NEVADA
ABC News
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Jan 21, 2016
A former Las Vegas area church pastor who became an international fugitive on accusations that he sexually assaulted girls as young as 7 in his congregation has been found guilty.
A Clark County District Court jury on Thursday found Otis Holland, 59, guilty of 17 felony charges, including child sexual assault, lewdness, conspiracy to destroy evidence and bribing a witness. He faces life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 16.
The long-delayed trial started early January, but Holland has been in jail since his arrest in January 2012 in Tijuana, Mexico. A prosecutor said he had fled the country following his initial arrest in December 2010. Known to his United Faith Church congregation in Henderson as “Reverend Otis,” he was also featured before his arrest on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”
Prosecutors said Holland focused on sex as a path to spirituality. He taught from the pulpit that most women have burning desires blocked by sexual hang-ups that he could teach them to get past, if given the chance.
Multiple women have testified that they had sex or sexual contact with the former pastor when they were teens. They said they didn’t talk at the time about the abuse with their parents, who had sent them to Holland for counseling against misbehavior like skipping school or smoking cigarettes.
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