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New sex abuse claims emerge against ministry

Another brother and sister come forward and tell a similarly horrific tale of abuse at the hands of ministry members.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published April 8, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Two more people on Friday told authorities they were sexually assaulted more than a decade ago by members of the Gospel of Truth ministry, which operates a nationally known Christmas lights display.

A man and his sister called police after reading in the St. Petersburg Times about the arrests of three ministry members earlier this week on charges related to capital sexual battery.

The two earlier victims also are siblings, police said.

St. Petersburg police Detective Lorry Dunn said as many as nine children may have been sexually abused by members of the ministry.

All four victims have told police they were sexually molested by one ministry member and forced to have sex with each other and other young children while ministry members looked on. The four said they were beaten and burned with various objects and told to keep quiet, police said.

The two people who called Dunn on Friday said they were "ecstatic" to hear that the ministry members who abused them were in jail, Dunn said.

"They were happy to finally see this come out," she said.

Police said they have no indication that ministry head Ted Kresge, 66, was involved in the assaults or knew about them. Kresge and other ministry directors said they believe their friends are innocent and will be cleared of the charges.

Asked Thursday if he still planned to put up his massive display of Christmas lights this year, Kresge seemed to suggest he was: "I am fully expecting that it will be found out it's not true ... God willing."

On Friday, Kresge said he had not "really given any thought to it. Right now, we're still taking them down, repairing them. It will probably be another month before we get them down" from last year's display.

Kresge and his ministry are nationally known for the elaborate display of Christmas lights at Kresge's 2719 Oakdale St. S house. It has been featured on NBC's Today Show and HGTV.

The Kresges began decorating their home for Christmas in 1977, and by last year the extravaganza included several polar bears, computer-operated lights on the Christmas tree and fiber optic trees, one of which had more than 150,000 lights.

But after seeing the display this past Christmas, a college student in her late 20s told police how she had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of ministry members when she was 10 to 12 years old.

After investigating the girl's story, and hearing a corroborating account from her younger brother, police arrested three ministry members on Wednesday.

Police said Wesley Earl Ball, 72, repeatedly molested the girl, once in a bathroom at the Christmas House. He's charged with three counts of capital sexual battery.

Angela Bell Hunnicutt, 42, and Lytricia Jean Gardner, 40, forced the girl to have sex with her brother and other children in residences around St. Petersburg, police said. They each face two charges of being a principal to capital sexual battery.

Nancy Gray, a director of the Gospel of Truth ministry who lives upstairs in the same house as the three people who were arrested, said they were all devout - and innocent of the charges.

"I know them and I love them and I don't believe the allegations," said Gray, 43, who said she knew Ball for more than 20 years. "I believe time will show them to be innocent."

State records show Kresge is the registered agent for a nonprofit listed as the Gospel Truth of St. Petersburg Inc. The records also show that the two-story yellow house at 860 20th Ave. S, where the three arrested ministry members live, is the Gospel Truth's principal place of business.

Gray said the ministry's efforts were limited to putting up the Christmas display and working as missionaries in other countries.

--Times staff writer Waveney Ann Moore and Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.

[Last modified April 8, 2006, 00:34:06]