Former APSU security guard, family charged with child abuse, sex abuse

Former APSU security guard, family charged with child abuse, sex abuse

July 10, 2008

TAVIA D. GREEN and JAMIE DEXTER

Earnest L. Perry, 65, who gave a 806 R. S. Bradley Boulevard address, was charged with eight counts of aggravated child abuse.

Windie L. Perry, 51 and Elizabeth Perry, 20 , who gave the same address, were charged with eight counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of rape of a child and two counts of aggravated rape.

According to an indictment handed down in the July term of the grand jury, all three are charged with abusing two female children under 18 years old between May 2006 and March 2008.

Clarksville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Cheryl Anderson said the case has been turned over to the grand jury, and police can't comment on the specifics of the case.

The family's pastor, Carlo Serrano of First Assembly of God, said they have been heavily involved in the church, and he's known them since 2005.

Serrano said Elizabeth Perry has worked with children at the church and there has "never been a problem before," adding that he has trusted her to babysit his own children without "any concern or doubt."

The Perrys fostered and adopted 6 children, including Elizabeth Perry, who has been with the family since she was a newborn, Serrano said.

Serrano added that all the children except for Elizabeth were taken from the home the night accusations were made.

"I stand with them," Serrano said. "I just want the truth to come out."

For more on this story, see tomorrow's The Leaf-Chronicle. More information will be updated as the story develops.