"It's a very important and responsible position," Reid said. "He is in contact with all members of the church because of the position he's in."
According to the charging documents, the girl admitted to her mother in January that she had had sex with Price on three occasions. In interviews with detectives, the girl said she began communicating with Price through text messages and cellular phone calls in June or July, police said.
The girl also described keeping a written journal in which she described her encounters with Price in detail, the documents say. Two encounters occurred in an alley in the 300 block of Laurens St. and the other in a parking lot near Druid Hill Park, the documents say.
Before all three encounters, Price asked permission from the girl's mother to take her from the church to her home or to a nearby outreach center, the documents say.
When he confessed to police, he said he wanted to call the girl's mother and tell her what happened, "but he did not know how," the documents say.
Price was being represented by the public defender's office, which declined to comment yesterday. A message left on his home phone was not returned.
Price, who lives in the 10800 block of Sherwood Hill Road, is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing March 4, court records show.
Before coming to Baltimore in 2006, Price spent three years with Harvest Time Church in Houston, where he was director of the fine-arts ministry.
In 2005, he and the founder of the church, Bishop Shelton Bady, released The Voices of Harvest, a compact disc billed as music for "contemporary worship and urban church."
A short biographical sketch about Price on a Web site that sells the CD describes him as a "sought out" and "influential" man who has been "chosen to change the face of evangelism."
"Be on the lookout for this man as he Wins Souls, Meet Needs, Heal Hurts, and Birth Visions for the glory of God!" the Web site says.
Bady and other officials with his church could not be reached for comment.
When Bethel AME was looking for a new music director, Reid said, Price emerged as the "best candidate."
He took over the church's music and arts ministry and, in October, led a church choir in a gospel music competition at Morgan State University that was sponsored by UniSun, an African-American lifestyle publication of The Sun. The Bethel AME Church Outreach of Love Choir won.
Price was among several choir directors who spoke during a question-and-answer session with people who attended the gospel celebration at Morgan's Murphy Fine Arts Center. He said he had been involved with music and ministry for 25 years, nearly "all my life."
"This is how I live," he said during the event, which The Sun videotaped. "This is why I live. I believe it is to touch the lives, the hearts of people, and to bring them back to the heart of God."
gus.sentementes@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Liz F. Kay contributed to this article.
