A jury trial for the pastor of a Baltimore County church charged with sexually abusing an underage parishioner begins today in Howard County Circuit Court.
Gerald Fitroy Griffith, 40, of the Redemption Christian Fellowship Church, on the 6500 block of Dogwood Road, is charged with three counts of sexually abusing a youth who was 14 in November 2003 when the abuse allegedly began, according to court documents.
Griffith, of the 1300 block of Peach Tree Court in Bowie, escorted the boy to three hotels in Howard County on separate occasions between November 2003 and October 2005 and molested him, court documents allege.
Griffith told the youth?s mother that he was taking him to his house for the weekend, according to the documents.
The youth, who helped out at the church and was a parishioner there from the time he was 5 years old until he was 16, began counseling sessions with Griffith in 2003, with his mother?s knowledge.
The youth told police Griffith had been counseling him for behavior problems, such as “messing with too many females” and “just acting up.”
Griffith at one point approached the boy and told him that he was “struggling with a homosexual spirit and that the Lord had shown Griffith how to confront it,” according to court documents.
While the Howard County charges stem from allegations that Griffith abused the boy in local hotels, police in Baltimore County are investigating Griffith based similar charges that he molested the youth and several others in the church and other places in Baltimore County, according to court documents.
