Antonio Andretee Sands, Georgia Preacher, Gets Life For Molesting Boys Ages 7 to 13

Thank God, another person guilty of child molestation is off the streets and behind bars for the rest of his life. Antonio Andrette Sands, 36, a Georgia storefront pastor, was convicted by a Clarke County jury for using the Word of God as a front to molest young boys in Athens. He called himself a prophet, pastor, apostle to ingratiate himself on single mothers and then mercilessly molested and sodomized their sons ages seven to 13. What's the most reprehensible aspect to this is the fact that all these boys had learning disabilities. Last week the jury found him guilty of aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, and three counts of sexual battery and child molestation.

This man will be ripped from stem to stern in prison, as he should. Superior Court Chief Judge Lawton Stephens on Friday ordered Sands to serve life plus 60 years in prison. Sands, who had oral and anal sex with his victims, expressed no remorse. He had the nerve to blame the families for the sentence he received. "The only thing I have to say to the families is I forgive them," he said before deputies led him from the courtroom.

This man was a sexual predator that deliberately sought out his victims because of their vulnerability and the fact that the boys lived with poor, single mothers. He reportedly showered his victims with clothes and other gifts their mothers could not afford and painted himself as a father-figure and mentor to the boys. There is no evidence that "Prophet Sands," as he sometimes called himself, was ever ordained as a minister.

Sands migrated from the Bahamas to Athens about five years ago and apparently, he's no stranger to the court system. In April 2006, he was arrested for allegedly sodomizing two young boys who were having sleep-overs with his own children. He as acquitted of aggravated sodomy and eight related felonies in December, but it finally caught up with him this time around. He faces another three counts of aggravated sodomy when he goes on trial yet again Monday for allegedly forcing a 17-year-old boy to have sex in January 2008.

This man is a parent and I am sure he would not want anyone to do this to his own children. He needs to be placed with the most violent prisoners and I am sure they will only be too happy to repay him for what he has done to these children. This is another child molestation case that would not have happened if he had been convicted of the same offenses in 2006. Another criminal was let out on the streets to wreak havoc on innocent children.