A Tampa man had sex with a 12-year-old girl inside a church Aug. 20, police investigators say.

  • Le'Angelo Wilkerson, 27, charged with sexual battery on a child
  • Witness says she walked in on Wilkerson, girl in bathroom
  • Wilkerson has 12-year-old daughter of his own, mom says

Le’Angelo Wilkerson, 27, is accused of having sex with the girl in a bathroom and then a classroom at Rehoboth Faith Cathedral Church on N. 40th St., Tampa Police said.

Tushara Jones said the girl was her 14-year-old daughter’s friend and that girl was visiting the church for the first time. She said her daughter walked in on the act.

“My daughter walked in the bathroom with the girl that was missing. She said she was going to the bathroom,” Jones said. “My daughter walked in the bathroom and caught them having sexual intercourse, and he groped my daughter’s butt and told my daughter to come and show her how it was supposed to be done.”

Jones said she was shocked that this allegedly happened with someone she trusted to be around children at church.

“My daughter is the one that told him, 'No, he needs to stop. We’re in church and that’s a grown man. You’re not supposed to be doing that,' and that’s when he grabbed her,” Jones said.

Jones said after the girls got home from church, her daughter told her what happened, and she contacted police.

Wilkerson’s mother said she leads Sunday school service at the church and that she drove the two girls to the church on Sunday. She said the incident allegedly occurred when church leaders were praying in the front.

She added that she was shocked to hear the allegations because her son, Wilkerson, also has a 12-year-old daughter.

Members of this Tampa church community, meanwhile, told us this isn’t the message they want to send.

“Disgusting," Donnie Maynor saod. "It’s a shame, especially in the church to give us a big bad name that this is what allow [sic] in church instead of what’s really going on."

Wilkerson is in jail and faces a number of charges, including sexual battery on a child 12 years or younger.