The “Bible Belt” gets stranger and stranger all the time in this business!
————————————————————-
December 15, 2008
Sex toy thief gets probation
Jon Ostendorff
A former part-time pastor at a Haywood County church pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing a woman’s sex toy, a bottle of lubricant and a pair of her panties.
Superior Court Judge Marlene Hyatt sentenced Scott Gillis Murray, 48, of Murray Road, to two years probation on a four-month suspended prison term.
Murray resigned from his job at the New Covenant Church in Clyde in July after police charged him with stealing an “adult personal entertainment device.”
The owner of the device came home around 11 p.m. to find him in her house holding a plastic bag, Assistant District Attorney Jim Moore said during the hearing today. Murray broke his leg after jumping over her back porch while trying to escape, the prosecutor said.
He ditched the bag in woods near her house. He admitted the crimes to investigators the next day and they found her property after searching the area, Moore said.
The prosecutor said the victim did not want to come to the hearing.
“This has been, and still is, upsetting to her,” Moore said.
Murray said nothing other than answering the judge’s questions about his understanding of the plea deal.
The state dropped one charge and agreed to a guilty plea on the lesser charge breaking and entering. He had faced second-degree felony burglary, which could have meant an active prison sentence.
The judge found Murray had cooperated with investigators and accepted responsibility. She also found he had a good reputation in the community before the crime, had the support of his family and friends and that he had been through an alcohol treatment program.
She ordered that he continue his treatment and have no contact with the victim.
Murray’s church work had included visiting people in hospitals and checking on members who hadn’t been to church recently, New Covenant senior pastor Nick Honerkamp said after his arrest.
The church paid him a $500-a-month stipend to cover gas and other expenses, Honerkamp said.
Murray’s attorney, Bob Clark, told the court his client was sorry and was ready for his punishment.
“He accepts the fact that punishment has to come first before redemption,” he said.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881215041