OHIO
Raw Story
TRAVIS GETTYS
08 SEP 2016
An Ohio judge sentenced a “delusional” former youth pastor to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage member of the church where he served as a volunteer.
Brian Mitchell pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of sexual battery, and a Cuyahoga County judge rejected his attorney’s recommendation for house arrest but did not impose the maximum 20-year prison term, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The 31-year-old Mitchell, a father of three children under age 8, began sending text messages to the victim, then 16 years old, that quickly turned to complaints about his marriage.
The girl, who told the judge in a letter that she had sought spiritual guidance from Mitchell, said she was afraid to ask the volunteer to stop sending the texts because he was a respected and powerful member of Columbia Road Baptist Church in North Olmsted.
Church leaders heard from a congregant about the texts, which stopped for awhile, but Mitchell eventually resumed his messages and then kissed her after driving the girl home in August 2015.
The next time he drove her home, she said, he began sexually abusing her, and the abuse continued for another month.
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