Former Wetumpka Youth Pastor Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison in Sexual Abuse of Child

By Jon Reed
AL.com
April 3, 2013

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/04/former_wetumpka_youth_pastor_s.html

John A. Astorga

Wetumpka was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the sexual abuse of a child.

John A. Astorga, 38, of Titus, was convicted in Cullman County Circuit Court in December 2012 on one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a child who was less than 12 years old. Astorga received the maximum sentence, according to a news release from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.

Astorga, a former youth minister at the Bethel Assembly of God in Wetumpka, was convicted in April 2012 on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in Elmore County. He was sentenced to 36 months on those charges. He has appealed that conviction.

Astorga will serve the sentences consecutively.

"I am pleased that the Court considered the predatory nature of this man's crimes and the devastation caused to his child victims, and thus imposed the maximum available prison sentence," Strange said in the news release.

Astorga will also be required to register as a sex offender after his release.

jreed@al.com