Hearing canceled in Southern Illinois minister's sex abuse case

JONESBORO, Ill. -- The preliminary hearing for an Alto Pass, Ill., minister was canceled Friday in Union County, after two more sexual abuse charges were filed against him.

The Rev. Bill Vandergraph, 72, formerly the president of Friends of the Bald Knob Cross, was charged with predatory sexual assault of a child younger than 13 in June. He was charged Friday with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He's accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl.

His attorney, Allen James, filed two motions with Union County Judge Mark Dovoie Friday, including a motion for a fitness evaluation, which upon completion would determine Vandergraph's ability to stand trial.

The other motion was to modify one of Vandergraph's conditions of bond that didn't allow children younger than 14 to live at his residence near Alto Pass. The judge granted the motion, James said, on the condition a third party is in the home at all times.

Vandergraph, pastor of Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Alto Pass, according to an Associated Press article, has been a foster parent over the years to dozens of children. James said his client currently has two adopted children younger than 14 living at his residence.

For the last two years, Vandergraph has led fundraising efforts to make over an 111-foot-tall cross in Southern Illinois. The Bald Knob Cross has been a Christian symbol and tourist attraction there since 1963. Vandergraph was also named in a lawsuit filed Thursday by atheist Rob Sherman over whether state money should be used to restore the cross.

Vandergraph has a status hearing scheduled for Aug. 31, when James said he, the state's attorney and the judge will likely discuss the results of Vandergraph's evaluation.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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