Former Church Staffer Indicted In Alleged Molesting Cases

     Nov. 3, 2021 – A 53-year-old former employee of a Memphis church has been indicted for allegedly sexually molesting two teenage boys in separate incidents at the church, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

   A grand jury indicted David L. Hale on two felony counts of sexual battery by an authority figure for each incident at the Sycamore View Church of Christ.

   Hale was at the church from 2011 to 2019, working as a volunteer in sound and lighting, and for his last two years as a paid employee securing doors during church services. He was banned from church property in February 2019 when the incidents came to light.

   According to investigators, Hale offered to give a 13-year-old boy a massage in an audio-visual area of the church during a service around January 2016, and 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.

   Another incident was reported in early 2019 in which 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.

   The case is being handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Lessie Rainey of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit which prosecutes cases of rape, physical and sexual abuse of children, elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse.