ILLINOIS
Peoria Journal-Star
By Michael Smothers of GateHouse Media Illinois
Posted Jan. 15, 2015
PEKIN — A former Pekin church youth minister used the church to commit sexual acts with a preteen girl who considered him her “spiritual mentor,” according to charges revealed in court Thursday.
Nicholas Lawrence, 27, already faces charges involving the same girl in Peoria County, where he led children in Bible classes at two Peoria Heights churches before he began his Pekin ministry.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday in Tazewell County Circuit Court to four Class X felony charges that allege he carried on a four-year sexual relationship into last spring with the girl, whom he met when she was about 8.
Lawrence, of 200 Matilda St., Apt. 4, was ordered held on $500,000 bond on the four Tazewell County charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The crime is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
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