Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Cobb County, Georgia, USA · 2026

United States: Cobb County church leader sentenced to 25 years for grooming a teen through a new youth group

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

leadership role, Worship With Wonders Church

Organization

Worship With Wonders Church, Cobb County

Spiritual nexus

Turner used a leadership position at Worship With Wonders Church to found a new youth group, recruited the victim into it, and used the trust and access that role generated to groom and abuse him over several months.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2026-02-09 · guilty plea and sentence

    Superior Court, Cherokee County, Georgia (Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit). Turner pleaded guilty to 11 counts including two counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of child molestation, enticing a child, obscene internet contact with a child, four counts of sexual exploitation of children, and cruelty to children; sentenced to 25 years without parole plus lifetime probation.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • invitation into a newly formed church youth group as the access point
  • sustained one-on-one contact normalized through the youth-group role

Primary record

Sources

local television da statement criminal disposition 11Alive (WXIA), "DA: Former Cobb Co. church director sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to sex crimes involving teen boy" (Feb. 2026).

District attorney's office statement, reported by 11Alive, confirming Turner's guilty plea to all 11 counts, the 25-year sentence without parole, and the youth-group grooming method.

official prosecutorial record criminal disposition Cherokee County District Attorney's Office, press release on Marcus Turner guilty plea (Feb. 2026).

Official prosecutorial press release detailing the counts of conviction, sentence and case background.

local television court reporting corroboration FOX 5 Atlanta, "'I trusted the pastors': Mother of victim speaks out after church leader sentenced."

Victim's family interview corroborating the church-youth-group access mechanism and the sentence imposed.

Related record

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