Former pageant director charged with sexually assaulting a child

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Former pageant director charged with sexually assaulting a child

Story Published: Aug 20, 2008 at 6:02 PM EST

Story Updated: Aug 20, 2008 at 6:26 PM EST

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - A one-time official of the Miss South
Carolina pageant has been charged again with sexually assaulting a
child.

Pickens County Sheriff David Stone says 44-year-old Joseph
Pettigrew Sanders IV was charged Wednesday with criminal sexual
conduct with a minor and lewd act on a minor.

Sanders was charged in July with sexually assaulting a
9-year-old girl in 2005 at a Comfort Inn in Easley.

Sanders has denied the charges. His attorney Bill Coates said
Wednesday the new charges are false and his client expects to be
cleared at trial.

Sanders had been vice president and executive director of the
Miss South Carolina Organization, which is part of the Miss America Organization. He is no longer listed on the organization's website.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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