PRINCETON, W.Va. - A former youth volunteer at a Southern West Virginia church has pleaded guilty to child sex abuse charges.
News outlets reported that 57-year-old Timothy Probert, of Princeton, entered the plea Monday to 37 counts involving boys when he was a volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church, in Bluefield. He had been scheduled for trial Monday in Mercer County Circuit Court.
West Virginia State Police Sgt. M.D. Clemons said the abuse occurred between 1986 and 2010. Probert was arrested in December 2013.
During a preliminary hearing on the charges in February 2014, Clemons said the youths would go to Probert's home, where he would give them alcohol and they would watch adult movies and perform sex acts.
A special judge was named in Probert's case after all three Mercer Circuit Court judges recused themselves.
- The Associated Press