By Trace Christenson
The Enquirer
April 19, 2008
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080419/NEWS01/804190313/1002/NEWS01
A former youth pastor was convicted Friday of using a computer to entice young girls to have sex.
Troy Deal, 35, who was director of youth ministries at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church when he was arrested in July, was found guilty by a Calhoun County Circuit Court jury of 11 counts of using a computer to solicit a child for sexually abusive material, distributing sexually abusive material and communicating with a child for immoral purposes.
Deal faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced June 2 by Circuit Judge Stephen Miller. Deal remains free on bond until his sentencing.
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Noticeably shaking, Deal wiped his forehead and his eyes several times as the jury forewoman announced guilty verdicts on all counts. The eight women and four men deliberated about two hours before reaching their verdict at 3:30 p.m., at the end of four days of trial.
The case was brought by the Office of the Michigan Attorney General and alleged Deal used his computer between Sept. 21, 2005, and April 10, 2007, to chat with three undercover officers from the AG's office and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department who were pretending to be five different 14-year-old girls.
"What the verdict shows is no one is above the law," said Rusty Hills, a spokesman for the attorney general's office. "We were aware of at least five different conversations that he was having with who he thought were young girls and that amount of traffic indicates he truly was a predator."
Deal and his attorney, Susan Mladenoff, declined comment after the verdict, as did Assistant Attorney General Kelly Carter, who prosecuted the case. Jurors left the courthouse without comment.
Carter told jurors in her closing argument that "the defendant was looking for sexual activity and he was looking for it from 14-year-old girls."
She said it's clear Deal was the person chatting with all three officers because he used the same terms and suggested the same types of sexual activity.
But Mladenoff told jurors they must first determine Deal, and not someone else, used computers at the church to conduct the chats and then they must determine there was more than just words.
"When we talk about words, words are a crime only when there is intent," Mladenoff said. "You have to look at more than just words."
She encouraged jurors to review the transcripts of all 50 chats with three different officers.
"The context is important," she said. "The words are not said in a vacuum. There has to be intent beyond those words."
Mladenoff said Deal never met anyone during the 32-month investigation and never made or obtained any child pornography.
"He told Agent (James) May, 'I had no intention of meeting with anyone,'" she reminded jurors.
"He uses chats as imagination or fantasy," Mladenoff said. "It was simply fantasy playing."
But Carter argued Deal asked about pictures during the chats and knew what he was doing.
"He was concerned about getting caught and that shows he meant what he said," Carter said. "Put yourself in the place of a parent of a 14-year-old girl and you see chats like this. Would you have any doubts of his intentions?"
Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecr.gannett.com
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