A former church music minister was charged today with additional sexual exploitation charges, five days after he was charged with taking indecent liberties with a student.
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Paul Lawrence Berrell, 29, who was a music minister at St. Eugene's Catholic Church, faces nine counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after police searched his North Ridge Drive home. They found pictures of a minor engaged in sexual activity, according to the Asheville Police Department.
The charges stem from the investigation that followed Berrell's arrest Monday on one count of taking indecent liberties with a student.
A police report said the incident occurred April 21 at Berrell's home, just on the Woodfin side of the Woodfin-Asheville municipal line. The report says a “parent called (the department) to report indecent liberties with a child.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Charlotte, of which St. Eugene is a part, said Berrell no longer works for the church.
Berrell is held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on a $90,000 bond.