Lindsey Whiteside, the former youth minister of Getwell Church in Hernando, Mississippi, who was set free pending trial for child sex abuse after a recent conviction for a similar crime, is back in jail and will remain there until her trial next year.
Whiteside’s bond was revoked on Wednesday. She was taken back in custody on Thursday by U.S. Marshals pending her federal trial on Feb. 9, WJTV reports.
Facing the possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison for two counts of transportation of a minor across state lines for illicit sexual purposes and one count of enticement of a child, a federal magistrate judge had ordered Whiteside released on a $60,000 unsecured bond last month.
Her schoolteacher mother, Gale Whiteside, had testified that she was not a danger to society, according to court documents reviewed by The Christian Post. Whiteside has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
After an evidentiary hearing, Chief Judge Debra Brown reversed 26-year-old Whiteside’s bond decision. She said she considered, among other things, Whiteside’s previous bond conditions, GPS monitoring, and the relationship between her and her then-15-year-old victim, WMC reports.
The federal charges, filed in October, come after Whiteside was recently sentenced on state-level charges in a controversial decision to just three years of house arrest and seven years of probation for child sexual abuse in DeSoto County.
During Whiteside’s fiery detention hearing for the new charges in federal court in Oxford, last month, her defense attorney, Tony Farese, argued that her prosecution was “retaliatory.”
Whiteside was ordered to 24/7 house arrest, where she would only be allowed to leave her mother’s house to be in the yard or attend church and doctor’s appointments before her trial. She was also required to find a new home by Nov. 16 because her mother’s house is near a local school.
If she remained there, she would have been out of compliance with the requirements of her status as a registered sex offender. Whiteside was also required to have all her electronic devices inspected, take random drug tests and prohibited from having drugs and guns and consuming excessive alcohol.
On Wednesday, Whiteside’s defense attorney argued that she was not a danger to the community, and her mother said she recently signed a lease on a home near Sardis, Mississippi, in Panola County that she believes is compliant with her status as a registered sex offender. It was noted, however, that the home was not officially approved by authorities.
Whiteside’s attorney argued that Desoto County Deputy Miranda Fox testified that her victim was not forced into the relationship. U.S. Attorney Parker King argued that the victim was groomed by Whiteside. Judge Brown said she was “troubled” by the defense calling the abuse a “sexual dating relationship.”
As Whiteside was removed from the courtroom in handcuffs, her family reportedly wept.
“I love you,” she told them as she was escorted away. “I will be OK.”
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