Jodey Wayne Waldrop Dies in Prison

Remember our blog on convicted Baptist minister pedophile Jeff Eddie being incarcerated at St. Clair correctional facility. Some readers felt this medium security prison wasn’t quite tough enough. Apparently, it’s tough enough that Franklin County baby killer Jodey Waldrop has lost his life in a knife attack.

We’re sure only a few tears will be shed over Waldrop’s death, but not everyone incarcerated at St. Clair is on the same level as Waldrop. The Alabama Department of Corrections has been mum on many of the details surrounding Waldrop’s death, but a spokesman has indicated he was killed by another prisoner in a knife attack in his own cell.

Jodey Wayne Waldrop

Knife attack? Would that be what’s commonly called a shiv? Something whittled down to make a sharp weapon? Or could it have been a real knife, slipped into the prison as contraband?

No matter what we think of Waldrop, it’s disconcerting to know that it was so easy for someone to take his life in his own cell. For those who wanted to see “Bro. Jeff” in a less homelike environment, we stand behind our belief that St. Clair is no ice cream parlor.

We’ve received some criticism for referring to Jeff Eddie as “Bro. Jeff.” In our use of this appellation, it in no way confers Christian fellowship. “Bro. Jeff” is simply the name he used online and easily identifies him.

Did Eddie use the name to make it easier to insert himself into the lives of his victims and their families. It’s certainly a possibility.

Shoalanda

Where Is Bro. Jeff?

Jeff Eddie is now in State custody at Bibb Correctional Facility. His release date is Februrary 5, 2044. If he is held day for day, he will be 72 years old when released. Alas, in 2044, there will be drugs that make Viagra look like Bayer Asperin. Yet his victims will still be having nightmares about the man.

We have been asked if Bibb Correctional Facility is too good for "Bro. Jeff." The Brent, Alabama, prison holds minimum and medium security prisoners. While we don't like Jeff Eddie, there is no reason for him to be held in a maximum security facility. It costs much more to house maximum security prisoners, and we have no doubt Jeff Eddie doesn't have the...uh, guts to run and start a new life with no funds and the law nipping at his heels.

For those who want to protest any early release Eddie may seek, his AIS number is 293645. If any of us are no longer among the living in 2044, our letters will still be on file in Montgomery. 



Shoalanda

"Bro. Jeff" Has a Fan!

It seems whenever someone is arrested for a crime, there are those who defend them; however, the more heinous the crime, the fewer defenders they usually have. In the past we've received comments from those who support abusers of women, rapists, kidnappers, and even murderers. Yes, we know, it was either for a good cause or all the victims really deserved what they got. Let's see how far that argument goes with the judge and jury.

We've even seen a child rapist defended because his four year-old victim seduced him. As stated, those comments are rare; however, we've just recieved our second comment on a "Bro. Jeff" blog that implies most of the case against Jeff Eddie was based on "gossip."

So, to "Get a Life People," we say this: Jeff Eddie confessed his crimes. No one forced a confession, no one forced him to plead guilty, and no one forced Eddie to do what he did to innocent young men. He, and he alone, is responsible. While we don't like to think about such things, you can be sure there are many out there who do like children in a sexual way, but actually manage to suppress these desires...just as Shoalanda managed to turn down that double chocolate fudge cake at Sunday dinner...

*****

As an afterthought, are we sure this commenter was defending Eddie or does he simply support the clergy in general? We're pretty sure he supports Eddie in particular since he has not commented on two other recent cases of local clergy seducing children. There are much better ways for a true friend to support a person than to overlook such serious shortcomings.



Shoalanda

"Plausible Deniability"

Since we published Billy Underwood's statement concerning Jeff Eddie's quick plea in a child sex abuse case, many have questioned and some have misunderstood the term "plausible deniability." Rest assured, Mr. Underwood was not trying to obtain this deniability for his client.

No, the point of avoiding a trial(s) was to excuse the victims from reliving this nightmare. In other words, ten years from now, if someone asks one of Eddie's young male charges if he wasn't somewhat close to the former Baptist minister, he will be able to say that while he knew him, it wasn't well and he was never harmed.

