Friday, September 21, 2012
Traveling evangelist convicted of raping Pa. girl
BEDFORD, Pa. (AP) — A traveling preacher who claimed an 11-year-old girl became “belligerent” when he refused to sleep in the same bed as her has been convicted of raping the girl at a southwestern Pennsylvania motel.
A Bedford County jury convicted the Rev. Walter Bradshaw of 22 of 24 counts Thursday after the Lexington, N.C. evangelist denied the allegations, saying the now-15-year-old girl was vindictive and “could turn on you.”
Investigators say Bradshaw raped the girl at a Bedford motel in 2009 while in town for a revival.
The girl’s mother pleaded no contest to endangerment and soliciting perjury. Authorities said she knew Bradshaw intended to have sex with her daughter.
Prosecutors played a recorded phone call in which Bradshaw apologized to the girl. Bradshaw claimed he wasn’t referring to a sex act.