If you live in the upstate and you have an odd smell in your house you may want to look up. Because ladies and gentlemen "The proverbial #%&* has just hit the ceiling fan in South Carolina."
According to Upstate.com, the executive director of the Miss South Carolina Organization has been arrested on accusations he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl.
Joseph “Joey” Pettigrew Sanders IV, 44, was arrested Friday morning by Easley police and charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a police spokesman said. According to arrest warrants, Sanders sexually assaulted the girl in 2005 at a Comfort Inn in Easley.
The Liberty-based Miss South Carolina Organization just completed its annual pageant in Spartanburg. Sanders father, Joe Sanders, is president and CEO, and his mother, Gail, serves as pageant comptroller. Gail Sanders said Friday that Joey Sanders has taken leave from the organization for the time being.
“He’s taken a leave of absence,” she said.
A message to Joey Sanders’ cell phone seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Joey Sanders' attorney, Bill Coates of Greenville, issued a statement on his behalf.
“Mr. Sanders absolutely denies the charges and he expects to be exonerated,” Coates said.
Arrest warrants list Joey Sanders address as 237 Sanders Road in Liberty. A woman living at the same address, Anita Jordan Gearhart, has been charged with two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. Gearhart placed the child at “unreasonable risk of harm,” arrest warrants state.
Easley Municipal Clerk of Court records show Joey Sanders was released from custody under a $50,000 personal recognizance bond. Gearhart was released under a $20,000 personal recognizance bond.
According to an incident report from the Easley Police Department, officers received reports of the allegations against Sanders and Gearhart in June from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office. According to the report, Pickens County officers were also investigating complaints against Sanders and had information that one incident occurred within Easley city limits.
The child has been removed from her home and is in the custody of the S.C. Department of Social Services, according to the police report.
No one was available at the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Friday afternoon to confirm whether that department’s investigation is ongoing.
In other child abuse news....
Today, Pope Benedict XVI said he was "deeply sorry' for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Catholic clergy, delivering a strongly-worded apology Saturday that described their acts as evil and a grave betrayal of trust.
"I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country," Benedict said during an address at a Mass in Sydney.
"I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured. I assure them as their pastor that I too share in their suffering," he said.
"Those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice."
Benedict has expressed regret before about the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the church in recent years — notably during a visit to the United States in April when he also met privately with a small number of victims. But the language of Saturday's apology was stronger than the pope's comments in the United States.
There was no immediate word whether Benedict would meet with victims of clergy abuse during his Australia trip, which ends Monday.
To find out more about Sex Offenders that live in your neighborhood, visit the National Sex Offender Registry website here.
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