TEXAS/VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Posted: Tuesday, October 13, 2015
By Mitch Mitchell Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH – Geronimo Aguilar, the former pastor of the Richmond Outreach Center, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting teenage sisters in Texas.
Aguilar, who has been in jail since his conviction in June, faced a life prison sentence on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was also convicted of three counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 and two counts of indecency with a child, each second-degree felonies, each carrying maximum sentences of 20 years.
Before pronouncing sentence, state District Judge Louis Sturns heard a 1 1/2 days of testimony from people who have known Aguilar.
Witnesses called by Aguilar’s attorneys Tuesday said they did not recognize the man who seduced, coerced and sexually abused teenage and pre-teen girls and married women who were members of his churches. The defense witnesses said they knew a minister who clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the homeless.
Aguilar grew up in a troubled family, relatives said. Faye Zucker, his mother’s cousin, testified that Aguilar was 8 or 9 when his stepfather fatally shot his mother in the head five times.
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