By Bob Allen
Brandon James Carter, 34, accepted a plea bargain Jan. 9 that sentenced him to less than two years in prison for molesting a 13-year-old girl.
He was arrested last March, while serving as youth and music minister at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cherryville, N.C., but was accused of molesting the girl in 2004, before he came to the church.
After his arrest, the church asked him to resign. Wayne Key, pastor of the church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, told the Gaston Gazette that nobody in the congregation had any reason to suspect Carter until the allegations were made.
After he is released from prison, Carter will be on probation for nearly three years and be registered as a sex offender for 30 years.