The daughter of megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar Jr. told a Fayette County 911 operator Friday morning that she felt "threatened" being in the house with her father, adding their alleged violent altercation was not unprecedented.
"It was not the first time it’s happened," the 15-year-old girl said in an audio recording of the 911 call. The girl's name and audio of the call are not posted because she is a minor.
Sounding calm and speaking directly, the girl said her father "punched ... and choked" her.
Fayette Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Dollar family's home on Sandy Creek Road where, after a brief investigation, they arrested the 50-year-old reverend, charging him with simple battery, family violence and cruelty to children. Dollar was released on $5,000 bond later Friday morning.
The televangelist and author, speaking from the pulpit at World Changers Church International Sunday morning, denied the allegations.
"I want you to hear it personally from me: All is well in the Dollar household," said the former educational therapist, who received a standing ovation from faithful congregants. "A family conversation with our youngest daughter got emotional. Things escalated from there."
Dollar said he neither choked or punched his daughter and explained away the abrasions on her neck as remnants from a case of eczema.
"I should have never been arrested," he said.
Dollar, who teaches that God will bless the faithful with material rewards, has previously endorsed corporal punishment.
"There’s a place for it, and it should only be administered with temperance," he said in a 2006 sermon.
Though church members appeared to accept their pastor's account, Dollar's 19-year-old daughter, who witnessed the altercation, told police her younger sister was telling the truth.
According to the incident report, Alexandria Dollar said her father "put both hands around her sister's neck and choked her for about five seconds." Then, she said, Dollar grabbed the 15-year-old by the shoulders and slapped her in the face.
Alexandria changed her initial story, deputies wrote in the incident report, "due to her parents being outside with her while she was writing it." After being separated from Dollar and her mother, Taffi, Alexandria produced a statement consistent with her original account, the report states.
Dollar said the incident was part of the devil's plan to "discredit" his ministry.
“Malicious witnesses testify against me,” he said, reading from Psalms 35 in the Old Testament. “They accuse me of crimes I know nothing about … May those who rejoice in my discomfort be humiliated and disgraced.”
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