Photo: Rev. Paige Williams from church website
The senior pastor at First United Methodist Church and the former director of the church daycare were indicted Friday for complicity to criminal child abuse.
The indictments against 61-year old Paige Williams of Hopkinsville and 32-year old Abby Leach of Hopkinsville allege they ‘intentionally breached their legal duty to protect’ seven children under the age of 13 months by failing to prevent Allison Simpson from intentionally abusing those children.
The alleged incidents happened between December 1, 2018 and January 28, 2019, according to the indictments.
Bench warrants were issued for the arrests of Williams and Leach with a $10,000 bond. Leach was booked into the Christian County Jail Friday afternoon and soon released.
Simpson, a former employee at the daycare, was arrested in January and charged with second degree criminal child abuse and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. A warrant alleged she, “subjected a 10 month old baby in her care to cruel confinement and punishment and wantonly engaged in conduct toward another baby, 8 months old, which created a substantial danger of serious physical injury to both babies.”
Rev. Williams addressed the arrest of Simpson and the investigation into alleged abuse on the following Sunday in January.
She said she immediately terminated Simpson following the investigation and that Leach resigned the next day.
A guest minister led services Sunday morning at First United Methodist Church, but Rev. Williams brought the sermon two weeks ago on July 21, according to a video on the church’s Facebook page.
The alleged abuse committed by Simpson was captured on video surveillance, according to the warrant.
Allison Simpson