Pastor found guilty on 24 child sex abuse charges, faces 38 years in prison

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A Tennessee pastor faces 38 years in prison after being found guilty on 24 counts involving child sex abuse.

News outlets report that 41-year-old Ronnie Gorton was sentenced Dec. 13 in Tipton County, Tennessee. The judge said Gorton “groomed minors for his sexual perversion.” Gorton was convicted on charges including sexual battery and statutory rape in August.

The 18-year-old victim told jurors the abuse started the day he moved in with Gorton and his wife in 2017.

The pastor at now-defunct Awakening Church in Atoka faces trials involving two other teenagers who accused him of rape. One was 12 at the time.