Would it be that easy to deny if this same young man was seen entering the courthouse during Eddie's trial? Or even seen entering any entity where young victims are questioned and videoed? Not quite.

Yes, Billy Underwood did assure that Eddie, if he lives a normal lifespan, will see freedom at some point. When free, he will still be a registered sex offender and the object of points, whispers, and general ridicule.

Mr. Underwood did the Shoals area a favor by helping to settle this matter quickly. Thank you, Mr. Underwood.



Shoalanda

Streaming Starts Now!

Remember our blog on streaming the Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Board meetings?

Streaming

It starts Thursday morning at nine o'clock. You might need to turn down the volume or purchase ear plugs...

*****

Remember David Gray? He's now been indicted for having the largest collection of child pornography in the history of the state. Here's an extremely informative article from the Quad-Cities Daily:

David Gray: We'll Catch Him!

*****

The bank accounts set up for the victims of Jeff Eddie have caused quite a stir. Well, HPBC is sometimes called the Highly Political Baptist Church.



Shoalanda

Fund for Jeff Eddie's Victims?

Highland Park Baptist Church has established a fund for victims of their former youth minister Jeff Eddie. The fund is to cover counseling for not only Eddie's actual victims, but also family of the victims. The location of these accounts was made public in a TimesDaily article. In other words, you the readers now know how to donate.

Perhaps the important question is should you donate? We firmly believe any individual has the right to donate to any legal entity they choose. Do you give to the United Way to help those in need locally or do you give to Deep Fat to help the Minnesota orphans? Tough decision sometimes.

We're not going to tell any readers whether they should donate or not. We do have reservations about this church even suggesting a donation. What if Muscle Shoals Utilities had an employee who sexually abused young people while on the payroll? Should the city utility ask for donations to help with counseling of their employee's targets?

Is Shoalanda personally going to give any funds to this cause? No. Whether any readers do or not is up to them.



Shoalanda

Jeff Eddie: Billy Underwood's Statement

This a transcript of Billy Underwood's remarks on the sentence accepted by sexual predator/preacher Jeff Eddie:


My client, his extremely wonderful and caring mother and father, plus his compassionate sisters wish to express their sincere sorrow and condolences to the victims and their families about this horrendous situation. They know that there is nothing they can say to make the situation go away, but their hearts are heavy with sorrow.

It would have been an hypocrisy to violate these victims again by putting them through a 12-person jury trial with the public media following each step of the proceedings. This plea gives plausible deniability for any victim to say that they were not part of this sordid episode. There will be no trial where a victim has to face a jury and the public. I would like to thank the District Attorney, Bryce Graham, and Assistant District Attorney Kyle Brown, for the way they handled this matter.

I especially acknowledge Detective Captain Craig Rickman, Detective Captain Sig Mueller of the Muscle Shoals Police Department, and ABI Lieutenant Brian Faulkner, for their thorough, rapidity of action, and professionalism in how they brought this case to a quick end within 36 hours of Eddie’s detainment with them. This has been a textbook example of how one of these cases should be investigated and it should be duplicated by other agencies and State authorities in handling situations such as this. Their attention to the most minute details caused me to do something I have never done in my 30+ years of practicing law. With my client’s approval, I made transparent my file to the investigators which caused us to settle this case.

To the public who wonders why there was such a rush to justice in this case, I would say the evidence was a Titanic iceberg. The public has seen only the surface of what the charges could be and were unable to know the true depth of this case. This case may have created a Sandusky-like scandalous atmosphere if we had allowed it to go to Grand Jury and carry on for one to two years of public scrutiny and media coverage daily on the matter while trial awaited. This is a small, close-knit community. The damage to the victims would be frequent and almost daily. There was never any reason to cause a continual black eye for the Shoals area that could interfere with recruitment of industry and the well-being of our citizens.

My job was to make sure Jeff Eddie did not receive a death sentence in prison. He will end his last 10-15 years of life outside of a prison. This is all that could be hoped for in a situation such as this. I would like to quote Winston Churchill in regards to this case. His statement goes something like this.

“This is not the end. This is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.”

While the criminal case should be left behind us, there will be some families who lawyer up and file civil lawsuits that will probably be under the radar of the local news media in their quest for satisfaction in this case. Again, I only wish the victims the best and they do have plausible deniability.



