GREENWOOD, Mo. (ABP) -- In what the detective investigating itdescribed as Missouri's biggest clergy sex-abuse to date, Shawn Davies,a 33-year-old former music and youth minister, was sentenced Jan. 12 to20 years in prison for molesting children at First Baptist Church ofGreenwood, Mo.

Davies was convicted of 25 counts of abuse dating from 2003. Chargesincluded statutory sodomy, furnishing pornographic material to minors,supplying liquor to minors, sexual misconduct with a child under theage of 14, use of a child in sexual performance and endangering thewelfare of a child.

Under a plea-bargain deal, Davies will serve the 20 years asconcurrent sentences for crimes committed in Missouri and Kentucky.

Davies was earlier convicted of molesting children at three KentuckyBaptist churches. He had been serving jail time in Kentucky whenauthorities returned him to Jackson County, Mo., last year.

A sheriff's office in Kentucky began investigating Davies in 2001after a boy told deputies his youth minister had shown him pornographicmovies.

Police started the Missouri investigation in July 2005 after anotherboy came forward with charges of sexual molestation. All told, sevenboys connected with the Greenwood church were abused, according toGreenwood detective Robert Leslie. Leslie said at least 13 victimstotal have come forward with allegations, including children inMissouri, Kentucky and Michigan.

"This man is a predator," Leslie said. "He is going to be a cancerto society unless he is locked up. I'm sure there are still othervictims of Shawn's out there."

None of the victims were present at the sentencing, although Lesliesaid Davies apologized to some of the victims' parents who were in thecourtroom.

Davies went to prison in December of 2005, but KCTV-5, the local CBSaffiliate, ran an investigative story on the case a few months later.It indicated Davies may have abused at least two more boys at theGreenwood church before senior pastor Mike Roy fired him.

Lee Orth, chairman of the church's litigation committee, said KCTV'sclaim to have broken the story of new abuse was "total nonsense."

"The church right away took steps�as soon as this broke," he said."Everybody was open about it. The reason why there wasn't a lot of talkabout it was because of the victims," who were present in churchservices before the abuse was announced.

He said the investigation was �kind of low-key, but it was nothidden. It was talked about in the open. It was not at all swept[under] the rug."

Orth said the church fully cooperated with authorities and madeprofessional counseling available to anyone who wanted it. The abusewas a tragedy for Davies' family and for the church, he said.

Leslie maintains he has reason to believe Roy may have known aboutsome improprieties before he fired Davies, but Roy has declined to talkwith authorities.

"It was mishandled," Orth said of Roy's decision not to talk. "Mikefelt bad because it happened on his watch. He felt bad about that."

Roy hired Davies to lead music at the 165-year-old Greenwood churchin 2003. They had known each other since 1998, when they both attendedSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Roy, who has since left the Greenwood church, could not be reachedfor comment on this story. Bobby Albers, First Baptist's associatepastor, was unavailable for comment. Orth said a search committee hasbeen formed to find a new pastor.

At the time the TV station publicized the case, David Clippard,executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, said hisorganization has no standard practice for dealing with clergy sexualabuse. But he noted that the MBC does help churches run backgroundchecks on employees.

"We have equipped our churches with the tools and the forms and thequestions," Clippard said. "We have gone to great lengths to provideour churches with information on how to do background checks."

Ultimately, however, the individual church is accountable for its hiring policies, he added.

Leslie said officials have not launched a criminal investigation todetermine if church leaders are guilty of harboring Davies after theyknew about the abuse.

Still, several of the churches where Davies worked before beinghired in Greenwood were open about his sexual problems, Leslie said.After obtaining a copy of Davies' resume and calling references listedthere, Leslie said church leaders told him they were forthcoming inwarning others about Davies' addiction to pornography and the fact thathe "didn't work well with children."

But while past employers did not give Davies favorable jobreferences, Davies had no problem continuing to get church jobs, Lesliesaid.

"It always hits the papers when a female teacher has sex with 14- or13-year-old boys, but when a pastor sexually abuses � young boys, it'skept quiet," Leslie said. "If the first victim had come forward, it'spossible that we wouldn't have these other victims today."  {ed; ????}