Man accused of molesting two girls sometimes attended church where incident allegedly occurred
A man accused of recently molesting two young girls in Catoosa County sometimes visited the church where the alleged incident occurred, police say.
Anthony Ray Stanley, 37, of Tunnel Hill, was arrested Friday, Aug. 5, on charges of child molestation and parole violation. He has been in jail for almost two weeks after having been denied bond.
Investigators say he allegedly touched two young girls inappropriately on Aug. 2 at Dogwood Christian Academy in Tunnel Hill, which is part of Dogwood Baptist Church.
Stanley, who was convicted of child molestation in 2002, has been a registered sex offender since 2007 after serving five years of a 15-year sentence and was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the alleged incident.
Deputies received a complaint on Tuesday, Aug. 2, from a woman who claimed Stanley had molested her girls at the school earlier that day.
The woman said her two daughters had been at the church with their grandmother that morning, when Stanley allegedly asked the girls inappropriate questions, touched them both, and kissed one of them.
The girls are both under 10 years of age.
The grandmother said she and the girls were at the church for about 4½ hours and that Stanley was working at the church at the time.
Sheriff Gary Sisk says investigators found out Stanley had attended church at Dogwood on occasion and that he was working construction at the time of incident in preparation for upcoming school year.
“He (Stanley) was working construction for a company out of Whitfield County,” Sisk said. “It’s my understanding that the owner of the construction company attends church there, and apparently Stanley had attended church there some too. The way it was presented to me, the company was moving or building some cabinets or something, getting ready for the school year, and sent Stanley to do the work because he lived close by.”
Apparently, Stanley wasn’t directly employed by the church, but was there working construction for the separate company.
“I think the company primarily builds log homes or something along those lines,” Sisk said. “That’s a different situation than this incident….on a job site like that, there usually aren’t children around.”
Sisk says he’s not sure at this time if there was a formal work contract between the church and the construction company, or if it was a situation where a church member who happens to own a business tried to help out his church with needed repairs, and happened to send a registered sex offender.
A Chattanooga TV news station reported earlier this week that
Burse,
18, was arrested for criminal damage to property second degree, criminal trespass, simple assault-two counts, theft by taking.
William David Conrad,
42, was arrested for contempt of court child support.
Terry Ray Davis,
41, was arrested for driving while license suspended or revoked, possession of tools for commission of a crime, proof of insurance required, theft by receiving stolen propertymisdemeanor, theft by receiving stolen property-felony, theft by taking-misdemeanor.
Devin Jevon Greene,
29, was arrested for battery under the family violence act, cruelty to long-time Dogwood Baptist Church pastor Roy Gentry hired Stanley to do the work after meeting him through a prison ministry. Gentry has not returned calls seeking comment.
Sisk says he’s more concerned with a child being harmed.
“There’s a bigger issue there if the church did know the history and brought him to the church to do work, but that’d be a liability question for the court system,” Sisk said. “That’s not part of our criminal investigation, how the person came about being on the property….all we’re concerned about are the acts with the children.”
children third degree, cruelty to children second degree.
Gage Everett Hodge,
17, was arrested for aggravated assault-three counts, criminal damage to property second degree, criminal trespass, duty upon striking fixture, terroristic threats and acts-three counts, theft by taking.
James John Snelius,
57, was arrested burglary second degree.
Penny Malley Snelius,
52, was arrested for burglary second degree.
Bobby Joe Taylor,
33, was arrested for probation violation.
Wesley Keith Clark,
45, was arrested for contempt of court.