Trial to start for WF preacher accused of indecency with children
A Wichita Falls preacher indicted on six counts of indecency with a child is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday when jury selection starts in 78th District Court.
Although Ronnie Allen Killingsworth faces trial in Wichita County, he turned himself in at the Clay County Jail in late June 2023 after a Wichita County grand jury returned sealed indictments against him.
Killingsworth was free Saturday from jail on $150,000 in bail, according to online jail records.
Killingsworth, 78, was pastor of Rephidim Church in Wichita Falls when he was accused of indecency with three girls under the age of 17 between 2000 and 2011, according to court documents.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the counts.
Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Included among witnesses for the prosecution are law officers, experts in child sexual abuse, and three victims.
Killingsworth founded Rephidim Church on Allendale Road in 1971. He also was a police officer in Iowa Park in the 1970s and did a short stint as their as chief. He has also worked as a private investigator.
Bill Vasser, an attorney from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, was appointed to the case at the request of the Wichita County District Attorney’s Office, possibly to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Killingsworth has a relative in the Wichita Falls Police Department.
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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Trial to start for WF preacher accused of indecency with children
