The long-anticipated criminal trial for a former megachurch leader began in Ohio Wednesday with a victim saying Tom Keesee started abusing her when she was 5.
Gary Thomas “Tom” Keesee, 37, is facing 32 criminal sex abuse and rape charges. He is accused of abusing four victims, children at the time, between 2001 and 2012. Keesee is the son of Gary and Drenda Keesee, founders of Faith Life Church (FLC), where he worked as a chief media officer. He’s also the creator of Faith Life’s musical, “Fire and Ice,” which uses minors as performers, Roys Report (RR) previously reported.
His mother is also a county commissioner in Knox County, Ohio, northeast of Columbus, where the trial is taking place. She was part of a group that prayed for President Donald Trump at a Turning Point event during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Victims started speaking publicly about the alleged abuse in February 2025 and thousands of community members called for an investigation. Keesee was arrested and charged two months later.
This week, Keesee waived his right to a jury trial, choosing a bench trial where the judge decides the verdict, according to WSYX, Ch. 6, an ABC affiliate in Columbus. He appeared before Judge Richard Wetzel at the Knox County Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday. His parents were not in the courtroom Wednesday; but his wife was present, according to WSYX.
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Some of Keesee’s pretrial hearings were livestreamed. The trial is not being broadcast publicly.
The two lives of Tom Keesee
Keesee lived a double life, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Darcy Cook said in her opening statement. She described to the court how Keesee grew up in his parents’ church, Knox Pages reported. He volunteered, worked in various positions and became a leader widely regarded as charismatic and charming.
“But he had a secret,” Cook said.
The victims, who were between the ages 5 to 15, knew a different Tom Keesee, Cook said. They also attended FLC — a tight-knit community — but the minister’s son they knew was a man who caused them torment and shame.
One of Keesee’s alleged victims, now an adult, testified Wednesday that she was 5 the first time Keesee sexually abused her. She thought it was a game, Knox Pages reported.
But it was not fun. And it kept happening, she testified.
The woman said Wednesday that Keesee abused her 30 times, often at the Keesee home in Knox County. The woman’s name is being publicly withheld.
She said through tears that “the abuse continued to become more aggressive as time went on,” according to WSYX.
The woman also told the court that Keesee’s mother, Drenda, knew of at least one instance of abuse, local media reported. She alleged the woman did not stop it. She also testified that Keesee manipulated her into keeping the abuse secret for years.
“He told me things would be bad for him if he got caught and I was concerned for him,” she said.
The victim told the court that after she became an adult, she eventually told her parents and then a detective, who was also a former member of FLC. She described the process as scary and said, even as she testified, she remained anxious about speaking out.
“This courtroom is the last place I want to be,” the woman said, according to local media. “I worry I will become the focus of this.”
WSYX reported that Keesee’s face stayed stoic during the woman’s emotional testimony.
Keesee’s defense says victims conspired together
Keesee’s defense told the court the evidence will show that the women coming forward should not be believed. Karena Reusser, one of Keesee’s defense attorneys, said the former church member watched a TV show about sexual abuse and latched onto that as a way to attack the church.
Soon disgruntled ex-members of FLC were talking on Reddit, making up stories about sexual abuse at FLC, Reusser argued in her opening statement. She described their testimony against her client as a “campaign.”
“That campaign had accomplished enormous devastation before any allegation had been tested by law enforcement,” Reusser said, according to local media. “A media firestorm erupted, contracts were canceled, two dozen staff members walked out and hundreds walked away from Faith Life Church.”
The victims coordinated their accounts, Reusser told the court, and when the allegations were investigated, details changed.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Samuel Shamansky asked the first witness about her conversations with other women who said they victims. He played recordings of their phone calls and asked why they discussed concerns their statements were “defamation.”
The woman testified that the victims knew women who said they were abused are often not believed.
The trial is expected to continue for seven to 10 days, according to Knox Pages.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
11 Responses
so, Keesee’s Lawyer claims that all of these women got together and decided to conspire together and accuse keesee.
to what end?
It is called DARVO, it is a technique used by guilty people to switch to focus from the them, unto the people accusing them, to make the accusers look as if they are guilty of something, and are not to be trusted. A few examples of this technique being used: James MacDonald, Car Anthony, Driscol, and anyone using this method of deflection should not be trusted as an honorable/truthful source.
If he did this, especially to a 5 year old, he should get the full punishment. No mercy. Unless he repents.
Not even if he repents. What does that have to do with committing crimes, especially against children?
Sorry, I wasn’t implying no punishment even if he repents. There should be consequences for his crime. He should receive forgiveness should he truly repent.
Show him no mercy regardless of repentance. He needs to pay for his evil deeds. The news said murderess Christa Pike was sexually abused, raped several times, and had an abortion and her mother gave her weed when she was young. She acted out in stealing candy and then being rebellious. The guy she was involved with was a Satanist and his apartment was full of Satanic stuff. She had no father, no normal home life. Crawled around in her home in dog feces alone while her mother worked. Her mind was screwed up, in my opinion, because of the neglect of her mother and the rapes and abortion. The rage inside her finally exploded.
Sexual abuse is soul murder. It causes many women to kill themselves, or others, or lose their minds. It’s not just child play or child curiosity. It’s ABUSE dirty and sick from a dirty and sick perpetrator. I wonder where Tom learned to do such things? Was he also sexually abused as a child? That is also common in families. Look at that family 19 and Counting. All the sexual abuse going on in that family!!!
Drenda told Joni Lamb she should marry Doug Weiss. Drenda is dreadful and a fake. I hope their church closes down!
This article and the defense leave out the fact that even Tom Keesee’s own sister came out on Facebook saying that he had abused her also. Tom’s dad, Gary, made a middle-of-the-night emotional Facebook-live video in response to his daughter’s post, which was then quickly taken down the next day. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to save the video, and have it for posterity’s sake.
I met Tom Keesee. I helped with music at one of their women’s conferences several years ago (2011 or 2012?) and I promise you I remember immediately having a weird feeling around him and things just didn’t seem as they should be within the whole environment. My pastors wanted me to connect more with their worship and media teams but I had red flags and didn’t pursue it.
Wow. The Holy Spirit bore witness with you
His siblings and other relatives took the stand and stated Gary Keesee and his wife knew of the abuse well before 2025. That means Gary Keesee Sr. Lied Under Oath today. He threw his daughter and the other victims under the bus. Disgraceful!
Once again, it was not a drag queen at a public library story hour. I would imagine that if one took all the news reports of pastors and church leaders arrested for child sex abuse and normalized it to population and then compared it to the number of drag queens and normalized to th population, you will find something interesting. The kid is less likely to be abused by the drag queen.