CALIFORNIA
Appeal-Democrat

May 09, 2013

By Rob Parsons/A-D Reporter

A Wheatland pastor pleaded not guilty on Thursday to 16 felony counts of sexual child abuse in connection with a year-long sexual relationship with a teenage girl.

If convicted on all charges, Brian Clay Gray faces up to 11 years and three months in state prison and must register as a sex offender, said Shiloh Sorbello, deputy Yuba County district attorney.

Judge Julia L. Scrogin appointed the Yuba County Public Defender’s Office to represent the minister, though Gray said he hopes to retain his own attorney.

“My sister is working on that for me,” Gray told the judge.

The 51-year-old pastor of the Anchor Baptist Church was arrested early Wednesday after his wife’s brother — a police officer in Kansas — reported the abuse to the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department.