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	Lambert to Be Back in Court Friday By John Ford Neosho Daily News June 5, 2008 http://www.neoshodailynews.com/news/x1763541537/Lambert-to-be-back-in-court-Friday Pineville, Mo. - A McDonald County pastor facing eight felony charges of child sexual abuse will be back in court Friday morning. Raymond Lambert, 52, will be in court at 9 a.m. Friday for a pre-trial conference, to be held in the McDonald County Circuit Courtroom in Pineville. Judge Timothy Perigo will preside. Trial is set to begin June 30 in McDonald County. Lambert is charged with four counts of second-degree child molestation and two counts of statutory sodomy. Charges of statutory sodomy and sexual abuse were dropped April. The child molestation charges are Class D felonies and carry a prison term of up to four years, if a conviction is reached. Meanwhile, the statutory sodomy charges are Class C felonies and carry a penalty of up to seven years in prison, if a conviction is reached. The abuse incidents allegedly took place between February 1995 and April 2004. Lambert has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is the pastor of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, located near Powell, and was indicted earlier this year by a McDonald County grand jury. Lambert's uncle, George Otis Johnston, faces 17 charges in Vernon County on a case moved there from Newton County on a change of venue. Johnston is the pastor of Grandview Valley Independent Baptist Church in Granby, a spin-off of Lambert's church. He is accused of sexually abusing two underage members of his congregation. Some of this alleged contact occurred while he was supposed to be tutoring one of the girls in algebra. A five-day trial is slated to begin July 14 in Vernon County with Judge James R. Bickel presiding.
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