By Joe May, Associate Editor
(BNc) — A non-institutional preacher in Logan County, KY has been arrested for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Jody Lusk, the 35-year-old preacher for the non-institutional Auburn Church of Christ turned himself in to authorities early Sunday morning after an attempt at disappearing over the weekend. He had been sought as a suspect in the rape of a 13-year-old girl whom he picked up from school on Friday evening.
Lusk turned himself into the Logan County Sheriff’s Office about 5 a.m. Sunday. Authorities said he was very cooperative and that he told them he could not make his situation right with God until he had turned himself in. He then told authorities had travled out of the state and had consentual immoral relations with a 13-year-old girl over the weekend.
Lusk returned to girl to her home on Saturday and set about attempting to make it look like he had been kidnapped. He sent his wife a text message around 3:00pm Saturday that simply read, “KY license plate 744frm Briggs Lake” Because of this, news agencies have reported that the FBI has become involved in the case. The license plate returned to a vehicle that had been abandoned on the county line for several days. It had nothing to do with Lusk’s case, news reports have stated.
The strange text message then set off a manhunt for Lusk with no results. His abandoned canoe on the lake causesd police to believe that he had drowned. At one point, underwater cameras and sonar equipment was in use in an attempt to find his body.
His vehicle was found at the lake where he had told his wife he would be fishing. It had a busted window. His bicycle was found abandoned on a road.
Lusk told authorities that he had set up the scene to make it appear he had been kidnapped. Leaving the bike along the road, though, was a mistake, he stated.
Lusk is facing second-degree rape charges. He is currently in jail on a $250,000 bond.
Police noted that his story matched that of the victim, who told her parents what had transpired with Lusk after he brought her home Saturday.
According to a cached version of the Auburn church’s website, Lusk has served as the preacher for the congregation since April 1, 2007. A native of Boaz, Ala., Lusk was converted from the denominations in 1995 and began preaching three years later. He worked with the Dot congregation in Logan County and then with the Alexandria Road group in Jacksonville, Ala., before returning to Kentucky to preach for Auborn. He and his wife have three children.
Auburn’s website identifies it as being associated with non-institutional churches of Chrsit.
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