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	Former Church Volunteer Convicted on 9 Sex Counts Emotions Pour after Man Is Found Guilty in Improper Relationships By Chris Collins Fresno Bee [California] May 26, 2007 http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/50085.html The clerk read the nine verdicts one at a time. Count 1: recurring sexual conduct with a child under 14. Guilty. Jamie William Soria stared straight forward, his face expressionless. Count 2: committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14. Guilty. Soria shook his head and looked down. Count 3. Guilty. Count 4. Guilty. Count 5 ... By now, Soria's head was flat on the table and his face buried in his arms. Some of his friends and family members in the courtroom benches behind him started crying. Soria reached for a tissue. After little more than a day of deliberations, jurors found the longtime Fresno church volunteer guilty Friday of nine felony counts — including one count of sodomy — for inappropriate relationships he had with four boys he met at Northwest Church and Malloch Elementary School. He will be sentenced July 9 and faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after at least 30 years. It was a bitter day for Soria. His defense attorney, Ernest Kinney, said his client is a "touchy-feely guy" but not a child molester. Prosecutors who were too quick to believe false witness accounts and a mother who conspired against Soria led to the charges, he said. Moments after the verdict, Kinney's co-counsel and son, Scott Kinney — who attended Bullard High School with Soria — called the witnesses who testified against his former classmate "dirty, rotten liars." He vowed to appeal the case. For Northwest Church, it was a day of relief. "It was an emotional verdict," youth pastor John Richardson, 26, said outside the courtroom moments after Soria was found guilty. "God's bigger than any human failures. Justice was done." During the 1 1/2-week trial in Fresno County Superior Court, prosecutor Galen Rutiaga said Soria developed a pattern of preying on single mothers and their sons. He had a "preoccupation" with young, chubby boys, Rutiaga said. The prosecutor said Soria befriended boys in a fifth- and sixth-grade youth group while he volunteered at Northwest Church, which he attended for 14 years. He also developed close relationships with boys he met as a football, basketball and soccer coach at Malloch Elementary School, a teacher testified earlier this week. A criminal investigation began in July 2004 after one of the church's young members told Richardson his story of abuse at Soria's hands. After the allegations came to light, Northwest Church reviewed its process for screening volunteers. Pastor H. Spees said Friday that law enforcement officials told him the church had properly screened volunteers and that there was no way of knowing that Soria — who had no prior criminal history — was a potential child molester. "We haven't changed our procedures because they're as good as they get, but we have done some additional training," Spees said. The pastor's reaction to the verdict was somber. "You pray that God will heal the victims and transform the offender with his mercy and grace," Spees said. "There's no joy, but there's satisfaction when justice is done." Kinney, the defense attorney, said Soria and his family are "crushed." He said he believes the mother of the church member who first accused Soria of child molestation was "up to her elbows in a conspiracy" to bring charges against him. Kinney said the witnesses' statements were inconsistent and not believable. Rutiaga, the prosecutor, could not be reached for comment. The reporter can be reached at ccollins@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6412.
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