LAKELAND, Fla. — A former volunteer youth worker at a Southern Baptist megachurch in Florida pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to molesting three boys, putting his fate in the hands of a judge instead of a jury.
After jury selection and with opening statements set to begin, 41-year-old Marshal Seymour pleaded guilty and no contest to five felony charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled March 12. He could receive up to 65 years in prison, according to The (Lakeland, Fla.) Ledger.
Seymour was arrested in November 2007 on charges he molested three teenage boys he met through First Baptist Church at the Mall, Lakeland, Fla. At the time, Senior Pastor Jay Dennis called the scandal a “Category 5 storm” for the 8,000-member congregation active in the Florida Baptist Convention.
Leaders at the church said they ran two background checks on Seymour before allowing him to volunteer for the student ministry in 1999, but after his arrest, it was discovered he had previously been arrested on charges of sodomy and sexual assault while working as a youth minister at an Assemblies of God church in Mobile. He eventually got a suspended sentence and probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault.
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