Butler County pastor pleads guilty in federal child sex crime case

A Butler County man who was the pastor of a Sharonville church pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of coercion and enticement in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. for crimes involving a teen girl who attended his church.

Cesar Agusto Guerrero Jr., 43, of Liberty Twp., admitted to engaging in sexual acts with a 17-year-old girl on July 20, and Aug. 5, 2019, at his office at the Mision Cristiana el Calvario Church.

Court documents detail that Guerrero told the victim God was speaking to him and the only way to get out of the dark place was for the teen to have sexual relations with Guerrero. The pastor referred to this as a “cleansing process.”

According to the plea agreement, Guerrero communicated with the teen via text messages, audio and video calls on Facebook Messenger. He coerced the teen into sending him sexually explicit photos and engaging in a sexually explicit video call. Guerrero cited several biblical verses while making the requests.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the parties involved in his case have recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison. The statutory penalty is a prison term of at least 10 years to life, supervised release of at least five years, and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

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