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	Pastor Admits Molesting 2 Girls By George B. Sanchez Monterey County Herald [Salinas CA] January 20, 2006 http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/13670305.htm A Salinas pastor accused of sexually molesting his adopted daughter and a handicapped girl pleaded guilty less than two months after authorities began investigating him. Donald Domelle, 65, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas, admitted to two felony counts of lewd conduct with a child and agreed to a minimum of 15 years in prison Thursday in a remarkably swift case that kept one young woman and a teenager from recounting in court their stories of repeated sexual abuse at the pastor's hands. "(Domelle) has accepted responsibility from the beginning," said defense attorney John Coniglio. The pastor was arrested at his church Dec. 21 after Sheriff's investigators looked into allegations that he sexually molested a 16-year-old girl that prosecutors described as "educationally challenged." Initially, Domelle denied the allegations, said prosecutor Gary Thelander, but during a two and a half hour interview with sheriff's deputies he admitted to having sex with the first known victim. At the conclusion of the interview, Thelander said, Domelle asked to write a letter of apology to his victims. "He ultimately was the source of the second victim," Thelander said. Seven days later, investigators contacted Domelle's 25-year-old adopted daughter, who was living in Northern California with her biological father. That is when authorities confirmed there was a second victim, Thelander said. The daughter came under Domelle's custody when she was 3 years old and was adopted six years later. Between the ages of 10 and 19, Thelander said, Domelle repeatedly had sex with her. "She never told law enforcement. She told people in the community and nobody believed her," Thelander said. "(Domelle and his wife) then sent her off to Christian school in Texas." With bail set at $1.5 million, Domelle was facing more than 50 criminal charges. He signed a plea agreement Thursday morning, hours before his case was to be heard. "This plea was not entered lightly," Coniglio said, noting that he hadn't slept in nearly 24 hours because of preparing the plea agreement. "Any time I can get a case like this taken care of as quickly as possible and get a sentence that protects the community and allows me the luxury of not putting a child on the stand, I grab it," Thelander said. He said Domelle is "not eligible for parole until he's 80. I think we're safe from Mr. Domelle." Coniglio said his client chose to plead guilty and avoid trial to "spare his family the hurt." Asked if Domelle had a message to relay to his congregation, who came to every court hearing since the arraignment, Coniglio said the issue had not been discussed. Women seated in the front rows cried when the charges and plea were announced. One woman hissed "sick" when Monterey County Superior Judge Russell Scott read the charges aloud. Shirley Gonzales of Watsonville said she wasn't surprised when the allegations became public. She hadn't seem Domelle or been to his church in 20 years, but she called him a cruel man who verbally abused her and others. She said she was glad there would be no trial. "I think it spares the poor kids who are the victims. Who wants to put a child through this," she said. Domelle will return to court March 2 in Salinas, when he could be sentenced to prison for 15 years to life. His crimes will be recorded as two strikes on his record.
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