NEW JERSEY
WHTM
HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) – A Mahwah pastor has been convicted of having sex with an underage member of his church.
A Bergen County jury convicted the Rev. Curtis Franklin on Thursday after less than two days of deliberations.
Authorities told jurors during a trial that lasted three weeks that Franklin, who was then the pastor at Mahwah Full Gospel Church, began a sexual relationship with a parishioner in 2002 when she was 15 and the relationship lasted until she was 19.
Franklin is 22 years older than the victim.
Franklin’s wife and other family members and friends cried as he was led away by sheriff’s officers Thursday, according to The Record (http://bit.ly/KT9vr7 ).
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