Sentencing date set for former pastor guilty of historical sexual assault

CANADA
The Peterborough Examiner

By Jason Bain, The Peterborough Examiner
Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A sentencing date has been set for a former pastor found guilty last month of sex-related charges involving a then-teenaged boy 25 years ago.

On Feb. 13, Mr. Justice Hugh O’Connell found Clifton Pelley guilty of sexual assault and gross indecency, but not guilty of three other charges involving a different man who alleged Pelley drugged him and sexually assaulted him as a teen.

The former pastor appeared Tuesday in court in Oshawa, where a sentencing date was set for March 19 at 9:30 a.m. in Superior Court of Justice in Peterborough, local trial co-ordinator staff said.

Last month, O’Connell told court he had no difficultly believing the testimony of the victim, who said Pelley had taken him into a church office after a trip to the U.S. in 1985 and told him he had the authority of the church and police to inspect his genitals.

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