A Knox County judge has found Gary Thomas Keesee Jr., a former youth leader at one of central Ohio's best-known megachurches, guilty on all 27 felony sex-abuse counts he faced at trial. Judge Richard D. Wetzel of the Knox County Court of Common Pleas in Mount Vernon delivered the verdict on Friday, November 6, at the end of a bench trial in which Keesee had waived his right to a jury and let the judge decide the case alone.
Source: ABC 6 (WSYX), 'Former Faith Life Church leader found guilty on all counts,' Nov. 6, 2026
Keesee is the son of Gary and Drenda Keesee, the founders and lead pastors of Faith Life Church, a non-denominational church serving New Albany and Powell. WCMH reported that the verdict was read on Friday morning on 27 counts, including 11 counts of rape, after testimony from women who said they were abused as children. Family members, including his parents and his wife Alexis, were present for the hearing, according to reporting on the verdict.
The 11 rape counts each carry a sentence of life in prison. Judge Wetzel did not sentence Keesee on Friday: he continued Keesee's bond, allowed him to remain free pending formal sentencing at a later date, and required him to surrender his passport as a condition of that release. No sentencing date has been announced.
Source: ABC 6 (WSYX), 'Former Faith Life Church leader found guilty on all counts,' Nov. 6, 2026
How the case reached a verdict
According to court records reported by Knox Pages and ABC 6, one woman first came forward with allegations in February 2025, and additional accusers came forward weeks later. A Knox County grand jury indicted Keesee on 27 counts on April 20, 2025. Authorities added five more charges on May 18, 2025, after a fourth accuser came forward — two rape counts and three gross sexual imposition counts tied to that accuser.
Source: Knox Pages, trial coverage, Sep. 29 – Oct. 5, 2026
Those five added counts never reached a verdict. During the trial, defence attorney Samuel Shamansky asked the judge to dismiss counts 28 through 32 under Ohio's Rule 29, and Judge Wetzel dismissed them because the fourth accuser was unable to return for cross-examination, Knox Pages reported. Jury selection had begun at the Knox Memorial Building and 11 jurors had been seated when Keesee waived his right to a jury trial, leaving the verdict to Judge Wetzel, who took the remaining 27 charges under advisement after closing arguments and announced his decision on November 6.
Source: Knox Pages, trial coverage, Sep. 29 – Oct. 5, 2026
Over four days of testimony, the judge heard from 11 witnesses, including three of the accusers. Prosecutors said Keesee sexually assaulted four girls between 2002 and 2016, when they were between 6 and 15 years old, with the conduct beginning when Keesee himself was 12, according to court records. The accusers said the abuse happened at the Keesee family's Mount Vernon property or at the victims' homes. Captain Gus Moore of the Licking County Sheriff's Office testified that he interviewed three of the women and saw no indication they were coordinating their stories.
Source: ABC 6 (WSYX), 'Former Faith Life Church leader found guilty on all counts,' Nov. 6, 2026
In closing arguments, Special Prosecutor Jenny Wells argued that the accusers had endured years of silence under pressure from church culture, saying church teachings discouraged members from exposing leaders' wrongdoing. The defence called only one witness — Keesee's father, Gary Keesee Sr., who testified that nothing at the time suggested sexual abuse. Shamansky argued the women had coordinated a smear campaign, that prosecutors had not proved physical harm beyond a reasonable doubt, and Keesee himself did not testify. The judge rejected the defence account and found Keesee guilty on every count before him.
Source: ABC 6 (WSYX), 'Former Faith Life Church leader found guilty on all counts,' Nov. 6, 2026
Why a special prosecutor handled the case
The case was not prosecuted by Knox County's own prosecutor. Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville recused his office, citing a conflict of interest: his office represents the Knox County Board of Commissioners, and Keesee's mother, Drenda Keesee, is an elected Knox County commissioner. A special prosecution team from Licking County handled the case instead, led by Jenny Wells. Keesee had served as a youth leader and chief media officer at Faith Life Church before resigning in August 2024. Church leaders have said the allegations did not involve church operations, that the church cooperated with the investigation, and that while the three accusers whose cases went to verdict were church members, there was no evidence the abuse occurred on church property.
Source: Knox Pages, trial coverage, Sep. 29 – Oct. 5, 2026
Known: the verdict (guilty on all 27 counts), the breakdown of the counts, that the rape counts carry life in prison, and that sentencing is set for a later, unannounced date with Keesee free on bond and his passport surrendered. Protected: the women who testified were children at the time of the offences and have never been named in reporting; Awaaz Punjab does not name them. Not yet known: the sentence itself, and whether the defence will appeal — no appeal had been announced in the reporting available on Saturday.
What happens next
The next step is sentencing, at a date Judge Wetzel has yet to set, where the life-carrying rape counts will decide how much of the rest of his life Keesee spends in prison. The fallout is already moving beyond the courtroom: ABC 6 reported after the verdict that former Faith Life Church members are calling for Keesee's parents to step down from the church they founded, and the case has renewed public questions about Drenda Keesee's dual role as pastor and elected county commissioner — the same conflict that forced the local prosecutor off the case. For readers in Ohio's large Indian and Punjabi communities in Columbus and its suburbs — New Albany and Powell sit in the Columbus metropolitan area — the case is a reminder that the safeguards that mattered here were structural ones: an outside prosecutor, a judge rather than a hometown jury, and accusers who were finally heard in open court.