Cypress, Texas - A former youth pastor, who pleaded guilty to raping a 16-year-old girl in 2011 and soliciting another teen online, was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday.
Chad Foster's sentencing came after hearing testimony from his victims in front of family members, many of whom were in tears.
"It's hard to think of any child being victimized that way, but to have it done by a youth pastor at church where they're supposed to be safe, I think, is just extra repugnant," Lacy Johnson, assistant district attorney, said.
The girl who Foster seduced and had sex with testified that she felt "used and cheated." She added that she had lost her faith in God.
"I feel like he's a sick person," she said. "I think he's going to do it again if he gets probation."
Foster wept on the stand and said he was suicidal, admitting that he told his victim he would hurt himself if she told anyone about their sexual relationship.
According to court documents, Foster met his 16-year-old victim over the summer of 2011 while working as a high school youth pastor at the Community of Faith Church on Becker Road in Cypress.
The victim told investigators that she and Foster immediately became friends, and at some point, they exchanged phone numbers. She said they would communicate regularly via text messages.
Then, in late July 2011, the victim told investigators that their relationship became sexual at Foster's home.
The victim said she and Foster continued to have a sexual relationship through mid-October.
The victim told investigators that Foster told her multiple times how important it was that they keep their relationship a secret, because of their age difference. She said Foster told her if anyone found out, he would be in legal trouble.
But in October of that year, the girl said she started feeling bad about her relationship with Foster, so she made outcry to her Spanish teacher and another pastor at the church. They notified the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The victim said Foster sent her multiple texts and emails, asking her to deny their sexual relationship to anyone who might ask about it.
For his sexual assault charge, Foster was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a girl he met online while serving as a youth minister for Second Baptist Church in Cypress.
The teen told investigators she and Foster exchanged phone numbers and started sending one another texts. Their conversations eventually spread to Facebook, and then to Skype.
The girl said starting in January of 2011, Foster would expose himself to her over Skype. She said he did this 14 or 15 times over the next five months, repeatedly telling her to delete all the logs and records of their conversations and video chats.
Records show he sent 15,000 texts to the teen between Jan. 1, 2011, and Nov. 2, 2011.
