A Georgia pastor who tweeted support
for last year's Orlando shootings has been found guilty on eight
charges related to child molestation.
Jurors on Monday found Kenneth Adkins
guilty of three charges of child molestation, three charges of
aggravated child molestation and two charges of enticing a child for
indecent purposes.
Adkins, who is expected to be sentenced
on April 25, faces up to life in prison.
The charges stem from allegations made
by a male former member of Adkins' congregation. Adkins' church, the
Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship, has locations in Brunswick,
Jacksonville and Atlanta.
Prosecutors claim that Adkins groomed
two teenagers to have sex with him, according to the Florida
Times Union.
Adkins, 57, vocally opposed expansion
of Jacksonville's Human Rights Ordinance (HRO) to include sexual
orientation and gender identity. During
the debate, he tweeted an image of Jacksonville City Councilman
Tommy Hazouri, who was leading the effort, with the message, “I
Love Homosexuals. Because I Love Watching. I Am Freaky.”
When asked about the tweet, Adkins told
WJAX: “I think as a pastor – homosexuality, that's vulgar and
that's pornographic, and the whole thought of it.”
After a gunman killed 49 people and
wounded dozens more in an Orlando gay nightclub, Adkins tweeted:
“been through so much with these Jacksonville Homosexuals that I
don't see none of them as victims. I see them as getting what they
deserve!!”