A former Hawkinsville, Georgia pastor was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for having sex with an underage teen he met at his church. Terrance King, 34, was convicted Thursday of statutory rape, aggravated child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes. The Houston County jury in the case deliberated less than an hour in reaching its verdict. Terrance King King, who was the pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church for about three years, took the then-15-year-old ninth-grader to a Perry hotel Nov. 13, 2012, and had sex with her. Superior Court Judge Edward D. Lukemire also sentenced King to life on probation after he’s released from prison. The judge also banished King from Houston County and ordered him to have no contact with the victim or her family, even if King later chose to write a letter of apology. Lukemire characterized King’s actions as “especially onerous” because King was a pastor. The judge expanded on a prosecutor’s statement to jurors that King was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “You were a wolf in shepherd’s clothing,” Lukemire told him. Lukemire noted that King betrayed trust in his position of influence as the spiritual leader of his congregation, and [...]
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