EVERETT — A church pastor was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in his congregation.
The Daily Herald reports 36-year-old Eli Antonio Diaz-Valdez was sentenced last week in Snohomish County Superior Court for third-degree rape of a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.
Diaz-Valdez was pastor of a small congregation that rented space at the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Everett.
Prosecutors say he first sent the 14-year-old girl a text message in November 2016 saying he just wanted to talk. Court documents say she obliged because he was a pastor and she needed to be nice to him because of that.