Shoalanda

Billy Underwood Didn't Bail

A source who was in court during a preliminary hearing for Jeffrey Eddie, the Highland Park Baptist Church youth minister accused of sexually abusing young boys, has informed us that Colbert County attorney Billy Underwood did not ask to be replaced as Eddie's attorney. Instead, Underwood asked for assistance in presenting Eddie's defense.

Citing Bro. Jeff's lack of funds, Underwood asked Judge Chad Coker to appoint a second attorney to help with the case. It's going to be an interesting trial...

*****

One definition of witch: Caldron stirrer. Perhaps ambulance avenger is another?



Shoalanda

Bro Jeff: Smart Like a Fox

We previously stated before reading the arrest warrant for Jeffrey Dale Eddie that he could serve up to 20 years for his crimes. After reading the charges and conferring with our resident attorney, we see that would be a stretch.

Eddie now faces 36 charges of sexual abuse of a minor over the age of 12, a Class B felony. The maximum punishment for this crime is one year on each count, usually served concurrently. He also faces two charges of possession of child pornography for which the maximum punishment is 10 years, but is usually reserved for repeat offenders. If convicted, Eddie will certainly have to register as a sex offender, but unless the judge demands consecutive sentencing, Eddie could serve much less time than most of us would have hoped for.

Why? It seems the sexual abuse did not involve sodomy (oral sex) until Eddie's victim turned 12. If Eddie had been guilty of this crime with a child under 12, he would have been charged with the crime in the first degree. Isn't that convenient?

No, we don't think this was any accident of dates and whims. We think Eddie knew exactly what he was doing. A reader has told us Eddie's Facebook page stated a man's character is what he does when no one is looking. Well...we certainly all know what Eddie's true character is now, don't we?

*****

Muscle Shoals Police have stated they believe additional charges will be filed against the one-time Baptist youth minister. If so, it could be a whole new ball game.



Shoalanda

What the Janitor Saw...

There usually isn't much that goes on in dark, dank basements that janitors don't know about, and it would seem that's true for the Highland Park Baptist Church. Sources say when the official Alabama Bureau of Investigation report is made public at Jeffrey Eddie's trial (or before), there will be some interesting testimony from a former janitor at the Muscle Shoals church. Yes, that's former janitor since he was fired shortly after making the accusations against Bro. Jeff.

Eddie has admitted his abuse of the young underage male occurred in the electrical room in the basement of the church building. Scripture concerning hiding one's sins comes to mind.

Jeff Eddie Timeline

*****

Tomorrow we'll look at Bro. Jeff's possible future down south.



Shoalanda

Who Shot Bro. Jeff Down?

Jeff Eddie Praying with Muscle Shoals High Students

Yesterday PNS had an article which theorized that Jeff Eddie's wife Melissa may have turned him in. Now the article has disappeared. Whether Eddie's wife turned him in or not, she obviously knew before his arrest what was coming. We can only imagine the despair Eddie has caused not only his primary victims, but his wife and two sons as well.

We have on very rare occassions read of a sexual abuser seeking help. Eddie is an intelligent man and one who professed to follow Christ. Yet he continued down the road of scum and degradation. We're not sure if Eddie can be sentenced to more than 20 years or not. If found guilty, a judge can rule his sentences are to be served consectively. Let's hope that's what happens.

*****

Since Watergate, it's been popular to ask who knew what and when did they first know it. If you've viewed the photos on Eddie's Facebook pages, you've seen all the shots of the youth minister and his charges. Yet there are none of Eddie's wife with the groups. We're going to assume Bro. Jeff's crimes fell into the category of a forest made invisible by the trees of his outward mantle of care and concern.




Shoalanda

The End of Innocence...and a Marriage

Another minister, a man who professed to serve God, has been in the news this week--and not in any good way. Jeff Eddie is the second Colbert County minister this year to face sex abuse charges. In jail, with little or no chance of making bail, Eddie has seen his wife take charge of her life:

Melissa Eddie

We say good for her. Psychiatrists say "normal" sex addictions can be cured, but not pedophilia. Be vigilant. They're here and they don't care whom they hurt as long as they receive their pleasure. Don't let them win.



Shoalanda