Pastor pleads guilty to rape
02/06/2006 21:09  - (SA)  

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Norwich - A former Baptist pastor, who touched off a nationwide search in March when he disappeared with a 15-year-old farm girl for a month, pleaded guilty to rape charges on Friday.

A judge dismissed 16 other charges against Lewis J Lee, 54, in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Lee, who is married, was the girl's pastor at Christian Baptist Church in the central New York state town of Sherburne.

The two disappeared from her family's dairy farm in mid-March.

The girl left willingly, but the state's legal age of consent is 17.

The pair set off a nationwide search, travelling as far west as Wyoming.

Lee was arrested in Hagerstown, Maryland state, in April. The girl has returned to her family.

Lee faces between nine and 28 years imprisonment for the seven rape counts.

He also faces a five- to 30-year federal term after pleading guilty on Wednesday to taking the teenager across state lines to have sex with her. He will be sentenced on these charges on September 22.

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