Email This Story
Print This StoryRelated To Story |
Pastor Sentenced For Inappropriately Touching Teen Boy
POSTED: 4:50 pm EST January 3,
2007
UPDATED: 5:17 pm EST January 3,
2007
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- Douglas Myers' congregation knows him as a trusted church pastor, but Wednesday the Lake County man was sentenced for inappropriately touching a 13-year-old boy.
SEARCH: Do Sex Offenders Live In Your Neighborhood?
Myers learned Wednesday that he will spend the next seven years behind bars. The founding pastor at Triangle Community Church in Eustis was arrested last February. He pled guilty to one of three charges Wednesday.The family of the 13-year-old boy said Myers was a father figure, a trusted friend who betrayed that trust.
Myers, 56, was a community leader, a pastor and now an admitted child molester."Do you believe in God? Being a preacher, I hope you would. Then how in God's eyes could you do this?" prosecutor Jonathan Olson read in court Wednesday from a statement from the mother of the 13-year old boy who Myers admits he sexually molested.Myers was arrested nearly one year ago after having a close relationship with the victim's family."They trusted him. He held himself out as a man of the cloth, as a religious man. They felt they could trust him. Their trust was betrayed on this," Olson said.Myers faced three felony charges and up to 45 years in prison. But in exchange for pleading guilty to one of the charges, prosecutors agreed to a total of seven years behind bars.Wednesday’s sentencing, though, may not be the end for Myers. Prosecutors said there may be more victims and they're investigating.
SEARCH: Do Sex Offenders Live In Your Neighborhood?Myers learned Wednesday that he will spend the next seven years behind bars. The founding pastor at Triangle Community Church in Eustis was arrested last February. He pled guilty to one of three charges Wednesday.The family of the 13-year-old boy said Myers was a father figure, a trusted friend who betrayed that trust.
Copyright 2007 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
