An Enterprise youth pastor arrested last month for the alleged second-degree rape of a 14 year-old is back in jail after breaking conditions of his bond.
Timothy Thomas, 25, of Enterprise, was booked into the Coffee County Jail last week for breaking conditions of his bond set by District Judge Paul Sherling March 21.
During his initial appearance, Sherling set bond at $30,000 and ordered that Thomas not have any contact with the victim or victim's family.
Thomas, a former youth pastor at St. Luke United Methodist Church, was alleged to have had contact through text messages with the victim on April 9.
During his bond revocation hearing April 15, Assistant District Attorney Chris Kaminski presented evidence in the form of photos of the alleged text messages and the actual cellular phone at the request of Thomas' attorney Warren Rowe.
Text messages were read aloud in court and indicated the two were making plans to see one another.
Rowe pointed out the line of communication was initiated by the victim, while Kaminski stated the conversation was carried on by Thomas and at no point did he say, "We shouldn't be communicating" or to "stop texting him."
Thomas' father also provided testimony on behalf of his son saying he provided the cellular phone to allow his son to "return to some kind of normalcy," which he said was a poor decision and would not happen again should the court release his son.
Rowe requested the court give Thomas another opportunity and putting Thomas back in jail would serve no purpose, as he doesn't pose a danger to anyone.
At the end of the hearing, Sherling said Thomas willfully broke conditions of bond set by the court and ordered Thomas to be put back into the custody of the Coffee County Sheriff to guarantee no further communication with the victim would be made.
A preliminary hearing was waved and the case will be sent to the grand jury.
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