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	Former Pastor Pleads Guilty to Molestations By Record Searchlight Jim Schultz January 29, 2009 http://www.redding.com/news/2009/jan/29/former-pastor-pleads-guilty-molestations/ The former senior pastor of the First United Pentecostal Church in Redding today pleaded guilty to five felony counts of child molestation in exchange for a 16-year prison sentence. David Leon Bishop, 65, who remains free of custody on $100,000 bail, is scheduled for sentencing on March 12, said Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Ben Hanna, who prosecuted the case. Bishop was arrested in early October and charged with 47 felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14, as well as 47 related enhancements. He pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and could have faced life in prison if tried and convicted of the charges against him, said Hanna. He had been scheduled to begin standing trial in April. Bishop had been pastor of the East Cypress Avenue church, now called the Hope Center, since the early 1970s, but he resigned several months ago after the alleged molestations apparently began coming into light. A Shasta County Sheriff’s Office investigative report released last year said that Bishop telephoned a social worker with Child Protective Services on Jan. 28, 2008, and admitted to fondling a child while she sat on his lap 25 years ago. The statute of limitations, however, has expired in that case. The District Attorney’s Office cannot file child molestation charges if such incidents occurred before 1988, a prosecutor has said. But CPS later learned of allegations that Bishop had fondled another girl from the time she was approximately 7 until she was about 12 years old, the report said. She is now about 16, the sheriff’s investigative report said. He is also accused of molesting another girl, who is now an adult, Hanna has said. At the time Bishop quit his post at the church, its leaders issued a five-paragraph statement saying that “God’s word condemns child molestation and abuse” and that “we do not condone, excuse, cover up or tolerate in any way shape or form these actions by anyone, whether a member or officer of this church corporation.” “Violators will be dealt with expeditiously without regard to who they are, as according to the Scripture,” the statement read. A telephone message left with the church today seeking comment was not immediately returned. Bishop will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence, or about 13.6 years, before becoming eligible for parole.
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