United States: Youth pastor's guilty plea to child rape of boys in his congregation, Church For All Nations

Proceedings

1. Date in cited record · guilty plea

   Superior Court, Pierce County, Washington. Glenn, a youth pastor charged with six counts of third-degree rape, one count of second-degree rape and one count of child molestation involving boys affiliated with his church, pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree child rape under a deal exposing him to a longer-than-standard sentence (reported as up to nine years), required registration as a sex offender, and three years' community supervision on release. An interlocutory appeal by the State over suppression of Glenn's confession to a church elder — held protected by clergy/penitent privilege — was resolved in Glenn's favor and is reported at State v. Glenn, 115 Wash.App. 540, 62 P.3d 921 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003), affirming the trial court's suppression order without disturbing the prosecution.

Appellate history

1. 2003-02-07

   Affirmed the trial court's suppression of Glenn's statement to a church elder on clergy/penitent-privilege grounds, on the State's interlocutory appeal (115 Wash. App. 540, 62 P.3d 921); did not disturb the prosecution itself.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• grooming of boys under his youth-ministry authority through an invented game in which Glenn claimed to have an alternate persona that could only be 'purged' through sex acts
• clergy/penitent-privileged disclosure to a church elder, later litigated on interlocutory appeal