INDIANA
The News Dispatch

Associated Press

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a request by a former pastor of a northwestern Indiana megachurch that his 12-year prison sentence for having sex with a teenager be reduced.

The Post-Tribune of Merrillville reports (http://bit.ly/1tRYEov ) U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano on Tuesday also denied Jack Schaap’s request for a hearing on his motions and denied him a certificate to appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Schaap was pastor of the 15,000-member First Baptist Church of Hammond for 11 years when he was fired in 2012. He pleaded guilty to bringing the girl to Illinois and Michigan for sex.