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Charles Willoughby III, 39, of Norwalk, a group leader at the New Life Worship Center, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor over the course of more than five years between 2006 and 2012.
Prosecutors say that Willoughby routinely groomed underage teenage girls who were part of the church’s youth program in order to attempt to sexually abuse them.
In June 2012, one of his victims, who was 15 years old at the time, and other youth group members boarded a chartered bus from NLWC to travel to Georgia for a national church youth group conference, where Willoughby served as one of the chaperones.
While on the bus to the event, Willoughby was found guilty of forcing the teen to engage in a sexual act, which she did not disclose until 2018, leading to the discovery of other underage victims who came forward, leading to Willoughby’s arrest.
Willoughby had faced up to 30 years in prison on the sexual abuse charge.
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