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	Ex-Youth Pastor Given 13 Years Sex Crimes: the Victims, Now 20 and 21, Urged against Leniency. The Corona Man's Family Sought It By Paige Austin Press-Enterprise January 19, 2007 http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_C_cpastor20.45ebb91.html Riverside - After almost four years of legal wrangling and testimony about the crimes, Friday's sentencing of a youth group pastor who committed sex crimes against two girls focused on the emotional toll on the victims and their families, and on the convicted man's supporters. Joseph Mario Arredondo Jr., who had been a football coach at a high school in Corona and a youth pastor at a Norco church before his arrest, was sentenced Friday to the maximum possible sentence of 13 years and four months for sex crimes against two teenage girls who attended the church. The two victims and their families told the court of the public suffering they've endured since the popular youth pastor was arrested. One victim's grandmother told of seeing her granddaughter balled up on the floor, crying and suicidal. Self-doubt, verbal and physical attacks by Arredondo's supporters and seeing painful details of the crimes displayed in newspapers made life a constant torture for the girls, their families said. "It breaks my heart to see my granddaughter crying because of him," said one victim's grandfather. "She should not be blaming herself for his heinous treatment of a child. He has deeply hurt my entire family." The names of family members are being withheld to protect the victims' identities. The Press-Enterprise does not routinely identify people who have been the victims of sexual abuse. In a moment of unusual courtroom candor, Deputy District Attorney Blaine Hopp admitted to the court his doubts during the trial about being able to exact justice for the victims. Similarly, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Russell F. Schooling sent Arredondo to prison with sorrow for the torn lives of the victims and for the suffering of Arredondo's family as he goes to prison. "It is one of the most difficult cases this court has ever had the misfortune to hear," said Schooling. "This is a person who young people looked up to, and this is a person who played upon that trust and position of confidence so he could satisfy his most base instincts ... it would be a slap in the face to the victims to even consider a middle term (sentence), much less the lower term." A Riverside County jury first convicted Arredondo, a Corona resident, in March 2005 of 15 counts of sex crimes committed on a 15-year-old and a 17-year- old who attended New Beginnings Church in Norco. A few months later, Schooling ruled that Arredondo should receive a new trial because his attorney was "hopelessly unprepared," and granted Arredondo bail. Since being convicted, he divorced, remarried and started a pool-cleaning business. His new wife gave birth to their son last Thanksgiving, but by that time, Arredondo was already back in custody. The appeals court decided in August that Arredondo should not have a new trial because the outcome would have been the same even with a different attorney. For Friday's hearing, the now 20- and 21-year-old victims sat with their families in the courtroom's front row. Bailiff's kept them separated from Arredondo's family and supporters, who were seated along the back wall. One tearful victim begged the judge for a maximum sentencing, describing Arredondo as a charismatic man who preyed upon young girls with low self-esteem and trusting hearts. "He had control of my life for a long time, and he has taken things away from me that I can never get back," she said. Many from the church and the Arredondo family spoke in favor of the former youth pastor. "Joe has been a mentor and a great role model to many people in his life," said Robin Arredondo, his wife. Arredondo had no criminal history, had been president of his high school class and was the first member of his family to graduate from college, said Delores Arredondo, his mother. "His decision to become a pastor helped my husband to quit drinking and his drug use," she said. "My son has helped many people." Reach Paige Austin at 951-893-2106 or paustin@PE.com
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