Only On 10: Grand jury charges Norfolk pastor with sex crimes

WAVY 10 ^ | July 12, 2024 | Michelle Wolf

[Morgana]

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Police arrested a Norfolk pastor for sexually assaulting a member of his congregation.

Pastor Troy Edwards of Portsmouth was taken in custody this week from his church, Greater Emmanuel Ministries.

Edwards was indicted by a grand jury in May.

The 57-year-old Edwards was escorted out of his church Wednesday by Norfolk police. Edwards was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping.

Court documents obtained by 10 On Your Side cite an incident that took place in July 2018. On May 1, a grand jury charged Edwards with sexual penetration of a person who was not his wife and of kidnapping with the intent to defile.

In an exclusive interview, Vanessa Edwards, who serves as co-pastor of Greater Emmanuel Ministries, told us she first heard of the allegations directly from the victim in 2021 and removed her husband from the pulpit as a result.

“I didn’t find out it was being done until 2021 when they [victim and family] sat on this porch and told me that he had assaulted her [victim], offended her, or something and that’s when I found out, two years later,” Vanessa Edwards said. “He [my husband] didn’t deny it. He didn’t deny the fact that he spoke to her out of turn. Like I said, I wasn’t there, I don’t know.”

Edwards told us she felt betrayed by the family who pressed charges.

“They were one of the best families in my ministry,” Vanessa Edwards said. “They really were. That’s what hurts so bad. All that’s been said is fabricated. Some of it lies, some of it truth. Two years you said he was making passes at you. My opinion about it was you should have stopped it from the very beginning.”

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TOPICS: Current Events; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS:

[AppyPappy]

He must have done something else because that is the most usual thing in the world.

[Flaming Conservative]

Blame the victim?

[Morgana]

“Blame the victim?”

It happens more than you know. This “lady pastor” needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

The ‘Dark’ side of the news …

[ReformedBeckite]

Vanessa Edwards, who serves as co-pastor..... told us she first heard of the allegations directly from the victim in 2021 and removed her husband from the pulpit as a result.

My gut feeling is it didn't quiet happen like that. My gut feeling is she had no choose to remove her husband as pastor, she was forced to do it by a meeting of the elders or deacons or maybe even a congregational meeting, at least that is what I would of hoped happen. I maybe wrong though. I won't make any comments about her being a female co-pastor but I think you all can figure that out from my rolling of my eyes.

[Jyotishi]

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