TEXARKANA, Texas - A local pastor has been indicted by a Bowie County grand jury for 18 felony counts involving the alleged sexual abuse of three different girls.
Logan Wesley III, 56, allegedly used his status as pastor of a Texarkana, Arkansas, church to sexually abuse the alleged victims. Wesley was arrested by Texarkana, Texas, police in November and is free on a $100,000 bond.
Wesley is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact involving a single alleged victim.
Charges involving a second alleged victim include two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 and five counts of sexual assault of a child under 17. Charges involving a third alleged victim include a single count of sexual assault of a child under 17 and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Texarkana, Texas, police arrested Wesley in November for allegations involving only one alleged victim. In the same month, Texarkana, Texas, police spokesman Shawn Vaughn issued a press statement Nov. 20 that expressed the department's belief that other alleged victims may have yet to report and that encouraged others to come forward.
Some of the alleged misconduct of which Wesley is accused occurred in the 1990s and more recently. The first alleged victim to come forward alleges she was abused continuously by Wesley beginning when she was 12 and continuing into adulthood, according to a probable cause affidavit. That alleged victim told investigators she was not believed when she made an outcry about the abuse because of Wesley's position in the church.
"The woman reported that she provided a recording of a phone call between her and Wesley to investigators. Wesley allegedly confessed to and apologized for the abuse on the call," the affidavit states.
Wesley's case is assigned to 202nd District Judge John Tidwell. A date for him to appear for arraignment on the 17 felony charges hasn't been set, court records show.
If convicted, aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison. Sexual assault of a child under 17 and indecency with a child by sexual contact are both punishable by two to 20 years in prison if convicted.