Baptist Youth Leader Charged With Child Sex Crimes

South Carolina’s Rock Hill Herald reports:

A youth leader at two South Carolina churches in York County has been charged with sex crimes involving children, according to sheriff’s office and court documents. William Pinckney Carpenter III, 62, of Chester, was arrested late Wednesday, records show.

The allegations happened from 2016 to 2021 to children victims as young as 7, warrants state. The allegations were reported to deputies in March and May 2022, York County Sheriff’s Office incident reports show.

Carpenter was a youth leader at Eastview Baptist Church in Rock Hill and Grace Chapel Baptist Church in York, between 2016 and 2020, when four of the alleged offenses took place, according to warrants. The charges against Carpenter are all felonies under South Carolina law and he faces as much as 70 years if convicted.

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Carpenter remains in custody on $225,000 bail.

Exclusive: The suspect, William Pinckney Carpenter III, 62, of Chester, is accused of illegal touching of children at two churches and at a private home, arrest warrants and incident reports state. https://t.co/z0dxfuJV0l

— Rock Hill Herald (@RHHerald) June 2, 2022