A former Memphis church employee has been indicted on two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, both related to molesting children inside the church.
A grand jury indicted David L. Hale, formerly employed by Sycamore View Church of Christ, on charges from two separate incidents involving young boys, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.
Around January 2016, Hale offered to give a 13-year-old boy a massage in an audio-visual area of the church during a service, investigators said. He rubbed his hand on the boy’s penis. The boy told a youth minister about the incident in 2019, and the case was reported to Child Protective Services (CPS).
In early 2019, Hale allegedly gave a massage to a 17-year-old boy in a bathroom near the church gym. The boy said Hale rubbed his penis during the massage over his gym shorts.
Memphis police and the FBI conducted the investigation.
Hale was at the church from 2011 to 2019, working as a volunteer in sound and lighting. For the last two years Hale was a paid employee, securing doors during church services. He was banned from church property in February 2019 when the incidents came to light.
The case is being handled by ADA Lessie Rainey of the DA’s Special Victims Unit which prosecutes cases of rape, physical and sexual abuse of children, elder abuse, and vulnerable adult abuse.
