On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 23:19:50 -0700, "Yang, AthD (h.c), Kicking AWOL's
Cocaine Snorting *****" <eacmole@/*AWOLBUSH*/mail.com> wrote:

Christian Morality® strikes again.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/37B
16E170C447C628625701C001D09D8?OpenDocument

Former camp counselor receives life sentence for child molestation
conviction

By William C. Lhotka
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/10/2005

A judge ordered a life prison term Thursday for a man convicted of
sodomy and child molestation of victims he met either directly or
indirectly through a nondenominational church in Columbia, Mo., where
his father is a minister.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge David Lee Vincent III declared John
Torres, 39, of Columbia, a predatory sexual offender and sentenced him
to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 15 years.

Vincent ran the sentence consecutive with a six-year sentence Torres
is serving in San Quentin prison in California for a 1999 sexual
assault on the 8-year-old son of a talk show host. He pleaded no
contest in that case in September 2003.

Prosecutor Kelly Clarkin said after the sentencing Thursday that she
considered Torres a serial child molester who might have assaulted
many more children than the seven who have made allegations against
him.

All the victims met Torres through their involvement, or their
family's involvement, in the Christian Fellowship Church of Columbia.
Torres' father, Elias Torres, is the minister.

At a jury-waived trial in April, Elias Torres asked Judge Vincent to
consider "the possibility of rehabilitation and love and mercy and
compassion. That is what Jesus came into the world for."

Asking Vincent for leniency at the trial were John Torres' wife, one
of his three children, his brother and the defendant himself.

Seeking punishment were:

The talk show host whose son was molested.

Two women who testified they were fondled by Torres 20 years ago at
his house in Columbia.

A man who wrote a letter to Vincent saying he had been assaulted by
Torres in a Columbia restroom 20 years ago.

The parents of two victims in Florissant.

The Florissant assaults got Torres the life sentence. Vincent
convicted him in April of statutory sodomy, two counts of child
molestation and misdemeanor assault.

One victim said he was molested in 1995 when he was 11; the other at
the age of 12 in 2002. The older victim admitted he told no one until
two months after his younger brother came forward.

The boys' parents said they knew Torres through the church. The talk
show host said he, too, knew him through church work.

The prosecutor said she believed there were more victims because
Torres had served as a camp counselor.

© 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch