New child abuse scandal hits Mike Huckabee: Republican White House hopeful's co-author molested girl, 11, and escaped charges because of statute of limitations

New child abuse scandal hits Mike Huckabee: Republican White House hopeful's co-author molested girl, 11, and escaped charges because of statute of limitations

    John Perry co-authored Huckabee's 2008 campaign memoirs and is now revealed to have molested girl between ages of 11 and 14
    Police concluded abuse had taken place but they were alerted to it after statute of limitations had kicked in
    Perry tells Daily Mail Online 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and abuse emerged because of vendetta
    No suggestion Huckabee knew Perry was an abuser but comes after Duggar family revealed to have covered up son Josh's molestation of sisters

By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com

11 June 2015

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is facing fresh controversy over links to a child abuser today.

The evangelical Christian politician's co-author was revealed to have been found by police to have molested a girl when she was just 11, and continued the abuse for three years.

John Perry, a prolific author who helped co-write hit movie The Vow, was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed by the time police became involved,Buzzfeed News reported as it revealed the abuse.

Perry is the second associate of Huckabee to have been revealed as an abuser, after Josh Duggar's abuse of his sisters was disclosed.

Perry today told Daily Mail Online that 'the parties involved were reconciled and restored years ago' and that the investigation had been prompted by an individual who had a 'vendetta' against his former church.....

Minutes of meetings from Covenant Presbyterian Church  - part of the national Presbyterian church - given to Buzzfeed by a parishioner show that Perry resigned from its deaconate in 2008.

At a separate meeting in 2010, Perry was reportedly excommunicated after 'he confessed to committing heinous and repetitive sin […] and has not shown evidence of repentance'.

Those same minutes were used as evidence in a 2012 lawsuit brought against the church by Mrs. Davis and her husband Austin Davis, who are no longer parishioners there.

The Nashville Police department told Buzzfeed, 'The alleged sexual battery was reported to have occurred when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14.'

As a result of its 2012 investigation, 'the allegations of sexual battery were sustained, but it was determined that the statute of limitations had tolled, barring prosecution,' spokesman Don Aaron told Buzzfeed.

'The victim was age 18 when she first disclosed the allegations to non-law enforcement and said at that time she did not want the matter reported to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services or the police.'

Perry's divorce proceedings are not a matter of public record. But Buzzfeed reports that, according to documents filed, Perry's ex-wife claims he 'admitted sexual abuse' of child.

His response to her claim, based on the documents, was that 'there was never any testimony or other evidence of any kind presented' nor were there 'any orders or findings of fact […] regarding any alleged sexual abuse of any minor child relative to the parties’ divorce or any other legal proceeding.'....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120240/New-child-abuse-scandal-hits-Mike-Huckabee-Republican-White-House-hopeful-s-author-molested-girl-11-escaped-charges-statute-limitations.html