Church leader arrested on abuse charges

A Gainesville church founder was arrested Tuesday on alleged aggravated child abuse and sexual assault charges.

According to an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) social media release, detectives arrested Lorenzo L. Crawford, 54, the founder of Christian Coalition Family Church in Gainesville, for an outstanding warrant. On Wednesday, the ACSO officially charged Crawford with 11 counts of sexual battery and one count of aggravated battery.

Detectives launched an investigation earlier in May into Crawford’s actions. The release states, “Crawford refers to himself as an ‘apostle,’ but we assure you that his alleged actions are far from that of anyone associated with religion.”

The investigation started when a juvenile victim told a family member that another juvenile church member said they had been sexually assaulted by a church member. The juvenile victim’s family member talked to Crawford about the information and Crawford had the juvenile victim come to his office. Crawford scolded the victim about “minding their own business” while the juvenile’s family member waited outside the office.

The victim was then instructed by Crawford to take down their pants and go to their knees as Crawford used a belt to beat the bottom half of the victim. According to the release, the beating caused significant bleeding and, four months later, the victim still has markings on their body from the incident.

Crawford was arrested and booked into the Alachua County Jail.

ACSO will continue its investigation.  

Editor’s note: The ACSO updated the sexual abuse counts Lorenzo Crawford is being charged with on Wednesday. This was added to the original story.