Former Toledo-area pastor Haynes rejects plea offer, opts to go to trial

One of the two Toledo-area pastors charged in a child sex-trafficking conspiracy rejected a plea offer after having additional time to consider the agreement.

Anthony Haynes, 39, rejected a plea offer Friday, which signals that Haynes and co-defendants Cordell Jenkins, 48, and his wife, Laura Lloyd-Jenkins, 43, will continue for a scheduled trial Oct. 29.

Haynes was given additional time by Judge Jack Zouhary earlier this month after Haynes recently hired attorneys Peter Wagner and John Thebes.

In July, at a hearing scheduled as a “change of plea deadline,” Jenkins, and his wife, a former Lucas County administrator, declined to enter pleas.

Prosecutors previously declined to say what the plea offer entailed. A message was left Monday with the prosecutor’s office to see if the offer could now be outlined.

Jenkins, who founded and was a pastor at Abundant Life Ministries, and Haynes, 39, who led the Greater Life Christian Center, each are charged with child sex trafficking, production of child pornography, and other charges.

Laura Lloyd-Jenkins, 43, is charged with obstructing a sex-trafficking investigation and making a false statement to federal investigators.

A third pastor, Kenneth Butler, 38, former pastor of Detroit-based Kingdom Encounter Family Worship Center, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to sex traffic children, obstruction of a sex-trafficking investigation, and two counts of sex trafficking of children.

Butler, who faces 17½ years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 12, admitted he had sex with two minor girls, including encounters at Haynes’ church office.