OHIO
Cleveland.com
By Cory Shaffer | cleveland.com
on December 01, 2015
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former Cleveland pastor accused of sexually abusing four children in his parish rejected a plea deal Tuesday that would have put him in prison for nearly three decades.
Ubaldo Ocasio, 52, chose instead to fight multiple charges of rape, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and sexual battery that could send him to prison for 205 years to life if convicted on all counts.
“He’s maintaining his innocence,” Ocasio’s attorney, Jaye Schlachet, told cleveland.com after the hearing.
His trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon.
Ocasio is accused of raping and abusing the girls, who were between the ages of 9 and 16 while he was the pastor at a small church on Clark Avenue.
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