UPDATED::Out on bail for 23 child molestation counts, East Bay minister flees during trial

UPDATE::  East Bay pastor sentenced to 34 years for molesting teenage girl in his parish

A Martinez pastor who fled to Mexico during his 2017 sexual molestation trial, only to be captured and extradited back to the U.S., was sentenced Friday to 34 years in prison.

A judge gave Fernando Maldonado, 37, the maximum sentence in a Richmond courtroom two weeks after he was captured in the resort town of Cancun.
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Maldonado was charged in 2015 with sexual abuse of a girl in his parish at Morello Baptist Church in Martinez, starting when she was 13. At the time of his trial, he was free on $1.29 million bail.

An East Bay minister who was out of jail on $1.3 million bail is a wanted man for failing to show up in court after a girl testified he sexually abused her for years.

Fernando Maldonado, 37, was on trial facing 23 counts of child molestation when he apparently fled the area, possibly to Mexico. His alleged victim, a girl who was less than 16 years old when the alleged sexual abuse occurred, testified Thursday and Friday that he sexually abused her numerous times over a three-year period, while he was a minister at two local churches.

Then, on Monday, Maldonado failed to show up to court. Judge Clare Maier issued a bench warrant for his arrest the same day, listing him as “voluntarily absent.” That means the trial will proceed without him. Closing arguments are expected to take place Wednesday.

Out on bail for 23 child molestation counts, East Bay minister flees during trial