Affidavit claims pastor threatened to harm alleged abuse victim

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Aminister who is a registered sex offender threatened to bury a youngchurch member alive if he said anything about alleged sexual assaults,according to an arrest affidavit.

Tyrone Moore, 39, was charged last weekend with second-degreecriminal sexual conduct, which involves threatening a victim withphysical harm, North Charleston Police Department spokesman SpencerPryor said.

Moore is accused of sexually abusing the man, now 21, over the pastfour years at the pastor's Goose Creek home, according to an arrestaffidavit.

The man was a member of Moore's church, Full Word Ministries in North Charleston.

The accuser, who spoke with investigators last week, told policeMoore forced him to have sex and threatened him if he told anyone, theaffidavit said.

Moore is jailed on $200,000 bail and police said they expectadditional charges. The affidavit said investigators have learned ofother assaults in South Carolina and Georgia.

Moore founded Full Word Ministries six years ago after beingreleased from prison, where he served time for assaulting youngchildren.

He is on the state's sex offender registry for a 1991 conviction ontwo counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a childbetween ages 11 and 14 as well as a 1989 conviction of committing alewd act on a child under 16.

State prosecutors tried to have him declared a sexually violentpredator and have him committed indefinitely to a psychiatricinstitution. A judge dismissed the case and Moore was put on probationin August 2000.

The church Moore founded has grown to 1,000 members.

On Nov. 21, North Charleston police arrested him on charges ofsexually assaulting a 17-year-old male church member in 2002 and 2003.He had been out of jail less than a week when he was arrested on theGoose Creek warrant.