ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police said the husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum will be charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats after a confrontation in which he left her badly bruised.
Officer Ronald Campbell said Thursday that Bynum met with authorities at an undisclosed location to press the charges against preacher Thomas W. Weeks III, founder of Global Destiny churches.
Campbell said the confrontation was Tuesday in a hotel parking lot near Atlanta’s airport, and a hotel bellman pulled Weeks off Bynum.
The police spokesman said the couple were talking about a reconciliation, they got into an argument, and her husband started to choke Bynum. Campell said she was pushed to the ground and kicked.
Weeks did not return a phone message or an e-mail request for comment Thursday by The Associated Press. A call to Global Destiny was answered only by a recorded message with information about the ministry.
Amy Malone, a publicist for Bynum, said, she is recovering and “steps have been taken to ensure that this does not happen again.” Malone said she wanted to emphasize that there was no “fight.” She said Bynum was “attacked by her husband.”
Bynum, who has offices in Waycross, is a former homemaker, hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist. She got a break when Bishop T.D. Jakes invited her to speak at one of his conferences several years ago.
She married Weeks in 2002 in a televised wedding.