A local pastor has been charged with incest and accused of raping a child.

Frank Asher Noe, Jr., pastor of Bennett’s Fork Baptist Church in Middlesboro, was arrested Monday by the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office. Noe, who resides in Speedwell, Tennessee, was charged with incest, according to a warrant filed in the Claiborne County Clerk’s Office on Oct. 5, 2020. Incest is a Class C felony in Tennessee, according to TN Code 39-15-302 (2018).

One alleged victim went to great detail when interviewed by detectives, pointing out numerous instances of alleged rape by Noe.

According to statements in the warrant, the alleged victim told Claiborne County Sheriff’s Detective Eric Fraley, along with Detective Bradley Duncan, on Oct. 5, that the abuse had occurred when the alleged victim was between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. The alleged victim reportedly “had been sexually penetrated by numerous times” on various occasions. The alleged victim further told investigators there were at least five instances of rape that could be remembered in vivid detail “from start to finish” according to the warrant, which went on to quote the alleged victim as telling detectives the estimated total number of rapes ranged “from 30 to 40 times” and at two separate locations in Claiborne County, Tennessee. No dates pertaining to the actual events were provided in the warrant, and the alleged victim’s current age is not known.

Several details referenced in the alleged victim’s statement to investigators were corroborated by the alleged victim’s mother, according to a statement in the warrant. The alleged victim, their mother, and the defendant all told investigators that another person has also levied allegations against Noe. Investigators had not spoken to the other person at the time of Noe’s arrest.

Noe was lodged in the Claiborne County Jail, but according to a spokesperson with the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office, he was released on $100,000 bail Thursday afternoon.

More details will be published as they become available.