Arraignment was held Wednesday morning for the senior minister and former day care director at First United Methodist Church who are charged with complicity to criminal child abuse.
Indictments against 61-year old Rev. 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.
Attorney Ben Fletcher represents Leach, Bill Deatherage is Rev. Williams’ lawyer and both entered not guilty pleas on behalf of their clients.
A September 11 pre-trial conference was set for both suspects to coincide with Simpson’s schedule and Judge Atkins told Deatherage that only the attorneys will be required to appear at future hearings and not the suspects until further notice.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling noted that very little is likely to happen on September 11, as Simpson will likely be indicted on additional counts in the next couple months.
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.”
All three suspects remain out on bail.
