CALIFORNIA
ChicoER

By RYAN OLSON-Staff Writer chicoer.com
Posted: 11/16/2012

OROVILLE — A former associate pastor of a Chico church charged in a child sex abuse case has pleaded no contest to a lesser count.

Jesse Daniel Ruhl, formerly of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, pleaded no contest Wednesday to an added misdemeanor count of engaging in lewd conduct in a public place, according to his attorney, Philip Heithecker.

Ruhl had initially been charged in Butte County Superior Court with a misdemeanor count of child molestation for the reported relationship with a then-16-year-old girl. The girl and her parents were members of the church where Ruhl was a music teacher, but the girl was reportedly being home-schooled at the time of the offense.

The prosecution had alleged the relationship between Ruhl and the girl became more intimate in October 2010 when they exchanged 20-30 text messages. For about two to…