The 45-year-old Texas Secretary Brian Pounds was arrested on suspicion of administering methamphetamine to a 15-year-old girl before repeatedly raping her.
Ponzi is the pastor of Vernon’s First Congress of God, a Christian church in Vernon, a small town in central North Texas. The church website no longer lists him as a leader.
The girl’s family initially took her to Ponts for consultation. He finally got her a job cleaning a nursing home. According to KFDX reports, he will also meet her privately in the church to participate in a “consultation meeting.” The girl later claimed that these meetings involved drugs and rape.
On July 1, the girl’s mother did not know where her daughter was. The police affidavit stated that Ponzi lived in a motel room with the girl in his own name.The mother later found her daughter nearby Walmart And took her to the local police station.
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There, the daughter said that she had taken methamphetamine earlier that day and had sex with Ponts. An arrest testimony submitted by Police Officer Vernon stated that during the sexual intercourse, Pound put his hands on the girl’s neck and pinched her throat.
The girl also said that Pound had had sex with her many times in the past month. She said that the previous two rapes and the use of methamphetamine occurred in the church.
Due to her adverse reaction to methamphetamine, the girl was taken to the United Regional Health Care Center in Wichita Falls, a city hospital located about 55 miles southeast of Vernon. There, the doctor found evidence of methamphetamine in the girl’s body. The affidavit stated that the police also found evidence of methamphetamine in the motel room.
Pound denied having sex with the girl.
The police arrested him last Friday. Since then, he was imprisoned in Wichita County Jail. He was accused of sexually assaulting children and providing controlled substances to minors. He is still detained on bail of 300,000 U.S. dollars.
The Texas Rangers are assisting the Vernon police investigation.
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), child rape is a widespread problem in the United States. According to data from the 2016 Child Abuse Survey of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in the U.S., child protection services confirm or discover strong evidence of child sexual abuse every 9 minutes.
According to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2014, one in nine girls under the age of 18 and one in five boys have been sexually abused or assaulted by an adult. According to a report by the US Department of Justice in 2000 entitled “Sexual Assault on Young Children Reported to Law Enforcement”, approximately 93% of the perpetrators knew the victim, usually acquaintances or family members.
Weekly newspaper Contacted Vernon’s first meeting of God for comments.
