| For Immediate Release Case # 08HF0436
December 18, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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FORMER YOUTH PASTOR CONVICTED OF
SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 16-YEAR-OLD FEMALE PARISHIONER AND TEXTING SEXUAL MESSAGES TO VICTIM’S 15-YEAR-OLD RELATIVE
SANTA ANA – A former youth pastor at a Santa Margarita church was convicted today of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female parishioner and sending sexual text messages to her 15-year-old female relative. Shane Garrett Horning, 29, San Jose, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of oral copulation with a minor for Jane Doe #1 and one felony count of attempted oral copulation of minor under 16 for Jane Doe #2. These charges carry a maximum sentence of four years and eight months in state prison. Horning is expected to be sentenced to one year in jail and five years of formal probation at his sentencing on Jan. 22, 2010, in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Horning met Jane Doe #1 while working as a youth pastor at Santa Margarita Methodist Church. Between January 2005 and September 2006, Horning had Jane Doe #1 come to his home on several occasions to orally copulate him. The victim was 16 years old and the defendant was 25 years old at the time.
The defendant left Santa Margarita Methodist Church in approximately 2006 and eventually moved to San Jose. Jane Doe #1 did not disclose the sexual assault until 2009, when she learned that Jane Doe #2 could be victimized by Horning.
In January 2009, Horning sent explicit sexual text messages to Jane Doe #1’s 15-year-old female relative, Jane Doe #2. The text messages included graphic statements about oral copulation. Jane Doe #1 disclosed to her parents the sexual assault against her and the text messages to Jane Doe #2.
Deputy District Attorney Nikki Buracchio of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
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