An elderly former Upstate pastor has taken an Alford Plea on child sex crime charges in Virginia. 88 year old, Albert Benjamin Wharton took a plea on charges of aggravated sexual battery with a victim under 13 and indecent acts with a child.
An Alford Plea is when someone acknowledges they would likely be convicted, but doesn't admit to the crime. The charges stem from when Wharton was a pastor in Virginia between 1976 and 2002.
Wharton was arrested at his home in Pickens County in December of 2023. Wharton had pastored churches here in South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama and Florida over the span of over 40 years.
