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This claim is not, however, necessarily incompatible with Perry's ex-wife's claim that Perry "admitted to" the alleged "inappropriate marital conduct" during the discovery process, because it appears that those findings were not technically "presented" to the court.
Likewise, a police investigation launched in 2012 found the allegations against Perry "were sustained," according to a police department spokesperson, but that statute of limitations had passed.
"The alleged sexual battery was reported to have occurred when the victim was between the ages of 11 and 14," said Nashville police department spokesperson Don Aaron in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
"As a result of the investigation, the allegations of sexual battery were sustained, but it was determined that the statute of limitations had tolled, barring prosecution. The victim was age 18 when she first disclosed the allegations to non-law enforcement and said at that time she did not want the matter reported to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services or the police."
In a second series of lawsuits brought in a county court in Tennessee, and related to the same alleged acts of child molestation, Austin Davis, a former parishioner of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, claims that the church covered up Perry's alleged acts of child molestation and launched a campaign to silence and harass Davis.
Inquiries to Covenant Presbyterian were forwarded to their attorney. Autumn Gentry, a lawyer for Covenant Presbyterian, told BuzzFeed News they can't comment on ongoing litigation.
The individual Perry allegedly molested told BuzzFeed News that she believed that the church reacted appropriately, and did not cover up Perry's alleged offense. Perry has not returned multiple requests for comment from BuzzFeed News.
In an affidavit submitted as part of his case, Austin Davis claims the accuser told him that she had been molested between the ages of 11 and 13.
In Davis's court case, he presents what he alleges are minutes from Covenant Presbyterian Church meetings that show Perry resigning from the church's diaconate in 2008, and minutes from 2010 showing Perry was excommunicated from the church because he "has confessed to committing heinous and repetitive sin […] and has not shown evidence of repentance." The minutes appear to have been introduced as evidence in one of Davis' lawsuits against the church. The church does not appear to have objected to the introduction of the minutes or contested their authenticity.
BuzzFeed News spoke to a longtime church member, who said he had obtained the minutes for Davis and vouched for their authenticity. The minutes are accessible to any church member. The individual Perry allegedly molested also told BuzzFeed News that Perry was excommunicated from the church as a consequence of the alleged abuse.
Catherine Davis, the wife of Austin Davis, likewise wrote in a sworn affidavit that during the summer of 2012, she spoke to the accuser, who confirmed the abuse occurred numerous times when the individual was a minor. Davis said the accuser told her that she broke her silence in 2007 and began telling friends, family members, church leaders, and school officials about what had allegedly occurred.
Spokespeople for Huckabee did not return a request for comment.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/co-author-of-mike-huckabee-books-was-accused-of-child-molest