Before he was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for raping his teenage babysitter, Ernest Willis said he was sorry for inflicting “heartache and misery” on the girl, who was made to apologize to members of their Concord, New Hampshire church after she became pregnant, according to the Concord Monitor.
But as he read a lengthy, regretful statement in Merrimack County Superior Court, Willis never admitted to raping Tina Anderson more than once or to forcing himself on her, referring only to a “thoughtless act of sexual misconduct.”
Willis, 52, was convicted by a jury in May of forcibly raping Anderson twice in 1997, when she was 15 years old. She became pregnant as a result. Her former pastor at their church (Trinity Baptist) then had her stand before the congregation to ask forgiveness.
The pastor then helped arrange for Anderson to move to Colorado, where she had her baby and put it up for adoption – and where the Concord police said they could not find her. The investigation was closed until Anderson, encouraged by other former church members, came forward with her story last year.
Read more at ConcordMonitor.com.
