Straight out of a Bob Ross painting
Posted on 11/21/2005 8:58:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - A Porterville minister accused of sexual abusing two teenage parishioners fell 400 feet to his death at Moro Rock, a National Park Service official said Monday.
The Rev. Santos Teixeira's fall Sunday was under "uncertain circumstances," requiring the Park Service to notify the FBI of its investigation, said Alexandra Picavet, a Sequoia National Park spokeswoman.
Picavet said park investigators have yet to determine the manner of death and cautioned it was standard procedure to notify the FBI about the case, which occurred on federal land.
Teixeira, 56, fell to his death late Monday afternoon from the summit of Moro Rock, a 6,500-foot-tall granite dome. Picavet said a person believed to be a parishioner and other bystanders were in the area, adding those eyewitnesses have been interviewed.
Teixeira's family has asked the Park Service to look into the pastor's death, Picavet said. A telephone number for the family could not be located.
Teixeira, who was the pastor of Iglesia Del Nazareno church in Porterville, was ordered last August to stand trial on charges of rape and sexual assault. The allegations involve two teenage sisters who attended his church.
Prosecutors said Teixeira befriended the girls and their mother shortly after the family moved to the area from Mexico.
Teixeira's lawyer has said there was no physical evidence of a crime and the girls' statements were vague and inconsistent.
Teixeira would have faced 45 years to life in prison if convicted.
Was it an accident, a suicide or some kind of Arkancide?
As a taxpayer I recognize that the cleanup will cost less than the incarceration.
Maybe he backslid off a cliff?
The cause of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is celibacy ping.
If true, I would never vote to convict. Maybe he did, but maybe he didn't. 56 years old, and if there are no others who have come forward; a prosecutor would never get me to convict.
Well, I suppose it's a fitting end for him to die by falling off of what was essentially a very large granite penis.
I didn't see "Catholic" anywhere in this.
Except, it doesn't appear he was catholic. He is referred to as a minister, and the name of the church was "Church of the Nazarene." Doesn't sound like he was catholic.
Straight out of a Bob Ross painting
He's gone and we will not have to support him for years and years in prison. Right off the bat....I see no down side here at all.
Apparently the good pastor thought differently.
After high school me and a couple friends dragged a keg up on part of that rock and drank it all night.... those were the days.
You don't suppose he landed in one of the happy little trees, do you?
Leni
I suspect he didn't have a Happy Accident.
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