May 21, 2005

NEW: Former pastor guilty of child sexual assault

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
Express-News

Web Posted: 05/20/2005 04:49 PM CDT

Rhea Davis
Express-News Staff Writer

A former pastor accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl more than a dozen years ago, was found guilty of sexual assault of a child today.

Duane Hammons, 47, was found guilty on four charges of sexual assault of a child and two charges of indecency with a child by contact.

The charges stem from four sexual encounters ranging from 1992 to 1994, when the now-28-year-old woman was a freshman and sophomore in high school. The jury found him not guilty on two counts of indecency with a child by contact.

He faces up to 20 years in prison, but may be granted probation.

Hammons, a former pastor of The Church of God in Christ, was asked to counsel the teenager because she was having trouble at home and didn't have many friends.

The woman testified that Hammons would pick her up from Holmes High School and take her to a string of cheap motels to have sex.

Posted by kshaw at May 21, 2005 08:59 AM