CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire man convicted of raping and
impregnating a 15-year-old church member more than a decade ago has
been sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.
Fifty-two-year-old Ernest Willis of Gilford was sentenced
Tuesday. He originally admitted to having sex with the teenager in
1997 but he claimed it was consensual. A jury in May found him
guilty of forcible rape.
At the time, the fundamentalist Baptist church made her
apologize to the congregation. The pastor helped send the girl to
live with a Colorado couple she didn't know - with her mother's
consent - and put her baby up for adoption. Police did not locate
the victim until last year. She listened Tuesday to the sentencing
via telephone from her Arizona home.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
