Minister Pleads Guilty in Case Involving 13-year-old

By Mary Beth Lane
Columbus Dispatch
October 2, 2012

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/02/youth-pastor-sex-charges-plea.html

A former youth pastor pleaded guilty today in Hocking County Common Pleas Court to three counts of attempted gross sexual imposition involving a 13-year-old girl in the congregation.

Visiting Judge Dale Crawford scheduled sentencing for Dec. 21.

Travis J. Branstetter, 31, of Logan, an ordained minister who was youth pastor for five years at the Church of the Nazarene, took a negotiated plea deal.

The offense carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison, the prosecutor’s office said.

Logan is about 50 miles southeast of Columbus.