LEESBURG, Va. (AP) -- A civil rights leader who worked closely with the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior has been charged with incest.
The Reverend James L. Bevel -- who is 70 -- was arrested late May in Alabama after being indicted on one count of unlawfully committing fornication.
Defense attorney Buta Biberaj said Saturday that no plea had been entered yet. A bail hearing is set for Thursday.
Bevel appeared briefly in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Friday but did not speak.
Prosecutors said the crime occurred in northern Virginia's Loudoun County between October 14, 1992, and October 14, 1994. They also say the accuser was 13 to 17 years old when it took place.
Bevel worked with King and witnessed his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. He also organized the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, and was a leader of the Freedom Rides to desegregate public accommodations throughout the South in the early 1960s.
Bevel could face up to 20 years in prison.