Dallas minister accused of sex crimes, including rape with child

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Dallas minister is accused of child sex crimes.

Investigators said the crimes happened 20 years ago in Brunswick County.

A home security camera captured images Wednesday of police leading Joseph Hall away from his Gastonia home in handcuffs.

His neighbors watched in disbelief.

"I am thinking to myself, 'What in the world,'" Doug Henry said.

They didn't know what he was charged with until Eyewitness News told them about the 14 counts of sex crimes with a girl as young as 12 years old, including first-degree rape.

The charges are out of Brunswick County, where Hall used to live.

"Joe has been a very good neighbor, very good friend.  Shocked is all I can say," Henry said.

Neighbors said he and his wife would often have family and friends visit and swim in their backyard pool.

"We just didn't believe it, we thought that somebody had made a mistake," said neighbor Betty Henry.

The warrants allege Hall raped a girl from 1994-99.

Channel 9 spoke with Brunswick County officials on Thursday. They gave no details about Hall's relationship with the accuser or why she came forward now.

"I was shocked. I would never believe that," friend Wilson Johnson said.

Hall became a minister 10 years before the first alleged offense.

He is currently the men's ministry leader at Restoring Hope Foursquare Church in Dallas.

His profile on the church website stated he leads a group called Men of Valor.

Hall is in jail on a $1 million bond.

WSOC