A former pastor of a Richmond, Virginia church has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting two young sisters in Texas in the 1990s.
Geronimo Aguilar—also known as Pastor G who headed the Richmond Outreach Center, now known as the Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry—was sentenced last week in court to 40 years for the first and second counts and 20 years for counts three to seven, according to ABC 8 News.
He will be eligible for parole in 20 years.
Victim Nancy Mohr lauded the sentence. "We're super grateful. We were grateful just for the guilty verdict three months ago. Forty years ... That's a lot of time," she said.
Mohr and sister Landi Vallejo said they would oppose any grant of parole to Aguilar. The two were 11 and 13 years old when Aguilar sexually assaulted them.
"Now he is sentenced in a time where it is going to stop him from doing this again," Vallejo said.
Mel Aguilar, the pastor's uncle, questioned what had transpired during the incident.
"How do we know that the two girls didn't lead him? That's my question too. I don't know that she didn't lead him," he said.
Assistant District Attorney Eric Nickols said Aguilar can have his own ministry in jail.
"He has ruined people's faiths, marriages, families, innocence ... If he wants to have a ministry he can do it in prison," he said.
Aguilar's lawyer said they will appeal the sentence.
"We have some legal issues that we are going to appeal that have nothing to do with the facts of the case, but have to do with the statue of limitations," said Thomas Pavlinic.
According to prosecutors, Aguilar started abusing the victims in 1996 when he was with the New Beginnings International Church in Fort Worth, according to the Associated Press.
Aguilar founded the Richmond Outreach Center in Richmond, Virginia, in 2003 but he was fired in 2013 because of the investigation.
