Saturday, February 6, 2016

UPDATED::Pastor in sex ‘counseling’ goes on trial for child abuse | Inquirer News

UPDATE::  Former pastor found guilty in Las Vegas child sex case
A former Las Vegas area pastor who fled the country after he was accused of sexually assaulting girls as young as 7 in his congregation has been found guilty.

A Clark County District Court jury on Thursday found Otis Holland, 59, guilty of 15 felony charges, including child sexual assault and lewdness. He faces life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 16.

Prosecutors filed 22 new charges against Holland Thursday afternoon after five additional victims came forward, CBS affiliate KLAS reported. The new allegations involve victims from age 6 to adults.
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Prosecutors said Holland focused on sex as a path to spirituality. He taught from the pulpit that most women have burning desires blocked by sexual hang-ups that he could teach them to get past, if given the chance.

Multiple women have testified that they had sex or sexual contact with the former pastor when they were teens. They said that at the time, they didn’t talk about the abuse with their parents, who had sent them to Holland for counseling against misbehavior like skipping school or smoking cigarettes.
UPDATE:: Trial opens for former Las Vegas pastor on sex charges
"Mr. Holland's church was unique in one very dark way: he had a fundamental belief about spirituality and sexuality," said Robert Langford, who is prosecuting on the case. "And that's what this case is going to be about. He believes you could not begin to attain spirituality if you were troubled by your sexuality. And that's what he preached."

Holland was the pastor for United Faith Church, which held services in a storefront on Hacienda Avenue, near Tropicana and Eastern avenues. He met privately with the girls under the guise of "counseling" them about sexual issues, and then performed sex acts on them, Langford said.

Holland's defense lawyer Carmine Colucci told jurors that many parents in the congregation approached Holland about counseling their children on various subjects, such as family struggles and "many teenage-type problems."

"It wasn't like a sneaky, come-behind-the-building type of thing, or let's get in my car and go somewhere," Colucci said. "He was eccentric, and he didn't always follow the traditions of a traditional type of church, but you have to look at what he was trying to say and how he was trying to say it, and look beyond just the surface of what you see and here... He's not this sinister person planning and scheming to commit heinous crimes."
UPDATE::  Jury seated in trial of former pastor 
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 This undated law enforcement booking photo provided by the Henderson, Nev., Police Department shows Otis Holland. Alleged victims have said Holland, former church pastor, now 59, sexually abused them in vehicles including a limousine fitted with a bed, or at his home. After years of delay after his 2012 capture in Tijuana, Mexico, trial is set to begin Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 in Las Vegas. (Henderson Police Department via AP)

After years of delays, a former storefront church pastor and international fugitive is due for trial Monday in Las Vegas on allegations that he sexually assaulted girls in his congregation under the guise of counseling.

Otis Holland, 59, faces life in prison on charges he abused girls as young as 7. He has been in jail since his arrest in January 2012 in Tijuana, Mexico. Known to his United Faith Church congregation as “Reverend Otis,” he was featured before his arrest on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”
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Holland also had sexual relationships with adult women in his congregation, according to police reports and pretrial testimony. Church members at first publicly supported him, but turned against him as other girls began making similar allegations.

Holland has pleaded not guilty to 17 felony charges, including child sexual assault, lewdness, and bribing a witness. Holland also faces two misdemeanor evidence tampering charges. He could face life in prison with or without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted of the sex assault charges.


Pastor in sex ‘counseling’ goes on trial for child abuse | Inquirer News

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