Hateful Antigay Georgia Pastor Arrested for Child Molestation

A right-wing pastor who operates churches in Florida and Georgia, and made a name for himself by slandering LGBT people, was arrested Friday on charges of child molestation.

Ken Adkins turned himself in to authorities in Georgia, following an investigation from Brunswick, Ga., police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the The Florida Times-Union reports. Adkins has left his position in the church temporarily, and his wife, "Stormy," said the charges, "are false and that he will ultimately be cleared of any wrongdoing."

Adkins has been a high-profile conservative -- some would say radical -- figure in southern Georgia and northern Florida for years. He fought hard against Jacksonville's proposed LGBT-inclusive human rights ordinance, which failed to pass. During the ordinance debate, Adkins tweeted images of a councilman who supported the ordinance with messages scrawled over his face saying, "I Love Homosexuals. Because I Love Watching. I Am Freaky."

When confronted on his vulgar tweets, Adkins told Jacksonville's Fox/CBS affiliate that as a pastor, he finds homosexuality "vulgar and "pornographic."

After this summer's mass shooting in Orlando at the gay nightclub Pulse -- where 49 people were murdered and dozens wounded -- Adkins tweeted support for the massacre: "[I've] been through so much with these Jacksonville homosexuals that I don't see none of them as victims. I see them as getting what they deserve."

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry responded to Adkins's arrest by telling the Fox/CBS affiliate, "I know nothing more about the allegations than what has been reported in the news, but it sickens me. If he is found to have done what he stands accused of, he deserves the fullest punishment the law allows."