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	Deacon Sentenced to 12 Years on Sexual Abuse Charges By Casey Grove News Tribune November 11, 2011 http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/11/10/1900983/deacon-sentenced-to-12-years-on.html A deacon at a Fairview church was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for fondling a girl on multiple occasions between summer 2009 and January 2011. Richard Taylor, 62, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual abuse of a minor in August. On Thursday, an Anchorage Superior Court judge accepted a plea agreement and sentenced Taylor to serve 12 years in prison, according to a state prosecutor. Police said the girl was 11 when Taylor first touched her inappropriately. According to a police affidavit filed in court, Taylor would stuff cash into the girl's bra and fondle her. Taylor was a deacon at True Vine Ministries at the time of his guilty plea, according to the church. None of the abuse happened at the church or in relation to the church, according the Rev. C.R. Hawkins in an August interview. A woman who answered the phone at True Vine on Thursday declined to say whether or not Taylor was still a deacon there following his sentencing. Assistant District Attorney Brittany Dunlop said Taylor accepted responsibility in a statement in court at Thursday's sentencing. "He gave an allocution in which he asked forgiveness from his family, friends and church," Dunlop said. Judge Michael Wolverton accepted prosecutors' recommendations and sentenced Taylor to 15 years with three years suspended and 10 years' probation, Dunlop said. Taylor will also be required to register as a sex offender, she said. Taylor was previously convicted of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor in 1981, police said. Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
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