By JEFF FARRELL

Staff Writer

SEVIERVILLE — One of five women accusing local hotelier Ken Seaton of sexual battery said Thursday that he had prayed with her and another woman just before groping her.

During a preliminary hearing in Sevier County General Sessions Court, the woman told Judge Kenneth N. Bailey Jr. that Seaton asked her and another woman in his office to hold his hands and pray for prosperity. Immediately after that, she said, Seaton got up and came to hug her, but his hands drifted below her waist — once, then again after she moved them. She said he touched the sides of her breasts, and then she pushed him away.

“I said, ‘Mr. Seaton, this is not how I pray,’” the woman told Bailey.

Bailey presided over the hearing because local judges recused themselves from the case. The Mountain Press is not identifying either of the alleged victims who testified Thursday because the newspaper does not generally identify alleged victims of sex crimes.

Bailey eventually bound over two sexual battery charges against Seaton. Seaton’s attorney, Bryan Delius, had already waived preliminary hearings on three additional charges.

That means all five charges will be reviewed by a grand jury, which will consider whether there is enough evidence to merit proceeding with a trial against Seaton.

Delius spent a large portion of the afternoon attempting to impeach the testimony of the two alleged victims whose charges hadn’t been waived. That effort might not have proved successful with Bailey, but allowed Delius to conduct lengthy cross-examinations which could provide more opportunities to attack the women’s credibility as the cases move forward.

In all five cases, the women allege that Seaton touched them inappropriately. Most were working for him late last year at the time the alleged incidents took place.

The woman who testified he prayed with her is one of two women who filed sexual harassment and wrongful termination suits against Seaton. The other party filing the suit, who is not among the alleged victims in the criminal case, was the same one the alleged victim said was in the room with her and Seaton when the incident occurred.

After touching her, the woman said, “(Seaton) told me if I cooperated, I wouldn’t need a husband, and I’d be surprised what Viagra could do for an old man.”

The woman said she worked for Seaton several more days after rebuffing him, but was eventually fired from her job.

The second alleged victim to testify Thursday said she worked in Seaton’s offices. She told Bailey that Seaton came up behind her, pulled her shirt and bra down and placed his face between her breasts. She pushed him away and pulled up her shirt and bra, she said, and he told her to leave them down.

“(What he said) was to the effect of, ‘Don’t bother to do that, I might be back for more,’” she told Bailey.

Both women said Seaton appeared to be drunk when the incidents occurred; the second said he kept a supply of Scotch whisky in the office and had a glass of it in his hand when the incident allegedly happened.

The second woman said she was never paid for any of the time she worked for Seaton, which lasted for several weeks, including time after the alleged incident occurred.

Delius raised several issues in an attempt to question the credibility of the two women. The dates they testified the alleged incidents happened in court do not match the dates Pigeon Forge Detective Rene Kendall listed in the warrants; however, prosecutor Pamela Huddleston noted the warrants say the events occurred “on or about” the listed dates.

Delius also noted previous criminal charges against the first woman who took the stand; she was convicted of a misdemeanor drug charge and possession of drug paraphernalia. He asked the second woman if she had told people Seaton fell and his hand had gone down her blouse, rather than what she described in court; she said she hadn’t.

The first woman also said Delius and an investigator came to her home the day after Christmas last year and, while questioning her about the criminal case, offered a financial settlement — an offer Delius took quick steps to assure the judge involved the civil suit, and not the criminal case.

“It all came down to (Delius and the investigator) asking me what it would take to make me whole again,” she said.

When the investigator took the stand, at Delius prompting he said that they inquired if she would accept a settlement in the civil case, and made it clear they were not offering money for her to change her testimony regarding the criminal charges.

At one point during the hearing, a bailiff asked attorneys for both sides to approach the bench. Officials indicated there had been an incident outside involving witnesses waiting to testify, but the judge did not announce any actions during the hearing.

jfarrell@themountainpress.com