POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — An arrest warrant obtained by Channel 2′s Chris Jose shows a former church pastor who also drove a bus for Cobb County Schools is accused of child molestation.
Rodney Colston is a former pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Powder Springs.
Jose showed up to Colston’s house on Rainbow Lane, but nobody came to the door.
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“It breaks my heart,” said neighbor Elaine Slattery.
Slattery teared up when Jose told her Colston allegedly molested three children.
“He’s a little shaky to me. I don’t really trust him,” Slattery said.
According to the warrant, Cobb County Schools campus police called the Cobb County Police Department’s special victims unit to help investigate one of its bus drivers on Feb. 15.
Another bus driver alerted officers about information that Colston had disclosed, the warrant shows.
The Slatterys would see Colston’s bus often on Rainbow Lane.
“He would drive the bus home before he would pick up the kids, or in the afternoon he would come home. I don’t know if he ate lunch or whatever. He’d come home, bring the bus through the cul-de-sac, and then leave,” Dennis Slattery said.
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Channel 2 Action News chose to blur the warrant in its television report to protect the victims’ identities.
The warrant states Colston allegedly molested three children for decades.
Two of the victims were beyond the statute of limitations.
One is currently 14 years old. The alleged abuse happened when the child was 7 years old in the first or second grade, the warrant says.
Jose also gave Colston’s former church numerous attempts to comment on Tuesday, but nobody called or emailed him back. The door was locked when he showed up.
Jose asked Cobb County Schools if officials are cooperating with the police investigation due to the nature of the allegations.
A district spokesperson sent the following statement:
“We understand this individual has been arrested for allegations in Rome, Georgia and do not involve Cobb or Cobb students. Although he has resigned his position with the District, we will continue to provide support as needed to the Cobb Police Department and their ongoing investigation.”
The Cobb County warrant obtained by Jose makes no mention of an incident in Rome. The warrant shows Colston’s ties to Cobb County Schools and the involvement of its campus police following a report made by a Cobb Schools bus driver.
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Cobb County parents with children on Colston’s school bus told Jose he drove high school and elementary students.
One parent told Jose that Colston’s bus now has a substitute, but no timeline was ever given if he would return. The parent told Jose the district should notify other families who had children on his bus.
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