Another Alleged Victim Comes Forward about Molestation at Hands of Pastor, News4Jax, May 23, 2006

Another Alleged Victim Comes Forward about Molestation at Hands of Pastor

News4Jax
May 23, 2006

http://www.news4jax.com/news/9263540/detail.html

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A woman who said she has been quietly suffering for six excruciating decades with memories of being molested by a former Jacksonville pastor breaks her silence after others come forward.

Dr. Robert Gray, 80, the former Trinity Baptist Church of Jacksonville pastor, was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of capital sexual battery after two of his alleged victims reported he abused them when they were 6 years old.

Two women, now in their 30s, told police Gray molested them in his office at Trinity Christian School on the Westside. They claimed Gray would then offer them money and candy.

Mary Lou Hall says Dr. Robert Gray preyed on her in 1949 when she was just 9 years old.

After seeing a story on TV about Gray, Mary Lou Hall, 67, called Channel 4 and said she was also a victim of the pastor.

Hall said Gray preyed on her when he was a young assistant pastor at a church in Hampton, Fla. She said the abuse occurred in 1949 and that she never returned to the church after the incident.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Robert Gray

"He pulled up right over there and went to get me out of the car, and that's when the incident happened," Hall said. "I was 9 years old. I was a baby."

Hall said she never talked about the alleged incident until she was an adult. However, she said hearing the other alleged victim's stories gave her the courage to come forward with her own.

"He tried to grab my breast, and it really scared me," Hall said. "I'm a Christian, and for him to do that … I'm just so worried about all the other little girls."

Hall said when Gray fondled her he was working at the Hampton Baptist Church as an assistant minister and that he also worked with children.

She said she always worried and wondered about what happened to Gray.

"God knows, but I don't know how many he's harmed, and it really has worried me for years and years," Hall said.

Although Hall cannot press charges because too much time has passed since the alleged incident, she said she shared her story because she wants Gray to pay for what he did.

"I would like for him to go to jail and stay there," Hall said.

Gray remains in jail without bond.