By Matt Coker
Orange County Weekly
April 9, 2011
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/04/joe_david_nelms_pastor_molest.php
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UPDATE, APRIL 9, 10:16 A.M.: 47-year-old Joe David Nelms pleaded not guilty Friday to eight felony counts related to the sexual assault of a then-14-year-old girl he met while serving as a youth pastor in San Clemente in 1993.
Nelms, who was extradited to Orange County from Texas, returned to Orange County Jail after the arraignment hearing. He is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail pending a pretrial hearing and bail review scheduled for May 2.
He could get up to 22 years in state prison if convicted of the charges of molesting the girl over a three-year period in his car, home and Pacific Coast Church office.
UPDATE, MARCH 31, 4:27 P.M.: The original version of this post has been corrected. At one point, the previous version referred to David Montano, who was picked up in Coto de Caza earlier this month on a child-molestation arrest warrant out of Turlock, as a "horse trainer." Later in the same item, the 45-year-old was identified as a "horse groomer" at Coto Valley Equestrian Center. Both descriptions are false.
Montano formerly worked as a groomer for Cinnabar Equestrian Operations, LLC, which manages Coto Valley Equestrian Center. His employment was terminated last year. He was never one of the center's professional horse trainers.
OC Weekly and your gentle servant regret the errors.
UPDATE, MARCH 23, 11:39 A.M.: The Orange County district attorney's office (OCDA) is reaching out to the public to find potential victims of a former Orange County youth pastor accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female parishioner in 1993. Joe David Nelms, 47, who is awaiting extradition in a Texas jail cell, allegedly molested the girl over a three-year period in his car, home and office at Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente.
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