More kids come forward - TimesDaily: Crime

Jeff Eddie showed no emotion as he sat in a Colbert County district courtroom Tuesday morning while his attorney and prosecutors talked.

One child has come forward with allegations that Eddie committed sexual crimes against him. However authorities said they have talked with several children with similar allegations since the investigation began.

Dressed in orange inmate coveralls, his hands and feet in cuffs, Eddie sat at the defense desk in the courtroom, sometimes looking straight ahead at District Judge Chad Coker, sometimes looking down at the desktop. He only made eye contact with his attorney.

Eddie, 42, 706 Courtland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is charged with 31 counts of second-degree sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and two counts of possession of child pornography of children younger than 17 years of age.

Eddie, who was children's pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals from 1998 until his arrest, was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing and a motion hearing to reduce his $1,030,000 bond.

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"We didn't want to inflame the public with what would come out from the preliminary hearing," Underwood said when asked why his client declined the preliminary hearing. "And if the bond was lowered enough that he could get out, there might be more charges filed against him and he would be back in jail. So, nothing would be gained by reducing the bond today."

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"The victims are from Highland Park Baptist, prior churches he attended and even from church retreats he went to," Faulkner said.


More kids come forward - TimesDaily: Crime