Sun May 12 18:21:37 EDT 2002

Associated Press

TAMPA -- The search of an unpaid storage locker turned up pictures of young naked boys and led police to a church youth counselor who now faces child sex charges.

Marvin C. Thompson, 52, was being held Thursday without bond on eight counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious conduct with children after his arrest Wednesday.

Tampa Police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrested Thompson in connection with sexual acts on two boys, ages 5 and 8.

Thompson had worked as a volunteer counselor for the Royal Rangers, a youth group affiliated with Temple Terrace Faith Assembly and had worked with at least one other Tampa church youth group, according to investigators.

The alleged victims, however, were not members of the church groups, they said.

Police said Thompson had not paid his rental fee on a storage locker and when the owner opened it, he found hundreds of pictures of naked boys. The owner called police.

Detectives said they are searching for other possible victims and that after his arrest, Thompson told officers of sex acts with children dating back to the 1960s.