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	Former Monk Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault Associated Press, carried in Houston Chronicle February 13, 2009 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6263360.html JOHNSON CITY, Texas — A former monk of the now defunct Christ of the Hills Monastery pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1993. Jonathan Hitt pleaded guilty as part of an agreement expected to result in no extra prison time. He is approaching the end of a 10-year sentence for indecency with an 11-year-old boy. His latest sentence will end Oct. 26 under the plea deal. Hitt is the last of five monks to be convicted since authorities raided the Central Texas monastery in 2006 after allegations that novice monks — which included children and teenagers — were being abused. Prosecutor Cheryl Nelson said Hitt's victim was too traumatized to return to the stand and testify had his case gone to trial. "Under the circumstances, we felt we did the very best we could," Nelson said in Friday's online edition of the San Antonio Express-News. The monastery she helped shutter was "an evil place with so many evil people," Nelson said. The 105-acre monastery is the target of a forfeiture lawsuit by the state. It was allied with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia during the 1990s, but the church broke ties with the monastery when allegations of sexual abuse surfaced.
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