A Texarkana pastor accused of sexually abusing young girls is back in jail.
Earlier this month a grand jury indicted Logan Wesley III, 56, for 18 felonies involving three alleged victims. At that time, Wesley was free on a $100,000 bond he posted on a single child sex abuse charge for which he was arrested in November.
New bonds totaling $1.25 million were set after Wesley’s indictment and he was taken back into custody. At a hearing Monday, 202nd District Judge John Tidwell refused a request by Texarkana attorney Josh Potter to lower Wesley’s bail or release him on the bond he posted in November.
But Tidwell did move up Wesley’s scheduled trial date from August to May.
According to the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office, the grand jury indicted Wesley for five counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and four counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The charges involve three separate alleged victims.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said her office has identified 13 alleged victims and that some of the alleged crimes occurred in other jurisdictions. Crisp said she will be asking the court for permission to call the other alleged victims as witnesses in Wesley’s upcoming trial in Bowie County.
Wesley allegedly had access to the girls because of his work as a pastor at a local church. One of the alleged victims, now an adult, allegedly told police that she tried to report the abuse as a child but was not believed.
Wesley faces five to 99 years or life on each of the five counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two to 20 years in prison on each of the 13 other charges.
