Man accused of sex crimes

Date: 12/8/2007

Affidavits state that child molestations occurred 1977-1983

By Noah Haglund

The Post and Courier

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Moncks Corner — A 56-year-old man who once led a youth singing group in the Goose Creek area appeared in bond court Friday on charges that he molested a half-dozen boys decades earlier.

Investigators' affidavits accuse Tommy Flack of kissing, hugging and fondling 10- to 13-year-old boys between 1977 and 1983. Many of the children were singers with Flack's group, the Deacons. Some said the incidents happened when they spent the night at his home in the Okatee subdivision outside Goose Creek.

"They are men now, but they were just young boys at the time this happened," Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said after the bond hearing.

Some of the accusers, now in their late 30s and early 40s, attended the hearing at Hill-Finklea Detention Center. Magistrate Harry Wright denied bail.

The first man told Berkeley County detectives in July 2006 that he had been abused by Flack, said sheriff's Sgt. Geno Alteri, who investigated the case. Flack is charged with 11 counts of performing lewd acts on a minor, Alteri said. Some of the youths who came forward were members of the Deacons, though others were friends with people who knew the vocal group's leader. The singers were affiliated with a local church, which the detective declined to name.

Detectives obtained the arrest warrants in April and tracked Flack down to Perry, Ga., last week. He was brought to Moncks Corner on Thursday after he waived extradition.

Flack's booking information lists a home address in Asheville, N.C., though the solicitor said he traveled the country in an RV. He made a living making maps and brochures about parks and campgrounds around the county, Wilson said.

He also wrote self-published novels with gay themes. Titles on Amazon.com include "Blue, Gray and Gay," a work of historical fiction about two men on opposite sides of the Civil War battlefield, and a sequel, "Mountain Men."

Defense attorney Lauren Williams of the Savage & Savage PA law firm said Flack has never been in trouble. She called him a religious man who has always worked. Unmarried, he takes care of his elderly parents.

"He's pretty shocked by what's going on," Williams said. "His family, his friends are all 100 percent in support of him."

Reach Noah Haglund at nhaglund@postandcourier.com or 937-5550.

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