An Alabama pastor was arrested last week following accusations that he refused to notify authorities when he learned that a sheriff’s deputy was sexually abusing a child.
Michael James Walker, 51, of Huntsville, is charged with a violation of the mandatory reporting laws, according to Huntsville police officials. As a pastor, Walker is required to notify law enforcement or the state Department of Human Resources when he suspects or is informed of abuse.
Walker’s Thursday arrest stems from the case against former Madison County Sheriff’s Office investigator Roland Gilbert Campos Jr., who was arrested in August after the allegations against him were brought to the Sheriff’s Office. Campos, 63, is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
Campos’ alleged victim is a 12-year-old family member, authorities said.
Police officials said that the girl reported the abuse to Walker in March. Walker is senior pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Huntsville.
Campos is the third member of his immediate family to be accused of sexually abusing a child. He was booked into the Madison County Jail Aug. 18, shortly after he resigned his position with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
AL.com reported that Campos, a 10-year veteran of the department who investigated white-collar crime, resigned hours after the allegations came to light. The alleged abuse occurred in February, Huntsville police Lt. Stacy Bates told WHNT News 19 in Huntsville.
Campos' son, Roland Gilbert Campos III, is serving two life sentences, without the possibility of parole, for sodomizing the 5-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, according to AL.com. Campos III was arrested on the charges in 2013 and convicted the following year. He is serving his life sentence at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer.
The former investigator’s brother, Russell Leland Campos, was indicted in 2011 on two counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. The case against Russell Campos never went to trial because the alleged victim was too emotionally fragile to testify, according to authorities.
Both Walker and Roland Campos Jr. are free on bail, jail records show.
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