Convicted Sex Offender Remains In Church Pulpit

BESSEMER CITY, N.C.,None — A pastor added to the National Sex Offender Registry a year ago continues to lead his Bessemer City church.

The Rev. Harley Michael Keough said his church members have stuck by him in the wake of a trial that labeled him a sex offender.

But Keough said he didn't find the same support from area ministers.

The Korean War veteran compared the treatment he's received to his time in the military.

"They don't rescue the wounded the way we did in Korea," he said in a recent phone interview. "I found out that in this army that I'm serving in now, they shoot the wounded."

Keough's church, King James Baptist, was a member of the Greater Gaston Baptist Association but is no longer affiliated with the association.

The small church on East Georgia Avenue in Bessemer City may still be in cooperation with the regional Baptist Association but no longer receives funding for its food program.

King James Baptist Church was known for its active feeding program.

Keough led the way to a ministry that provided hot meals for people on holidays and sent home boxes of canned good, meats and vegetables with needy families.

But that program also provided an opportunity for Keough to grope women who turned to him for help.

The abusive interactions took place over the course of three years.

Eight women testified against Keough in court in May 2010.

Women described from the stand the humiliation of inappropriate touching and comments when they turned to the then 73-year-old pastor for help.

One woman said she had been to the church on several occasions to get food. Keough made inappropriate gestures toward her more than once, but her last visit crossed too far over the line, she said under oath. The pastor pulled her to him and grabbed her breasts and buttocks.

Keough was convicted of two counts of sexual battery, both misdemeanors.

He was sentenced to probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.

The conviction hasn't stopped Keough's determination to run his church, but it has starved the feeding program of donors and recipients, he said.

King James Baptist Church continues to dispense canned goods but the supplies are leftovers from the 44,000 pounds of food the ministry had at the time of Keough's conviction.

The church used to get money from the North Carolina Hunger Fund through the Baptist Association, but they have not received any such funds for three years.

The church no longer has the money to provide hot meals for the community, said Keough.

"We don't have the funds for that," he said. "It's a shame that a couple of lying people could get that stopped, but they managed it."

Keough maintains his innocence.

Keough said the women who testified against him were lying, and that local media aimed to shut him down. His faith has persevered.

"Our church still runs. It still runs good," he said. "I didn't get in this thing to quit. When I gave my life to the Lord, I gave him a promise. This hasn't deterred me."

Keough was first charged with multiple counts of second-degree sex offense in November 2009.

When the media publicized the charges, another round of women reported cases of inappropriate conduct by Keough and more charges were added.

Keough went to trial and was convicted of two counts of sexual battery in May 2010.

WSOC