A trial date was set in Christian Circuit Court for three of four women facing child abuse charges that allegedly occurred at the First United Methodist Church daycare in Hopkinsville over two years ago.
Former church pastor Paige Williams and daycare workers Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan, along with their defense attorneys and Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling appeared in Christian Circuit Court before Judge John Atkins Wednesday morning.
Judge Atkins set a jury trial for the three women for November 15-19 with the case of former daycare employee Abby Leach continued for a possible resolution.
click to download audioA grand jury returned superseding indictments in April for Williams and Leach charging them with eight counts of first-degree complicity of criminal abuse of a child 12 or under. They were previously indicted in August 2019 on one count of first-degree complicity of criminal abuse of a child under 12.
According to the superseding indictments, Williams and Leach “intentionally breached their legal duty to protect eight minors less than 13-months old from a situation that might cause serious physical injury, torture, cruel confinement or cruel punishment at the hands of Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan.”
Simpson was indicted in April 2019 and faces thirty counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12-years old, and Nina Morgan was indicted on two counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12. Investigators reported the alleged child abuse of several children at the church’s daycare occurred between December 2018 and January 2019.
