HOT SPRINGS -- A former youth pastor charged in 2014 with sexually assaulting a girl who was 13 at the time at his former Hot Springs residence has been arrested on new accusations that he also raped the girl's older sister.
Andrew Lee Jackson, 30, who lists a White Hall address, was taken into custody Sept. 30 and charged with 10 counts of rape, punishable by up to life in prison.
According to an affidavit, Garland County sheriff's investigator Mike Wright began an investigation in November 2014 into rape allegations involving the 13-year-old and Jackson, her 28-year-old youth pastor. Wright was assisted by Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children investigator Kathy Finnegan.
In December 2014, Jackson was arrested and charged with three counts of rape. Those charges are pending in Garland County Circuit Court.
The younger girl's sister, 16, was interviewed about possible sexual contact she may have had with Jackson, but she denied that anything had happened between them.
The affidavit notes that the sisters shared a cellphone and both had communicated with Jackson on the phone. In reviewing text messages from the phone, investigators believed the 16-year-old was also a victim of sexual abuse, but she continued to deny it.
On Sept. 21, the older sister was interviewed again at the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center and disclosed that she had sexual intercourse with Jackson "at least 10 times," beginning in August 2014 and continuing through October 2014, according to the affidavit.
She stated the assaults occurred in a bedroom at Jackson's home, and the first time he had covered her mouth while he raped her. She punched him at one point during the assault. She said Jackson told her that if she told anyone he would burn her family's house with her and her family inside, the affidavit said.
She said Jackson assaulted her almost weekly for nearly three months, and she said she was frightened of what he might do if she told anyone, according to the affidavit.
Jackson was arrested Dec. 22, 2014, on the charges related to the 13-year-old. According to that affidavit, the girl was interviewed Nov. 7, 2014, at the Cooper-Anthony center and disclosed sexual assaults by Jackson three times between August and October at the home Jackson shared with his wife.
She told investigators she often would spend the night at the Jacksons' home, sleeping in the living room with Jackson and his wife on a sectional sofa separated into three pieces.
She stated that at one point Jackson told her he "felt like a monster" for what he had done, although after the initial contact in August she was uncertain what happened during the encounter because she was asleep.
She also stated she and Jackson first had sexual relations about a week before school started in August on the sectional while his wife slept on the other section.
The other encounters were similar to the first, the report states.
Jackson denied the accusations and insisted his only relationship with the girl was that of youth pastor.
State Desk on 10/18/2016