Woman accuses former Morgan Park pastor Jerry Jones of childhood sex abuse

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A young woman is speaking out about alleged childhood sexual abuse she endured from a former Morgan Park pastor.

The woman spoke exclusively with ABC7 and her story may be triggering for some.

The woman alleges that Pastor Jerry Jones abused her when she was a child, more than a decade ago. Her healing journey has only recently begun.

The alleged victim used to sing in front of crowds at church. But now she says singing in front of anyone is hard after years of alleged abuse by Jones. She said the first time it happened was when she was 11 years old.

"His hand went from like my shoulder all the way down," she recalled. "He groped me. And it was like I froze."

Jones is a former bishop at Apostolic Assembly on the South Side. According to the alleged victim's claims in a civil complaint she filed in 2021, he had "power, trust and authority."

"You are sown into a world, a web of deception that looks like home," she said. "It went from touch on the external, so you know touching with clothes on, to touching with no clothes on."

In 2020, Jones was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault against multiple children, some as young as five. He was charged again in 2023 after another alleged victim came forward. The charging document shows that a young person alleges Jones would quote Bible scriptures while touching her.

"The most responsible thing that anyone can do in my shoes is to say something so that this doesn't happen to another little girl like me," the alleged victim we spoke to said.

This is one of the reasons she is now speaking up as she rebuilds her faith in New Life Church.

"I had to reshape my identity on, I'm who God as I was, not everybody else," she said. "I would actually say to him, you've got your day. God saw what you did."

Jones' attorney did not respond to ABC7's requests for comment. His plea hearing is set for Friday.