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Minister sentenced to 20 years in sex
case: Cobb preacher pleads guilty to molesting
child
BYLINE: By Mark Curriden Staff writer
DATE:
05-30-1990
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION:
Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: C/04
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A Cobb County minister
pleaded guilty Tuesday to child molestation
and cruelty charges
and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for having
sex with a
11-year-old girl who attended his church's vacation
Bible
school.
The Rev. James Calvin McCurry, 38, a former pastor at the Greater
Zion
Hills Baptist Church in Smyrna, had been charged with forcing
the
girl to have sex three times in 1985 and 1986.
"The little
girl didn't tell anyone about it for three years, when
she told
an elementary school counselor," said Cobb prosecutor
Bruce
Hornbuckle. "[McCurry] told her, `God will get you if you
tell.' He also
told her God would punish her and her family if
she didn't take her
clothes off and do what he
said."
According to court documents, McCurry confessed to police
that he
had sexual intercourse with the child two times, but said
the girl had
"enticed" him.
McCurry said the 11-year-old was
at his house visiting his daughter
when he walked into his
bedroom to find the child on his bed wearing only
an open
robe.
The minister said the girl told him she was 15 and wanted
him to
touch her.
"He said he tried to leave the room but he
was too weak and touched
the girl between the legs," say court
records of police interviews with
McCurry.
The court documents
also indicate McCurry confessed to having sex
with the girl in
September 1985 on the couch in the  pastor's study in
the
church.
"The final time was in 1986, when they had all
been to a church
skating party," Mr. Hornbuckle said. "He took
the girl to his apartment
while his wife wasn't there. He admits
to having sex there.
"He said he knew child molestation was a
crime but he repented after
the acts," the prosecutor said. "He
said he had mentioned the acts to no
one but God."
Mr.
Hornbuckle said the 20-year prison sentence means McCurry
will
spend between 20 months and six years in prison.
"A
preacher is a pretty good risk for the parole board, so
he'll
probably be let out as soon as possible," Mr. Hornbuckle
said.
McCurry is the second Baptist minister in Cobb convicted of
child
molestation in the past year. The Rev. Thomas McGowan, 46,
was sentenced
to three years in prison on Nov. 10 for molesting two teenage girls
and
sexually assaulting an adult member of his congregation at
the Morning
View Baptist Church in Marietta.
photo: mug of
James Calvin
McCurry
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