Following a police investigation that began in September of last year, a Pigeon Forge pastor has been indicted on several charges related to child sex crimes. Dwight Suttles, at the age of 69, faces one count of rape of a child and five counts of aggravated sexual battery. As reported by the WVLT News, the indictment stems from allegations involving Suttles, who served as pastor at Liberty Baptist Church in Pigeon Forge. Facing charges that were laid out by a Sevier County Grand Jury, Suttles was apprehended by authorities on Tuesday.

Detailed in the grand jury indictment are the harrowing accounts of five victims, all under the age of 13 during the time of the alleged abuse. Having been captured for booking on a Tuesday night, Suttles remains detained in Sevier County Jail with the bond set at $500,000. The indictment, as covered by WBIR, highlights the multiple instances of sexual battery over a two-year span from 2017 to 2019, among other time frames leading up to September 2023.

Attempts to reach Suttles and the church, whose biography of the pastor has been deleted from the church's website, have been successful. Until recently, Suttles had been associated with Liberty Baptist Church since his early 20s and had assumed the role of pastor in 2009. 

The Pigeon Forge Police Department elaborated to 6 News that the investigation initiated by a complaint in September last year revealed alleged incidents stretching from January 1, 2017, to September 1, 2023. Providing assistance, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office helped in arresting the former pastor.