‘cannot remember’ how many boys he molested

By Scott Kaufman
Friday, March 14, 2014 12:05 EDT

On Thursday, a pastor in Muscle Shoals, Alabama pleaded guilty to 16 counts of sodomy, three counts of sexually abusing a child under 12-years-old, and one count of child pornography.

Jeffrey Dale Eddie, also known as “Brother Jeff,” had served as the children’s pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church since 1998. He was first discovered molesting a young boy on January 22, 2014, however, it was not until four days later that church leaders notified police of the abuse, which is a clear violation of Alabama law.

Alabama has a mandatory reporting statute that requires “all hospitals, clinics, sanitariums, doctors, physicians, surgeons, medical examiners, coroners, dentists, osteopaths, optometrists, chiropractors, podiatrists, nurses, school teachers and officials, peace officers, law enforcement officials, pharmacists, social workers, day care workers or employees, mental health professionals, members of the clergy” to report cases of child abuse or neglect.

According to court documents obtained by WAFF, Eddie confessed to performing acts of oral sex on many of the youths in his charge. When police asked how many youths he may have molested, Eddie said that there were “so many that [he] advised he cannot remember.”

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