Former Florence businessman pleads guilty to sex abuse charges

FLORENCE, Ala. (WAFF) - A Florence businessman who was arrested in July 2022 on multiple counts of sexual abuse pleaded guilty in a Lauderdale County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

According to our news partner at the Times Daily, Kelly Crotts pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent exposure and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse. Crotts was a prominent businessman and church leader who owned Full Court Press, a screen printing company.

“It’s alleged he had sexual contact with a child less than 16, but older than 12, on more than one occasion,” Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said to the Times Daily.

According to Connolly, the plea agreement will require Crotts to serve one month in the Lauderdale County Detention Center. The remaining 11 months of Crotts’ sentence were suspended for two years.

Crotts will be required to register as a sex offender.

Documents filed in a civil court case claim the Cornerstone Church of Christ gave Crotts his power to commit the crimes. The following facts were stated in the civil court case filed against Crotts and the church:

• Crotts consistently and systematically ingratiated himself into the lives of the plaintiffs, slowly grooming them for his own salacious purposes.
• Crotts gave the plaintiffs gifts, special attention, recognition, and praise, all the while presenting himself as a spiritual leader and savvy entrepreneur.
• At various times Crotts exposed himself to the plaintiffs.
• Crotts enticed and manipulated the plaintiffs with various schemes and lies to expose themselves to him.
• Crotts, acting with sexual motivation, touched the genitals of Doe I and Doe II.
• Crotts enticed and manipulated Doe I and Doe II to perform sexual acts in his presence.
• Crotts performed sexual acts in front of Doe I and Doe
• At all times relevant to the acts of sexual abuse against the Plaintiffs, Crotts was employed and/or a leader within the church and had a position of authority and power over the plaintiffs as a result of that employment and/or leadership positions.
• At all times relevant to the acts of sexual abuse, the plaintiffs’ wellbeing had been entrusted to the church by the parents of the plaintiffs.
• The plaintiffs have been permanently traumatized by the acts of Crotts and those who failed to act to protect them.
• Specifically, the plaintiffs have suffered intense anxiety, worry, sleeplessness, loss of focus, loss of direction, loss of motivation, alienation of affections for various relationships, humiliation, premature loss of childhood, and excruciatingly painful embarrassment.
• Crotts sexual abuse of children entrusted to the church dates back many years and was not limited to the plaintiffs.

According to the Times Daily, parents of Crotts’ victims said they trusted him because of his role in the community.

“We trusted you,” one victim’s mother said. “Now we trust no one.”

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