United States: pastor given six consecutive life sentences for a decade of abuse of a choir girl

Proceedings

1. 2013-10-15 · conviction and six consecutive life sentences

   115th Judicial District Court, Upshur County, Texas, USA. Hugo Fluellen, a Gilmer pastor, abused a girl of his congregation — a church-choir member — for roughly a decade beginning when she was in second grade, in the church, in church vehicles, and on rides home from services; DNA evidence showed he fathered her child. On 15 October 2013 he received six consecutive life sentences, automatic under Texas law given his 1987 prior conviction for sexual assault of a child.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• rides home from church services
• abuse inside the church and church vehicles
• pastoral standing with the victim's family from her early childhood