Southern Baptist preacher in NC charged with child sex crimes spanning 3 decades

Preacher arrested on child sex abuse charges

Roy Mace Honeycutt II

by Adam Behsudi

published March 13, 2007, Asheville Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County Sheriff’s investigators on Tuesday arrested a Baptist minister accused of sex crimes against children that occurred over a span of three decades, according to arrest warrants.

The Rev. Roy Mace Honeycutt II, 63, was charged with two counts of first-degree sex offense with a boy under the age of 13. He was also charged with six counts of taking indecent liberties with two other boys who were under the age of 16, warrants said.

According to the warrants, Honeycutt committed the offenses in 1968, 1974 and 1986. A resident of Gorman Bridge Road, Honeycutt was being held in the Buncombe County jail in lieu of a $200,000 bond.

The grandmother of one of the victims, who did not want to be identified to protect her grandson’s identity, said Honeycutt had been a pastor at several area churches. Her grandson was abused when he was under the age of 10, she said.

“It is about time,” she said of the arrest. “Most definitely, it’s been hard. It’s been hard on me and his mother.”

Her grandson did not reveal the abuse until adulthood, she said. Honeycutt was arrested after her grandson and two other victims went to authorities in November, she said.

Contact Adam Behsudi at 828-232-5962, via e-mail at abehsudi@ashevill.gannett.com

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770313094

Baptist minister released

by From staff reports

published March 15, 2007, Asheville Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE — A man arrested on multiple child sex offense charges was released from the Buncombe County jail Wednesday, the magistrate’s office said.

Roy Mace Honeycutt II, 63, a Baptist minister, was charged with six counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of first-degree sex offense with a boy under 13.

Police said in warrants that the crimes happened over a 30-year span.

Honeycutt was affiliated with at least two churches in the area, including Bethel Baptist Church in Asheville and Trinity Baptist Church in Mars Hill, said Norman Jameson of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Honeycutt is ordained, Jameson said. The organization had no record of his specific role within each of the churches.

Both declined to comment.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770314118