JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man linked to a Jacksonville church and charged with four counts of capital sexual battery was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences Wednesday.
Vernon Williamson, 87, went on trial Tuesday and was convicted as charged the next day.
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Williamson is one of three men linked to the Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ on Old Kings Road North, who were arrested after an almost 20-year investigation. All three men were arrested and accused of sexual battery on a child in March 2022.
Paul Dyal, 78, former pastor at the church, was arrested after a coordinated police raid on the church.
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While investigators were making the arrest, additional warrants were being served in Oklahoma. The Sheriff’s Office said Jerome Teschendorf, 68, who was arrested in Newalla, Oklahoma, and Williamson, who was arrested in Ardmore, Oklahoma, had to be extradited to Jacksonville.
“The investigation revealed both long-term sexual and physical abuse of minors in the church spanning a period of over 30 years,” the sheriff’s office said in its news release in 2022.
Eight women shared their stories with News4JAX, saying they are survivors of mental, physical and emotional abuse from people at the Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ Church.
Dyal and Teschendorf are still awaiting trial in the case.