CLARKSVILLE, Tenn (WKRN) — Clarksville Pastor Larry Rayford was booked into the Montgomery County Jail Tuesday on eight rape-related charges. The mother of two victims said she waited over a year for this to happen.
Shauntae Fletcher said in 2020, her 13- and 15-year-old daughters came to her and said their pastor, Rayford, had been sexually abusing them.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked,” Fletcher said. “When she told me I was just like, ‘God, this can’t be true.'”
The family had been attending The Ship Ministries Church in Clarksville for about a year — a space that now looks virtually empty at 108 Kraft Street.
“We were going to this church and we was thinking they was good people and would help us a lot,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said the church helped them find friends, housing, and Rayford even married her and her husband Demarcus in 2021. The family trusted him.
“They loved him just like he was their uncle or somebody they cared about because he became that nice person,” Fletcher said.
After the initial shock wore off, Fletcher said she waited months for Rayford to be taken into custody.
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted him on two counts of rape and two counts of statutory rape with each teen in August. He was arrested in Michigan in December and was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Tuesday.
Rayford’s wife told News 2 he traveled to Michigan after some deaths in his family.
“I prayed to God and I prayed. I just said Lord if it’s true allow him to get arrested. I always thought it would never come to pass and when the detective called me and let me know he was arrested, I was like, ‘oh my God!’ It was so much relief for me. I said ‘it’s almost over, thank you, Jesus,'” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said her daughters are healing through prayer and counseling and are equally relieved Rayford is behind bars.
“I just thank God, I just thank God because it could’ve been worse. He could’ve kidnapped them and took them and did some harm to them. So I thank god it stopped where it did,” Fletcher said.
Rayford’s wife told News 2 earlier this week the allegations against her husband are false. She said the truth will come out and there are three sides to the story — her husband’s, the accusers and God’s.