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  Pastor Is Given Four-Year Sentence for Molestation

By Marta Murvosh
Skagit Valley Herald [Washington]
December 12, 2004

A Skagit County judge, facing a courtroom full of about 50 family members and supporters of a pastor convicted of molesting two young girls, said he had to consider accounts of the defendant's good works in handing down a sentence.

With that, Judge Michael Rickert Friday sentenced Armando Villalobos-Perez to 4 1/4 years in prison, the shortest sentence he could have meted out under state law.

Sixteen people speaking at Villalobos-Perez's sentencing told the judge they believed the defendant to be innocent.

A jury Oct. 4 found Villalobos-Perez, 58, guilty of three counts of first-degree child molestation. The two victims were clients of his wife's day care.

Dona Bracke, chief deputy prosecutor, asked the judge to send Villalobos-Perez to prison for 9 1/2 years, saying that he abused his position of trust as a pastor.

"He took advantage of his position in the day care," Bracke said. Bracke also said she was disturbed that when allegations had been made two years ago to the pastor's wife, Maria Perez, they were not reported to state authorities. After the criminal case was filed the state suspended and eventually took away her child care license.

Villalobos-Perez's lawyers, Jenifer and Roy Howson, argued for a 4 1/4-year sentence, the shortest they could ask for under state law. The Howsons are appealing the verdict.

Roy Howson pointed out that the touching incident his client was convicted of didn't involve removing any clothing and was very brief.

Before issuing the sentence, Rickert asked the court interpreter, who usually translates quietly for the defendant, to speak into a microphone so both Spanish and English speakers in the courtroom would understand the judge's reasoning.

The judge agreed with the Howsons and gave the pastor the minimum sentence. If Villalobos-Perez receives credit for good behavior, he will serve less than four years.

The people who spoke at the sentencing, including a fellow pastor from Lynden, described Villalobos-Perez as a devoted Christian who worked tirelessly in the Hispanic community. Several told Judge Rickert they had no qualms about leaving their children in his care. "I can't see how he abused the person they say he abused," said Susena Cazares, who converted to Christianity after meeting the pastor in 1986.

Villalobos-Perez is the pastor of the Iglesia Santa Pentescostes Ovejas De Jesucristo, a Spanish and English Pentecostal church in Mount Vernon.

"May God strike me dead if I did what they said I did," Villalobos-Perez said. "I am innocent."

The Perez family has long held that there was no evidence for the charges and the convictions. The Perez family has maintained that the girls have lied.

"He's an honorable man who shouldn't be here at all," said Luz Perez, one of his daughters.

At the trial, the jury had to decide whether to believe Perez, who took the stand in his own defense, or the two victims and another girl who testified that she witnessed one of the incidents.

Neither the victims, nor their families, were present at the sentencing.

"I believe they came in here and did their very best to tell the truth as they know it," Rickert said.

 
 

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