ARIZONA
Eastern Arizona Courier
SAFFORD — After calling him a “great danger to society,” Graham County Superior Court Judge R. Douglas Holt sentenced pastor Dennis Wayne McGinnis, 67, to the maximum allowable penalty of 24 years in prison.
McGinnis previously pleaded no contest to molestation of a child — a class-2 felony — and attempted sexual conduct with a minor — a class-3 felony. On Monday, Judge Holt accepted the plea agreement and found McGinnis guilty of both charges.
“There is a significant need to deter you from future conduct like this, so I need to have you in prison for as long as I can,” Holt said as he sentenced McGinnis.
Allegations first arose against McGinnis in February 2012, when he was employed by the Mt. Graham Hospice as its chaplain. He also previously served as the visitation chaplain for the Victory Fellowship Church from November 2007 to March 2011, according to his resumé.
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