Crime & Safety

Former Youth Pastor Pleads Guilty in Molestation Case

Joe David Nelms, who had been extradited from Texas earlier this year, admitted to molesting a 14-year-old parishioner in 1993.

From City News Service:

A 47-year-old former San Clemente youth pastor pleaded guilty today to molesting a parishioner beginning when she was 14 years old, according to court records. Joe David Nelms pleaded guilty to eight felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years of formal probation, according to court records.

Nelms was extradited from Texas to Orange County in April. Nelms was a youth pastor at Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente in 1993 when he met the girl, who reported the molestation in March of this year, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

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Nelms was arrested in Texas on March 18. Nelms was a youth pastor at the San Clemente church from 1990 to 2000. When he was arrested he was a volunteer Bible study teacher at First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas, and counseled teenagers at Sky Ranch, a Christian camp and ministry, according to the District Attorney's Office.

When Nelms was arrested this spring, investigators said he had molested the girl from 1993 to 1996, according to Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. Messages left with the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker, and Nelms' attorney Creighton Laz were not immediately returned.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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