From Staff Reports

A Shelby County pastor was arrested last Friday for raping his daughter.

According to local media reports, Chilton County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Randall Ralph Melton, 50, of Jemison and charged him with first-degree rape.

Investigators from the sheriff’s department said Melton raped his then-15-year-old daughter in 1987.

Investigators said the victim claimed Melton raped her repeatedly between 1975 and 1987.

Sheriff’s investigator Brian Stilwell said the victim filed a complaint against her father in November 2003, and enough evidence was collected to finally arrest him on Good Friday.

Charges are pending against the victim’s mother, Melton’s wife.

Melton was the pastor at Prospect Baptist Church in Wilsonville at the time of his arrest but has also been the pastor of New Salem Baptist Church in Thorsby and Big Springs Baptist Church in Vida