Free Republic

One day after being charged with aggravated sexual battery, a longtime Tennessee pastor died by suicide in a hospital bathroom, authorities said. David Mark Baker Sr., 57, was serving at Family Baptist Church in Columbia, had been a jail chaplain, and once ran for Maury County mayor. On Sept. 10, Baker was charged with aggravated sexual battery in a case that involved a minor, according to Sheriff Bucky Rowland. Baker, released from jail on $200,000 bond, was scheduled to appear in court next month. Columbia Police Chief Jeremy Alsup said Baker walked into a local emergency room on Sept. 11,...

CHICAGO — A former Hammond resident claims in a federal lawsuit she was repeatedly raped as a young student more than four decades ago by the son of the then-pastor and president of the CHICAGO — A former Hammond resident claims in a federal lawsuit she was repeatedly raped as a young student more than four decades ago by the son of the then-pastor and president of the First Baptist Church of Hammond and Hyles-Anderson College. Nanette Miles, who agreed to be named publicly for this article, said then-youth director David Hyles, who was son of then-Pastor Jack Hyles, called...