MARYLAND
News-Post

By Brian Englar
News-Post Staff

The former pastor of a Montgomery County church charged with abusing a girl from his congregation entered a guilty plea Tuesday in Frederick County Circuit Court.

Joe Nix Ivey, 74, former pastor of Barnesville Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to a second-degree sex offense. Prosecutors dropped charges of second-degree assault and sex abuse of a minor.

Assistant State’s Attorney Tammy Leach asked Judge G. Edward Dwyer to sentence Ivey to 20 years in prison but suspend all but four years. She also asked for five years of supervised probation upon Ivey’s release.