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	Youth Pastor Sentenced for Sex Abuse By Sharon Woods Harris Pekin Daily Times June 2, 2009 http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x2085742284/Youth-pastor-sentenced-for-sex-abuse An East Peoria youth pastor has been sentenced to five weekends in jail and four years of sex offender probation for the sexual abuse of a girl in his youth ministry. William D. Richardson, 33, of 111 Cracklewood in East Peoria, pleaded guilty on May 21 to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 18 over whom he had a position of trust or authority, a Class 2 felony. Richardson was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Tazewell County Children’s Advocacy Center and $3,000 fine, to go through counseling, and to have no contact with children under the age of 18 except for supervised visits with his two sons. According to court documents, Richardson was a youth pastor at the Rock Church, 1081 Upper Spring Bay Road in East Peoria, during the months of January through March when he became involved with a young member of the church. The father of the victim contacted the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Department on April 17 regarding some sexually explicit text messages on his daughter’s cell phone. Tazewell County detectives examined the phone, where they allegedly found the text messages and explicit sexual photos of both the victim and Richardson. The victim denied any involvement with Richardson other than a “father/daughter” relationship during an interview with officials at the Tazewell County Children’s Advocacy Center. In a later interview with the victim, her mother and an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigator, the victim admitted to sending an explicit picture of herself and receiving a picture from Richardson, court records said. In an interview with detectives on April 22, Richardson allegedly admitted to conducting a sexual relationship with the victim at his home and in the parking lot of the East Peoria Walmart, court records said. In an interview with police, lead pastor Chuck Tate said he learned of Richardson’s activities after the father showed him the cell phone and had removed Richardson as youth pastor.
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