The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested two pastors in Toledo as part of an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Northwest Ohio Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The Task Force is comprised of members of the FBI, Toledo Police Department, Perrysburg Township Police Department, Lima Police Department, Oregon Police Department, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Lucas County Sheriff’s Office.
The two pastors arrested in the state were Cordell Jenkins, 46, and Anthony Haynes, 37, “pursuant to a federal complaint and arrest warrant for sex trafficking of children,” according to the FBI’s website.
“Jenkins and Haynes are accused of knowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person(s) that the defendants knew was less than eighteen years old to engage in commercial sex acts. In addition to the above, Haynes is also being charged with Obstruction of Justice and Jenkins is being charged with Sexual Exploitation of Children,” according to the website.
The FBI reported that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jenkins attended historically black Livingstone College majoring in Political Science. In August 1994, he accepted this call to preach the Gospel.
